New federal Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, is becoming very serious about the economy.
Gone are the factitious comments about inflation, now we are facing "great challenge".
Why we may even have to arrange for the Australian Government to organise a US-style bail out of financial institutions.
According to The Australian:
Mr Turnbull had suggested the Government back financial institutions with liquid assets....
On Sunday Mr Turnbull said banks were finding it harder to refinance mortgages.
``In other markets, the government, particularly in the US, is taking a role, proposing to buy some of these securities, in effect to provide additional liquidity to take the pressure off mums and dads,'' Mr Turnbull told the Nine Network.
``That's something I'd like to talk to the Prime Minister about to see if we can agree on some bipartisan measures.''
Hold on, the only big collapse which sent so many mums and dads to the wall happened when HIH folded years ago and Malcolm Turnbull was smack in the middle of that mess along with Adler and Co.
Yes, credit is drying up as everyone speculates about what will happen next.
However I can't help but wonder if Turnbull's urging of federal government intervention is more to protect the value of his own holdings and that of his business associates.
If a global recession really hits then Treasurer Wayne Swann's intervention will mean little to those same mum and dads.
Turnbull is also quoted as saying in an article at News.com.au:
Mr Turnbull, a former merchant banker and partner of Goldman Sachs Australia, said he agreed with US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson that there was plenty of blame to go around for the current financial mess.
"I agree with those legislators in the US who say that executives of financial institutions should not be rewarded – indeed they should get nothing out of this," he said.
"I agree with those legislators in the US who say that executives of financial institutions should not be rewarded – indeed they should get nothing out of this," he said.
He goes on to try and distance himself from the present debacle by saying that he only worked in the corporate advisory side and not in an area of investment banking.
How he thinks to get away with such hairsplitting when the whole of Australia knows that he was a managing director, partner and major shareholder in JB Were Goldman Sachs (Australia) during the 1990s through to early 2000, when his investment bank was so clearly in the area he now denies.
Turnbull also pretends that the Prime Minister should not have left Australia because of the global volatility.
This exposes him as a buffoon comparable with the recently departed leader he deposed.
As though where Kevin Rudd physically is this week will forestall Australia being impacted by the ailing American behemoth.
While his Fraser-style obstructionist stance on bills before the House, personal behaviour in Parliament over the last ten months and his comments about Question Time, show him for the arrant political hypocrite that he is.
This man is all about the 'divine right' of the Liberal party to rule, gotcha politics and posturing for the Question Time cameras.
I never thought that I would see the day that I would become nostalgic about Peter Costello's time in the limelight - Turnbull's performance as leader makes me so.
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