Hail to the chief

Unless something very odd happens in the next twelve months, I'm going to vote Labour at the next election. I heard Kevin Rudd on the steam powered wireless yesterday and in the very first Opposition Leader interview of his that has come to my attention he addressed two of the issues that matter the most to me. Not only did he he address them, but his stance on these issues is very palatable to me. On the first we are in complete agreement: Australia is sending jobs overseas by the bucketload because of the current gubment's obsession with having every single budget in surplus. The easiest way to get a surplus is the export of commodities, we give the industries major tax breaks, the taxpayer then constructs the majority of infrastructure (Although the coal industry is doing so well that they are building a lot of their own rail and water lines now.), the commodity is then put on a boat and sent overseas. We don't manufacture anything any more. We send coal and iron ore to Japan, who smelt the ore. Japan is not a cheap country, either tax-wise or labour-wise. How does this make economic sense?

Rudd nimbly side-stepped what will probably be the official Liberal Party rhetoric about tariff barriers (Much like the official Liberal Party rhetoric about interest rates, they will neglect to mention their own record on tariffs, or tell you who fixed the problem.) and gave some imprecise, but encouraging answers full of references to R&D and industry development. It is naive to expect detailed policy from any opposition this far out from an election and ridiculous to expect it from a new opposition leader, but I will be watching this one closely.

The second issue I don't see exactly eye to eye with Kevvy on, but at least he is addressing the issue in a way which is likely to see a positive outcome. I am referring to the relations between state and federal governments. My preferred solution is to get rid of the states. Simple idea, really, but bloody difficult to put into practice. Kevvy didn't offer a quick soundbite solution to the problem (He'll have to work on that if he is to compete with Howard. Johnny's policies are always easily digestible. Might not be any good, but they are easy to sell.) but he is aware of it, has worked in both area and seems to have a pragmatic approach to the problem. Johnny, on the other hand, uses the steamroller approach in areas where he is ideologically motivated or where there are easy points on offer. Everything else he blames the states for.

There is another reason to vote for Kevvy: He wears RMs.