Towards a more egalitarian Australia

Expenditures on transfer payments are also a heavy fiscal burden for government in an unequal society. These costs of welfare provision have fuelled the attack on so-called “welfare dependency”. This increases public suspicion of those on welfare and correspondingly increases their sense of exclusion. Part of the appeal of greater equality is the prospect of resolving these problems “at source” rather than putting more and more band-aids on their symptoms.

There is also a political rationale. Our political institutions are based on a fundamentally egalitarian principle - “one person, one vote”. They work best when this political principle is aligned with economic conditions. This requires reasonable equity in living standards, giving a material basis for effective political participation and some degree of shared political economic interests.

Economic inequality concentrates resources and power, so that the wealthy can “capture” political institutions at the expense of a broader national interest. Corruption is one manifestation, where groups like property developers effectively hijack government policies to serve their own interests.

So can we realistically anticipate stronger support for policies that directly seek to reduce inequalities? While opinion polls indicate a widespread preference for increased social spending, even a willingness to pay the necessary taxes to fund it, politicians continue to prioritise tax cuts and to shy away from redistributive policies.

Generating more egalitarian outcomes requires a social and political movement with a different vision for Australian society and the political commitment among the nation’s leadership to embrace it.