Turnbull may not necessarily paint himself into the coner

Comments on Glenn Milne “Debt rhetoric paints Malcolm Turnbull into a corner”, 7/09/2009, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26035135-33435,00.html

While there might be a risk, Turnbull should have a strong point to run, not just for now, but also in leading up to the next election and the opposition’s broad budgetary strategy for going to the next election.

It will not be difficult to do it. It needs some prerequisites. The first one is that it needs that the Rudd government could be exposed to budgetary imprudence. That has been and will continue to be exposed from now on. The school’s wasteful spending and costs overrun is a primary example. The federal government’s Indigenous housing fiasco in the Northern Territory is another. So Turnbull and the opposition have got some real facts already on their hands. The question is how to best use them to their greatest political advantage.

The second one is the ability to prepare a broad budget that is within the federal government’s overall spending but in a smarter design either to deliver a better outcome or the same outcome with smaller spending and hence smaller budget deficit and debt implications. It will not be very easy to do it, but should not be too hard for the coalition if they prepare themselves well and start to do it from now.

The key lies that the opposition needs to hammer the government on budget management and spending priority and efficiency. On that one, the opposition has an advantage.

If the opposition uses its advantages in managing budgets and debts well, it has a very good chance to either significantly closing the gap with the government or win the next election.

With due respect to Glenn Milne, he may be wrong on this point.