Superseding the Intergenerational Report

It used to be a clear priority of governments to encourage home ownership for the social and economic benefits that ensued. Do we still have a long-term commitment to this policy? If so there is much more that can be done than handouts to first-home buyers that only drive up prices.

For most of the past century the question of working hours was a matter of government policy. Now we only worry about getting rid of penalty rates and any sort of protection for workers. One goal, even with big employers such as universities, appears to be the casualisation of the workforce, and around 20% of workers are now casual. Again, this has evolved as a rationalist 'given' without any real discussion. What is the workforce going to look like in 40 years, apart from being older? Casualisation may be the way to go, and four-day weeks for many industries such as public service could solve some problems, but only if there are very strong public health and education systems so that temporary loss of employment income is not catastrophic. High levels of home ownership help too with the flexible repayments, or the eventual freedom from a mortgage. An agreed end goal would make politics more sane.

In health and education, PM John Howard made a huge policy shift to split Australia. He instituted enormous increases in public funding for what is laughably called private health cover and private education. This was different to previous such policies in that it was not just about helping the wealthy to elevate themselves above contact with the masses. It aimed to get ordinary, and even poor people to leave public systems. All subsequent governments have played along with this reconstruction of Australia. Just under half the population now has private health cover and more than a third of kids go to private schools. The universities are progressively being privatised.

Is the goal to remove government from our lives and become as much like the US as possible? Has it been decided by both current major parties that we must have a two tier Australia? Or do we want to preserve the public systems that have done so much to shape Australian society?

At its most simple we face a long term choice between the old idea of Australia as a society committed to equal opportunity and no class pretensions, or a new society, with inferior public systems only for the lower orders. An offshoot of this approach is the fragmenting of society into many cultures, indoctrinated from primary school onward, most of them with little hope of achieving the full potential of their individual members, and all ruled by an elite that exists in a separated world from cradle to grave. We are now on the second track, and the main problem is not just that it is 'unfair', but that it seeks to replace the culture that has made Australia the envy of the world with an alternative that most Australians quite rightly believe is inferior.

An Intergenerational Report that spelled out broad social options, rather than simplistic economic projections, would be very useful. But that would mean inviting the mob to voice opinions contrary to their 'betters'. And no existing political party wants to do that.