7 comments

  1. What the hell is going on in Treasury? I wasn’t aware of the dodgy analysis they did. Surely a few people will lose their jobs when there is a change in government. Unfortunately, we are just likely to get the same type of analysis just angled to suit the government. Very sad state of affairs.

    1. You might dismiss this as a ‘re-hash’ but Treasury has form. Put it this way, if this was a conservative govt and they had pulled the same sh_t, would you still be so dismissive?

      I really really dislike the current Liberal party but I’m sorry this and many other things about Treasury isn’t good enough. It erodes trust and is just bad.

      So you can dismiss it as just conservatives stirring up old news to muddy the waters and make the govt look bad, but this is cannot be excused. Treasury have sullied themselves and heads should roll!

  4. Katy,

    Nick Gruen fessed up when it was pointed out to him.

    Which is more than sinclair Davidson ever does in his regular inaccurate (ahem) observations.

    They reissued new research and hey presto not a lot changed. wow fancy Berg missing that

    Treasury is the most over-worked department of all departments and some clangers will get through however they are very good at discussing issues with outside people.

    They do not just give their political masters information they want to hear

    1. Sorry nottrampis, I have to take exception with some of what you’ve said.

      Treasury is not the most over worked department and they do just give in to the whims of their political masters. I know this because I know several people who have worked in Treasury and since transferred out. They tell me that the department is heavily politicised, with analysis routinely being changed to fit the narrative the government / Treasurer is trying to sell.

      I also know from friends in other departments that they also try and pressure other departments and agencies to tweak data to match what they are saying. The whole kerfuffle with the ABS population figures was a classic example. They knew the economic story didn’t change but the political message did. So they used their pawn Peter Martin to publicly embarrass the ABS into temporarily changing the figures, knowing full well the figures would be revised back to the original state after the latest census was taken into account. Not to mention the pressure they’ve put on the department of immigration to ‘up’ the forecasts for migration growth all to increase the employment numbers. Notice the much larger than usual increase in migration numbers in the march quarter this year…no coincidence really and some of that has contributed to employment growth.

      So sorry from what I can tell the Department of Treasury is heavily politicised and they do just what their political masters want of them, how else do explain the ridiculous state of forecasting errors of the past 3 years.

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