Tax cuts for the ....?

The Australian budget has just been announced. It contained some modest tax cuts for the highest income earners. I was stunned, to say the least, when reading the Treasurer's defence of these cuts. According to a report in The Australian,

An unapologetic Treasurer insisted it was necessary to lift productivity and improve Australia's chances of attracting high-skilled workers from overseas.

Isn't this amazing! Mr Costello, who is supposed to represent us, the people of Australia, is changing tax policy so that the best professional jobs can be taken by foreign immigrants with no connection to Australia. Incredible!

Surely this makes it crystal clear that the Australian Liberal Party is not a conservative party. It is a right liberal party which is most interested in pursuing free market objectives, such as removing any impediments, such as high taxes, to the flow of labour.

This isn't to say the tax cuts themselves are wrong. But any normal, self-respecting conservative would want his fellow countrymen to have first go at decent jobs. It's been a very long time, I suspect, since Mr Costello experienced such conservative instincts.