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Originally published in The Canberra Times on August 31, 2013

When Ford announced it would close its Melbourne plant at a cost of about 1200 jobs, the nation went into shock. But where is that shock now as Tony Abbott promises to shed at least 12,000 more public-sector jobs than Labor?

What’s worse is that he’s making this pledge in the middle of an election campaign he says is about ”jobs, jobs, jobs”. Is it any wonder that the public has tuned out from what passes for political and policy debate?

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