Get the inside track on the media and government

There is much talk about the ‘chaos’ of the Abbott government but take a close look at what has been done, what it is talking about, and the reports it is gathering together. We need to look beyond the political catch-cries of the ‘debt and deficit disaster’ and ‘Labor’s mess’ and examine what is driving this government.

A simple starting point that helps explain Hockey’s 2014-15 budget is his mantra regarding the ‘end of the age of entitlement’. After obtaining government, and refusing assistance to SPC early in 2014, Hockey rolled it out:

For Hockey that was not something new but something he brought to government with him. He had spoken about it earlier, while still in opposition, in a speech in London in 2012 and he did not abandon it. (I think many politicians have a rigid agenda about at least one item that they return to in one form or another: just as Peter Reith, even now as a political commentator, continually returns to the need for labour market reform.) The underlying message of Hockey’s ‘end of the age of entitlement’ is that there will be no more ‘socialist’ welfare policies. It is a clear catch-cry that government provided welfare is ‘socialist’ and discourages the independent, self-interested economic spirit which his, and the current Liberal party’s philosophy is based on. As Hockey said in London:

In that approach everyone has to pull their weight, that is work, and get ahead by their own effort. It actually follows, in a slightly twisted sort of way, that government support (‘entitlement’) for the top of end of town is ‘good’ because it supposedly promotes economic activity that, in turn, provides the jobs that the otherwise lazy ‘dole bludgers’ require when they no longer have an ‘entitlement’ to socialist welfare. But Hockey did also warn that businesses need to be viable and not expect government assistance — it is just that not every member of the government agrees with him, particularly the Nationals when it comes to supporting farmers.

At the end of March, Hockey released the government’s tax paper. While he claimed everything was ‘on the table’, a number of commentators did suggest that it was primarily about increasing the GST, either in nominal value or the range of goods and services covered, or both. Even if we try to believe that the government will look at issues like ‘negative gearing’ and concessional tax rates for superannuation, we can’t be sure because Abbott continually repeats one of his new three-word slogans that under his government taxes will be ‘lower, simpler, fairer’. And he consistently promises that company tax will be lower: although company tax has provided as much as 25% of government revenue it currently provides about 18% (or about 22% if we take out the GST, which we must remember all goes to the states and territories and adds nothing to funding of commonwealth spending); so lowering the company tax rate requires higher taxes elsewhere or more cuts to government spending — no prize for guessing which way this government will go. Why was the government apparently so keen to increase the GST when it gains nothing from it? (Although the government has currently ruled it out because it cannot get bipartisan support, it has managed to put it in the public arena and it is being discussed, so I think it will raise its head again — read on.)

The answer lies in another White Paper the government is preparing on ‘federation’. Its purpose is described as follows:

A discussion paper was issued in February this year which raised the problems of vertical fiscal imbalance (VFI):

Now you can see why increasing the GST is important. It is not directly for the federal government but will allow the federal government to pull back from services under the control of the states, particularly in health and education. In March 2012 Abbott told the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in discussing his plan for a Commission of Audit when in government:

So for Abbott and Hockey the two papers are linked. Abbott can keep his promise to lower commonwealth taxes because his government will be providing less assistance to the states, other than through redistributing the GST (they hope for an increased GST). No need for commonwealth support of hospitals or schools because they are not commonwealth services.

And how many other commonwealth government services can he be rid of? The answer lies partly in deregulation and privatisation. During the Howard years, Peter Reith said that if a service was available in the Yellow Pages, there was no need for government to provide it. They applied that to IT services and outsourced departmental IT services and created a host of problems. Similarly they privatised employment services. While that still costs the government money, it has faith, because it believes in market liberalism, that such services are more efficient and cheaper. I won’t go into the argument as to whether or not that is true but only make the point that it is an underlying belief of recent Liberal governments.

Although ‘post and telegraph’ was specifically mentioned in the constitution as an area of commonwealth responsibility (that is, for which it could legislate), we have seen that power used to privatise most aspects of those services. The same goes for banking which was deregulated and the government-owned Commonwealth Bank sold off.

