On Tuesday 16 March Jack Waterford launched Debate Magazine. Following Ken Randall, the Editor in Chief of the magazine who introduced him, Jack made a witty and interesting speech. He pointed to the need for competition among small magazines and said that they should consider sharing subscriber lists, since people who were interested in ideas were likely to read numerous publications.

Today I am off to South Australia for the election. I will make a prediction in my weekly radio broadcast, which goes to air on Friday.

Tony Abbott knows that his only chance to be Prime Minister is to beat Kevin Rudd at the next election. This is not because he will be, as he described it, “roadkill” if he loses. He will go too close to winning for that; and it will be because of the closeness that he will become unelectable.

It is too early to make a definitive judgment on the Government’s health reform package. As we know from the insulation debacle it is not the plan that matters but the implementation. Implementation is where the risks are as well as the rewards for the punter. In the meantime there are some pointers that need to be borne in mind as we make an assessment.

The economic debate has shifted from macro-economic issues to micro-economic reform, which is as it should be.