Killer of the IPA? An epic Groaning? Mein Gott at work? Who says the lizard Oz and the pond can't distract from what's going down?

 

Never having used TikTok, the pond is relatively immune to the news of the US version now being heavily Trumpified, with many now exiting, determined to make it the new MySpace.

Never having cared for the mad Mullahs of Iran, the pond doesn't much care that King Donald has seized on them as the perfect distraction from the murders in Minnesota and the continuing imprisonment of the Epstein files.

Also knowing that Thursday is always petulant Peta day in the lizard Oz, the pond simply gives a sigh to the heavens and sends her to the intermittent archive cornfield.

This really is Last Chance Saloon for the Libs
Polling showing One Nation outpacing the Coalition is no aberration. It signals a last-chance moment for the Liberals, whose leadership chaos and drift risk terminal decline.
By Peta Credlin

Just look at this dismal set of offerings this day ...

... so to keep PP in fitting company the pond also sent this to the intermittent archive ...

COALITION CRUMBLES
Liberal elders intervene in leadership tussle, as Littleproud leaves Ley hanging
Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne have stepped in over Sussan Ley’s future as David Littleproud declines to meet the Opposition Leader amid his own leadership challenge.
By Greg Brown and Lachlan Leeming

The onion muncher and the poodle are involved? Why then it's doom...

The only excitement?

According to Golding, the lettuce has a new competition going...

And the reptiles could only summon "Agencies" to deal with that epic Iranian Epstein files distraction, so that could be read anywhere ...

While making room, the pond also sent Yoni to the corner ...

Menace there for all to see in envoy’s words of warning
Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian’s remarks on Wednesday weren’t quite a return to the bilateral freeze-out of the Morrison era, but the warning was unmistakeable.
By Yoni Bashan
North Asia Correspondent

Yoni, Yoni, it's the height of reptile trolling cheek to make room for the Ambassador and then proceed to run around for days like hysterical scalded cats ...

Similarly the pond decided to ignore nervously clucking Cameron ...

To strike Iran or not to strike? Trump’s options are fraught with risk
US military strike on Iran could be days away as Trump’s ‘Armada’ arrives in region
As a massive US military force arrives in the Middle East, offering a suite of military options which include devastating strikes against the IRGC’s command centres, Trump faces one of the most important decisions of his presidency.
By Cameron Stewart
Chief International Correspondent

Cameron, Cameron, that epic Iranian cat has been out of the bag for weeks, what with the Minnesota murders not enough of an Epstein files distraction.

More to the point, where's the bromancer when he's desperately? (And where's the Minnesota murders coverage?)

And where's the reptiles covering the climate?

What with bushfire season in full flight, and critters being devoured by flames, the pond simply can't understand the reptiles new jihad, a war on the critters of the country, with maverick Mad Bob the latest to join the crusade ...

Our nature laws are devised by people whose shoe leather has never left concrete
There is a great evil stalking the land when dangerous animals are protected by law, yet the same set of laws say humans are not ­allowed to protect themselves.
By Bob Katter

Mad Bob attempted to do an Our Henry by dragging Lincoln and de Tocqueville into his opening flourish ...

It's true that the reptiles showed the most dangerous animal of him all, mad Bob in Rodin pose, ready to rampage and do critter dust-ups, as if a dinkum thought had ever emanated from that posing ponce attempting to imitate Caesar.

But the pond had to draw a line and quickly came after that snap with this Katterism ...

An estimated one person a year gets torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland – quite literally eaten alive. You are still alive while you watch your leg being torn off, your stomach torn from your body. A young doctor, loved by all, watched part of his body torn away. Not far off, he could see his two children and wife watching. Their father, their husband being torn to pieces – eaten alive.
Each member of the Queensland parliament is responsible for this – yet another murder. I am pleased I believe in Jesus Christ and know these terrible politicians will ultimately be held to ­account.
The political party, the Katter Australia Party, and the Party’s Shane Knuth (and Robbie Katter) have moved continuously – not for culling (what I want) but for “safer waterways” – removal of crocodiles.

Sweet long absent lord, was Jesus intent in destroying all the critters? 

Was that why we're left yearning for long  lost dinosaurs? 

Watch out lilies of the field. Watch out wikis on Xianity and animal rights.

Must we burn down the whole house? Is the insurance up to date?

The pond will leave the musings of the rampant feral pig to those brave enough to chance the intermittent archive...because the pond simply had to make room for other dangerous critters, what with Killer of the IPA loose, and snuffling at inflation truffles ...

The header: Why latest inflation disaster might have a small silver lining; Australia’s rising inflation, now 3.8 per cent, is outpacing concern over falling unemployment, threatening household budgets, real wages, and the cost of living across the nation.

The caption for the sublimely, superbly illustrative snap, revealing a stunning insight into inflation. Amazing that shopping trolleys could mean and say so much: Rising prices hit Australian households as inflation climbs to 3.8 per cent, affecting the cost of food, fuel and everyday essentials. Picture: AAP

Killer could only muster a three minute read, but the pond always attends to Killer of the IPA's musings ...a perfect way to slumber through Thursday ...

Inflation and unemployment are often discussed alongside each other, but the truth is the former is far more lethal, politically and economically, especially when it’s high and increasing.
It is positive the jobless rate fell unexpectedly to 4.1 per cent in ­December. But no one – bar those newly employed and their immediate family – really much cares. Yet it is a disaster the inflation rate surged from 3.4 per cent to 3.8 per cent in the year to December because that reflects falling living standards for everyone.
Changes in the consumer price index reflect actual inflation far better than the official jobless rate, which includes individuals who work for as little as one hour a week and excludes anyone who has given up looking for a job.
The latest embarrassing rise in inflation almost guarantees that interest rates will rise in the coming months, ensuring a double whammy for hundreds of thousands of households with variable rate loans.
The latest bump is all the more concerning given the Australian dollar has been broadly appreciating throughout 2025, reducing the cost of imported goods and services.
On Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers blamed “price pressures” for “hanging around longer than we’d like”. As this paper’s former economics editor David Uren once said to me: “What the hell is a price pressure?” Inflation doesn’t mysteriously emerge; politicians use vague phrases to abrogate responsibility. Inflation is a choice, and it’s no wonder it’s rising given rampant state and federal government spending growth and ongoing budget deficits.
Exploding federal spending – the most rapid growth since the Whitlam years – on the NDIS and industry subsidies is bad enough, retarding productivity and directing workers away from more productivity activities. But the budget deficits add directly to inflationary pressure too by supercharging the creation of new money.
In a new book on monetary economics, The Age of Debt Bubbles, the government’s role in directly bolstering inflation – a rarely understood subject – is laid bare. “It’s worth reiterating this point,” writes William White in the opening chapter, “when a bank purchases government bonds, it typically does so by creating new money out of thin air”.

