Slash tax to secure prosperity

But there is a more basic point. Australians are among the wealthiest people on the planet. Increasing Australia's wealth and income as rapidly as possible will mean there is more potential to help the disadvantaged here as well as in the poor countries in our region.

The Hawke-Keating Labor government was greatly helped in the mid '80s by Reserve Bank of Australia analysis of the consequences over five years of excessive current account deficits and rapid growth of international debt. The Howard Government has had the foresight to consider the consequences over 40 years of an ageing population with unparalleled access to expensive medical treatments.

The gloomy long-term outlook assumed in the intergenerational report would be greatly improved if Australia's long-term growth rate could be raised.

It is time for serious analysis of policies to boost our sustainable rate of growth. And the strongest candidate for this is significant cuts to rates of personal income tax.