Under new management; we'll be with you shortly

Which of the policies of the Labor or the Coalition governments is correct is not being debated in this piece. The point is transparency. Why are we now being left out of the loop?

AusAID, responsible for managing Australia's overseas aid (now absorbed into DFAT) is being watched closely since announcement of the cutting of $4.5b in foreign aid over four years, an initiative headed by Julie Bishop. In late October, the transparency organisation 'Publish What You Fund' released it's 2013 Aid Transparency Index and gave AusAID a score of 43% for its 'access to relevant, timely and useable information'. Not terrible, but definitely not what most would call transparent.

Even within the government confines, ministers must seek approval from the Prime Minister's office before addressing the media. Understandably, there is a party line to which ministers should be expected to adhere, but don't the members of parliament represent the people of their respective electorates and speak for them, not the office of the PM?

As for the country's economic circumstances of late, in Mr. Abbott's budget reply speech of May 2013, he declared a budget emergency. Now in office, not once has the term been used and the words 'budget deterioration' are coming up instead. I for one am impressed that the 'emergency' is now over before parliament has even had its first sitting.

Federal government, especially in the lucky country like Australia should be the inspirational body to which people turn, not one that inculcates fear during election campaigns, and leaves people in a daze while left with more questions than answers when words like national emergency are thrown about.

Australia is under new management, but where is the emergency? Where is the crisis? Well, if you leave a message, someone might get back to you.