Carr's Curse

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett blasts Macquarie Bank employee and former NSW premier Bob Carr in today's Australian.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24667522-601,00.html

Like many former ALP leaders Bob Carr suffers from selective amnesia and attempts to adjust history in his favour. The fact remains that Carr’s obsession with cutting debt, to sate the whims of now discredited financial rating agencies, at the expense of spending on much needed infrastructure improvements in areas of transport, health and education has left much of Sydney looking like east Berlin after the fall of the Berlin wall. It will take many years to undo the damage. Jeff suggests at least five but it will be more like 10 for the necessary infrastructure to be built. We can only hope that a change of government will see an end to his damaging influence on NSW state politics. Amazingly Carr continues to suck at the public teat while in the pay of Macquarie Bank. In prior centuries such behaviour from public officials was rewarded not with a government pension, but with a jail cell on the likes of the island of Elba…or worse. I wonder if there remains room on this little island to house our own man of letters?

Nathan Rees has the golden opportunity to go down in history as the best premier of this lamentable era if only he decides to save us all by falling on his own sword and call an election. Call it now Nathan, lest we storm the barricades.