Damian, I think the idea of periodic reporting is good, but honestly I think it is unlikely that the “report cards” that this government or other governments put out are likely to be particularly objective. I haven’t gone through the government’s actual publication in detail, but although I am likely to agree with many of its positive assessments, I can’t see it being likely that the government is going to rap itself across the knuckles very often.

I have to say I was pretty cynical about this report card idea when I first heard about it, particularly since the gumint had been (rightly) lambasting Howard’s mob for wasting money on propaganda. However, from the perspective of accountability and so on, I now reckon it’s a pretty good idea.

I’d like to see such reporting become a regular feature, so long as there are some measures in place to ensure that it remains more or less objective. It would be handy at the state level, too.