"What an overwhelming sense of confidence we get when the newly elected government asks a thousand people to come to Canberra to explain to them how to run the country.

"One would hope the fact you've been elected reflected the fact you had a platform of ideas to secure the prosperity of the nation, prior to obtaining office. Just the logistics of a thousand people, each having a constructive input, means you're inevitably tied to a multiplicity of directions which, you can bet your house on, won't be aligned.

"While we're discussing a threat to your house, that should be one of the main concerns the Labor Party is discussing right now. Australia is heading towards its own mortgage meltdown crisis where houses are being sold for less than the debt attached to them, leaving those, especially in the western suburbs of the eastern capitals, with negative equity and those ramifications will flow through the economy in the same fashion as they did in the United States.

"These stresses are exacerbated by the overcentralisation and cartel-like behaviour of the suppliers of the main consumer items, being groceries and fuel.

"I am surprised Mr Rudd and Mr Swan have decided they'll have a hothouse gabfest while the structure of the economy is in such a precarious position. If, as Labor stated, they are economic conservatives, one would suggest they wouldn't need the input of a thousand well meaning people to assist them through the key aspects of their responsibilities of office.

"Implicit in leadership in a time of uncertainty is the capacity to instil a sense of confidence that you know what you're doing. A General does not have a workshop of a thousand of his troops in the middle of a field of engagement. If you do, the effect is completely counter productive in that it clearly displays you don't know what on earth you're up to.

"Exercises like this have the tendency to descend into a multi headed monster and the efficacy to deliver outcomes is similar to a Jerry Springer talk show."