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Last man standing: The Bradburian Theory of Politics

Tory Shepherd

by Tory Shepherd

21 Sep 01:00pm

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Filed under: Politics, Steven Bradbury, Tony Abbott, Wayne Swan

119 comments

In this new era of unsurpassed political skulduggery, mediocrity is the new excellence: In short, pollies are only winning because the competition is falling over.

Wayne Swan, our freshly crowned Most Excellent Treasurer in the Universe, is the latest to accomplish the less-than-Herculean feat of slowly sliding past a tumbling US economy and stumbling EU finance ministers to glide to victory.

Euromoney named Mr Swan overnight, saying his “careful stewardship” had earned him the moniker. In the egg and spoon race of world economies, Mr Swan’s egg remains uncracked.

A far cry from the “bold, brilliant, and above all, brave” summary of Paul Keating’s work when he won the same prize in 1984.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is another protégé of the Steven Bradbury school of succeeding when flanked by incompetence. Mr Abbott is smiling and swerving on blades of steel as the Gillard Government crumples on the corners.

Then of course there’s Barry O’Farrell, who – as Chris Deal pointed out here – would have had to publicly regurgitate the innocent children he ate for breakfast to lose the election to the imploding NSW Government.

And yet, and yet.

As Ant Sharwood, the repository of all Punch sports-related knowledge informs me, Steven Bradbury may have had Lady Luck on his side when he won gold in 2002, but he was no Eric “The Eel” Moussambani, always destined for delightful tardiness.

At the core of his success was a nugget of genius. He had won bronze skating in 1994. He designed skates which were worn by Apolo Anton Ohno – the favourite to win the 2002 race. Who fell over. Ha! And now, Australia’s First Winter Olympic Gold Medallist is a legend, with a range of merchandise and a new career in motor sport.

And it is arguable that Swan, Abbott, and O’Farrell all have their own nugget of goodness, the grit around which the pearl formed. 

What do you think, Punchers? Are they Stevens or not even? And are there any other convoluted analogies you can throw into the mix?

Most commented

431Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
336Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
266Who murdered the Arts degree?
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...

119 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • C1 says:

      01:33pm | 21/09/11

      I think Swannie is like ‘Rik Disneck’ from Wired World of Sports.

      ‘So Rik did yo have a sandshoe blowout on the run up or did you just F%^k up?
      ‘No Darryl, I just F%^ked up.’

      Reply

    • AJ says:

      01:35pm | 21/09/11

      Here we go again, no, it is Swan.  No!  It was Costello.  When after all, it was China.

      Reply

    • RyaN says:

      01:39pm | 21/09/11

      Couldn’t agree more AJ, one thing that is certain is that China is the reason for our prosperity.
      The rest shows by what our debt is, and this Labor government has spent us into the largest debt this country has ever seen, in spite of China.

    • Shama says:

      01:53pm | 21/09/11

      Here we go again, no it is not Costello…....No!  It was Keating.

      So Mr Keating says anyway.

    • Rick says:

      03:48pm | 21/09/11

      If Costello was so good where is he now? Why isn’t he the leader of the loser liberals? Australia’s best HA.

    • acotrel says:

      06:56am | 24/09/11

      @RyaN
      When there is a recession, it’s a good time to spend.  Perhaps you’d think differently if the opposition had d one it’s belt tightening, and caused the mortgage belt to fail because of massive job loss through lack of confidence ?

    • persephone says:

      01:35pm | 21/09/11

      A very ungracious summation of Swan’s achievement.

      Reply

    • Fiddler says:

      01:44pm | 21/09/11

      ungracious…. and accurate

    • Erick says:

      01:49pm | 21/09/11

      What achievement? When Swan arrived on the scene, the government had a surplus. Now it has a deficit. Costello did all the good work, and Swan just reversed it.

      I can’t help thinking that this award is politically motivated, like the Nobel Peace Prize.

    • TimB says:

      01:53pm | 21/09/11

      Only ungracious from the viewpoint of the Punch’s resident ALP spin queen.

      Fiddler’s right, it’s completely accurate.

    • Richard says:

      01:53pm | 21/09/11

      Ha! You can talk about being ungracious! When have you ever credited Costello with paying back all the government debt? It was such a spectacularly miraculous achievement, and we can tell that it was because not a single other finance minister in the whole developed world managed to do that same thing.

      Peter Costello was unique in his determination and success in paying back sovereign debt, and only now after he’s retired are we able to see what an amazing important feat that was.

      Anyone can launch a stimulus program, woop de doo da. Do you really think Swan’s stimulus was so much better than every other country’s in the world? Swan just followed along like a sheep and got lucky. But the real achievement was for Costello to single-handedly pay back all of Australia’s sovereign debt, because not a single other Treasurer from a similar country was able to do likewise, which puts Costello in a league of his own, Euromoney award or not.

    • Super D says:

      01:59pm | 21/09/11

      C’mon Perse, surely you would concede that Swanny has pulled a Homer.

    • persephone says:

      02:00pm | 21/09/11

      Not my point.

      When someone wins something, even if you think they don’t deserve it, common politeness means you congratulate them.

      You can then say why you think they didn’t merit it, but there’s no reason why you can’t do the polite bit, too.

      Of course, many of the posters on this site do seem to lack common courtesy.

      I hope their mothers are proud of them.

    • jf says:

      02:12pm | 21/09/11

      “Achievement” is right Perse.

    • Fiddler says:

      02:25pm | 21/09/11

      pmsl @ “I hope their mothers are proud of them”

      Everything he has done is with our money, which he is paid to do, has set out to do and no doubt stepped on many other peoples heads to get into a position to do. But not acknowledging an award which is as undeserved as Obamas’ Nobel Peace Prize (cause he might do good in the future) lacks courtesy

    • Tim says:

      02:28pm | 21/09/11

      Richard,
      “Anyone can launch a stimulus program, woop de doo da”
      What’s your point?
      Anyone can sell $200B in publically owned assets too.