The reptiles were so bored they could only interrupt with one snap, even though Killer's ongoing Argentine fixation provided a great opportunity to flourish a chainsaw ...Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledges lingering “price pressures,” as economists warn government spending and deficits are feeding inflation. Picture: NewsWire

On and on he rambled...

Chalmers should read White’s book. As former head of monetary economics at the Bank for International Settlements (sometimes called the central banks’ central bank), he knows what he’s talking about. When the government runs budget deficits, they boost the money supply which in turn increases prices as it seeps into the economy.
Still, it’s not only the federal government. States have been spending recklessly as if they are still in lockdown. As S&P recently warned in a report issued earlier this month, public sector employee costs have been rising at an unconscionable 7 to 8 per cent a year.
State debts, typically ignored when Canberra boasts of its relatively low indebtedness compared with other countries, is set to hit $660bn this year, or 24 per cent of GDP – all of which is ultimately Canberra’s responsibility.
If there’s any silver lining to ­uncomfortably higher inflation in Australia, perhaps it’s that more of us will now be forced to understand what causes it.
Visiting Argentina last year, a country that has endured numerous episodes of hyperinflation, I was stunned at how many people blamed excessive growth in the money supply for the nation’s economic woes. Few economists will talk about money supply when analysing inflation, which is why their forecasting record has been so risibly pathetic – failing totally, for instance, to predict any of the multi-year post-Covid surge.

Say what reptiles? No snap of Killer's hero? So much more exciting than Jimbo, a real pose down:

And no news from Killer about the stunning progress of his hero?

Must the pond head off to Bloomberg for that?

Never mind, time for the Killer wrap up...

More than a quarter of all the Australian dollars in existence today were created in the past five years. In the 12 months to November, for instance, one measure of the sum of Australian dollars, known as M3, rose 7.3 per cent to $3.33 trillion. That’s a lot of new money (almost totally in bank deposits) chasing a similar volume of goods, services and houses and apartments, which is where most of the new money is initially spent.
The government’s misguided encouragement of first-home buyers to take out home loans with as little as 5 per cent deposits is another inflationary policy. Banks create new money when they issue loans, another very poorly understood fact, so more rapid growth in home loans underpins higher inflation.
Inflation is likely to get worse before it gets better. The latest December figures don’t fully reflect the removal of federal energy rebates for households, which had been artificially weighing on the CPI. Indeed, the fact that the ­government budget update before Christmas added almost $50bn in new spending – on economist Chris Richardson’s calculations – highlights a spending growth so brazen and reckless it can’t even be adequately counted.
While punters will be upset about looming interest rate hikes, at least it will lead to less money creating loans and make it more costly for the government borrow even more.
Adam Creighton is chief economist at the Institute of Public Affairs.

As for the rest? It would be absurd to expect Killer of the IPA to pay the slightest bit of attention ...

And having been economical with reptiles being economical with insights, the pond could find space for Dame Groan, promoted to head of class as the reptiles distracted from King Donald by waging war on Jimbo, with hundred dollar bills dropping from the sky in a gif the pond sadly failed to present in a way that showed off Frank Ling's incredible style ... and which didn't show at all in the archive version...

Never mind, Dame Groan was in the mood for a triumphant,  top of the hive mind world ma, groaning ...

The pond thought about doing a dull transcript of the verbiage, but anyone wanting the words can head off to the archive to see her croc bite in action...

Mistakes from Reserve Bank and Jim Chalmers starting to bite
Without an effective opposition, the Treasurer might think he can talk himself out of this tight spot but the punters will notice the higher monthly payments required to service sky-high mortgages.

The pond wanted to see just how many times the reptiles could work in a terrifying snap of Jimbo while Dame Groan kept up the keening and the wailing for a bigly three minutes ...

That's a two Jimbo count in the first alarmist flourish. 

Could the reptiles manage a trifecta? 

They could ...

The pond took the odds on the reptiles being able to score a quadrella ...

It was Jimbo mania, a visual feast of Jimbos amid the dire groanings ...

As for what's actually happening in the world?

Hush now, forget it Jake, it's hive mind town.

And now - trumpets, please maestro - for a final distraction, the pond decided to slip in a serve of Mein Gott.

It's one of the pond's greatest tragedies that Mein Gott always runs later in the day, and so the pond usually misses him.

In fact the pond can't recall noting Mein Gott this year, and January has already almost gone ...

Enough of that neglect ...

You see? Posted at 4.05 PM yesterday, long after the pond had downed tools and keyboard and had finished work for the day.

'Tis passing true Mein Gott struggled to put together more than a 3 minute read, but it was Mein Gott in vintage "we're all rooned" form and so it was a strong contender early in the year:

The header: Rising nationalism and rural anger create a new reality for Australian politics; The perfect storm of soaring power bills, rural rage and rising nationalism threatens to reshape politics and punish unprepared businesses.

The caption beneath the jingoistic AV distraction which started off the doom-laden apocalyptic vision (and the reptiles keep on complaining about the alarmism of climate science watchers): Support for Australia Day is on the rise among young people with more Gen Z indicating support for the day.

After clinging to Gen Z for a little hope, Mein Gott quickly went into a tail spin of his usual kind:

Leaving aside AI, fundamental changes are taking place in both the Australian society and the economy that are set to test the strategies of both politicians and business.
At the moment, the personal gymnastics in Canberra are overshadowing these changes, but that period will pass and I fear neither our traditional political parties nor our businesses are ready.
My list of society-changing events are: the electric energy disaster that locks in inflation and high interest rates; the white-hot anger of our rural communities; the increasing nationalism of Australians and their desire for reduced migration; and the linking of extreme First Nations activists with the Gaza protest movement (which includes elements that are pro-Hamas and anti-Jewish).
Federal and state politicians have been telling consumers that large wind and solar farms are the cheapest form of energy. Via their power bills, the population now knows that this is political rubbish. Power prices are set for a new round of rises in 2026, with more to come.
In turn, that means inflation, and therefore interest rates, will be pushed above what the economy actually needs. This will create anger among those with high mortgages once they understand why rates keep rising. It also means vast industry sectors will be unable to compete.

