Australia needs to get moving
WHEN the deputy chief health officer of Victoria calls Captain Cook an invader and likens him to COVID-19, we have a history problem.
When two of our leading business figures oppose an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus because it might hurt our trade with China, we have a self-respect problem.
And when the same Premiers that demand we must all “heed the science on climate-change” reject the science on children going back to school, we have a credibility problem.
Recovering from a corona crisis that will kill off tens of thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions in national wealth will demand a comprehensive reset in the way we approach our country’s problems.
For the first time in decades, Australia faces real hardship and, to get through it, we can’t afford any more of the indulgent thinking that’s held us back.
All credit to the Morrison government for protecting Australia from the many thousands of deaths that this virus has caused in Britain, Europe, the US and elsewhere.
I’m not one of those who want to criticise them for locking us, and the economy, up in order to save lives; it’s lousy to want to punish our country’s success. But getting the economy back on track is likely to make the health effort look easy.
Last week, Roy Morgan estimated a staggering 10.5 million Australians have had a change to their employment due to this virus: 3.8 million have had their hours reduced, 2.7 million have been stood down, 1.4 million have had their pay cut and almost 700,000 have been made redundant.
The PM said that restrictions can now start to ease but it will be a long time before this virus has worked its way out of the economy. And that’s why the sooner we stop focusing on “First World problems” and get Australians back to work, the better.
Key in all of this has to be rebuilding manufacturing in this country — and, given high power prices are making the few industries we have left more and more marginal, fixing our energy mess remains an urgent priority. For all the billionaires like Twiggy Forrest demanding the Prime Minister let China off the hook over this virus, let’s not forget it’s these same business types who contracted out to China all the things we used to make here for ourselves — putting balance sheet profit ahead of national security.
Yet there was Forrest last week, holding another dubious press conference to crow about importing goods from China that we used to manufacture here, then stinging the taxpayer hundreds of millions to reimburse him.
Is it any wonder people are angry about how economically dependent we have made ourselves on China — how much of our farming land, energy and water companies, ports, roads, agricultural processing plants and heaven knows what else we have sold off? While big business might have turned a blind eye to the Chinese Communist Party’s longer-term agenda, the ordinary public are awake to it. Last year, only 32 per cent of Australians told a Lowy Institute poll they trusted China to act “responsibly” — a 20-point fall on a year earlier, and this was before the coronavirus. And 74 per cent agreed Australia was “too economically dependent” on China too.
Convincing Australians we need to make more here won’t be such a challenge. But it might be more difficult to get them to understand that, in order to achieve this, we must get rid of stifling rules and regulations that make operating a business here so hard.
So much of our green and red tape comes from bogus international agreements and bodies that politicians sign up to strike a pose without properly understanding the impact.
By all means, we must have laws in this country to protect our magnificent environment but those laws should be a reflection of what Australian voters decide is appropriate to strike the balance between new dams, power stations and development with whatever local frog is at risk, or the farce of punishing us for emissions caused overseas by our coal being burned there.
Since 2007, according to the Australian Election Study, our “satisfaction with democracy” has dropped 27 points to just 59 per cent. Much more than the revolving door prime ministership, my sense is that this is due to our national inability to get things done. Of all the things that must change after COVID-19, this is No.1.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES, AUSTRALIA FACES REAL HARDSHIP AND, TO GET THROUGH IT, WE CAN’T AFFORD ANY MORE OF THE INDULGENT THINKING THAT’S HELD US BACK