In The Australian today:
"Every year, Transparency International publishes a “corruption perceptions index” that ranges from 0 to 100, where higher values indicate cleaner government. On that measure, Australia, which scored 88 a decade ago, is now down to 81."

In The Australian today:
"What game is Treasury playing? Last Wednesday, Mathias Cormann, Minister for Finance and Acting Assistant Treasurer, launched a Minerals Council monograph by Professor Tony Makin on Australia’s declining international competitiveness."

In The Australian today:
"It is not easy to imagine a less controversial statement than Tony Abbott’s claim that the arrival of the First Fleet was the “defining moment in the history of this continent”. Nor could it possibly be contentious that British settlement provided the foundation for Australia to become one of the most prosperous societies on Earth."

In The Australian today:
"That the release of the cost-benefit analysis of the National Broadband Network has generated as much heat as light is perhaps unsurprising. The debate about the NBN has always been drenched in politics. And the analysis itself is lengthy and complex, making its findings difficult to communicate and absorb."

In The Australian today:
"Strewth Proust, Swan’s on the loose! With the memoirs of the world’s greatest treasurer shaping up as the stocking stuffer of the season, Wayne Swan’s remembrance of deficits past adds mightily to this year’s choice of spitefully disappointing Christmas presents."

In today's The Australian:
"However uncertain the future may be, what cannot happen will not happen. In Australia’s case, we cannot run large budget deficits forever. At some point, debt accumulation, combined with loss of confidence and external shocks, will force painful adjustments."