Barnaby has to keep Malcolm in the right

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s agile and nimble government has talked the talk on economic reform but hasn’t walked a single step in any meaningful direction.

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s agile and nimble government has talked the talk on economic reform but hasn’t walked a single step in any meaningful direction since he precipitated his long-planned and cunningly orchestrated coup against Tony Abbott last September. His batting average is zero. His swaggering self-assurance, which was apparently enough to sway some reluctant backbenchers to join his plot, now looks arrogant and unearned smugness. Many Liberals, particularly those of a conservative bent, were always uneasy about following Labor down the path of executing parliamentary leaders and it must be acknowledged that Tony Abbott’s foibles, as oddball as his much-derided captain’s picks may have been, were never as draining on the public purse as Kevin Rudd’s or Julia Gillard’s totally hare-brained and economically crippling policies. Think the lethal pink batts scheme, and the unfunded NDIS and Gonski schemes. In that league, Abbott’s awarding of an honour to Prince Philip looks about as benign as it can get. But to those already inclined to hate every facet of the former prime minister’s physiognomy and character, it was the final blow. The volunteer firefighter and surf lifesaver was just too blokey, too Aussie, for the ­effete aesthetes for the preponderance of the ABC’s Q&A guests and the majority of its carefully-selected audience with their pre-­approved line of chippy questions. Good grief, he didn’t appear to share the shame they felt when they saw the national flag, or even smirk when he heard the national anthem, nor was he profusely apologetic for being a pretty normal white, heterosexual male, married with a family. Malcolm Turnbull’s Wentworth electorate, with its above-average percentage of pink and green voters, not to mention over-educated but unworldly and wealthy small-l liberal voters who embrace multiculturalism in an apparent belief that feudal tribal ­societies will clamour for social democracy if given free access to the internet and welfare benefits, is well represented. But it’s not conservatism. That’s why the Nationals unanimous selection of Barnaby Joyce to replace former leader Warren Truss is to be welcomed. Joyce, who has also been subjected to ridicule as a matter of course by many commentators on the taxpayer-funded ABC, must provide a counter balance to Turnbull’s enthusiasm for a republic, homosexual marriage, global warming and other irrelevant preoccupations of the luvvies. He must ensure that Turnbull abides by all the points of the agreement the Nationals insisted he sign before they agreed to remain in Coalition with the Liberal Party when he seized the leadership. With the same short-sightedness of Labor’s true believers, many in the Liberal Party and among the Turnbull supporters in the Canberra press gallery, went into Malcolm-as-Messiah mode but six months on Turnbull isn’t walking on water, he’s barely floating. The sole premise of the coup he sold to the Australian public was that he would ­deliver an economic narrative and he hasn’t yet delivered on that solitary promise. He’s flown to Paris and sided with the dysfunctional UN’s false prophets of global warming, he’s reached out to the Mardi Gras marchers, he’s been part of the Australian of the Year fiasco and he’s moved into the renovated Lodge and permitted gushing comparisons between his family and JFK and Jackie Kennedy but he hasn’t demonstrated any of the economic leadership that was expected of a self-made millionaire and boutique banker. He unleashed wild speculation about a 50 per cent increase in the 10 per cent GST rate and left Treasurer Scott Morrison stranded when that wacky notion was inevitably aborted, but not until Labor’s almost totally ineffectual ­leader Bill Shorten had made some mileage with a campaign based on the cost of limp heads of lettuce (iceberg, not cos). He’s done nothing to ­reassure Australians who have been paying into their compulsory superannuation accounts that their savings will be safe from pillage from his government and there has been conjecture about other forms of revenue raising, land tax, death duties, but almost nothing about possible cuts to government spending. Sure, the government has a revenue problem but the best solution would be reduce ­expenditures not find new ways to squander taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Turnbull has followed Labor tradition in toppling an incumbent prime minister, he has relished embracing all the social causes beloved of Labor, but it’s more than high time he started thinking like a conservative and tackled budget reform from a “dry” perspective, not from the dripping “wet” position of his soggiest supporters. His predecessor earned the admiration of world leaders when he spoke out against Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s outrageous conduct in the Ukraine which culminated in the downing of Malaysian Airways passenger aircraft MH17, he is in demand as a speaker internationally because not only does he espouse conservative principles, he has endorsed and successfully implemented them. He kept his big election pledges, stopping the boats, ending the carbon tax, thus he saved lives and jobs. Turnbull has competent ministers in Morrison and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann. It is increasingly looking like he is the problem, indecisive, lacking a clear understanding of the direction he should be leading the nation. This is an election year and he must meet two objectives if his ousting of Abbott is going to stand up to the scrutiny of history. He must first work with Morrison to produce a budget in May which shows a clear understanding of the need to make deep cuts in ­expenditure and he must formulate a platform which is lucid and sensibly does not make extravagant promises of more lavish spending for pet projects beloved of minority special interest groups.