I thought the Henry Report was suppose to be released weeks ago?

With a bit of effort Kev might be able to figure out what the tax free threshold is by then …

Rudd call himself an emperor but he now realise he’s not wearing any clothes. And there’s nothing in the wardrobe either. And the worst thing for him as that now the general public realise that too. Game’s up.

I agree, his case for re-election is brittle at best. Yes, he’s done “wonders” with the GFC, but as I commented on another thread, any mug sitting in the chair would have done pretty much the same thing. All it needs is for Abbott to come up with a few credible alternatives (that’s the challenge) and Kevvie will be looking for another job.

Absolute and total incompetence – You wouldn’t trust them to take ya bloody dog for a walk!

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/kevin-rudd-puts-ken-henry-tax-review-on-hold/story-e6frgczf-1225836891820

Lol, somebody shoot me.

But the GFC reminded him rather forcibly that Oz is a flea on the tail rather than the dog. And presumably taught him that he really is very short on for skills in lots of important things. Plus I’d doubt it’s escaped his notice that few if any of his sidekicks have many skills either?

Lindsay Tanner seemed to be OK. But he’s become pretty much a case of Lindsay Who? Tanya Plibersek had a look at housing affordability and figured out anything she might do to fix it in a hurry would cook the economy. So nothing more from her corner. Garret and Wong and Gillard – The less said the better perhaps? (With fingers crossed that none of the new school halls fall down on the kiddies heads.) A report on Superannuation still to come. And a double dissolution brewing over Health.

And all this lack of talent and skills are being asked to deliver on a whole heap of promises made and reviews commissioned to assist with same while also coping with the GFC thing.

I think we’re looking at a case of an idealistic control orientated chap without many skills or talented support, running head on into a sizable dose of reality and having every reason to suspect he’s gotten way more on his plate than he can handle and no real idea what to do about it?

As for the pink batts debacle, Garrett should have walked. Any person with some practical experience knows that a rushed job is likely to cause you some pain and the risk management assessment conducted by Minter Ellison warned of this.

We had a saying in the navy – Prior Planning Prevents P%ss Poor Performance.

If they had taken an extra few months to get things sorted 4 people may still be alive today and yet, nobody responsible for implementing and overseeing the program has been held to account! Amazing.

Politically, the timing is almost perfect. We won’t see the full report until just prior to the federal election. This will allow Rudd & Swan to time the announcements of their policies in response to the KHR exactly, forcing Abbott & Barney into a “Me too” position.

Mind you, one can’t always predict opposition responses. Who would have thought Rudd could have forced Abbott into a corner over the insulation debacle? Abbott’s complaints about job losses and businesses losing millions was the catalyst… and his own lack of commitment to the program was then attacked by Labor. All Abbott needed to respond with was: “We’ll get the insulation program back-on-track, but with strict guidelines and controls.” Instead he has nowhere to go, in a scenario where “We’ll do it properly!” was the smarter response.

Catch 22 if he has no intention of retaining the program, for then his complaints about job losses and businesses losing millions are meaningless. Interesting times…!

A review of tax has its merits. But before the review even started they were already ruling things in and out and now that it has been several months since it has been finished and they are still not releasing it you have to question the motives.

Who knows if we will actually ever see the original report…

As you say, the really big things, like GST, capital gains, negative gearing will be put into the too hard basket. And watching Swannie trying to sell the intergenerational report is funny. We’ve got a gutless wonder as a PM and an international disgrace as treasurer.

As for the ETS, that probably we’re probably at least 10 years away from the world being remotely in a place to consider co-operating on that. So the chances of our fearless government going down that path – less than zero.

Sadly I don’t think SMSF’s will get too many favours from Kevin Rudd or Ken Henry. Rudd seems to think those who have built up a nest egg are people who deserve to be taxed more and Henry has no problems going after retirement savings or superannuation because his Government backed pension won’t be touched by any of his proposed reforms!

The problem with giving a review to a public servant is that you can be sure they won’t review their own perks! When was the last time Ken Henry had to set up his own Super fund, manage a business loan or worry about how his pension would be taxed?

If Rudd and Co really wanted an honest review of the tax system then the panel should have been independent of the Government and public service, and everything should have been on the table, including the GST.

The final report should have then been delivered to the Government, the Opposition and the public at the same time thus allowing the contents to be debated/analysed.

As it the whole review is a staged managed political circus and sadly it seems Ken Henry has become one of Rudd’s willing performers.

Maybe hardworking middle class Australians should pull a “Massachusetts” on Rudd to let him know we are not happy. It seems have worked very well on Obama.

BTW, I also want to say I really enjoy reading your blog – one of the few that sees Australia from a global view which is so different from what you read in mainstream media in Australia. Keep up the good work!