      Why can’t people acknowledge good performances from people on the opposite side of politics from their own?
      We’ve had pretty good economic management for a few decades now, contributed to by both sides of politics.
      Does this mean there hasn’t been major F-Ups? Of course not.
      But would it hurt you to admit that we’ve got it pretty good?

    • Jay Santos says:

      02:28pm | 21/09/11

      “...A very ungracious summation of Swan’s achievement…”

      “...I hope their mothers are proud of them…”

      A little sensitive there.  Must be a slow day at Caucus headquarters.

    • TimB says:

      02:32pm | 21/09/11

      Perse if I think someone doesn’t deserve something then why should I congratulate them? I’ve already made it clear that I think they’ve done nothing worth congratulations.

      If you want to live in that cheery fake PC world, that’s your business. Me, I’ll tell it like it is.

    • Joan says:

      02:44pm | 21/09/11

      Anyone can spend $20billion surplus and put billions on credit card to Arabs and China in the short period of 3 years as Swan did.- let`s see him restore $20 billion surplus by 2013 then he may deserve Worlds best treasurer status- but todays award a laughing joke everywhere in Australia . The so called experts who couldn’t see GFC coming, who don’t know how to fix mess , vote for Swan as the best. Just show the economic mess of Western world today

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      03:47pm | 21/09/11

      @ persephone “When someone wins something, even if you think they don’t deserve it, common politeness means you congratulate them”

      Hope this means you’ll congratulate Abbott at the next election.

    • David C says:

      03:59pm | 21/09/11

      ? ask anyone around the boardrooms of ths country and they will tell you he just doesnt understand business, why do you think the super profits tax was such a disaster?
      Didnt Costello decline the award?

    • Chris L says:

      05:31pm | 21/09/11

      “I can’t help thinking that this award is politically motivated” - There’s an interesting conspiracy theory. Personally I’m surprised Euromoney remembered to include Australia in the list of candidates, but I can’t see why they would find it politically helpful to send the award Swann’s way.

      “Anyone can launch a stimulus program” - A lot of countries did. Ours was the only one that succeeded.

      Perse, did you expect the punchers to be gracious? These people keep hoping our economy crumbles just so they can say “I told you so”.

    • Tory Shepherd

      Tory Shepherd says:

      05:51pm | 21/09/11

      I agree, Pers - but Oakes did such a great job on the weekend on The Punch, I just wanted to do something different. And ungracious! I did leave it open there fore the defence..

    • Steve Putnam says:

      06:22pm | 21/09/11

      @ Erick Costello created a surpless by selling $200 billion of profitable public assets which he wasted on electoral bribes in the form of middle class welfare. The only infrastructure project of any significance the Howard Government undertook during the eleven and a half years it was in power was the Adelaide to Darwin railway line. For the four years it was in public hands it lost money until it was sold to foreign interests for a fraction of its cost.
      Real nation building stuff…not!

    • jf says:

      07:14pm | 21/09/11

      Steve Putnam says:06:22pm | 21/09/11

      @ Erick Costello created a surpless by selling $200 billion of profitable public assets”

      Do you mean like CBA, Qantas, CSL and airports?

    • Steve Putnam says:

      09:07pm | 21/09/11

      @jf The Keating Government sold QANTAS because it had been unprofitable for ten years. Howard sold Telstra despite the fact it was the most profitable public company in Australia. Big difference mate. Costello sold the gold reserve in its entirety despite advice not to. What’s gold worth now?
      Since Mac Bank acquired Kingsford-Smith air port, its gone from bad to being an international embarassment to Australia. Amongst other things its got a security force that will fine you a mint for dropping someone off in the wrong zone (just ask any cabbie) but which went missing in action when a wild brawl broke out among about twenty bikies. God help us if there is ever a serious terrorist threat there.

    • Maree says:

      09:49pm | 21/09/11

      No. Says more about Swannies international competition. Useless !

    • Mitchell Meek says:

      01:36pm | 21/09/11

      A brilliant theory - and pretty accurate. Anyone who wants to survive in Australian politics at the moment simply has to stay out of the spotlight. When the dust settles, they’ll be the ones left standing.

      Reply

    • adam says:

      01:39pm | 21/09/11

      Swan and O’Farrell are definately Bradbury’s. They both won as all others fell away.
      Abbott on the other hand hasn’t won a thing as of yet. Too early to call him a Bradbury, and if he dosen’t lead the Coalition to the next election he may not even be that “good”

      Reply

    • Martin says:

      04:57pm | 21/09/11

      Not so, Adam. Abbott is the original Bradbury, or have you forgotten how he became leader of the Opposition already? The Liberals wanted to replace Turnbull with Joe Hockey, but after his little chat with Howard, Joe said he’d run, but would allow a vote on Howard’s ETS. That meant the far right had to suddenly come up with someone, and when Turnbull defeated Hockey, (probably much to Joe’s relief), Abbott got up by one vote, looking more surprised than anyone else. A textbook Bradbury.

    • TimB says:

      05:22pm | 21/09/11

      Martin? Fail.

      Here’s what really happened:

      -The vote was a 3-way split between Turnbull, Abbott and Hockey, with Hockey recieving the least votes. Abbott recieved the most. (35 Abbott, 26 Turnbull, 23 Hockey)
      - In the second round of voting ,Turnbull picked up most of the votes that previously went to Hockey. But not enough. Abbott won out in the end.

      So Abbott was never behind. He was in front from the start and kept that lead to the end. Your Bradbury comparison is utterly false.

      Looks like you’re the one who has forgotten how Abbott won the leadership.

    • Dave says:

      05:47pm | 21/09/11

      TimB, the problem with your version being that Hockey claims that Turnbull told him he wouldnt run. Hence Hockey and Turnbull split the vote on that side. Abbott was ahead the same way the hare was ahead of the turtle.

      And to the guys saying that Swan inherited a good situtation from Costello: No. Just no. Costello was the most useless treasurer in history. End of discussion.

