#Scottyfrommarketing blew it again on Tuesday morning, (March 10) further demonstrating why he had to move out of marketing, where you need a modicum of common sense, into politics, where common sense appears to be a liability.
He was speaking at the Financial Review business forum in Sydney, looking at the strategic challenges that face us. Amongst his words was an exhortation for business to keep people employed, to keep temporary and casual workers on the payroll despite not having work, for the good of the nation, to help them feel like they were proper Australians.
If he had any common sense he would have known, and as PM, should have known, that those running businesses do so for reason other than patriotism, indeed, they have a fiduciary responsibility to deliver returns to shareholders.
As an alternative to his naive and fluffy exhortation, he should have pointed out the costs of rehiring and retraining employees, the hidden transaction costs, adverse behavioural impact of survivor syndrome on employers, and the opportunity costs involved in cyclical staff management. Produce a few statistics from one of the many bureaucracies tracking this stuff, accompanied by a few real case studies, and the impact would have been significant. As it was, the impact was nothing more than further confirmation that the PM is not dialled into the real world.
I noted, ‘again’, in the opening sentence for a reason. It was not the failed responses to the fires, wooden recognition that there might be a problem emerging from climate change, or the astonishing revelations emerging from the shallow end of the pork barrel pool. It was driven by the stupidity of turning away from the opportunities offered by the rapid evolution of the world economy from fossil fuel to renewables.
Australia has plenty of space for mass solar panels, the resources required to produce batteries for storage, and the opportunity to be at the forefront of developing Hydrogen as a renewable energy source. It has just been too expensive in the past, and requires a lot of energy, to date supplied by fossil fuels. It will not be so in the future. But unfortunately, our scientific resources have been decimated, and what is left, directed elsewhere by ideologues and ‘flat earthers’.
Having sent brickbats in his direction, it is fair to be even handed.
This morning the PM announced the expected response to the virulent growth of the Corona virus. To me it appeared to be measured, sensible, and appropriate, and to be fair, again, the PM appears to be in front of the game this time. Perhaps #scottyfrommarketing is finally listening to those with some expertise in the arena he intends to flap his gums about.
Header cartoon courtesy Mark David and Independent Australia
