Rudd’s second year

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this preoccupation with spin and PR is coming at the expense of sound policy, particularly when one compares how much the government spins with how little it achieves. Like the Blair government in England, it seems the federal Labor government has mastered the art of permanent electioneering throughout the electoral cycle.

The Rudd government has also gone out of its way on nearly every single issue to not offend anyone. The result is that it is riding high in the polls and is yet to make a genuinely tough decision. But pleasing everyone now means short-changing all of us in the longer term.

On nearly every single political issue - health, education, the economy, climate change, broadband, the car industry and others - the government’s solution primarily involves spending lots of money with no guarantee that its expensive solutions will work.

This tendency, combined with the failure to undertake any deep expenditure cuts has left a massive budget deficit. The budget bottom line has been the victim of the government’s desire to keep everyone happy. We will all have to pay for this borrowed money with compound interest.

In case I risk sounding harsh in this assessment, let me give credit where its due - the Rudd government has done well in dumping Fuelwatch and Grocerywatch, delaying the ETS, means-testing the health insurance rebate and resisting some of the more ridiculous calls from the unions, such as the abolition of any watchdog in the construction industry and the enshrining of protectionist principles in government tenders. Diplomatic appointments have also generally been good, particularly those of Kim Beazley and Brendan Nelson.

Nevertheless, the Rudd government is unlikely to take bold reforms in the next year. In modern politics, the last year of a term in office involves focusing on winning the election and not upsetting sections of the electorate.

In years to come, Rudd’s first term is likely to be seen as a wasted opportunity. Here was a Prime Minister with record approval ratings who tried to be everyone’s mate instead of focusing on the big reform agenda he set for himself. A fellow who was more interested in being seen to be solving problems, rather than actually solving them.

In 2007, Rudd Labor’s slogan was “New Leadership”. The reform malaise since then indicates a lack of this promised leadership.

Nevertheless, given the Opposition’s chronic habit of making themselves the issue, the Rudd government’s lack of achievements is unlikely to be widely noticed. It could be that like the Carr government in New South Wales, federal Labor will keep getting re-elected while the lack of real policies only later become devastatingly clear after some years.

It’s fair to conclude that up to now, the Rudd government has promised everything but delivered next to nothing.