    • Martin says:

      06:05pm | 21/09/11

      Exactly. The Liberals wanted to replace Turnbull with Joe Hockey, but when Turnbull defeated Hockey, Abbott got up by one vote, looking more surprised than anyone else. A textbook Bradbury.

    • TimB says:

      08:36pm | 21/09/11

      Martin, clearly the word ‘textbook’ doesn’t mean what you think it means.

      If the Liberals wanted Hockey to replace Turnbull, why didn’t they vote for him instead of Abbott? You see the gaping hole in your logic?

      In the lead to start off with, in the lead to finish. Not like Bradbury who, and this is key so pay attention,  came from *behind* after everyone *ahead* of him failed


      @ Dave

      “TimB, the problem with your version being that Hockey claims that Turnbull told him he wouldnt run. Hence Hockey and Turnbull split the vote on that side. Abbott was ahead the same way the hare was ahead of the turtle.”

      ...yet when they had a chance to vote for just Abbott and Turnbull, he still came out ahead. You could use some of that logic stuff too.

      And Abbott only told Hockey that he wouldn’t run because he was under the impression that Hockey winning would mean the ETS would be voted down by the Liberals. When it was clear that Hockey was going to allow a conscience vote instead, he realised he had to throw his own name into the ring.

      And clearly the majority agreed with Abbott. I love this spinning where you guys are trying to claim he magically won the vote from behind somehow.

    • Richard says:

      11:29pm | 21/09/11

      Because after his little chat with Howard, Joe said he’d run, but would allow a conscience vote on Howard’s ETS. That meant the far right had to suddenly come up with someone, after Abbott had said he wouldn’t run if Hockey did. When Turnbull defeated Hockey, Abbott got up by one vote. Textbook Bradbury.

    • TimB says:

      06:16am | 22/09/11

      AASQ/Richard/(Martin) sod off. Repeating things doesn’t make them true.

      Abbott didn’t come from behind. Bradbury did. You remain as always, an idiot and a coward.

    • Richard says:

      08:41am | 22/09/11

      Martin is right. It’s historical fact that Abbott had said he wouldn’t even run if Hockey did, and that the only reason he did was because Hockey said he’d allow a conscience vote on Howard’s ETS. As an idiot and a coward, you can try to spin the facts as much as you like, but you can’t change them.

    • TimB says:

      10:10am | 22/09/11

      ‘Richard’ and ‘Martin’ backing each other up. How quaint.

      Except they’re both misusing the same ‘A textbook Bradbury’ phrase.

      They’re both using the same retarded pseudo logic that the coward AASQ is known for in this and his many other guises (Kim, Mark, Ryan, Ned Kelly, etc etc).

      And for some reason he/they are/is quoting back to me things I already said and pretending that this somehow validates the completly unrelated (and flawed) Bradbury argument.

      Then to top it off he, tries to appropriate by my accusations of idiocy and cowardice to use against me even though it doesn’t even make sense in context. Apparently these apply to me even though the facts quoted are the exact same ones I already posted (?!). Right.

      Here’s a thought AASQ. How about you go back to a single screenanem to which you can be held accountable before you try to turn around accusations of cowardice? Trolling people with stupid arguments from a bunch of random screenames isn’t paticularly clever, nor brave.

      To the Punch Team: you guys have been hinting at Punch 2.0 for a while now. How far away is it? Will the upgrade include anything like registered screenames? Something to keep fools like this one accountable.

    • Richard says:

      11:22am | 22/09/11

      As an idiot and a coward, you can keep trying to spin the facts as much as you like, but you can’t change them.

    • Erick says:

      01:40pm | 21/09/11

      Contrasting Abbott’s success with Nalson’s and Turnbull’s failure in the same role, I think there’s more to it than just plain luck - though that always has an influence. Ultimately, everything has an influence.

      Reply

    • Zeta says:

      02:36pm | 21/09/11

      Hey I read that article. You should follow George Musser on Twitter, he links to interesting stuff.

      The spookiest thing about retrocausality, apart from the rise of the term ‘spooky’ in quantum mechanics, ever since LHC went live, those boffins have been calling things ‘spooky’ and when the smartest people in the world refer to something as spooky, we should be kind of scared - the spookiest thing is that if you can’t model free will in a Turing Test until a quantum computer can not only model the human brain, but specifically, your human brain, the door is still open for not everyone having free will.

      Some of us might have free will, others, might be chained to the ebb and flow of the universe by means unknown.

      Now that’s spooky.

    • St. Michael says:

      03:00pm | 21/09/11

      “Some of us might have free will, others, might be chained to the ebb and flow of the universe by means unknown.”

      What, you saying there’s ta’vernen amongst us?

    • Joan says:

      03:03pm | 21/09/11

      A bit of luck helps and many successful people attribute their success to being at the right place at the right time (the lucky part)  then working at it and making the most of their ability. Swan has just spent surplus left by Costello and amassed a deficit- anyone can do that, whereas Abbott has restored Liberals to fighting, capable of winning force. - not everone can do that once given the opportunity- Nelson didn’t, Turnbull didn’t.

    • Erick says:

      05:42pm | 21/09/11

      Thanks Zeta, I’ll check him out.

      @St. Michael - I don’t admit to any such claim! Though, on one level, we could consider everyone to be ta’vernen. Check out quantum immortality theory.

      @Joan - That’s my first point. Nelson and Turnbull were ineffectual, but Abbott took the same situation and turned it around. There’s a difference here.

    • Jay Santos says:

      01:41pm | 21/09/11

      Having a doctor’s waiting room financial newsletter confer their “World’s Best Treasurer” title on Wayne Swan almost ties with Modern Family for the year’s Most Outstanding Comedy Show.

      This is the kind of award that is handed out to those who pay (on a sliding scale) for the privilege of being nominated.

      We should be asking how much ‘support’ Swan afforded the selection committee and was it accounted for in the forward estimates?

