KRudd and that Wolfdene decision ...

Feberal Liberal MP Hunt's take on the three tasks Kevin Rudd should achieve before getting the keys to the Lodge:

In December 1989 the first act of Kevin Rudd, the new chief of staff to Queensland's incoming Labor premier, was to cancel plans for the Wolfdene dam.

This was despite expert advice that such a dam would be needed for southeast Queensland in the early 21st century.

The experts were dead right.

With approximately 70 per cent population growth in southeast Queensland in the intervening period, Brisbane is paying the price for one of the worst infrastructure decisions in modern Australian history.

Wolfdene dam would not have changed rainfall patterns but it would have allowed for perhaps 15 years of accumulated water storage, which in turn would have dramatically altered Queensland's capacity to deal with the inevitable ebb and flow of rainfall.
...

There are three simple tests of Rudd's leadership credentials which flow from the failures of social democracies to deliver water and employment.

First, he should apologise to the people of southeast Queensland for his role in cancelling the Wolfdene dam and failing to provide a viable water plan when he had his hands on the levers of the Queensland government.

Second, he should take up the challenge of reminding state premiers that constitutionally they are responsible for failing to plan and prepare the necessary water infrastructure and that if they don't recycle, then they should let the private sector do it.

Third, he needs to guarantee working Australia that despite embracing European employment policies, he will avoid a return to German and French unemployment levels.

See - KRudd - what I must do differently.