Daily Telegraph - Blog
Posted on Friday, 26 November 2010
This week was the final sitting week of the 2010 parliamentary year. We’ve had five weeks of sittings since the election and there’s no evidence that a Government which had lost its way before the election has found its way since.
There are reports today that 21 Labor caucus members this week criticised Prime Minister Gillard for her lack of direction or plan for Australia. This just confirms what the Opposition been saying for weeks - that this really is a bad Government getting worse.
The Prime Minister Gillard must be worried that her Government is without a ‘narrative’. This explains the powerpoint presentation to her colleagues about what she intended to do in the next 12 months. The list looks like a Prime Ministerial bucket list - the things that a Prime Minister does before facing the same caucus executioners who came gunning for Kevin Rudd.
This week also saw the Government’s forced release of a summary of the NBN business plan. Whether it’s $37 billion, $43 billion or $50 billion, it’s massively expensive. It should have a cost-benefit analysis because it looks for all the world like another white elephant from a Government which is much better at spending money than delivering outcomes.
This is a Government which has been good at making announcements but hopeless at delivering on them. You just can’t trust a Government which has got so much so wrong. Whether it be the pink batts programme, the school halls programme, or the NBN, you just can’t trust their promises.
2010 has been a very bad year for Labor and there is nothing to suggest that things will improve. The Government’s performance is going from bad to worse under a floundering Prime Minister.