"Where is Australia going? To answer this question, Turning Point provides a progress report on key national policy areas covering unemployment, infrastructure, financial regulation (the Wallis inquiry), manufacturing (the Mortimer review), the waterfront and shipping, health, emergency services and the public sector. An examination of the New Zealand experiment points to similarities and differences with the Australian experience." "Turning Point also reports on the direction and performance of Australia's state and territory governments. It traces the contradictions in Bob Carr's NSW government and offers new and disturbing perspectives on Jeff Kennett's Victorian government. It questions whether Rob Borbidge is attempting to turn Queensland back to the Bjelke-Petersen era. It asks what public benefit will come from the WA government's efforts to break the union movement. It looks at how South Australia and Tasmania can escape the prospect of permanent recession."--BOOK JACKET.