Could it be called a truly jingoistic reptile outing with yet another vision of the British Union Jack?: The national Australia Day citizenship and flag raising ceremony at Rond Terrace in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

Why Mein Gott was up there with yesterday's sermon and jihad:

How Mein Gott raged and ranted:

Farmers’ anger at the high cost of renewable power is being multiplied many times over because their farms are being mutilated by windmills, panels, and transmission lines. In some areas, firefighting has been hindered.
The National Party’s split from the confused Liberals gained adverse publicity, but in fact it gives the Nationals a much-needed chance to avoid Coalition distractions and wake up to what is happening in the rural community.
If they do not, One Nation will take most rural seats because Barnaby Joyce, who left the Nationals for One Nation, understands that anger and what needs to be done.
Meanwhile, Australia will need much more gas-driven power (we have plenty of gas), and existing coal power stations will need to operate much longer than originally expected. This has already begun. We will also need to re-examine emerging nuclear technologies.
Companies investing in non-rooftop renewables need to be aware that Australians are waking up to the reality that large-scale renewable power is too costly, cannot be relied upon, and is doing real damage to farmers. Public sympathy lies strongly with farmers.
It is always dangerous to invest in such circumstances.
Another key component of these changes is that some Australians want migration reduced as part of a rising nationalism.

And then oh the shame, a wretched imposter flag hovered into view to ruin the vision splendid of the Union Jack (with a few stars attached): Flags at half mast on the National Day of Mourning. Picture: Monique Harmer

At this point Mein Gott went the polls. 

Garn, go the polls...

The first clue that this shift was on the horizon arose in 2024 when a call to boycott Woolworths over its Australia Day stance slashed consumer demand for the nation’s largest supermarket chain. It has found it difficult to recover momentum.
A Resolve Political Monitor poll showed support for holding Australia Day on January 26 has climbed from 47 per cent three years ago to 68 per cent.
A Herald Sun poll showed that 71 per cent of its readers believed Pauline Hanson was the leader who best represented Australian values. The Prime Minister managed 11 per cent – and forget the rest.
I emphasise that such a newspaper reader poll cannot be relied upon, but it should not be ignored given the evidence from other sources.

Um, why bother to quote a poll like that? It's entirely meaningless, especially considering it's from dotards who fork over their money on the HUN, and likely have nothing better to do with their time while on some stipend - the pension, the dole or some other form of government benefit.

This sort of polling is entirely biased and error prone, and yet Mein Gott sort to bolster a 71% result with a 22% total on a suspect Newspoll tape:

Newspoll showed that One Nation has overtaken the Coalition with a primary vote of 22 per cent – up seven points over the past two months. Something very big is taking place.
But other parts of the community are opposed to this rise in nationalism, which could take community conflict to a new level.
For example, in the wake of the Bondi massacre, we saw some First Nations activists on Australia Day burning the national flag and marching with Islamist-Gaza protesters.
If First Nations activists want to link themselves with Hamas supporters at this time of community change, they should be prepared for a backlash.

This sort of thing urgently needed a display to get the hive mind agitated, and what better way than to show difficult, uppity people taking to the streets and ruining the view of the Princess Theatre, About five thousand Invasion Day protesters have converged on Victoria’s Parliament House ahead of an 11am rally, prompting a highly visible police operation across Melbourne’s CBD.

That appalling crowd was the final straw for a gloomy Mein Gott:

Meanwhile, many senior executives in major companies come from affluent, inner-city areas where views are very different from those held across much of Australia.
Because they are out of touch with a huge section of their customer base, there will be many more Woolworths-type mistakes.
And while adapting to these changes is a life-and-death issue for the Nationals, both the Liberals and the ALP will struggle to adjust.
The Liberals must find a leader capable of inspiring the nation and developing policies compatible with a National Party fighting for its survival. It will not be easy, because they retain a rump of supporters with very different views.

All that, and yet, Mein Gott confessed at the very end in an italic foot note that he had left out the worst of the worst ...

I have deliberately left out of this commentary the fact that unions are beginning to use their expanded powers under the industrial relations act. This is an emerging topic.

Inspirational stuff ...

"There'll be unions on the street and in the courts for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
Likely with a bloody Aboriginal flag leading an economic rout,
We'll all be rooned," said Mein Gottahan,
"Before the year is out."

And so to round out the day's proceedings with the immortal Rowe, and some bog pond swampy action ... what a time to be alive. Go lettuce, in all your many competitions ...

In which, after sending the liar from the Shire off to the intermittent archive, the pond comforted the lettuce with the latest news ...

 

This day saw the reptiles steadfastly avoid the carnage occurring on the streets of the disunited states, perhaps out of guilt at the contribution their corporation had made to the killing fields.

So the pond had to revert to a local 'toon to go there ...

Instead of walking where Wilcox walked, in a prize act of deflection, distraction and enormous stupidity, the reptiles decided to bung on a do.

And who invited a clap happy evangelist to this party?

Why the reptiles of course ...

It was off to the intermittent archive cornfield and don't stop at go and hold out paw for cash ...

EXCLUSIVE
Morrison’s taboo-breaking proposal: ‘Licence to preach and teach Islam’
Scott Morrison calls on Muslim leaders to embrace wholescale reform to stop ‘political Islam’
Scott Morrison has called for sweeping reforms to how Islam is practised in Australia, as he tells a major antisemitism conference that Middle Eastern countries were doing a better job than the West in curtailing radical Islam.
By Dennis Shanahan and Richard Ferguson

COMMENTARY by Dennis Shanahan
Ex-PM offers a solution to Islam’s extremism problem
Scott Morrison is offering up a radical solution to Australian Islam’s extremism problem
Scott Morrison has acted, not for the first time, where members of the Albanese government have failed to do so after October 7 and before the December 14 Bondi massacre.

And even more appalling, the reptiles gave space to the barking mad clap happy liar from the Shire  himself ...

It’s time to hold nation’s Islamic institutions to account
After the Bondi terror attack, Australia must confront surging antisemitism, extremist radicalisation and social fragility, heeding Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ warning that hatred of Jews signals.
By Scott Morrison

By golly, the intermittent archive had a compleat collapse, a compleat breakdown, trying to save that link for the pond.

Perhaps it baulked at what that hatred of Islamics signals ...but it got there in the end.

