Bernard Keane is all there is to read at the woked-up Crikey. Rarely do I read stuff that I was planning to write myself but BK did it yesterday:
The dearth of talent in the current Coalition line-up is alarming, and a testament to both the toxic effect of Scott Morrison and the damage he caused to the NSW Liberal Party. Tony Abbott went into the 2010 election with a frontbench containing the likes of Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey, Andrew Robb, Tony Smith, Dutton himself and, later, Malcolm Turnbull. In comparison, Dutton’s cupboard looks painfully bare. And barest of all is the shadow Treasury spot.
The first term of the Albanese government has been one simply made for an aggressive shadow treasurer: high inflation, rising interest rates, changes to legislated tax cuts. But Angus Taylor has failed to achieve any cut-through at all; that the debate over the stage three tax cuts is now done and dusted in Labor’s favour less than two months after they were announced amid a storm of controversy, is in itself sufficient indictment of Taylor’s performance. What should have been a crown of thorns worn every day to the election by Labor has instead become the basis for a recovery from mid-term blues for a government that has the tiniest of majorities — with the Coalition meekly waving the changes through amid vague promises it would develop another tax policy later.
