Worlds apart

The leaders of Australia and Germany responded differently to recent terrorist attacks. Klaus Neumann looks at why. A new government's first initiatives may not be what it is eventually remembered for. But they set the tone for what is to come. Having won a majority of seats by the narrowest of margins in the election of 2 July, Malcolm Turnbull's government didn't immediately pursue the Australian Building and Construction Commission reforms, which had provided the trigger for the double dissolution election. Nor did it immediately set about prosecuting a detailed economic plan, although the slogan 'jobs and growth' had dominated the Coalition's election campaign.