      Such an accolade is very much reminiscent of the bogus Hollywood Walk of Fame ‘star’ for “Services to Entertainment”, where the celebs themselves pay-to-play for their own piece of sidewalk terrazzo.

      Maybe Swan should get one of those too.

      I know I had a good laugh when I heard about his latest triumph.

      Reply

    • Craig of North Brisbane says:

      02:09pm | 21/09/11

      Maybe you should actually pony up some evidence before making grubby allegations that Swan offered somebody bribes to win an award.

      Then again, “evidence” is hardly your strong point of the Abbott Brigade, is it?

    • andye says:

      03:35pm | 21/09/11

      @Jay Santos - Very amusing. I like the way you just make a whole bunch of stuff up. Facts? Who needs em?

    • Jay Santos says:

      05:26pm | 21/09/11

      “...I like the way you just make a whole bunch of stuff up…”

      Show me where.

    • Chris L says:

      05:36pm | 21/09/11

      “This is the kind of award that is handed out to those who pay (on a sliding scale) for the privilege of being nominated.” -

      How about we start with that Jay? Got a link or something to show us?

    • TomZ says:

      09:46am | 22/09/11

      If anyone is trying to claim that the selection process for awarding the title has any objectivity, transparency or rigour, I suggest that they need a reality check.

      @Jay, I don’t think Swan would bother bribing anyone for such a false accolade, but if it stirs up meat-axes such as Craig of North Brisbane, it rates as a worthy troll.

    • World's Greatest Troll says:

      01:44pm | 21/09/11

      Unlike Sydney Swans, Wayne Swan is a World Champion.
      Wayne Swan is the world’s Greatest Treasurer
      Australia is heaven on earth . Australia is extremely well off.
      Tories however still maintain and still have All Black outlooks!

      Reply

    • Jade says:

      01:45pm | 21/09/11

      Hahaha I nearly fell out of my imaginary tree when I heard he had won the prize for the best treasurer… what a crock of shite! So in summary…. Wayne swan = Steven Bradbury protégé.

      Reply

    • Against the Man says:

      03:02pm | 21/09/11

      Wonder if Swany will use his new found fame to do some ads for McDonald’s, Harvey Norman, Red Rooster etc and divert those funds to get the budget back into surplus?

    • Peter says:

      03:03pm | 21/09/11

      Either that or you’ve been wrong all along.  Ever consider that?

    • Chris L says:

      05:38pm | 21/09/11

      How long must we listen to Peter’s blasphemy?!!!

    • Tomz says:

      09:09am | 22/09/11

      In the land of the blind, even a one eyed man is king?

    • The World's Greatest Troll says:

      01:48pm | 21/09/11

      Australia is well off ! Australia has the World’s greatest treasurer !
      Like Peter Costello, Joe Hockey is the world’s greatest third world treasurer only worthy of a banana republic.
      Coalition Voters are the World’s Greatest Whingers! They don’t know when they are so extremely well off

      Reply

    • nihonin says:

      02:27pm | 21/09/11

      Hi acotrel, nice screen name to hide behind.

    • nihonin says:

      02:28pm | 21/09/11

      Actually replace ‘nice’ with ‘appropriate’.

    • fairsfair says:

      01:48pm | 21/09/11

      Great article Tors - I think they are Stevens. They are only taking the prize because things are turning to shit all around them. But, good luck to ‘em I say. Irrespective of circumstance, they are still “winners”.

      You can not take any shine off old Bradbury - yes he was lucky - but you still have to get yourself into an Olympic final, and that is no easy feat. Perhaps the same applies to these three stooges, I guess that is a matter of opinion and a whole other article though LOL

      Reply

    • Seanr says:

      02:02pm | 21/09/11

      I always think these comparisons are unfair on Steven Bradbury, lucky in one race but years of dedication went into getting to that point and as the article points out he isn’t a one trick pony.
      Unfortunately for him, I think ‘doing a Moussambani” is a too much of a tongue twister

    • fairsfair says:

      02:43pm | 21/09/11

      Yeah, I remember feeling like that at the time. From memory, I think he won his medal (our first ever) the day before Alisa Camplin got her’s, but it almost seemed like he was looked over and the nation focussed on her (she was deserved too I might add). He can’t help if a series of sandshoe(skate) blow outs took down the remainder of the pack…. staying upright is afterall one of the fundamentals of the sport. He did it better. It’d be like Thorpey winning the 100m Free in 2012 because the rest of the pack forgot to breathe… hey, you ain’t going to rebuff the accolades due to other people’s incompitence and as much as it pains me - that is what Swanny now has the right to do (even if the whole award set up seems a bit bogus).

    • Tator says:

      02:49pm | 21/09/11

      I remember an interview with Bradbury where he stated that he had noticed quite a few number of falls during the competition and deliberately skated at the rear semi as a tactic, expecting a fall to happen, hoping to snaffle a medal.  He did this in both his semi final and the final and lo and behold, both races had major falls and he ended up winning both races. 
      In the final he felt that the other four racers were under extreme pressure and might have over attacked and taken too many risks. Bradbury cited the host nation pressure on Ohno, who was expected to win all four of his events, Li, who had won Olympic medals but was yet to take a gold medal, Turcotte who only had one individual event, and Ahn, who had been the form racer at the Olympics so far. Bradbury felt that none would be willing to settle for less than gold and that as a result, they might collide.  So was he lucky, yes, but he was also smart enough to recognise the that the pressure on his competitors was so high that they would risk everything and increase the probability of a crash and worked with that and came out a winner.

    • TomZ says:

      11:30am | 22/09/11

      You can not take any shine off old Swannie- yes he was lucky - but you still have to get yourself in.

      ” years of dedication went into getting to that point ...” Years of dedicated backstabbing and double dealing don’t happen by accident. He calculated there could be falls at the front of the field and he was correct.

    • dw says:

      01:49pm | 21/09/11

      Perhaps it is helpful to separate political skill from the ability to govern. It is rare to find a person who excels in both. I would suggest that both current leaders are more adept at politics than governing.

