May 9, 2022 | Governance, rant
Following is the full version of the edited remarks published in Australian Manufacturing on April 29. I did the editing, as the following was way too long for the publication.
What is blindingly absent from this election campaign, and politics in this country is any recognition that an economy is a system. No part of the economy acts alone, each part depends in some way on every other part. They are interdependent. The entire system is the sum of the interdependent parts and depends on all the parts playing their individual role.
An economy is like a car, which we sadly no longer produce in this country. No part of a car can move you from point A to point B. It is only when all the parts are fitted together, acting in concert, that it has the ability to move. One part fails, and the rest underperforms at best, fails completely at worst.
We seem to think that we can add a dash of pork here, and a bit of pepper over there in an effort to buy votes, and bingo, all will be well. Utter nonsense.
What we are seeing currently is a confected tactical battle of hollow words backed by the opportunity to spend public money chasing the largess of incumbent government. What we need is a strategic conversation, where a wide range of very tough questions are asked, followed by even tougher choices. We need to have an informed and rational national conversation about those questions, and the resulting choices that must be made.
Nobel winner Daniel Kahneman coined the term ‘prospect theory’ which describes the way people value the prospect of gains and losses very differently. The pain felt by an immediate loss compared to the benefits that come from a long-term gain is multiplied many times. The reverse side of the coin is loss aversion, a remarkably powerful psychological impulse. We value the loss of something we already have far more highly than the value of something we may have in the future.
Both political sides use these twin drivers ruthlessly in an attempt to shape behaviour at the ballot box. It is a reasonable thing to do, when coupled with integrity and transparency, both notable only by their omission.
What we are seeing is the expenditure of the financial and intellectual capital of the nation, investment decisions left in the hands of institutions that we no longer trust based on the behaviour over the last 30 years.
What we need is for our leaders to build the political capital to be able to make bold decisions that change the economic and social landscape of the country.
The last time there was a genuine investment of political capital that could later be recovered, was when Howard risked his position when went to the 1998 election with the GST as part of his program.
Following are a few of what I believe to be the key factors which face the nation, but about which we will hear little, or nothing during this pork led competition for our votes.
Income Vs Expenditure. Our expenditure exceeds our income. This is not a blip in the graph, it is a long-term structural weakness. If Australia was a business, it would be broke. The analogy to the household budget is not an accurate one as the government has control of the money supply, but nevertheless, the piper must be paid. There is no sign of any acknowledgement of the debt, despite the current government using deficits as a stick to beat the labour party for as long as I can remember. In addition, there are none of the preparations necessary to build the productive capacity of the economy to repay this debt, beyond wishful thinking and modelling that uses questionable assumptions.
Education. We need to consider education in the broadest terms, not just the stuff you need to know to pass an exam, but the understanding to break a situation down into is component parts. First principals if you like, define, and understand the problem, generate possible solutions, test and learn, then implement and review continuously. Education is a multigenerational undertaking, not just something you throw money at and hope.
You do not need a degree to be smart. