The Monk's Manifesto

According to the television ads that the *blues* are running, the monks' manifesto contains these four items.

* End Wasteful Spending.
* Pay Back Labor's Debt.
* Stop Labor's New Taxes.
* Stop the Boats.

Now these four things might appeal to those folks who are rusted on to the *blues* or those who don't do a lot of analysis or thinking. But most other people will be repulsed by the monk's manifesto - which is misleading in the extreme.

Because it’s the spending of the Labor Government in reaction to the Global Financial Crisis that saved literally tens of thousands of Australian jobs. Does anyone else consider that to be wasteful?

As a result the Federal Government debt is a bit larger - but still insignificant by comparison with Australia's real debt problem - private mortgages. Again all serious commentators support the view that our Government debt is small and actually likely to be a good thing. I wonder if the monk is also proposing to help the *battlers* with their mortgage debt? Now that would win him the election ;-)

I know the monk has said that he is going to remove the new mining tax. And the inference is that he will welcome the raping and pillaging of the nation by the large mining companies and their CEO's. All serious commentators actually support a resources rent tax and most are supportive of the one that was proposed by Ken Henry. But apparently not the *blues*.

And the monk will stop the boats - by turning them back he says. I can't even begin to express my distaste at his asylum seeker policy - but I do know that it won't work.

So the four key items that the monk is relying on to get him and his motley crew back onto the Treasury benches are all dishonest and misleading.

Does he think Australian's are stupid? And if he succeeds then it will just prove that we are.