That Malcolm is an economic illiterate has always been evident, but if you are looking for more proof, there is this (picked up at Andrew Bolt):

He wants to trigger a big surge in Australian spending on infrastructure by changing the way the federal government has always operated.

He cheerfully admits that this is “an argument I lost in the Howard government” as minister responsible for water…

It’s now urgent with the economy slowing as the mining boom recedes. Infrastructure investment will partly take up “the slack”, he says…

“I think the Commonwealth should take a more active role,” he tells Fairfax Media. “We should be prepared to actually invest as opposed to simply making grants…”

Economics is supposed to be his long suit but he remains more clueless than the most clueless Keynesian. You might have hoped that the experience with the NBN would have tempered his enthusiasm for Commonwealth-directed expenditures, but apparently not. Losing billions is fine, since in this weird approach to economic prosperity, its the spending that gives you the growth. How stupid do you have to be not to see that spending represents the cost of the project. It is the revenue you get later that is the benefit. And having watched Malcolm for the last month or so, it is true that as short a suit as his economic credentials are, economics is his longest suit. Both Canada and Australia have traded in common sense for a fashion statement, and we are both going to regret this for a very long time to come.