(UPDATE: Now includes Kevin Rudd’s & Tony Abbott’s economic qualifications)
Rudd Labor have gone to town trying to discredit Barnaby Joyce as a credible Finance spokesman. So just how do Barnaby’s economic qualifications stack up against his opposite number, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner?
Let’s take a look –
Lindsay Tanner – Qualifications and Occupation before entering Parliament
BA (Hons), LLB (Hons), MA (Melb).
Articled clerk and solicitor 1982-85.
Electorate assistant to Senator BC Cooney 1985-87.
Assistant Secretary, Federated Clerks’ Union (Vic) 1987-88; State Secretary 1988-93.
Hmmmmmm. A couple of Arts degrees. A solicitor. A politician’s errand boy. A union hack. And no trace whatsoever of any business, economic, or finance experience, at any time in his life.
Barnaby Joyce – Qualifications and Occupation before entering Parliament
BFA (UNE), CPA, FCPA.
Farm worker 1989-91.
Accountant 1991-94.
Rural banker 1994-98.
Self-employed accountant 1998-2005.
Ok then. A degree in Commerce. A Certified Public Accountant, and Fellow of CPA Australia. Cost accounting for a multinational bank. His own accountancy practice. So, Barnaby has a relevant degree, and many years of hands-on experience with money and balancing the books. And, he had the commonsense to see and predict the GFC.
Finally, what about Treasurer Wayne Swan? The minister in charge of managing the nation’s finances. Your taxes. Surely he must have a glowing set of economic credentials… right?
Wayne Swan – Qualifications and Occupation before entering Parliament
BA (Qld).
Lecturer, Queensland Institute of Technology 1976-77, 1981-82 and 1985-88.
Policy analyst, Office of Youth Affairs 1978.
Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. WG Hayden, MP 1978-80; Special Ministers of State, the Hon. MJ Young, MP and the Hon. KC Beazley, MP 1983; and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. WG Hayden, MP 1984.
Party official.
Adviser 1996-98.
Riiiiiigght. Another Bachelor of Arts. And then? Nothing. A career political hack.
So… who is better qualified? Who has the best, most relevant university education, and business experience, to manage Australia’s finances?
‘Nuff said.
UPDATE:
And what about PM Kevin Rudd? What are his business, financial, and/or economic qualifications?
Kevin Rudd – Qualifications and Occupation before entering Parliament
BA(Hons) (ANU).
Diplomat 1981-88.
Chief of Staff to the Hon. W Goss 1988-91.
Director-General, Cabinet Office (Qld) 1991-95.
Senior China Consultant, KPMG Australia 1996-98.
Ohhhh great! Another wastrel with nothing but an Arts degree. Never had a real job. Never run a business. Spent his entire life with snout and both front trotters planted firmly in the public trough.
Labor's Economic Team - The Three Little Pigs
Barnaby Joyce has far greater economic qualifications than all three of the Labor Government’s frontline economic team… combined.
Which makes one wonder – who is writing their economic lines for them?
UPDATE 2:
What are Tony Abbott’s economic qualifications?
Tony Abbott – Qualifications and Occupation before entering Parliament
BEc, LLB (Syd), MA (Oxon).
Rhodes Scholar.
Journalist.
Plant Manager, Pioneer Concrete.
Press secretary and political adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, Dr J.R. Hewson 1990-93.
Executive Director, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy 1993-94.
Bachelor of Economics. Rhodes Scholar. And held a real job, managing a concrete plant.
Rudd Labor’s attempted smears of Tony Abbott’s and Barnaby Joyce’s economic credibility just don’t stand up to scrutiny.
Perhaps the media might start looking at how un-qualified Rudd Labor are. Then they (and the nation) might understand why they’ve got the nation’s finances into such a monumental mess, in such a short time. Simply, they haven’t a clue what they are doing.
Barnaby Is Right 
Interesting that Tony Abbott has a BEc as he says he is not good on economics. Rudd and Co reckon they are and have nothing. The Australian voter is, mildy speaking, and ass. I still can’t see Rudd losi9ng the next election even with his Batts etc. What’s the betting all of the Staes run by the Labor Party fall ove on Rudd’s health scheme. Are the pundits looking caefully a what Rudd did when he was head of the Premier’s Office and the Cabinet Ofice in QLD? What was a China Consultant for KPMG, one the big accountant firms?
Actually, Abbott has said no such thing. It is claimed that he said he finds economics ‘boring’. In my own personal experience, when someone who has formal education in a particular discipline says they find it ‘boring’, it’s usually because they grasp it pretty easily, and, do not find it intellectually stimulating.
Since economic theories are not all that far removed from reading tea leaves and pig entrails or gazing into crystal balls, I can understand why Abbott finds it ‘boring’.
Thanks for teh comparissons Barnaby. People need to know this or they will believe the lies of Labor and the silly lines that are fed to the media who have no inclination these days to find out things like this for themselves….thanks again and best wishes for 21st August….
Valuable reading….thank you
If I was to start a sausage sizzle business at a service station on a Saturday I wouldn’t ask any labor politician to join the board.
Some months from now the press will still be full of continuing bad news stories relating to Labor’s so called revolutions and new disasters will be added to the list and be in the news….such as the NBN which is headed for disaster.
We have a business plan at the kindergarten my grandchildren attend. We do due diligence when new proposals are put forward.
Even for a new playground. Australia’s finances are no plaything…certainly not in the hands of Labor hacks
It seems that in Wayne Swan, Australia has the most unqualified Treasurer since Ben Chifley (1941-1949). The 17 or so Treasurers since Chifley have all had degrees in either Law, Economics, Commerce or Accountancy – but alas all that Swan can bring to the most important role of ‘Treasurer of Australia’ is an Arts Degree…maybe the Australian voting public can now understand why the Country’s finances are in such a mess. But don’t worry Wayne, you’ll soon have an additional $20 billion to ‘play with’ coutesy of our new ‘Breath Tax’ – or as you term it, the Carbon di-oxide tax.