Joe Hockey gave a speech at the Lowy Institute on Thursday, 6th February to outline this year’s G20 agenda. The mainstream media practically ignored it and for good reason; the public just don’t understand, or are not interested in, the detail. If you have the patience, I recommend listening to it. Its author (whoever it was) has found the words to fit the timing, the scene and importantly, the audience.

“Too many tax payers’ dollars have been spent on corporate and middle class welfare and too often previous governments have been drawn into areas that are better left to the private sector,” Joe Hockey said. He went on to say, “The budget that we inherited from the previous government reflects the entitlement mentality that has dominated government decision-making over recent years.”

What he didn’t say was that the Howard government started most of that ‘entitlement mentality’. Mind you, his…