Now we have this government, with Pyne leading the charge, attempting to deregulate another sector: higher education. If it is successful, it will further reduce federal government funding for the sector and reduce commonwealth revenue requirements — allowing more room for ‘lower’ taxes. Universities were originally established under state legislation and it was not until after WWII that the federal government moved into the area to fund the demand for teachers to meet the needs of the ‘baby boomers’ and also to enhance education for the post-war reconstruction. It was not until 1974 that the commonwealth assumed full responsibility for universities (and the establishment of CAEs under the Whitlam government). Now with that power, introduced by a Labor government, Pyne and Abbott look to dismantle the system and effectively privatise it. Universities are already largely independent and this will make them more so without the constraint of meeting government funding requirements: it will also reduce, if not remove, the capacity for government to influence requirements for the broader economy — as was done with the post-WWII need for teachers — but that also fits the plan as it will be the market determining what professional skills are required and what it will pay for universities to provide them. It’s a shame that there is not a ‘market’ for teachers in the public sector — no, that will be totally up to the states under the Abbott/Hockey plan.

Part of the reason the commonwealth government moved, over the years, into areas like health and education was to ensure some form of national consistency or, as in the case of universities, to meet particular national needs. A prime example was in trade-training (provided largely through TAFE at the state level). For many years there was a ridiculous situation (that almost everyone knew was ridiculous) that a tradesman, say a plumber, in one state could not operate in another state unless he went through a process of registration in that state to recognise his qualifications — and if the plumber moved to yet a third state, he would need to go through the process again. Simple enough one would think but the states demanded more money to make the necessary changes. A similar process occurred in the more recent development of the national curriculum for schools when the states also sought more money to implement it. So, if the commonwealth has moved into such areas, it has often been for good reason and it was the states that demanded commonwealth funding as part of the price of their agreement.

It is true that the federal government does not have specific power to make laws about schools and hospitals, except to the extent that the states agree, but while it controls the purse strings, it obviously can have an influence and, as was done in health, link funding to the achievement of particular outcomes and attempt to ensure that the outcomes are consistent at a national level. And, in some areas, like the environment, it can call on its ‘foreign affairs’ power in terms of meeting international agreements to which it is signatory (which was how the Franklin dam was stopped — a valid commonwealth law over-rides state law to the extent to which the two are inconsistent). But the Abbott plan sees no need for the commonwealth government to exercise such powers and would prefer to leave the environment to the states.

So beware, this government is not as shambolic as it sometimes appears. It wishes to deregulate and privatise and hand as many services as possible to the market; it will hand back as many public services as it can to the states on the pretext that the states should be responsible to their own electorates for the costs of education, health and similar services. Abbott may be able to provide ‘lower, simpler, fairer’ taxes because the federal government will be providing little in the way of services. He can increase the GST and argue it is because the states need the money, not his government, and boast that he can lower taxes but that will only be for the commonwealth: it is likely that state charges will need to rise to meet the additional fiscal responsibility they will have to take on — so individuals may be no better off, perhaps even worse off. But that is consistent with the overall plan, the neo-liberal plan of lower taxes and small government, at least at the commonwealth level where Abbott and Hockey can apply it.

With that approach, perhaps we won’t need a federal government other than for defence, foreign policy, astronomical and meteorological observations, post and telegraph, and lighthouses. That rings a bell — something in our original constitution!

Floating above the economic approach, we have Abbott’s moral view of ‘Team Australia’, a white Australia that was only ‘bush’ before the arrival of the first European settlers, that requires values acknowledging the role of knights and ladies, that considers ‘work’ is the only validation of a person’s worth to society — unless of course you are rich and helping the economy in that way (whatever way that is — perhaps spending money on Qantas flights to travel to the casinos of Monaco!)

There is no room for ‘leaners’ in Abbott and Hockey’s plan; no room for ‘entitlement’ (aka ‘socialist’ welfare); no room for government services that the market can provide; no room for public services that the states can provide. It is the age of ‘personal responsibility’: bugger the ‘fair go’ and government assistance, you have to look after yourself! And as a result, the commonwealth government will proudly offer you lower income and company taxes — even if the states have to raise theirs.

Yes, there is a plan but not one that we can look forward to. Little wonder they don’t spell it out!

What do you think?

About Ken

Ken thinks Abbott and Hockey do have a plan. Perhaps not a good one but at least a plan — or perhaps we should call it a ‘hidden agenda’ since they won’t talk about it. Let us know whether you think Ken is right. Next week 2353 looks at ‘The saga of Billy Gordon’ and raises important issues about where we should draw the line regarding a politician’s past indiscretions and their use for political purposes.