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Australia

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Give Them the Vision Thing

Not wanting to oppose tax reductions and increased spending on roads leaves Labor with little to argue about. It was quite painful to watch shadow Treasurer Wayne Swan trying to find something to carp about.

The one possibility for Opposition Leader Kim Beazley is to talk about the vision thing – the need for governments to have a long term plan to keep Australia growing and prosperous when the commodities cycle turns against us.

Voters like to think politicians know where they are going and words like improving productivity and investing in skills have the right ring to them.

But Mr Beazley has to be careful not to be too specific. To repeat the message: Governments have the capacity to actually do next year what an Opposition promises this year.