      Music could be used as an analogy. On the one hand you have art - music that continues to move and transcend with the passage of time. And then you have hits - songs that successfully got to number one. Very occasionally art reaches number one.

      Reply

    • P. Darvio says:

      01:51pm | 21/09/11

      Quote: “Euromoney named Mr Swan….”

      M’mmm….. Yes “Euro” and “Money” equals

      1. Huge and unsustainable Debt
      2. Likely Sovereign Debt default
      3. Social Violence

      Not sure I would want, as Australian Treasurer, to even acknowledge an award like that from Europe at the moment – I would send that award back…..

      Reply

    • Chris L says:

      11:34pm | 21/09/11

      Now if Costello had been named that would be different. Euromoney would be the next great prophet!

    • Elphaba says:

      01:51pm | 21/09/11

      Regardless of the undermining of his award, the sentiment is true - governments don’t win power, they lose it.

      Reply

    • nossy says:

      04:10pm | 21/09/11

      @Elphaba   welcome back from your holiday Elphaba - nothings changed - still argy bargy!

    • Dave-o says:

      01:53pm | 21/09/11

      The bottom lip has finally hit the floor with Liberal apologists who can only compare Swan to Bradbury. Even countries with huge surpluses have been unable to keep pace with a very disciplined Australia so it flies in the face of this oft trotted out line “what about Costello”

      Credit where credit due and no surprise Euromoney observed that Swan has performed well above the mediocre benchmark in spite of a hung parliment and a destructive opposition.

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      02:18pm | 21/09/11

      You don’t know what you’re talking about. Name just one of these so-called “countries with huge surpluses (that) have been unable to keep pace with a very (wait for it) disciplined (HA!) Australia”.

      C’mon Dave-o, just name 1… Oh wait there aren’t any, you made it up!

    • marley says:

      02:46pm | 21/09/11

      One country that has done well - though not so well as Australia - is Canada - and for similar reasons (strong banking regulations; resource economy)  but it sure didn’t have any huge surplus walking into the GFC.  I don’t think there are any other countries even that close for comparison

    • PTom says:

      02:48pm | 21/09/11

      Richard,

      Norway.

    • Peter says:

      03:26pm | 21/09/11

      Richard, I know it sorely hurts to admit it, but we have a good economy and a government that has by most accounts done a good job in the eyes of the world.

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      04:03pm | 21/09/11

      PTom - reading about Norway’s economy during and since the GFC I’m not so sure Swan should have got the award - it should have gone to Kristin Halvorsen - and they seem to be keeping pace with Australia unlike what Dave-o is saying about overseas -

      But Dave-o did say countries (plural) - anymore on that list -

    • Dave-o says:

      04:04pm | 21/09/11

      Norway/Sweeden are very comparable to Australia in terms of surplus and exposure to resource pricing. Finland, Switzerland and South Korea all have zero debt and growth rates less than Australia.

      If national debt is “THE WORST POSSIBLE THING ANY GOVERNMENT CAN SADDLE US WITH” why has China avereged 7-10% GDP growth with almost 40% GDP debt. 

      So come on Richard, name one government with zero debt that has the same growth rate as Australia

    • Dave-o says:

      04:18pm | 21/09/11

      Norway had a 1.4% contraction in 09.

    • Richard says:

      07:14pm | 21/09/11

      Yes Dave-O, and its no coincidence that Norway’s economy contracted, because of course the Norwegian economy was hindered by their Carbon Tax.

      You see there is simply no government policy as guaranteed to inhibit economic growth and production as a Carbon Tax is. So its absolutely no surprise that, while yes their government coffers might have been fat with all the Carbon Tax revenue the Government extracted from productive enterprises in Norway, their economy itself was/is in no way as competitive as ours.

      But of course Wayne Swan is a part of the campaign to introduce the economically destructive Carbon Tax, and thus we will be in exactly the same boat as Norway, except even worse off because of the region of the world we must be competitive in (i.e Asia, with neighbours that have no Carbon Taxes anywhere, compared to Norway’s Europe). So that advantage is about to be squandered.

      Meanwhile China keeps booming away, yes that’s China, the world’s LARGEST CREDITOR NATION, by far and away, with the largest accumulation of foreign currency reserves, which is currently accumulating the largest central bank holding of gold. It is entirely inaccurate for you to describe China as having a higher debt to GDP ratio than Australia when you account for the TRILLIONS of reserves China keeps up its sleeves.

    • Chris L says:

      11:43pm | 21/09/11

      Did I see Richard possibly give some credit to “the other side”? No, thank goodness! He went with the comparison just so he could latch onto a “lefty” ideal (which was previously endorsed by Howard) that must have caused Norway to falter! Thank goodness he could find a lefty cause to hate in there.

      Swann is just lucky that China, with a GDP debt to dwarf ours, is there to prop us up.

      Fair enough guys, I know it’s like dining on ashes but try to admit that Labor is capable of doing an OK job eh?

      Seriously, my causes to oppose Howard were the assylum seekers, the wars and work choices. I could point to specific problems I had with them. I can point to specific problems I have with the current Labor crop as well. You guys just seem to point everywhere and say it’s all “their fault”.

    • Zeta says:

      02:05pm | 21/09/11

      Politics is like a beach. Not a nice one, a kind of grungy one. With that gross foam at the high tide mark and a rotten fish smell.

      Some politicians are like blue bottles - they come in with the high tide, and then die in the sun. Others are like drift wood. They get banged around until they’re smooth, then they’re washed out again, and come back looking completely different.

      It’s only a lucky few, maybe one per generation, that flaps up onto the beach, grows lungs where gills used to be, evolves legs and walks off to chalenge and change.

      I don’t even believe each country gets their one, revolutionary political leader per generation, I mean us, as in a collective species. You get one. Then you have to wait for a new one, while dodging the blue bottles and tossing the drift wood back into the sea.

      Waiting for the next Churchill to come out of Canberra is like waiting for the next Martin Luther King in the Woolongong Council Chambers. Aint going to happen. It’s a provincial dream. Kind of like the way we lionise Australian ice skaters.