Time for a counter proposal: the pond be put in charge of a licensing board which offers permit slips to barking mad fundamentalist evangelicals before they're allowed to say anything to reptiles.

And a license for reptiles before they're allowed to go on yet another jihad.

On second thoughts, it'd be simpler not to have any red tape, just shut the rag down.

Meanwhile, Fred Pawle, over on the extreme far right, was at it again ...

Sorry, a human life is more valuable than any shark, croc or dingo
As attacks by sharks, dingoes and crocodiles rise, emotional environmentalism is displacing hard-headed wildlife management, putting animal protection ahead of human life and safety.
by Fred Pawle

Inevitably, this being a variant of the NT croc beat-up syndrome, there was a snap of a killer croc, but also an amazing new money-making riff - a need to become a premium member to access the lizard Oz's "premium video content", this time featuring a large pack of dingoes on K'gari.

Yet at the same time the reptiles were giving away a video about shark nets and killer sharks.

Apparently the reptiles think there are mug punters who haven't discovered that there's a world of free footage to hand outside the hive mind.

Fred was in the grip of wild-eyed paranoia ...

Corbett’s admiration for his adversaries is understandable, given that he was often staring them down as they charged towards him. Even then they can be graceful animals. I doubt I could ever feel the same way towards sharks. Great whites especially look grimly evil to me. I’ve often called them animals with more teeth than brains, and can’t imagine perceiving them any other way. But my reaction to them still isn’t emotional. I just want to discourage them from coming near humans, which until recently we did with lethal effectiveness.
Call it a cull if you must. I call it saving human lives. It’s strange to have to say it, but a human’s life should always more valuable than any shark, dingo or crocodile.

Another note: why do killer dingbats always present themselves as "hard-headed", or as tough nut kooks, as if being intransigent, unyielding, unshakable, uncompromising, inflexible and obstinate were somehow defining virtues.

If you don't want to get nibbled by a shark driven crazy by rising sea temperatures, no thanks to climate change, then stay out of the water Fred... and sssh, don't mention the ICE ...

And with those brain farts out of the way, time to get on with the latest update on Susssan v. the lettuce ... and what's more, it's an EXCLUSIVE ...

it took three whole reptiles to tackle this matter EXCLUSIVELY:

The header: David Littleproud heads to parliament with no Nationals-only frontbench amid fears break-up is for good; Multiple Nationals MPs fear naming their own frontbench will entrench the Coalition’s break-up by prompting Sussan Ley to fill vacant positions in an all-Liberal shadow cabinet.

The three amigos: Lachlan Leeming, Greg Brown and Sarah Ison

Three more amigos, led by a man who has little to be proud of: Kevin Hogan, Bridget McKenzie and David Littleproud. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

It was a bigly bit of five minute coverage, with lavish snaps of the key amigos ...

David Littleproud says he is prepared to enter next week’s parliamentary sitting week without naming a Nationals-only frontbench, with senior Liberals saying his delay in allocating portfolios to his MPs shows he is under pressure to work towards reuniting the Coalition.
Multiple Nationals MPs also fear that naming a party frontbench will entrench the Coalition’s break-up by prompting Sussan Ley to fill vacant positions in an all-Liberal shadow cabinet – which come with bonuses including a $60,000 pay bump, more staff and bigger offices – and which would have to be reshuffled again if the two parties get back together.
The Opposition Leader’s supporters are reaching out to Nat­ionals MPs with an aim to build momentum for Mr Littleproud to come to the table on a reconcili­ation, amid concerns his plan to establish his own frontbench would delay any chance of the Coalition reassembling.
Ms Ley is resisting unveiling her own shadow cabinet reshuffle until there is clarity over what the Nationals will do; some senior Liberals and Nationals are arguing against either party finalising frontbench teams while they work behind the scenes to encourage a reunion.
While many Liberals oppose the Coalition reuniting while Mr Littleproud is leader, Ms Ley’s backers are pushing for a reconciliation as it would limit the perception of chaos and buy her time as leader.

Poor Susssan, the reptiles always pick the cruellest snaps for her, and she always seems to be gesticulating in a non-plussed, bewildered way, Sussan Ley. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The lettuce was immensely cheered by this latest recounting of the ruckus, as the reptiles scratched away at festering sores ...

One of her allies said a reunification would “make it harder for the agitators” to use the split as a catalyst for a spill of the Liberal leadership, despite there being widespread distrust in party ranks towards Mr Littleproud.
Sources said senior MPs holding discussions with the Nationals included deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien, moderate leader Anne Ruston, energy spokesman Dan Tehan and chief whip Aaron Violi.
Any discussions to strike a new Coalition agreement are unlikely to be held at a leader-to-leader level unless any agreement ­appears close.
A renewed push against Ms Ley’s leadership was sparked last week when Mr Littleproud announced the Nationals were divorcing the Liberals because three of the junior Coalition party’s MPs were kicked off the frontbench for crossing the floor in parliament.

Then came a snap of a most unusual pastie, Andrew Hastie. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The pond has spoken to the lettuce, and that noble vegetable is actually rooting for the beefy boofhead from down Goulburn way.

The lettuce was inspired by Charlie Lewis in Crikey outlining the beefy boofhead's qualifications ... When searching for a Liberal leader, always go for the funniest option ... (sorry, that's a paywall)

Charlie didn't go into the beefy boofhead's glorious windmill hating, climate science denialist days, but did celebrate many other virtues ...

How could a man of creationist, young earth stock compete with this most excellent boofhead?

The reptiles got around to featuring the boofhead ...

Conservative contenders Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor are vying to replace Ms Ley as leader but neither candidate is yet to receive the unified support of the Right faction, prompting expectations a challenge will be delayed beyond the sitting fortnight beginning February 3.
Sky News has reported that Mr Hastie and Mr Taylor were likely to have a meeting in Melbourne on Thursday.

Watch out, here he is in all his glory, Angus Taylor. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Oh most excellent and exceedingly qualified contender ...

No matter. The beefy boofhead, or the man of young earth creationist stock, it's all good healthy competition.

It doesn't matter who wins so much, as that they all do a Vitaï Lampada, and play up and play the game, and what awesome contenders we have out on the field ...

And then it was back to the inspiration for this comedy ...

