WHEN PM Malcolm Turnbull raised the starter’s gun for the Federal election this past week, Canberrans reacted like none other – our public servants were suddenly working overtime to complete projects before he actually fires it.

That’s when he advises the Governor-General to call the double dissolution and “caretaker mode” decrees that no further big decisions can be made and announced.

Departmental secretaries began tearing their hair knowing that more than 80 per cent of their 150,000-strong workforce were still resisting the sweeping workplace changes concocted by Abbott’s Employment Minister Eric Abetz soon after the 2013 election. And it’s part of the reason Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison began popping up everywhere with some new “reform”.

BUT only part. Despite his protestations, Morrison convinced no one when he said the $127 million boost to ASIC’s budget to oversee the banks had nothing to do with Labor’s proposed Royal Commission. And it certainly didn’t help his cause when a banking industry spokesman happily agreed to foot the bill.

TURNBULL’S announcement of $230 million to fight cybercrime was well received, but passed over the heads of most Australians.

“The real impact of cybercrime could be around $17 billion a year,” he said. But so many big figures get tossed around at election time they barely register. Unlike a mere $5000 for chartering a helicopter, for instance.

WHEN Saudi Arabian diplomats refused to pay $140,000 in ACT traffic fines that really hit home. And don’t even mention the Azerbaijanis who imported 2000 duty free litres of beer, 1100 litres of wine, 520 litres of spirits and 40,000 cigarettes. Who knew Azerbaijan even had an embassy? Oh well, they have to fill the empty hours somehow.

THE Americans, by contrast, are busy as bees explaining the rise of Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump. Ambassador John Berry pleaded with an ANU audience: “Don’t judge American politics too harshly, because voters won’t start to engage until September.” Nice try, John. At last count, Trump had already scored 8,781,907 votes in the primaries!

A BACKHANDED compliment from Deloitte Access Economics this week that the ACT’s “economic pulse has been increasingly looking healthier”. But before the Barr government takes too much credit, they reckon we “dodged bullets” and “that may not be good enough if it turns out there are more bullets to dodge”. So, perhaps we should avoid any big, injudicious spends like, say, a Gungahlin tram?

SPEAKING of poor judgements, the Nine Network’s attempted child-snatching imbroglio in Lebanon saw the release of the “60 Minutes” team after the reported payment of a king’s ransom to the father who cleared out with them in the first place. No one much cares about the jailed operatives who bungled the caper, but surely Nine can’t simply walk away from them.

GREAT news that we’ll get our first live Test match at Manuka Oval in the 2018-19 season. Our Sri Lankan opponents should provide bright cricket and good competition for the big crowds expected. So what better justification for a redevelopment plan for the oval and its shabby surrounds. Now, if only some big, rich footy club would come to the party. Oh, wait a minute…
robert@robertmacklin.com