Andew Barr has published his speech to the Property Council.
It’s a handy recap, if you haven’t been keeping score, of what the ACT Government has been trying to achieve on the economic policy front.
As usual the zingers are in the tail:
Before concluding my remarks today it would be remiss of me not to touch on the forthcoming Festival of Democracy that is the Territory Election.
I have always held the view that elections should be about ideas, about competing priorities and agendas for the future.
There is no doubt that the ACT Labor Government has a considerable policy agenda for economic reform, growth and development.
It stands in marked contrast to the alternative. Tony Abbott’s man in Canberra, Zed Seselja, runs a negative and reactionary agenda.
Policy isn’t his strong point. 1343 days have passed since the last election without anything meaningful being released.
From what we do know though, it is fair to say that the Opposition Leader draws more policy inspiration from BA Santamaria and Sarah Palin than Adam Smith or David Ricardo.
With only 120 days to go now, the Opposition appears to think it can coast into office off the back of a few cheap slogans.
I think this community expects and deserves better than that. I look forward to the policy debate ahead.
Society being broadly defined between those who understand comparative advantage and those who do not it will be interesting to see if we get any interesting ideas out of Zed.
(If you understand comparative advantage you are free of the negativity of zero-sum thinking, it’s very powerful albeit with limits)