Monday, 8 June 2009

Turnbull couldn't take a trick until......


On 1st June the Leader of the Opposition was twittering negatives about the Australian economy under the Rudd Government:
TurnbullMalcolm in case you have not seen it - our new TV ad http://tinyurl.com/nyklya

The very next day his doom and gloom ad campaign hit a hurdle:
"The trend estimate of the balance on current account for the March quarter 2009 was a deficit of $3,676m in current price terms. This was a decrease of $2,691m (42%) on the deficit recorded for the December quarter 2008 where:
* the goods and services surplus rose $2,091m (52%) to $6,112m
* the income deficit fell $634m (6%) to $9,602m
* the current transfers deficit rose $34m (22%) to $186m.
In seasonally adjusted current price terms, the current account deficit fell $1,743m (27%) to $4,614m between the December quarter 2008 and March quarter 2009 where:
* the goods and services surplus rose $900m (22%) to $5,075m
* the income deficit fell $862m (8%) to $9,498m
* the current transfers deficit rose $18m (10%) to $190m."


Then matters darkened even further for Malcolm with the announcement of GDP quarterly growth and publication of "Debt for Development Makes Sense say 21 Prominent Australian Economists", which removed the last of the air from his little campaign.
Every time poor Mal thought he'd found a silver bullet to fire at his political opponents, along came economic reality.

However the gods must have listened to his desperate prayers, for up popped Fitzgibbon and Ute Man.
Ah, saved to fight another day! Even if nobody gives a toss - when you've shot your credibility wad you've shot your wad period.

The rest of Australian Bureau of Statistics 2nd June 2009 analysis and comments here.

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