With the nation’s economic, political, cultural and civil exceptionalism shattered, major effort is needed to prevent Kevin Rudd’s warning of a “second-rate country” coming true.
The most spendthrift federal government in at least 40 years, as productivity does nothing and inflation accelerates, makes a fifth hike “plausible”, says Ian Harper.
Bigger government, higher taxes, more expensive energy, more regulated workplaces and closing off natural growth options will make Australia second-rate again.
The pandemic confirmed that the public health lobby should not be left to determine the policy trade-offs, incentives and costs of seeking to eliminate risk, rather than minimising harm.
The political success of the ACTU’s “workers’ rights” ambit claims has not translated into gains for employees.
Talk of pay rises is emboldened by American Democratic Socialists such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Britain’s Andy Burnham and even by Anthony Albanese.
The attempted sharp break from absolute Labor-Left rule in the state confirms that “something is wrong with the place”, as former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty says.
Rather than shoring up Australian prosperity, politicians have squabbled over how to redistribute it.
The soccer extravaganza is boosting American patriotism just as Trump’s narcissism is souring the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence.
There is no evidence Coles and Woolworths have ripped off shoppers. But that – and a warning from the Productivity Commission chairwoman – will not stop Labor.
Surely, it’s time to recognise that Labor’s union-dominated party structure and its policy model will not lift living standards, even for employees.
The backlash has come from the very Australians whom the budget’s “intergenerational equity” tax slug is supposed to help.
The flaw in the NDIS lies in the same haloed human rights principles on which the entitlement monument has been built.
Nations can become wealthier and more secure by profitably supplying more of what the world wants most from them.
Protecting one industry imposes a burden on the competitive sectors that actually prop up our prosperity, such as mining, energy and agriculture.
Jim Chalmers doesn’t have a central bank governor to blame for his forward misguidance or for his complaint that monetary policy may be “smashing the economy”.
Michael Stutchbury started reporting on industrial relations 50 years ago. He says Australia’s high-wage economy is unsustainable unless business is allowed to escape its IR straitjacket.
The cash-flow tax proposal suggests we’re a utopia for oligopoly capitalists, presumably led by the big miners, the big banks and the big supermarket chains.
The Economic Reform Roundtable should commit to making Australia an aspirational and enterprise-driven high-growth nation bursting with investment opportunities.
The property boom has made older Australians rich and turned housing into the standout generational issue that Jim Chalmers must tackle with his economic reforms, Michael Stutchbury writes.
