Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor today argues that:
…the Albanese government risked being punished for a failure to focus on the core economic problems, Mr Taylor says the Coalition has to reposition itself as standing for private home ownership, freedom and choice of individuals, fiscal discipline and supporting enterprise as an alternative to Labor’s big-government remedies.
He says Liberal governments were all formed after the last three high inflation periods since the 1940s and the electorate rejected big economic interventions by Labor governments that failed to address the crisis they faced and which were ultimately rejected at the ballot box. “The more you examine recent Australian history, the more the political and economic impact of periods of high inflation and big government become clear,” Mr Taylor says in an extract of his speech.
There have been three significant periods of high and persistent inflation since World War II including the post-war reconstruction from 1946-47 to 1949-50, when inflation rose to almost 10 per cent under the Chifley Labor government.
The second was under the Whitlam Labor government when inflation rose from 4.7 per cent to 17.7 per cent between December 1972 and March 1975.
The third period was under the Hawke and Keating governments, with the 9.6 per cent inflation peak in 1986 followed by another spike in December 1995.
All these periods inevitably led to a change of government, Mr Taylor says, with Australians rejecting Labor’s big-government remedies to economic problems.
“Each of these events precipitated eras of smaller government, greater freedoms, with a stronger focus on enterprise and productivity reform,” he says.
…Mr Taylor accused the Albanese government of presiding over a “an unprecedented” free fall in labour productivity while proposing rapid population growth without plans to address the shortfall in housing supply, services and infrastructure.
Excellent stuff from the Mr Taylor. A winning argument.
The problem is how will he do it? The budget is easy enough to handle with cuts, but everything else is a lot harder:
- Will the LNP cut immigration? It does not say.
- How will it boost housing supply? It does not say.
- How will it address crush-loading? It does not say.
- How will it boost productivity when it has no reform agenda? It does not say.
There are many, many possible reforms to fix the problems:
- Slash immigration and boost training.
- Reduce housing speculation subsidies.
- Reform tax concessions.
- Boost competition and innovation.
- Break the gas cartel.
- Reshoring.
No modern LNP government has shown any willingness to address these. On the contrary, they created, embedded and defended most to the death.
Angus Tayor does not strike me as the break or break-through reformer his ideas suggest:
“We need to seriously explore all options for our tax system to support young people into homes, unlock housing supply, and support families navigating work and raising children,” he will say.
He will also flag the need for a “serious examination of tackling effective marginal tax rates” to boost workforce participation.
In a pitch to the Liberal Party’s traditional small-business base, Mr Taylor will say the sector needs an “safe and innovative” financial system that gives them access to fast payments, reliable credit and ways to raise capital.
The Coalition is also committed to fostering productivity in government decision-making as well as the fast-growing health, aged care and welfare sectors, and would put “a sharp focus” on boosting gas supply, he will say.
These are nothing-burger policies, and Angus Taylor sounds like just another Canberra spiv.
