Open season on government, public service

Labor leader Kevin Rudd has declared open season on government accountability should his party win the election this Saturday. Rudd said he would hold cabinet meetings once a month in regional areas, followed by a press conference. “I will be accountable to the Australian people for the commitments I have made to them at this election." said Rudd.

Rudd brought up the ‘children overboard’ affair to note that over Howard’s reign, the government has become more secretive. “If you're running a decent government, you shouldn't fear these things," he said.
 
However, Rudd also drew the ire of the Community and Public Sector Union, who has supported him this campaign, when he implied that he would downsize the public service in office. "It just strikes me as passing strange that this government … has not systematically applied the meat axe to its own administrative bloating for the better part of a decade," he said.
 
In related news, Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey pounced on a report about his counterpart, Deputy Labor leader Julia Gillard, telling her partner’s daughter to consult the Workplace Ombudsman about penalty rates, a government agency she plan to abolish. "This proves that the Workplace Ombudsman is working. It also proves that Julia Gillard is a hypocrite when it comes to workplace relations," said Hockey. "We find out two days from the election that they've been using the system."