THE Coalition continues to exploit the vacuum in government policy.
It beat Labor to the punch on mental health by increasing funding to a deserving cause.
Mental health was neglected by Labor's health plan and the Coalition was only too happy to trump them on it. The move was both good politics and good policy.
This week, the Coalition also announced it would appoint an ombudsman to regulate interactions between small business and government.
There was a need for small business to be treated more fairly and again, Opposition leader Tony Abbott has identified a vacuum in Labor's policy and suggested something better. Again, both good politics and good policy.
There are sensible calls for this ombudsman to also regulate interactions between farmers and companies including Coles, Woolworths and Fonterra.
If Abbott is serious about stopping the bully-boy tactics of big companies, this is the obvious first step.
There is one more glaring policy vacuum remaining which Abbott could trump Labor on: climate change.
If the Coalition would make a fair dinkum policy which genuinely intended to make significant emissions cuts, it would beat Labor on this issue too.
Abbott has, in the past, stated Labor shouldn't have a monopoly on the environmentally-conscious vote. This is true.
But if the Liberals really want that vote, they'll have to do something more than repeat his sentence - they'll need some appropriate policy.
Gillard will aim to release something on climate change this week. But the 14 per cent of voters who abandoned Labor after it delayed climate change measures are unlikely to be appeased - she's not likely to be strong on the issue.
Abbott has managed to influence government policy from the other side of the Parliament.
He's dragged some of the Government's policies toward his own beliefs. Delaying government action on climate change is one example and boat people is another.
Also this week, the fact the big two supermarkets will refuse to stock Chinese apples cannot go without a mention. We criticise them when they stuff up and we should praise them when they do the right thing.
