Let The Games Begin

John Howard's speech to the Menzies Institute this week was more than just an attack on Labor's family tax policy - it could be seen to mark the beginning of the next election cycle. Yes, it seems only yesterday that we were having the last election, but with a three year cycle, there's effectively only one year of rest between the sturm und drang of election year wind-ups and wind-downs.

It's intriguing that Howard should choose a topic on which Labor is so clearly in the ascendant to begin his attack, though. In one sense, it's another example of the idea of forming pseudo-Opposition within his own party, as I discussed earlier. In another, however, the government is on very shaky ground on this issue. As Polemica suggests, there's just not a lot of justification for giving people who are already rich more money to raise their children, and furthermore, the structure of the Family Tax Benefits system is clearly doing more to stymie productivity than our previous industrial relations regime ever did.

Will the government continue trying to attack Labor on its own territory? A very odd technique, and according to the political theory whose name escapes me (if anyone can drop it in the Comments I'd be most grateful) but which dictates that social democratic parties will always win arguments on social issues, and conservative parties will always win arguments on economic issues, a pretty poor one.