      48 years ago, one such evolved mind crawled up out of the sea of fear, grew legs and put on a suit, climbed up on a podium and dreamed of peace in the new face of war. Then on November 22 1963 they shot him in the head. Because that’s what you get, if you try to change the world.

      Australian political mediocrity is a life saving mechanism, the political parties dirt digging zeal has saved political contenders from potentially being executed by the powers that be.

      Look at Craig Thompson - Kennedy slept with more prostitutes than he ever could. Who’s to say Craig Thompson wouldn’t have risen to power and contributed to world peace. The HSU and their personal vendettas might have ruined his career, but saved his life. He might have freed of indigenous Australians from poverty, provided affordable housing and ended our wars. But then he might have been shot in the face instead.

      I was so worried for Obama when he was elected. ‘Now here’s a guy they’re really going to want to kill’. Thank God he funnelled all those billions of dollars into the eager maws of the global banking mafia or his brains would be so much mince meat in a car seat too.

      I bet Julia Gillard feels it bad. Here she is, the first woman, the first supposedly Left Wing woman as well leading our country. She must have picked up the phone to Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and said ‘help me sister! how am I going to get through the first month without getting Evita’d?!?’ ‘That’s easy - give the banks what they want, a new speculative market or something. Carbon will do. In Iceland, we’re letting hedge funds trade in ice!’

      So yeah. Politics is a beach. And to survive, you have to be a blue bottle, or a piece of drift wood, because if you take a breath on land, or you even bleed a little bit for the people you represent, there are big f***ing sharks out there that will eat you alive.

      Reply

    • nossy says:

      02:41pm | 21/09/11

      @Zeta - bravo Zeta - brilliant - such eloquence!

    • jf says:

      03:08pm | 21/09/11

      The first thing that came to mind after reading this was “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy”.

      The issue with Craig Thomson isn’t that he slept with prostitutes but that he stole money.

      That aside, whilst it would seem that JFK had plenty of affairs, I am not aware of any evidence that he slept with prositutes let alone used stolen money to pay for prostitutes.

      But you’ve hit upon the problem with the modern left. All the great causes were fought 50 or 100 years ago by the union movement, the JFKs, the Martin Luther Kings, the Rosa Parks’, the suffragette movement, the Vincent Lingiari’s,

      The modern left are creating causes to make themselves feel relevant. Not only have most of the battles been fought, the people that fought them typically did so against great odds and at great personal and financial risk to themselves. Today’s irrelevant lefties take no personal risk, earn a handsome income telling others how to live their lives and face no personal danger.

    • Zeta says:

      04:46pm | 21/09/11

      @ jf - I don’t believe bringing honour, dignity and basic human decency to the corridors of power is the sole responsibility of the left. JFK was not left wing, neither was his brother, neither was MLK - the common cause of martyrd politicians is peace, and peace transcends concepts of Left and Right.

      The struggle for peace was fought, and lost. No one remains to pick that flag up and run with it. I didn’t see anyone standing up and campaigning for peace in the face of an establishment that became convinced the only solution for domestic terror was permanent war.

      Nobody gives peace a chance anymore, not because the battle was fought and won, but because the last guy who gave peace a chance got shot outside his flat.

    • jf says:

      06:07pm | 21/09/11

      Zeta says:04:46pm | 21/09/11

      “@ jf - I don’t believe bringing honour, dignity and basic human decency to the corridors of power is the sole responsibility of the left. “

      I agree. It’s just that the left thinks that it is.

    • Chris L says:

      08:58am | 22/09/11

      @JF - Let go of the hate man!

    • jf says:

      09:57am | 22/09/11

      Chris L says:08:58am | 22/09/11

      “@JF - Let go of the hate man! “

      Calling the left on the moral arrogance isn’t hate Chris L.

      Getting angry at the gross mismanagement of my federal government isn’t hate Chris L.

      Bemoaning the endemic and systemic corruption of the modern union movement (and, by association, ALP) isn’t hate Chris L.

      I’d suggest you look into the dark underbelly of the union movement to find true hate.

    • TomZ says:

      02:02pm | 22/09/11

      Great piece Zeta. I had always thought JFK slept with groupies rather than prostitutes and the Craig Thomson analogy did not get past that point.

      However, I appreciated the long bow you took on it “Who’s to say Craig Thompson wouldn’t have risen to power and contributed to world peace.” (but for a little bit of honesty and a considerable dose of talent)

      Flawed characters can still serve the Lord’s purpose?

    • Aitch B says:

      03:28pm | 21/09/11

      @NicoleG

      Hahahahahaha!!

      Milli Vanilli perhaps? smile

    • NicoleG says:

      04:25pm | 21/09/11

      LOL I’d say more like Peter Andre *Cringe*

    • fairsfair says:

      04:35pm | 21/09/11

      Oh god, now I have the mental image of a shirtless Swannie in linen pants singing “give me some kind of sign, girl” to Jools….

    • NicoleG says:

      05:14pm | 21/09/11

      I just sat back, closed my eyes and pictured that ff…........Hahaha. I’m crying   LOL

    • TimB says:

      05:27pm | 21/09/11

      Dammit Fairs, why do you say things?!

      *hunts for eye bleach*

    • Max, of Rocky says:

      04:35pm | 22/09/11

      No I would imagine him as Tiny Tim.

      I can see him playing the ukele,

      “Tip toe thru the tulips with me”  <giggle>

    • Mickey T says:

      03:24pm | 21/09/11

      Credit where credit is due, we live in a global economy. Australia is not isolated from world economic problems. Wayne Swan has been able to steer Australia through the worst four years seen since the great depression, all other treasurers the world over have had to deal with the same global economy, Wayne Swan was able to do what other finance ministers were unable to do.

