From Lucky Country to Paradise Lost

After decades of prosperity, complacency and poor leadership have left Australia weaker, poorer and angrier.

“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.” Ronald Reagan

There was a time when we could proudly say that we were the lucky country. We were the envy of the world. Sun-drenched beaches with fine powdery white-gold sand, unique wildlife, and a vibrant commercial sector devoid of excessive bureaucratic overreach. We were even capable of having a laugh and wore the larrikin culture as a badge of honour. We had high standards of living and ballooning prosperity driven by an abundance of cheap, reliable energy and a can-do spirit.

Australia was so blessed it even had the good fortune to miss the crushing effects of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. The China commodities boom meant we never saw more than six percent unemployment, whereas most of the rest of the world suffered double-digit pain. The prudent Howard-Costello years meant our budget was left in an extremely healthy position when Kevin Rudd AC took power.

Sadly, after three decades of effectively uninterrupted economic growth, we have become too complacent. We have lost our competitive spirit and replaced it with a low-resolution political class, emboldened by their own misguided beliefs based on the socialist utopia that helped them lose their virginity when activist students on campus, where they spent their days at the refectory bar cursing the very establishment they now resolutely defend.

Guided by similarly group-thinking career bureaucrats – many who have never worked a day in the real world – elected officials continue to push one-dimensional policies which seldom take account of glaringly obvious second-derivative impacts that will all but guarantee the impoverishment of our nation. Some might even say we have also had our renowned sense of humour surgically removed under the banner of woke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ideology. Thank God for Gerry Noonan and his profanity-laden rant on our disastrous energy policies that reminded all real Aussies that we haven’t lost it entirely. (Link here)

There is a famous saying that hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. No prizes for guessing which stage we are in.

Our national debt clock is approaching $1 trillion. We are forecasting deficits as far as the eye can see. Inflation driven by our obsession with renewable energy is causing businesses to collapse at an accelerating pace. Even our Reserve Bank Governor says the economy will be redlining if GDP growth gets to 2.5 percent.

Wherever you look, our governments keep serving us three-week-old reheated Christmas leftovers and expect us to believe we are eating Gordon Ramsay’s finest gourmet cuisine.

While our Treasurer Jim Chalmers might concede we’re on an unsustainable path, he has an odd way of showing it. Instead of pursuing fiscal prudence, he is rummaging through the tax code filing cabinet to find anything to allow his party’s profligate spending to continue. If you are a retiree, look out. All that hard work to afford the lifestyle you thought you rightfully earned is now frowned upon as intergenerational theft and therefore must be redistributed. Shame on you for being so naïve three decades ago.

Our governments, drunk on power, think they can tax their way to prosperity. Income tax, GST, road tax, luxury car tax, fuel excise, alcohol tax, stamp duty, capital gains tax, payroll tax, land tax, council tax… tax, tax, tax. Now they’re coming for inheritance taxes, unrealised capital gains and even mulling taxing empty nesters for having vacant bedrooms. Nothing is off limits. Courtesy of over-zealous and sinister bureaucrats who believe there are rules for thee but not for me. They show us utter contempt by exempting themselves from the very rules which squeeze the very people who pay them.

However, the tide is turning.

The polls might not reflect it but Australians are growing jack of all the smoke and mirrors. Relative party popularity at the moment is more a reflection of an opposition in disarray with little bark and even less bite. Just how out of touch do Liberal Party advisers have to be to cede more ground to the most incompetent government in modern Australian history? If one sets out to please everyone, one ends up pleasing no one.

Examples of discontent are everywhere.

No one was buying Prime Minister Albanese or Victorian Premier Allan’s faux compassion for rural communities at the recent Bush Summit in Ballarat. Attempts at empathy by the PM and Jacinta Allan – as if they share identical experiences – were futile in the face of farmers who can detect, in Albo’s own words, “bullshit” from a mile off. The visuals of tractors chasing his convoy out of town matched the aural anger of people who are sick and tired of being taken advantage of. But hey, rural communities carry fewer votes than the wealthy city elites.

The same people see Energy Minister Chris Bowen flying around the country championing his home batteries initiative for what it is. He has probably belched out more CO₂ into the atmosphere doing repetitive social media posts in a month than the entire embedded carbon life-cycle held within the subsidised energy storage systems for those wealthy enough to install them.

Social activist, Australian men’s cricket captain and likely future senator Pat Cummins is pushing the PM for $100 million to put solar panels on rooftops of 1,000 clubs to help save the planet. If he had such a deep conscience for the climate, perhaps he might consider not accepting millions to fly around the globe and publicly apologise for owning a Range Rover and a Ferrari. No one begrudges his talent on the field to afford such luxury trappings, but please, Paddy, you’re simply bowling way too many no balls.

Same goes for Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes. By all means buy a private jet and drape a Formula 1 team in your corporate logo because your hard work and success says you deserve it, but please spare us the sanctimonious lectures on emissions.

Of course we can’t pass over the infantile antics of the out-of-touch brigade.

Environment Minister Murray Watt and Homelessness Minister Clare O’Neil are so interested in real outcomes that they found time to discuss whether it is preferable to eat boreks or jam doughnuts from the local bakeries. Priorities.

While marching with pictures of the Ayatollah, waving ISIS flags and chanting “death, death to the IDF” wins support from our government under the guise of tolerance and free speech, apparently Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke thinks it is “un-Australian” for citizens to call out the government’s complete disregard for the wishes of the majority. Who can blame them when they are clearly the first punished and last considered.

Therein lies the point. Rome is burning.

Australians can sense things are not right. These patriotic protests are overt signals that unless something is done soon, we may pass the point of no return.

Our international uncompetitiveness is not only a function of an onerous regulatory structure but of our rivals understanding that capital goes to where it is most loved. No one can sit there and pretend – when some of our mining jurisdictions are less attractive than those run by tinpot dictatorships in Africa – that we are primed for success. We aren’t. Our domestic investment continues to languish at 1990s recession levels. Our productivity and living standards are at six-decade lows.

Australian culture loves backing the underdog. However, at the rate we’re travelling, we’ll all be underdogs and success will be determined by the ones who lose least.

Michael Newman has four decades of business experience in North Asia and served as NSW’s Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner to the region.