Former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, who said he had spoken to the Nationals and Liberal leaders and deputy leaders over the importance of reunifying, said “patching up” the Coalition would be more difficult if the Nationals named a frontbench.
He was one of many Nationals MPs to voice concern over the move.
“The Coalition needs to get back together and to do it sooner rather than later – the longer you leave it, the more difficult it is to get back together,” he told The Australian.
“Even if they spill and Sussan survives or there’s a new leader … it’s still going to be difficult patching up … let alone if we put in our own shadow frontbench.”

Come on down, Michael McCormack. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Oh the lettuce was feeling exceptionally moist and well-positioned ...

Mr McCormack wouldn’t speculate on the Liberal leadership, saying it was “entirely up to (the Liberals)”.
Another Nationals MP agreed that naming a frontbench would make reunification a slim possibility for the rest of the term, given doing so would mean snatching back positions, staffing and money off Liberal MPs assigned the resources in Ms Ley’s reshuffle.
“Sussan can buy a bit of support she needs with the shadow cabinet appointments but a (Liberal) leader … is going to have to go to those people in three months (or) six months’ time and say ‘We’re getting back together with the Nationals, give all that back’,” one MP said.
“That’s very problematic, which is why this shouldn’t happen in the first place.”
Four other Nationals MPs confirmed there had been “no movement” towards naming a frontbench, with one saying such developments appeared “not likely to happen anytime soon” and another suggesting Ms Ley and Mr Littleproud seemed to be “waiting on the other” to announce their respective reshuffles.
As some Liberals continue tossing up whether to replace Ms Ley, a Nationals MP said the behaviour of the junior party had “unfortunately given Sussan longer” in the chair because of the fury among Liberals over Mr Littleproud’s actions.
Mr Littleproud said it was unlikely a meeting on Tuesday of the Nationals’ partyroom would result in their own frontbench being named, “unless something changes substantially”.
“We’ll sit down Tuesday and work through it as a room – we’ve got time,” he told The Australian. “Ultimately we’ll get to a junction where we have to make a decision.”

Encore please, remind us of the man who set it all in motion, the man with little to be proud of, David Littleproud. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The reptiles dawdled a little more, but everyone was saying the trial separation was in earnest and there might even be a need for an AVO ...

Mr Littleproud said he had written to Anthony Albanese for clarity on staffing but was yet to receive a response.
The Nationals’ leaders in the Senate and the house, Bridget McKenzie and Kevin Hogan, are also set to write to their government counterparts for clarity over question time allocations.
Mr Littleproud said until he had answers to those issues, he was unlikely to name a frontbench, despite saying on Friday “meat” would this week be put on plans for the allocation of port­folios among Nationals MPs.
The party leader denied that he had faced pressure from colleagues to delay or to scrap naming a stand-alone frontbench.
Despite recognising that reunifying the Coalition may be challenging under Mr Littleproud, several Nationals MPs said there was little chance of the leader being replaced.
“He’s got his Praetorian Guard around him,” one said.
Another said while it made sense for Liberals to be opposed to the reunification of the Coalition while Mr Littleproud was leader, the fact was “there’s just no one else” with the support to replace him.
Liberal MPs have suggested Darren Chester could be a possible replacement, and while some Nationals MPs agreed that he had “expertise” and would be “highly qualified”, most said he would never be supported as a replacement to Mr Littleproud.
Nationals have expressed little preference, even privately, over who would be a good replacement for Ms Ley, with most simply expressing their view that “anyone else” would be an improvement based on her fractured relationship with Mr Littleproud.
One Nationals MP said their personal view was that Mr Hastie should bide his time for a leadership tilt, and allow Mr Taylor to take up the role.
Multiple Nationals MP who spoke to The Australian rejected the possibility of the Coalition coming back together in the near term, with one saying it would “look silly to the public” for the parties to reform so soon.

Splendid stuff ... and with much more competitive action to come...

What else?

Well there was a about commercial surrogacy, which held no interest for the pond, and there was the lizard Oz editorialist, still over on the extreme far right early in the morning.

You see, the reptiles were most unhappy about all that went down on Invasion Day, and were determined to keep on yammering on about it ...

Pond correspondents will be pleased to note that the reptiles are appalled at the notion that we should commiserate with those judged to be historically oppressed. 

How they hate the black-armband view of history, though they rarely seem agitated when a footy team parades about in black armbands...

But the pond's favourite moment came near the very end.

You had to get past the bit about disavowing old hatreds, a tad ironic given the way the crusading reptiles had this very morning encouraged a clap happy barking mad fundamentalist jihad ...

Did you see it?

You had to look below that dismissive caption talking of an alleged "bomb scare", an important point because after all the real trouble was those pesky people carrying about Invasion Day ...

We are not alone. US House Speaker Mike Johnson told British MPs in a speech to their parliament that the West’s long-term prosperity and security were being undermined by a “crisis of self-doubt”. Mr Johnson said “high civilisation decays by forgetting obvious things” and “we have to remember our foundations and we have to describe what they are, because the generation behind us seems not to understand this”.
This is a message that is relevant for Australia as well.

Roll that one around on your tongues as the world watches the disunited states disintegrate under a totalitarian regime, albeit with a most excellent taste in military uniforms and a goodly sense of the Reich sort of haircut ...

Amidst all those brass buttons, and that black shirt, the pond must have missed the message ...

In which the pond does an extensive (archival) survey of the Oz hive mind, before settling on Ancient Troy's Ming the Merciless and a Dame's overly familiar groaning ...

 

If only Sam Johnson had said "patriotism is the first and last refuge of the unprincipled scoundrel", he might have been hailed as a Nostradamus, foreseeing the appearance of the cranky Caterist in the lizard Oz yesterday ...

As it is, the pond will merely note that the careening Caterist was blessed with the sort of flag-waving snap you might expect in one of the more pathetic marketing catalogues for a supermarket chain...(yes, Aldi)

Put it another way ...

More than enough already. 

It's bad enough that the Poms already still occupy far too much of that flag's space. Having a third rate black sheep lecture vulgar youff on the need to bray about the country is too much.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori. (in full here). 

Off to the intermittent archive with him...

A new wave of patriotism is on the rise among Australia’s youngest generation
A shared national story begins with pride, not perfection, yet patriotism is an emotion with which intellectuals struggle. For them, history is a burden, not an inheritance

By Nick Cater

The pond has done its duty and can do no more, though it confesses it should hae done its duty yesterday ...

And having done that and the doing feeling good, the pond can also consign the wretched, beyond the valley of the readable, Dame Slap to the same distant cornfield ...