      Costello left us with a 20 billion dollar surplus after wiping out a 96 billion dollar debt, well whoopee, seeing he nearly sold off the farm to achieve such, wow. He gave away most of our gold reserves, he sold off most of our assets and spent nothing on infrastructure and conservatives brag about what a great treasurer he was, my six year old could have done the same and produced an even bigger surplus.

      The opposition should show some grace and congratulate Swan on a job well done, but no, they can’t bring themselves to do such. We’re all Australians and we should all be proud of this achievement by Mr Swan, if he was a sportsman we would all be cheering him.

      Go cry in your Gin conservative voters, you all wrote Swan off four years ago and he has proved you all wrong.

      Reply

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      04:13pm | 21/09/11

      Mickey T - “Costello left us with a 20 billion dollar surplus after wiping out a 96 billion dollar debt, well whoopee” - the surplus is what got us through the GFC so whoopee indeed - Norway’s finance minister got them through the GFC as well by using their surplus - see the pattern that is forming here. Besides Treasury using IMF figures has shown that there is no statistical evidence that stimulus packages from the G20 countries had any effect on economic recovery.

    • Mickey T says:

      04:37pm | 21/09/11

      Surely you jest MadKat…you reckon 20 billion got us through the GFC?

      Back to economics 101 for you MadKat.

    • Economist says:

      07:51pm | 21/09/11

      @MadKat while I agree that Costello’s surplus provided confidence to the market and put Australia in a good position. The reference to the Treasury study is misleading. As stated in Oakes’ piece.  The analysis is rubbish given that not all stimulus packages are alike. The error that Davidson highlighted was the omission of data and no statstical significance. It’s meaningless because it doesn;.t actually look at the impact of the package on GDP. The fact is the Australian stimulus did work. I suggest you have a read of this for a more indepth and accurate analysis http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=4831.

      The Australian stimulus worked because it was specifically targetted. Despite bouying the economy, the focus has been on waste and the subsequent debt. With such a rushed package there were bound to be oversights and these have been hashed over at quite some length so I’m not going to go into further detail. In comparsion the US had a larger stimulus package but their waste was even more as it was used to prop up banks and filtered through state and local governments.

      As for Norway, I’m surprised you’d endorse such a “socialist” country. They regualrly run deficits but use up to 4% of their “Global” wealth fund to fill the gap. They too had a stimulus package of around $2.8B euro or 1% of GDP, their largest one off expenditure in 30 years (for comparison) ours was around 4.6-4.8% of GDP.  The funny thing is that soverign wealth fund is similar to the proposed mining tax, which the Coalition are against, though Gillard and co. have made the mistake of not setting it up as such a fund. If only they’d done this people possibly wouldn’t see it as a tax grab.

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      10:30am | 22/09/11

      Well Mickey T - I certainly don’t think that the imported pink batt scheme, giving you $900 to spend on imported goods and building some school building got us through the GFC - I wouldn’t bother reading anymore of this post as it will obviously go over your head -

      Economist - we’ll have to agree to disagree on the figures -
      It does look at the package on GDP - subtract the 2009 IMF forecast growth from the actual growth achieved in 2009, that tells us the forecast error – or the amount by which the original GDP forecast for each nation was out. That then allows us to compare the size of the various stimulus packages to the size of those GDP forecasts errors.

      Using 11 countries the regression analysis showed that the stimulus packages made a clear difference to the size of GDP growth. The opposite is true when the data isn’t cherry-picked by Treasury. It was a piece of best-fit propaganda slipped into the Budget.

      An injection of cash never reduces economic activity so any effect would have been positive on our GDP. But the question is “Taking other things into account how much of the positive effect was due to the stimulus package?”.

      International trade was pounded during the crisis, but China’s steel-based stimulus package was an exception and a windfall to Australia nobody predicted. I’d like to see projections of Australia’s hypothetical GDP during that period with and without the Chinese stimulus. China’s stimulus was sharply implemented, and far more effective on the Australian economy and then our own slap-dash affair.

      For example, the stimulus launched by China implemented rail construction. The Chinese got something functional for the cash they spent, while Australia just squandered its stimulus.

      Your article talks about multipliers larger than one on stimulus packages - is that based on the standard Keynesian model where that’s an assumption and not a finding.

      The fact is that stimulus has been shown by Barro (Harvard Professor) to have a multiplier of less than 1 which in fact means $1 of spending will result in less than a dollar of gain. In other words it’s a dead weight loss. Barro’s finding are based on empirical analysis and not economic assumptions.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574440723298786310.html

      As for Norway - I’m giving credit where credit is due - socialist or not they got through the GFC in good shape -

    • Jim Wiggs says:

      03:30pm | 21/09/11

      I Wayne Swan is so bloody good, perhaps he should replace Julia Gillard…

      Reply

    • Peter says:

      03:38pm | 21/09/11

      Not a bad idea.

    • mick says:

      03:35pm | 21/09/11

      Come on Tory.  A bit of a tough call.

      Yes Bradbury won but this was a wonderful achievement, where all of us who witnessed it live stood up and cheered loudly.  Australians love to see the underdog win.

      On the other hand would you really want to see Tony Abbott’s become our next prime minister?  This would be bad for all Australians as Abbott has already made it quite clear that he will give back a bucket load of money to big business, which means that average Australians who have already been hard hit will have much higher taxes.  On top of that environmental issues will be killed off as they don’t earn dollars for business, the NBN will be shelved because Australian business is a dinosaur and the tax free threshhold will find its way back to where it was.  And then lets have IR laws so that we become a US style labour market where only half of the population earn enough to pay tax.

      My question Tory is why is the media gunning for Labor when this is the only side of politics which is doing good for all Australians, including business.  Lets have a non business controlled media where both sides get a fair shake lest we lose the way of life which many of us have worked so hard to achieve.

      I for one congratulate Wayne Swan on his award.  Unlike Peter Costello Swan did not have to deliver his budgets from a hammock.

      Reply

    • Mark says:

      04:02pm | 21/09/11

      Ice Queen 0
      Wayne Swan 1


      Own goal, Tory. Always congratulate good play. Sportsmanship 101.

