Good IR, bad IR – Kim Beazley must be scratching his head.
On the one hand the ALP criticises the government for wanting to cut
back workers rights and conditions. On the other, he has Chris Bowen the
Member for Prospect criticising the government for giving workers too
many conditions in the form of paying for massages. What gives?

Challenging task – Rumours of NSW Liberal leadership challenges
seem to come along more often than Sydney trains and, yes, they’ve been
floating around in the leader up to today’s first Newspoll
from neophyte Premier Morris Iemma. The stories say that certain
opposition members have emerged from their winter hibernation muttering
about the state of the rail and hospital systems. The poll’s a mixed
bag for Brogden. The two party preferred vote is 50/50. The Coalition’s
primary vote outstrips Labor 43% to 39%. That’s a jump of two points
for the ALP. Brogden’s personal satisfaction rating is up three points
to 45% but Iemma has got an early approval rating of 43%, a big
improvement on Bob Carr’s 35% in June. Still, it’s early days for
Iemma – and premature for plotters.

Don’t you want Steve Fielding’s vote, Peter? – “If those are not
your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic
state, then Australia is not for you,” the Treasurer said on Lateline last night. Barnaby better be on side over Telstra, hey Pete?

Santa doesn’t exist – Strange tales reach Crikey of a crisis
meeting at the National Civic Council’s North Melbourne bunker.
Accusations that the NCC state presidents are under the influence of
the Freemasons. Calls to build links with the League of Rights and the
Citizens Electoral Councils. Former federal Liberal MP and conspiracy
monger Ken Aldred being quoted as an authority. Oh dear. We’ll offer up
a decade of the rosary for these poor lost souls.

Great timing – We’re surprised nothing more has been made of this report in the Sunday Herald-Sun:

A senior Victorian Liberal has volunteered to execute the
Bali 9 heroin gang members if they are found guilty. Former Liberal MP
for Tullamarine Bernie Finn said drug traffickers were ‘scum’ and ‘mass
murderers’. Mr Finn, who is seeking Liberal preselection for an Upper
House seat, told 3AW the death penalty should be reintroduced in
Australia for traffickers caught with more than 1 kg of heroin… Mr Finn
refused to elaborate later after being gagged by state Liberal director
Julian Sheezel.

Given the events of the past few days, Sheezel probably has Finn gaffed
like the gimp. But what does Finn’s boss, Aston MP and Parliamentary
Secretary to the Treasurer, Chris Pearce, make of all this? Just
wondering…

Tax take – Last week we got the happy news from the ABS that
despite much publicised tax reductions at commonwealth and state level,
the total tax take
has actually grown as a proportion of the economy over the past three
years. Today, RMIT associate professor Sinclair Davidson is arguing
further tax cuts could spur the economy and even lead to an increase in
government revenue. “‘High levels of taxation have adverse economic
effects,” he says. “It is important to notice, however, that it is high
tax rates that do the damage. The 2005 budget brought in tax relief –
there will be more money in people’s pockets. The budget, however, did
not bring down the top marginal tax rate. In other words, the
government has incurred the political costs of tax relief, but few of
the benefits of tax reform will be realised.” More here.