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Last night (July 29) I watched Rod Simms (ACCC chairman) interviewed on the ABC about the price reductions consumers can expect from the removal of the carbon tax. He was assuring us that consumers will receive these benefits because in effect the ACCC had the interview transcripts and documents that confirmed prices went up as a result of the tax, therefore they will go down similarly. If not, he would use the competition powers of the ACCC to ensure businesses, particularly those on whom he “had the goods” complied.

Mr Sims has generally been a pretty good advocate for the ACCC, taking on some challenging projects, but I wonder if he really believes himself when he says this stuff.

The carbon tax has just been a corrosive component of a superficial, emotional and nasty period in our political lives, devoid of facts and intelligent debate  almost anywhere. However, to say prices will just drop as a result of the removal is, even by our political masters twisted standards, like asking us to believe in Santa Claus.

Politicians have systematically and capriciously distorted the truth about the state of the economy, over the last 20 years. The source of budget problem we have is on the revenue side, stemming from income tax cuts delivered by the Howard government, rather than being all on the spending side, as eloquently outlined by Dr. John Edwards in his terrific essay published by the Lowy institute, “Beyond the boom” Not addressed by Dr Edwards is the institutional waste I see in Federal expenditures stemming from the cultural imperative never to be wrong, which ensures no risks are taken, and every tiny detail is quadruple checked and backstopped before it is passed up the line, at great cost to us all.

Australian politics is stuffed.

Very low public engagement by any measure, seemingly universal cynicism about the motives and actions of politicians and their cronies, absolute lack of intelligent debate in the House of Representatives, and mayhem in the senate. Little has changed since this December 2009 rant, but I remain an optimist.

Australians have shown a remarkable ability to absorb change, and to enable the evolution of a society unimaginable to those who authored the constitution 114 years ago, so perhaps this is all just a component of the recipe for more change.

I hope so, but it does seem that this lot have polished the political game to within an inch of its life. In a debate, you can usually count on the truth being somewhere between the starting points of the adversaries, but in our current political climate, the truth, and any facts seem to be somewhere else entirely, utterly disassociated from the discourse.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see politicians held to the same standards they impose on the rest of us in relating to misleading statements, fraudulent conduct, false advertising, and the rest?.

Whoops, stop, there is a pink, flying pig going past.

For those few who got this far, thanks, but you must have too much time on your hands if you are to indulge my rant, but thanks anyway.

Back to work, to seeking ways to assist SME’s navigate the shoals of reality, and I will not be advising them to just drop their prices by 10% of the cost of their energy, that would see most of them broke.

Related posts:

Carbon tax agnostic Politicians God Complex and the carbon tax. To tax or not to tax! One tiny word to alter the carbon debate.