Review puts politics ahead of economics
Aug 18th, 2008 | By David Harper | Category: OpinionThe Australian Editorial: Steve Bracks’s retirement in July last year, at a time of his own choosing after eight years as Victorian premier, was a mark of his political savvy. So is his automotive review, which has handed the Rudd Government a pragmatic, politically palatable blueprint for an industry that has basked for too long in protection and taxpayer-funded largesse.
If, as expected, the report allows the Rudd Government to squib the hard decisions on the car industry, such political pragmatism will be in line with that of the Howard government, the 1984 Button plan that restructured the industry during the Hawke-Keating years and a long line of post-war governments before them.