In what is expected to result in some rolling heads, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission will be chastised today by the final report of the Senate inquiry into liquidators and administrators. There is the possibility that the regulator will have the role of supervising liquidators taken over by another agency although it is unclear who or what would replace it.

The management of the economy is obviously in flux at the moment with the uncertainty of the government. It is likely that those at the reins of our economic system do not have any of the necessary qualifications, let alone skills to deal with the enormous task of setting government economic policy. Late yesterday afternoon, the new government was still trying to work out who would have responsibilities for what after the apparently haphazard re-jigging of ministerial titles. Bill Shorten, the governor general’s son in law will be busy as he picks up administration of APRA with its prudential regulation of banking, insurance and superannuation. And he will have responsibility for whatever taxation law is delegated to him by the Treasurer – as well as administration of tax law and ATO matters. Oh, there’s responsibility for the response to the Cooper Review and taxation and regulation in regard to superannuation too.

Labor’s macro economic performance over the past three years has been its greatest achievement, the reason why it’s reasonable for it to have a second term. Too bad much of the electorate seemed to miss that, which might lead you to suspect that Wayne Swan couldn’t sell tinsel at Christmas. Tanner could sell the tree as well. Tanner was as much de facto Treasurer and Finance Minister, the bloke who could talk economics with credibility and a little style. Labor’s just fortunate that the coalition’s self-proclaimed economic expertise is not demonstrated by anything it has said or done for the past three years – and there’s no sign of that changing either.