Political pain but no gain

31 August 2010In the Adelaide Review, John Spoehr looks at how Labor failed to get its message across

HOW COULD Labor get it so wrong? It had a terrific story to tell about the resilience of the Australian economy in the face of the global financial crisis. Its stimulus package was lauded internationally as a great success. Not only did the package put dollars in the hands of consumers at just the right time, the bank deposit and wholesale funding guarantee provided the structural foundation for financial stability in the face of the unfolding calamity in the US and Europe. While unemployment rose to dizzy heights in those regions, it remained historically low in Australia. Circumstances like these should be enough to win a second term in office.

The stimulus package had a dark side. It exposed the Government to corrosive criticism as cracks opened up in the Building the Education Revolution and Home Insulation schemes. The reality is that these are just…

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John Spoehr is the Executive Director of the Australian Institute for Social Research at the University of Adelaide

Photo: Andrew Jeffrey

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