      Reply

    • dweezy2176 says:

      04:09pm | 21/09/11

      I’m sure the tens of thousands who have lost their jobs since the last budget (which was supposed to create 70,000 jobs) were all in the front row cheering and whooping as our Treasurer took his deserved accolade#

      Reply

    • john says:

      05:01pm | 21/09/11

      A deluded award given to a deluded treasurer that now presides over a deluded economy with high inflation, sky high interest rates that are comparable to about 26% in 1987-the last economic crash, continuous rising unemployment in the last 6 months that we all know is worse because of doctored definition changes of ABS statistics, massive debt , laden with new taxes,  to top of the icing on his cake it was he who engineered the latest housing bubble that’s popping. Gee… that broken record of “china boom” is just a load of wank that we are all buying, china’s economy has tanked since 2007 and its property bubble is bursting.
      What is really happening is that the taxes & royalties from mining is feeding a country that’s turning more & more into a welfare state, where people will risk there lives to come by boat to join in this racket.

      The irony we will need Labor to win the next election because our economy will become a basket case dependant on welfare sucking on the big tit of government that sucks on the giant mining tit sucking on the enormous tit of Australian assets depleting like never before….oh yes budget will be in surplus 2013…pull the other-one. What about the total national debt?

      http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

      How about a “suckers” award for the Australian public?

      Reply

    • baybee says:

      05:21pm | 21/09/11

      Echo fairsfair re Steve Bradbury. a great Aussie with a great story - he maybe was lucky but it made up for other bad luck like almost bleeding to death on the track when a skate sliced his femoral artery. Swannee and the other no hoper union stooges should wish they had as much ability, courage, commitment and decency as SB has in his little finger. If the World’s Dullest Treasurer was in a skating final he’d be going backwards as usual. No worries -  his opponents would all be retired hurt. The only blood on the track would be from a nasty blade wound to a former couldabeen which wouldn’t heal. And the blood-letting team manager would be sitting on her backside hoping inspiration would seep up slowly from the ice region to her brain. A long wait.

      Reply

    • stephen says:

      06:47pm | 21/09/11

      He’s an excellent Treasurer.
      I will not elaborate, (I know you’ll all agree with me anyway) ; furthermore, he would, when Julia gets hitched and shows her fictional screen-time double up as a moron, make a very good Prime Minister.

      Touche, you miserable whingers.

      Reply

    • Horns Up says:

      07:57pm | 21/09/11

      This is the world conservatives want?

      Where awards aren’t awards (unless of course they win them). Where economists don’t know what they’re talking about when Abbott can’t find one to support his action plan. Where no body has the class to say congratulations.

      Howard had more class and more common sense.

      Of course all this blinkered thinking and negativity will come back to bite them.

      \m/

      Reply

    • Holly says:

      08:36pm | 21/09/11

      I must remind you that Costello left us with a structural deficit - i.e. unsustainable welfare payments to the well off and billions lost to future revenue each year from his tax free super for the rich.

      I’d also remind you that only a small part of the current deficit is due to stimulus spending - the rest is revenue forgone revenue during the downturn that the Coalition seems to believe we did not have.  Had the coalition been in power during the GFC I shudder to think about the outcome.  Apart from the damage to business we would have in fact ended up with a bigger deficit because they do not support stimulus spending and the rise in unemployment would have resulted in even more lost tax revenue and huge welfare payouts.  Not that hard to grasp.

      The attitude of the coalition today was appalling.  They obviously have learnt well from their leader how to be boorish.

      Further to what someone pointed out above - I think I also read in Wikileaks how Tony Abbott encouraged Joe Hockey to keep supporting the ETS while at the same time he was plotting with Minchin to stand as an anti carbon tax candidate against Turnbull.  He’s been dropping Joe in it ever since.

      Reply

    • Spare me says:

      10:40pm | 21/09/11

      Yes. He is very Bradbury-esque.

      Morons who dont know anything about skating or the work that Steven put in will always underplay the fact that he stuck to his plan and won. The reality is, he earned it through all the years he put into training, not the 3 seconds at the end of his race.
      Morons who dont know anything about fiscal policy or economics (but doesn’t stop a lot of them drawing a salary to comment on it, eh? EH?) will similarly try to find ‘luck’ excuses for what was a very astute and well executed policy. Said morons will often parrot liberal party slogans such as “bradburian” in headlines and try to play his work down a mere day after sniffily declaring themselves and their organisation to be doing no such thing.
      Back in your boxes.

      Reply

    • Dwayne Swan says:

      06:30am | 22/09/11

      Euromoney 2006 Best Investment Bank - Lehman Brothers (Busted 2007)
      Euromoney 2006 Best Equity House - Morgan Stanley (Bailed out 2007)

      Euromoney 2006 Best at Risk Management - Bear Stearns (Busted 2007)

      Euromoney 2006 Best at Investor Services - Citigroup (Bailed out 2007)

      And I’d like to note the favourable Euromoney commentary on AIG’s future, 2007 (bailed out 2007)

      From Andrew Bolt’s blog. Says it all really.

      Reply

    • Joanne Bennett says:

      08:13am | 22/09/11

      Right place at the right time.

      Reply

    • Traxster says:

      10:48am | 22/09/11

      When most politicians enter parliament they are amateurs
      and when they leave they are still amateurs.
      GHU !!

      Reply

    • Genek says:

      10:48am | 22/09/11

      Costello paid back the debt so our descendants wont have to. Now they will have to pay for the infrastructure he neglected. Great achievement

      Reply

    • MarkS says:

      02:23pm | 22/09/11

      Swan is a pygmy standing on the shoulders of a tall man, Costello. Who in turn stood opon the shoulders of a giant, Keating.

      Reply

    • Xar says:

      04:20pm | 22/09/11

      can’t say I think we’ll find the gracious humility and a willingness to praise opponents in any of them - pollies are not so much the grit the makes the pearl, but the slugs that spoil the salad.

      Reply
 
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