#MeToo zealots keep betraying two good women
Many Australians will no doubt wish, as we do, that this rotten saga was over. But if we let the egregious wrongs done to Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown continue unchallenged, it will never end.
By Janet Albrechtsen
Columnist

For some bizarre reason she was briefly top of the reptile world, ma, this morning ...

The pond is so far over the perils of being Linda that no light emanates from the pond's fundament, but the pond will note one moment of low comedy, dubbed a reptile EXCLUSIVE, once again featuring Dame Slap...

EXCLUSIVE
‘Truth matters’: Reynolds threatens legal action over film with Higgins focus
Linda Reynolds warns film producers on ‘Brittany silenced’ claims
Former minister Linda Reynolds warns she will sue documentary producers if their Sundance Film Festival premiere suggests she tried to ‘silence’ Brittany Higgins.
By Janet Albrechtsen and Stephen Rice

Sublime, if a tad far-fetched for a movie plot.

Good old Linda proposes legal action to silence film-makers for suggesting she tried to (scare quotes if you please) 'silence' Brittany. 

Shades of Melania and Michael Wolff (as the pond breathlessly waits for Melania's opus).

Will there be no end to Dame Slap rabbiting on about this matter and its many spin-offs? 

The pond will also note the astonishing number of reptiles who gathered to scribble this nonsensical hysteria about invasion day ...

Day of stark contrasts
Traitors versus the true: our values under siege on Australia Day
A celebration meant to unite the nation has descended into chaos as competing rallies feature antisemitic tirades, violent clashes and a crude bomb thrown into crowds.
By Anthony Galloway, Joanna Panagopoulos, Mohammad Alfares and Euan Kennedy

The true? 

George would truly be proud ...

Amazingly this meretricious tripe was still up this morning, long after it was needed as an assault on the pond's tired eyes ...

The pond will also note the reptiles attempting to keep up to date with the latest fascist regime to disgrace the planet ...

ICE ANGER
Trump to send border tsar to Minnesota after Walz call
Trump eyes reducing number of federal agents in Minnesota, sends border tsar Tom Homan
Donald Trump has agreed to look into reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota after a ‘productive’ call with Minnesota governor Tim Walz.
By Agencies

The chairman decided to use one of his rags to voice his displeasure, though in the sycophantic way you might expect of toads  ...

His tragic mistake was to haul out his phone and record fascists at work? Or was it carrying a gun like a true 2nd Amendment patriot, only to discover guns were useless up against baddies with guns?

(in full at the intermittent archive here)

... while his hacks at Faux Noise keep on with the money-making machine's propaganda ...

Fox News pundit falsely accuses Alex Pretti of ‘literally’ pulling gun on ICE after claiming Walz and Frey are ‘gaslighting’ public
Fox News’ Joe Concha raged about Minnesota Democrats “gaslighting” the public about the recent ICE shootings in Minneapolis before making a false claim about the Alex Pretti killing.

Such a contemptible corporation. 

Here no true, no true here. Just damned lies and Murdochians ...

The rogue, clearly losing his marbles, deeply demented king's cavortings continue to sent shock waves ... and all the Murdochians can do is marvel at the slouching beast they helped bring into the world ...

EXCLUSIVE
Rattled by Trump, Taiwan debates whether to fight or surrender to Xi’s China
Behind closed doors in Taipei, conversations have not been this gloomy since Richard Nixon went to China more than 50 years ago, as The Australian found on a recent reporting trip.
By Will Glasgow

The pond baulked at one of those hideous uncredited reptile collages and at spending seven minutes in Will's company, but did wonder what the bromancer might make of it all, and what it might mean for his war on China, fading yet again over the horizon as King Donald looks to selling out every ally in sight.

The reptiles were so alarmed that they doubled down ...

Disappearing act by Xi leaves world – and Taiwan – on edge

Xi Jinping’s ‘untouchable’ general purged in shock military investigation
China’s military suffers leadership void as Xi Jinping purges ‘untouchable’ general
The disappearance of Zhang Youxia, who was expected to lead any war against Taiwan, leaves a large void in the PLA amid questions over Beijing’s ambitions for reunification.
By North Asia Correspondent Yoni Bashan

Sad, and apparently no room at the reptile inn for the mad king's best joke of all ...

Meanwhile, the reptiles were back on an old, favourite jihad that took the pond back to the days when they routinely featured dashing Donners ...

EXCLUSIVE
Unis reveal public is revolting against activism, poor teaching
Universities have launched a campaign to weaken government control over the proposed education watchdog despite some vice-chancellors acknowledging public cynicism about teaching standards.
By Natasha Bita

Sadly Natasha is no Kev, and even a bit of her biting couldn't attract the pond, not even the line that the "public is revolting."

The public is not nearly as revolting as the hive mind at the lizard Oz, trying to head back to the good old days of the mutton Dutton's crusading.

Having sent so many reptiles packing, the pond had to find some pleasure, and ancient Troy was just the tonic, with his piece answering the question WWMMD? (For those unfamiliar with reptile speak, What would Ming the Merciless do?).

The header: How the Liberal Party forgot the lessons of its founder, Robert Menzies; Robert Menzies would be dismayed at the Liberal Party’s decline and rupture of the ‘fruitful alliance’ with the National Party that he said was among his greatest achievements.

The caption for yet another of those hideous uncredited collages atop a hive mind story:  Sussan Ley and David Littleproud

The reptiles only interrupted ancient Troy's four minutes of nostalgia with a couple of worshipful snaps of Ming the Merciless in his hey day, and the pond will follow in their footsteps ...

At Robert Menzies farewell press conference after announcing his resignation as prime minister on January 20, 1966, he said his “most lasting achievement” after 16 years in office was establishing the Liberal Party and the “fruitful and constant alliance” with the Country Party.
Sixty years later, the Coalition has fractured and the Liberal Party is existentially challenged, having lost safe seats, bled voter support and alienated women and young people, its purpose and philosophy confused, and members deserting in droves.
The centre-right is rupturing with profound implications. The far-right One Nation is winning more support than the Liberals or Nationals. The Coalition that united and stabilised the centre-right, a landmark achievement of Menzies, is broken and its future uncertain.
How Menzies led his party and the Coalition could not be more relevant. This colossus of Australian politics, who towered over his contemporaries and set up a record 23 years in government (1949-72), would be dismayed at what has happened to the centre-right of politics.
The Coalition has split four times: after the 1972 election, when the parties led by Billy Snedden and Doug Anthony separated, in 1987, at the height of the comical push by Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become prime minister, and twice since the 2025 election.
David Littleproud said the Nationals would not be in coalition with Liberals led by Sussan Ley. Most observers seem to have forgotten it is not the first time this has happened. John McEwen vetoed deputy Liberal leader Billy McMahon succeeding Harold Holt in 1967. The fault lies with both Ley and Littleproud in not managing their differences to avoid a split.
Menzies prized the Coalition with Country Party leaders Arthur Fadden and McEwen. He worked cooperatively with them, respecting their views, ensuring disagreements on policy, strategy or appointments – which there were from time to time – were resolved without public squabbling. McEwen said “mutual respect” kept the Coalition together.

