Ever the Howard loyalist, seems Julie Bishop can’t get her head around RBA interest rates either. This is an unassuming opening for the new shadow treasurer, but then her leader is doing little better in the economic responsibility stakes.

It is difficult to simultaneously argue for a knee jerk supplement to one among goodness knows how many other pensions while also insisting that the government make a better fist of its response to global economic difficulties. One the one hand Turnbull howls over allegedly slipshod handling of market regulation, on the other he proposes doling out millions in what amounts to little more than a publicity stunt. 

There’s no coherent position or philosophy here, only point scoring. You’d have thought the circumstances demanded something rather more meaningful and considered. Any claim to a superior instinct for economic management demands at least that.