Promises
See, during the election, John Howard made all the promises, so if the ministers start reneging, he didn’t tell any lies. Like how much better Medicare would be. So Treasurer Peter Costello is going to reduce benefits, increase out-of-pocket, and allow higher prices. Tony Abbott’s awfully quiet right now, but he doesn’t usually have much worth saying on health care anyway, despite his portfolio. Costello’s also looking to create the largest political slush fund of all time out of something called the “Future Fund” (.pdf) a program designed to put some funding into the unfunded government superannuation plan. With a start of AU$25 billion, that’s some kinda mad money.

Meanwhile, the states have caved and are going to reduce corporate taxation so as to keep getting their piece of the GST. Well, a deal’s a deal, and cutting these taxes is part of how Howard got the GST through in the first place. Will it translate into any benefit to consumers? Don’t be naïve.

So much for the safety net. (Better be some jobs out there.)