I missed Round 2. I was reading about hedge funds and private equity and so I'm not even sure what Round 2 was about. Rudd's response to the Costello Budget? Round 3 is definitely about economic credibility, which is deemed to be the foundation stone of political credibility. Economic credibility, apparently depends on being a fiscal conservative.

So what does a fiscal conservative mean these days? Running budget surpluses? Continuing the transformation of the Australian economy from an inwood-looking manufacturing based one to an an outward -looking services dominated one? Enhancing market competition, deregulating the economy as well as an open economy? That is more neo-liberalism isn't it?

How about reducing government taxation, no government debt and reducing government expenditure? Small government, in other words. That's quite different from Howard's big government conservatism. isn't John Howard a fiscal conservative? But John Howard doesn't fight for spending cuts. He stands for spending as much money as he can---a Big Spender. Aren't Howard and Costello taxing and spending Australia's economic prosperity from the mining boom?