But the other prominent political dynamic of this past year has been the droning chants from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of ''no, no, no''. Early last year, Mr Abbott made his strategy known, saying on 2GB radio, ''if in doubt, our job is to oppose''. And that he has.
In 2011, Mr Abbott has said
''no'' to the mining tax, and sharing the benefits of the mining boom,
''no'' to compulsory superannuation,
''no'' to pricing carbon,
''no'' to tackling global warming,
''no'' to the income tax cuts,
''no'' to GP super clinics,
''no'' to Medicare Locals,
''no'' to fast, affordable broadband for all Australians,
''no'' to the $5.8 billion flood levy to help Queensland and Victoria rebuild.
Mr Abbott said ''no'' in principle to foreign aid,
''no'' to Trade Training Centres and to apprenticeship training programs,
''no'' to computers in schools,
''no'' to Labor's paid parental leave plan (which, since starting last year, has delivered benefits to more than 100,000 families),
''no'' to the stimulus payments that helped keep our economy out of recession through the GFC, ''no'' to proper public scrutiny of election costings,
and ''no'' to his own finance spokesman's costings.
He's suggested regional towns could be ''wiped off the map'', and made wild claims about job losses and business failures. Repeatedly he has been proved wrong, but the scare campaigning has continued.
We need to fight against allowing political fear campaigns to dim the light of our achievements.