Rare chance to improve government efficiency THIS commission of audit can be counted on to use its all-encompassing terms of reference to chart an agenda for far-reaching economic reform. The commissioners combine a deep understanding of the realities of government with the economic imperatives the nation and the budget confront. The panel members will all see this as a once-in-a-generation chance to achieve a quantum leap in the efficiency and effectiveness of government. It is about lifting national productivity and the value government delivers to taxpayers. It is not not, as Labor characterises it, about "slash and burn." The last national commission of audit in 1996, headed by academic economist Bob Officer, still stands as a powerful analysis of what government would look like if you took it back to first principles and will be a valuable reference for its successor. It failed to gain traction with the Howard government because, for all the theoretical rigour of its recommendations, it failed to make a strong enough case in the practical world of politics. The commission must not only identify what needs to be done, but make the case for doing it as compellingly as it can. Economic reform does not have to be politically costly -- the Rudd government was able to raise the pension age with barely a whimper at a time when similar proposals were causing riots in France -- but the argument has to be made and the policy implementation deftly managed. Joe Hockey has given the commission every encouragement. Nothing is off the table. There is none of the timidity that led the Rudd government to commission a tax review with an instruction to ignore the second largest tax, the GST. The boldness of the commissioning inevitably raises expectations the Abbott government will be similarly bold in acting on what are bound to be some politically challenging recommendations. The commission has a very tight timetable which ensures it will not get lost in the under-growth. You cannot make a significant and sustainable improvement to the budget without tackling the top 20 spending programs, including the age pension, Medicare, support for non-government schools and defence. The government enjoys a substantial majority and it should be prepared to risk some political capital to achieve necessary reform, as the Howard government so spectacularly showed with its advocacy of the GST ahead of the 1998 election.