The shift towards universal policies may seem fair, but it’s creating a system that gives to the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Australia is a global success story. The structural reforms in the 1980s and ‘90s of liberalising trade, floating the dollar and reducing government involvement in the economy ignited an unprecedented period of growth…

Crucially, this happened without a massive spike in inequality. A 2024 report from the Productivity Commission affirmed that our tax and transfer system played a significant role in redistributing income.

And while the size of government ballooned in Europe, with government expenditure soaring to around 50% of GDP (gross domestic product) in the EU, it has remained comparatively lean in Australia, staying around 24%.

Yet, unlike the US, Australia did not gut its social safety net. We deliver top-tier health outcomes, provide robust support to low-income earners and maintain a high-quality public education system.

How did we pull off this exceptional outcome? It’s largely because of something the current government seems to want to do less and less: means testing. We can see this in action with policies such as student debt cuts and electric vehicle tax concessions.

The shift towards universal policies may seem fair, but it’s creating a system that gives to the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

  • NooBoY@lemmy.world
    4·
    9 days ago

    I don’t see this as a rich getting more than what they need but rather a system that has allowed private enterprise a free rein to charge what they want.

    All the examples that have been given are issues that successive governments have either failed to fix or have enabled the flow of wealth to disappear and not be seen again.

    A lot of these benefits are what our taxes are for. However I think we need to start to think about bringing these concessions back as publicly run options rather than an allotment of cash that can be spent to private providers or businesses.