Come on down Ming, so the hive mind might worship, Robert G. Menzies arriving in New York from London today aboard the SS Queen Mary, July 27, 1950.

Menzies’ resignation took effect on Australia Day 1966. It was a watershed in Australian politics. He was the longest-serving prime minister, had led his party to power and won six further general elections, routing Labor again and again, and he left a significant policy and political legacy.
Tom Switzer (“Knowing when to go: could Albanese ever do a Menzies?”, January 22), said Menzies had given “no hint that retirement was imminent”. In fact, speculation was rife. It was joked about in parliament and various hints were reported, such as the purchase of a house in Malvern. Menzies told Labor leader Arthur Calwell in advance. Moreover, on January 19, Menzies informed the cabinet before his public announcement.
Menzies is the only prime minister to depart at a time of his own choosing in the post-war era. In the six decades since, all of his successors have either died in office, lost the support of their party, were defeated at an election or dismissed. (McEwen was a caretaker prime minister.)
But Menzies was not the only prime minister to retire on his own terms. Edmund Barton, Australia’s first prime minister, resigned to take up an appointment to the High Court in 1903. Andrew Fisher resigned in 1915 and became high commissioner to London.
No Liberal leader looms larger than Menzies in the modern party that he played the pivotal role in establishing at twin conferences in 1944 to unite the non-Labor forces in national politics. He is routinely invoked and interpreted because it bestows legitimacy on his successors.
A new book edited by Zachary Gorman, The Menzies Legacy (Melbourne University Publishing), is released on February 10. It is the concluding volume of a splendid four-part history initiated by the Robert Menzies Institute. It is highly recommended for anyone eager to analyse the Menzies era and offers a range of assessments.
Menzies was pleased to depart “under his own steam” rather than “somebody else’s steam”, as had happened when he lost the prime ministership in 1941 during World War II. Asked about policy achievements at his farewell press conference, he noted ANZUS and expanding universities. He also regarded the development of Canberra as a notable achievement.

Another bit of visual adoration to interrupt ancient Troy ... Tea and army cake with Robert Menzies, October 1939.

"Tea, tea! is that your answer to it all? Tea!"

The Menzies legacy, however, remains contested. ANZUS, universities, school funding and Canberra are significant achievements. He presided over the post-war boom with rising living standards and an expanding property-owning middle class. The commerce agreement with Japan was a boon for our economy. He was a safe, reassuring, respected prime minister.
But many of Menzies’ values and beliefs were frozen in another era. The Australian, like most newspapers, welcomed his departure. Polls showed a majority of voters thought he should retire. He was the last prime minister born in the 19th century. He did not support ending the White Australia policy or the referendum to make laws for the benefit of Aboriginal Australians – two initiatives quickly embraced by Holt.
Well into the 1970s, he did not support diplomatic recognition of China, a relationship that is the foundation of our economic prosperity, and was also recognised by the US. He supported a high tariff wall, a controlled currency and regulated financial and labour markets, and last delivered a budget surplus in 1952-53. He took Australia into the disastrous Vietnam War.
Where Menzies’ legacy is contemporarily relevant is in politics rather than policy. Founding the Liberal Party is a milestone achievement. He was a brilliant orator and parliamentary debater, superb campaigner, astute manager of his party and cabinet, and the Coalition, and welcomed frank and fearless advice from public servants.
He spoke about the Liberal Party being positive, with clear values and vision. It should favour “political and economic progress” and not be “a party of reaction”. He insisted it be “pragmatic and not dogmatic”, and occupy the “middle of the road”. It is astonishing how many Liberals fail to really understand Menzies and what he stood for.
But Menzies’ Australia is not the Australia of today. Menzies personified the old era; Holt the new era. Liberals no longer believe in much of what Menzies believed. That is why Liberals are better off looking to how Menzies mastered politics, party management and governing. This is where his legacy is best heeded today.

All the way to get to that final astonishing insight?

Menzies’ Australia is not the Australia of today

Colour the pond astonished. 

Colour the pond justified in taking ancient Troy with a cuppa and a biccie.

Who'd have thunk it, who could have managed that level of stupendous awareness? 

And credit where credit and book plug is due ...

Troy Bramston is the author of Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics (Scribe). He is writing a biography of Harold Holt (HarperCollins), to be published in 2027.

And so to a now ancient and venerable pond tradition, which sees the pond publish the thoughts of Dame Groan, while leaving any response to the groaning to the pond's correspondents, who are devoted to her prognostications.

Once again the old biddy's dedication to the dismal science makes desiccated coconut seem positively wet.

The header: ‘Breathtakingly naive’: Why OECD advice on Australia’s economy is of little value; There is little value in the latest report on Australia by the world’s most influential economic club, even if it gives an unjustified pat on the back to our Treasurer.

The caption for that vulgar man daring to smile and display his set of choppers: Treasurer Jim Chalmers immediately claimed the OECD report as ‘a powerful endorsement of Labor’s economic management and reform agenda’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Whatever Jimbo is for, Dame Groan is automatically agin, and it took the old biddy a good five minutes of hers and her readers' time to do a Perth Scorchers and smash them all into the bleachers.

As usual, she began with an astonishing insight ... as if the NRMA and similar organisations didn't have any work to do in ancient times ...

In the past, if your car conked out, you would typically take a look under the bonnet. These days, if your car conks out, you quickly call roadside assistance.
When it comes to economic reports, however, it’s still worth checking out what’s going on under the bonnet. In this way, the interpretation that should be placed on findings and recommendations can take on a different complexion than a superficial scan throws up.
Take the Economic Survey of Australia, recently released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (The OECD is a club of ostensibly democratic, developed economies based in a salubrious part of Paris. Former Australian finance minister Mathias Cormann is the secretary-general. Stephen Jones, Labor’s former assistant treasurer, is the current Australian ambassador to the OECD.)
There is plenty of content in this report praising the Labor government for “Australia’s relative resilience to global economic shocks”. Evidently, “the economy is returning to its pre-pandemic growth trend”.

