"Policy on the Run" is becoming the trademark of the Gillard Government

Making up policy on the run is becoming the trademark of this Prime Minister & her Government!

Please keep in mind that the policy concepts are not necessarily being questioned. Rather it is the obvious lack of strategic planning, detailed analysis, consultation with stakeholders or analysis of the potential economic impact of the major policies on business & employment that are baffling! It is becoming more & more apparent that most are made up on the run as knee jerk reactions to public opinion, which are usually influenced by the extreme right or extreme left!

It all started from the early days of Gillard's reign when she announced the poorly studies or planned & now botched East Timor solution for asylum seekers.

Then the Government decided that after all the original advice to the then PM Rudd to drop his ETS policy was not sound & decided to announce another policy on the run, namely the carbon tax!

Last week we had the poorly planned Malaysian solution which prompted even some prominent labour leaning lawyers to protest the apparent lack of detail in the policy!

And the Government announced today it is banning live animal exports to Indonesia for six months! Based on the evidence on the Four Corners program last week, there are serious animal cruelty issues in the treatment of live stock exports to Indonesia which need to be dealt with. However, this must be done in a considered way, not on the run as the government did with refugees & carbon tax!

Now up to 15,000 cattle are stuck in ports in NT & WA as they were due to leave because the Government yet again made an announcement on the run! The ban was announced today by the Agriculture Minister without any consultation with the cattle growers or any consideration for the immediate economic hardship placed on them as a result of this "on the run" policy announcement.

The PM needs to start to demonstrate policy commitments that suggest good policy planning & some conviction by her & her government, or risk being punished at the next elections.

Without the mining boom, Australia would be in a deep recession & stuck with leaders who lack inspiration, vision and conviction!

And to make matters worse, both Gillard & Abbott seem to neither have the policies to deal with Australia's major economic issues nor the capability to be the inspiring leaders that Australia desperately needs.

Talk to any retailer, big or small, tourism operator, manufacturer, farmer, car dealer & generally any small business operator & it is crystal clear that things are going so bad that even the concept of "two speed economy" does not accurately describe the malaise in the Australian economy. Unless of course the term refers to the economy of Western Australia vs the economy of the rest of Australia! (same point also stated by the CEO of Linfox in today's AFR)

And at a crucial time in Australia's history, we have hit a massive drought of talent in the Federal politics in this country. Both Julia Gillard & Tony Abbott lack political conviction, are light on visionary policies & worse of all lack the ability to state & sell their policies to the electorate in an effective manner.

Gillard (and Rudd before her) & her Government have proven that they simply are incapable of designing & implementing good policies (as opposed to policy on the run in order to catch up in the polls). In the odd occasion that they do, they either

a) demonstrate a total lack of conviction in their own policy eg dropping the ETS or the asylum seekers issue that Gillard is wrestling with, or
b) are totally incapable of selling the idea to the voters (eg carbon tax), or
c) are incapable of managing & controlling the implementation costs associated with policies (eg BER, Insulation & the current budget blow outs in the broadband roll out)

On the other hand Abbott, whilst effective as an opposition leader in opposing everything, is perceived to be light on policy, and worse, totally hostage to the ill informed and/or biased views & opinions of radio shock jocks & marginal seat voters, ie those who will supposedly win him the next election! By choosing this risky strategy, Abbott is being perceived as very light on any substantive policy & therefore incapable of leading Australia!

As the reputable "Economist" magazine pointed out this week (in a Special feature on Australia), the current lack of substantive leadership & vision on both sides of politics in Australia threatens to harm the great reforms implemented during the Hawke/Keating/Howard years & destroy Australia's bright future!

In conclusion, whilst the Gillard Government may lose the next election due to total failure in effectivepolicy implementation, an Abbott led coalition must demonstrate viable visionary policies to deserve to win Government!