It’s my job to raise a topic which neither side of politics will mention

August 19, 2026 — 5:00am

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Have you noticed that, as practised by our two main parties, politics has always been about the good news, never anything nasty?

Talk to the Liberals and they’ll promise to cut taxes. Talk to Labor and they promise more spending on this or that desirable cause.

The Libs never say how they’ll pay for the tax cut; Labor never says how it will cover the cost of higher government spending.

It’s the job of people like me to point out the not-so-nice things the pollies don’t want to mention in their sales pitch, but I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve been absent without leave on the simplest of points.

There was a time not so long ago when politicians and their audience were obsessed by worries about debt and deficit. We probably overdid it, but that was sooo yesterday. These days no one mentions the budget deficit.

If Treasury is worried it’s kept its concerns to itself. But on Monday a former Treasury secretary, Dr Martin Parkinson, expressed his worries to the Australian Financial Review. (Sometimes I wonder if part of the role of retired senior public servants is to say what those who haven’t retired aren’t allowed to say in public.)

“I’m quite concerned about the approach to fiscal sustainably by all sides of politics,” Parkinson said. “It’s almost like debt is not an issue for anybody any more because the........

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