Petro Georgiou, Judi Moylan and Bruce Baird got their immigration
changes through. Sophie Panopoulos has got her VSU legislation. But
George Brandis and Malcolm Turnbull have only got a promise of a review
on the sedition legislation – and what happens with Turnbull’s tax
ideas is shaping up as a real test of the Government and the man who
would lead it, Peter Costello.

The Government is lagging in the polls, but as Dennis Shanahan observed in The Weekend Australian,
“with a contentious legislative agenda now passed, the leadership
tensions have eased and, with the prospect of a well-funded budget, the
Liberals are well-placed to repeat the recovery of 2001.”

But how will they do it? With pork – or with something new?

Howard and Costello must seize tax reform, The Weekend Australian editorialised on the weekend. Tax cuts for all, pledges Howard, TheAustralian story said on Friday. But what are we going to get – reform, or tinkering?

Shadow Treasurer Wayne Swan said all the right things to the SMH
on Saturday – that Labor recognises the need for broad-based tax
reform and dealt with rates, thresholds, concessions and compliance.

“We need a tax system that’s simple, competitive, progressive and
fair,” he said. “If the Government had its act together we would have
had tax reform by now.”

Blud oath. Over at The Age, Shaun Carney
spoke of “Howard’s Santa strategy.” “The PM has been buying his way
with voters, but will cash stay king for this Kong?” he asked.

Well, in the past, Howard has used our tax dollars to bribe the special
interest groups he needs onside to stay Prime Minister. Can he come up
with something subtler? Will the Treasurer? Can Turnbull push his tax
reform agenda?

And how much time have we got? Tis the season to be jolly and all of that, but Josh Gordon had some words of warning in The Age
today: “The commodity boom, on which the Australian economy and the
Government coffers are now so dependent, is unlikely to last, Federal
Treasury has warned.”

This is Costello’s ticker test – and a test for Turnbull’s own claim to
higher, perhaps the highest, office. Will we just see more tax
tinkering on Budget night, on May 10, next year?

Or will we see the sort of root and branch reform that will deliver a
fairer, more efficient tax system and create a juster system – and
boost investment to keep the economy powering onwards?