The reptiles interrupted the old chook as she was beginning to wind into her standard "we'll all be rooned err Xmas comes" routine ...

The latest employment numbers for December have been released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. According to the ABS, the unemployment rate fell from 4.3 per cent to 4.1 per cent. Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood analyses the latest employment numbers and how they could potentially affect the Reserve Bank’s next interest rate decision.

The rate fell? Time for a bigly Groan:

The OECD predicts that Australia’s GDP growth will pick up, that consumer price inflation will decline to 2.5 per cent in 2027, and the budget deficit will narrow (as a percentage of GDP) in 2026 and 2027. We also learn that “real wages are now recovering and consumption is picking up”.
Gosh, this report could have been written in the Treasurer’s office, with some additional assistance from the good folk in Treasury. Add in scrutiny of drafts by the Australian delegation to the OECD, and Bob’s your uncle.
Bear in mind here that the OECD staff responsible for writing these country economic surveys don’t necessarily know much about the country in question. They are principally guided by the material provided to them, mainly from the country’s public servants.
To be sure, the final report needs to broadly fit the OECD policy paradigm. But in this case, that is not a problem. The OECD these days is a left-leaning progressive organisation with a strong emphasis on net zero, plentiful social welfare spending, high taxation and a regulated labour market.
Unsurprisingly, the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, immediately claimed that the OECD report on Australia “is a powerful endorsement of Labor’s economic management and reform agenda”. No kidding, Sherlock.

Then came a snap of a man the pond could barely remember ... In September last year, OECD boss Mathias Cormann declared Australia must move on from the net-zero debate and figure out how to meet the 2050 emissions target in ‘the best possible way’.

It was past time to put that left-leaning progressive back in his box ... (the pond keeds, it really does keed) ...

To retain a degree of credibility, however, these reports will typically contain several suggestions for reform that relate to the report’s tepid criticisms of the country’s economic policy settings.
In this instance, there is some querying of fiscal sustainability as well as a weakening of competition over the past two decades.
Again, it’s hard to take any of this seriously, although many of the suggestions are firmly of the motherhood category. Hands up those who are against “improving spending efficiency” or “optimising tax revenues”?
The reasons for paying some attention to the report’s policy suggestions is that they often will be ones being workshopped by the key players of the country in question.
When there is a suggestion of negative gearing being phased out, for example, we should take this to mean that this is being seriously considered by the Treasurer. When there is a suggestion to introduce inheritance taxes, again there are reasons to think that this is up for discussion, at least.
Some of the other policy changes mentioned in the report include road user charges; reducing the capital gains tax discount; eliminating stamp duties while introducing property taxes; indexing income tax brackets; reducing superannuation tax concessions; introducing a broadbased resource rent tax, and; reforming the GST by increasing the rate and removing the exemptions.
If you think you have seen this sort of list before, you’re not wrong. Most of these ideas have been around for yonks. It just goes to show you that innovative thinking has clearly gone on holiday at the OECD.

Who to turn to? Why not a man who has shown the franchise way forward?

The millionaire Jim’s Mowing boss Jim Penman has launched a blistering attack on Australia’s government bureaucracy, urging it be cut down by two-thirds and how public service lacks accountability, efficiency and incentives for performance.

Put it another way ...

Iconic Aussie brand under fire

One of Australia’s most well recognised chain left one dad despairing as he’s been left in a mountain of debt. WARNING: DISTRESSING (warning, link to another Murdochian front).

Back to the old biddy, still ranting away ...

And just while you have a yawn, take this suggestion. “Enhanced taxation of resource rents could be combined with a reduction in the headline rate of corporate income tax, shifting some of the tax burden from mobile capital to immobile, land-based assets.”
I guess that’s why the previous attempt at imposing a mining super-profit (rent) tax went so well.
The naivety in this suggestion is breathtaking. Economists have long recognised that it is essentially impossible to identify economic rents as the basis for taxation.
And the idea that the mining industry is just made up of “immobile, land-based assets” indicates that the OECD staff really need to get out of the office more.
Mining is a highly resource-intensive and risky activity. By and large, the companies are price-takers, with commodity prices set on global markets.
Many of the companies are multinational and there is a vicious international competition for capital within these corporate groups. Any detriment to the post-tax returns that can be secured from mining in a particular country is likely to lead to lower investment, certainly in the medium term.

Dame Groan saw sinister types, treasury ghouls behind it all ... The influence of Treasury Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh is evident in the OECD’s ‘weird’ emphasis on the issue of competition. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

And after that Stephen Miller/Nosferatu look alike contest, enough to terrify any old chook caught out in the dark, the old biddy wrapped up proceedings ...

Inheritance taxes have always been favoured by the OECD, although many members do not have them and, in other cases, relatively little revenue is raised from their imposition. The UK has certainly been experimenting with imposing higher inheritance taxes, which now affect the middle class as well as farmers.
But it has not gone well, with the Starmer Labour government forced to tweak the new arrangements. There has also been a noticeable departure of citizens who might have been caught in the snare of the higher inheritance tax net. If promoting higher saving and investment is an aim of government policy – and it should be – then death duties is one of the last options that should be considered.
The OECD report weirdly emphasises the issue of competition, claiming without any convincing evidence that “competition has weakened over the past two decades, pointing to the need for more robust enforcement of competition law”. It’s reasonably easy to detect the influence here of Andrew Leigh, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury. Competition is one of his obsessions.
But let’s be serious. Making it easier for a hairdresser to relocate from Western Australia to Victoria is hardly likely to move the dial on productivity. Occupational registration can work against productivity, but it can also underpin consumer safety. It exists in all countries.
Giving more power to the regulatory authorities to enforce competition is also no guarantee of better outcomes for the economy. After adding in the massive compliance costs and the scope for agencies to make mistakes, it’s not clear that stronger competition policy should be a first-order policy priority for the government.
There is little value in this latest OECD report, even if it gives an unjustified pat on the back to our Treasurer.
When it comes to improving the economic policy environment in Australia to generate higher per capita income, you won’t find the answers in these predictable pieces of advice.

Splendid stuff, and yet apparently only the pond's correspondents pay attention to the old biddy's relentless groaning and endless warnings...

And so to end in the usual way with the immortal Rowe ...