We had it all. We had a great country. By Rowan Dean in The Spectator.

We had it all. We had a great country. We had solid and reliable leadership. We had a great economy. We were respected and admired around the world. We called it as we saw it. We were loyal to our allies and our friends. We laughed and had fun. We made great music and great films. We dominated on the sports field. We made good use of the abundance of natural resources this land is blessed with, to further the opportunities for every one of us to enjoy the good Aussie life. Most of us didn’t give a rats about political correctness and all the pathetic fads of the hand-wringing lefty crowd.

We threw it all away. And today we are paying a very heavy price. Paying the price for the vanity and treacheries of a lesser breed of politicians from both sides of the political divide who put their own personal egos and personal enrichment ahead of their sworn duty to serve the people of this nation. And now we are led by donkeys and cowards. …

But back to the Howard government’s 30th anniversary dinner. …

I said to several senior Liberals at the beginning of the evening that the real test for the Libs would be whether or not the evening began with a Welcome to Country. And I am pleased to announce … it did not! …

But, as usual, no mention or praise for the greatest politician of our era, Donald J Trump. You could sniff the TDS wafting through the warm night air. …

Peter Costello’s speech was the standout, and there can’t have been a single guest at the ‘do’ who wasn’t asking themselves why on earth this man had never been Prime Minister, and why we’d had to put up with Turnbull and Morrison instead. Indeed, it was clear Mr Costello was thinking much the same thing.

At the heart of Peter Costello’s speech was the astonishing fact that on April 20, 2006, 20 years ago next month, Australia was completely free of all debt. Peter Costello as Treasurer had paid off Labor’s outrageous — and hidden! — 96 billion dollars’ worth of debt and on April 20, 2006, Australia virtually alone in the world had zero debt. On April 20 this year we will have a trillion dollars’ worth of debt.

What’s more, as Peter Costello explained, ever since he left the job taxes have been going up at 1 per cent per person per year, and at the same time, government spending has been going up at 2 per cent per person per year. Meaning, as he explained, the problem isn’t the tax system. We don’t need to be paying any more tax. The problem is the spending, stupid.

And Jim Chalmers has shown he either doesn’t have a clue about how to cut spending, or he couldn’t give a damn. Either way, every single day this Labor government gorges itself on greater and greater debt as it pushes the Australian dream further and further out of reach for anyone who’s not part of the Labor elites.

Overall, the mood in the room was that in Angus Taylor and Matt Canavan the Coalition has the best team since the Abbott if not the Howard years.