The next phase of Australian politics - the phase of consolidation

The phase of consolidation

The political debate commencing the phase of consolidation is starting with the Business Council of Australia pushing for tax and regulatory reform. Victorian Premier Bracks has launched a Third Wave of National Reform.

A debate as to whether Australia can maintain a top level of personal taxation of 47 per cent has commenced, involving both Feeral Government and the Opposition.

The challenge for the realists within the political classes during consolidation is to make everything pay - to preserve the better parts of the current welfare state, while ensuring future generations don’t possess a taxation burden that denies them the ability to make policy decisions to reflect the value of that generation. And to permit them to develop their own sense of community.

It is fine for the politically pragmatic to do little, or to say it is too politically risky to change the benefit mix during a time when the Australian economy is doing well - (usually by asking “so what benefits would you cut?”, and then fold their arms triumphantly, without offering any further argument) - and promises and programs can be paid for as a result of (among other things) record corporate tax receipts.

However, there are advantages in making small incremental changes over a period of time, rather than make massive changes in policy when the inevitable train wreck occurs.

No one particularly wants to see the community dislocation that occurred around the period of the Recession We Had to Have. During that period, many in the manufacturing industry (particularly those in their 50s) lost jobs that disappeared forever. Many in regional Australia suffered as statutory marketing schemes were wound back and removed.

To ensure the continuation of a viable safety net, and to avoid One Nation-like reactions to structural change when it ultimately occurs, the Liberal realists of the Social Reform Period will need to show what they will do to ensure they remain the best friend Medicare ever had, without alienating their base with ever higher amounts of taxation.

The ALP has spoken about a new approach to innovation, national leadership on infrastructure and competition policy.

Should this debate of ideas take place, that  rather than rely on 20th century concepts of omnipotent big government, Australia can have as its goal for the third period of postwar Australian politics, the development of a society in which citizens are able to structure their lives in the manner of their choosing and to re-engage with their families and communities, without having to pay usurious levels of taxation.