Don't abuse the word reforms

Comments on Jessica Irvine “Big-picture reforms now most at risk”, 23/08/2010, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/bigpicture-reforms-now-most-at-risk-20100822-13aze.html?posted=sucessful
Let's forget the notion of big reforms for a moment and think about real issues that are important to the nation.

The biggest issue is to reduce government spending and wastes. On this account, the current government is not scoring well - the NBN is a white elephant, the CPRS takes households money to pay for big polluters and the mining tax would enable it to spend and waste more.

So don’t just label those as reforms, consider whether they are good or not!

The most sensible policies in those three areas should be:

1. A carbon tax with proceeds returned to households and distributed on an equal per capita basis.

2. No mining tax, because mining profit is taxed through company income tax.

3. Adopt the coalition’s broadband policy approach with minimum modifications.

As to the Henry review, the problems with its RSPT should be a summary of the quality and judgement of that review. It is not and should not be a blueprint for the future.