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Twitter mocks Malcolm’s Kevin Rudd moment with innovative ideas boom tweets

THERE’S never been a more exciting time to be a rent-seeker. Malcolm Turnbull’s #IdeasBoom is generating hilarious responses on Twitter.

Frank ChungFrank Chung
@franks_chung
less than 2 min read
December 8, 2015 - 6:27PM
Ideas boom hashtag backfires
Ideas boom hashtag backfires

INNOVATION. Wyatt Roy. One biiiillion dollars.

Malcolm Turnbull has made his first major policy announcement as the ‘Agile Prime Minister’, and it’s looking very much like his Kevin Rudd moment. When even the ABC isn’t buying the waffle, there may be a problem.

While the start-up sector has welcomed the package, which includes tax breaks for investors and a focus on teaching children science, maths and technology, others have labelled the $1 billion plan simply another expensive boondoggle.

As Terry McCrann writes, both the Business Council and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry not-to-subtly hinted that what they would really liked to have seen was company tax cuts, removal of red tape and industrial relations reform.

“Government spending this year will run at 25.9 per cent of GDP for the second successive year — all-but as high as the 26 per cent peak of the Rudd-Gillard years when all that money was splurged to save us from the GFC,” McCrann writes.

“Yes, the extra $2 billion [including $1 billion pledged for climate change] will hardly increase that, but goodness me, the PM should be announcing initiatives to CUT that spending, not increase it, even if marginally.”

And economist Judith Sloan points out many of the new policy positions echo those from Kevin Rudd’s infamous 2020 Summit. “The much more sensible approach by the government would be to enact measures to make it easier for all businesses to operate,” she writes.

“This involves getting government out of the way, removing the layers of regulations, making it easier and more affordable to hire and fire workers, and to lower the tax burden on all players.

“But I guess picking winners (but failures will be OK too because we are being instructed not to fear failure) is so much more attractive to politicians, particularly if it can be wrapped up in an endless stream of buzz words such as high-growth entrepreneurial ecosystem, innovation hubs, technology accelerators, culture of ideas, capability maps, and on and on.”

But apparently there has never been a more exciting time to be a rent-seeker. The hashtag #IdeasBoom has prompted the innovators on Twitter to come up with their own suggestions:

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/twitter-mocks-malcolms-kevin-rudd-moment-with-innovative-ideas-boom-tweets/news-story/d5c035dd2abb64d7cdf0938bcbc08f2b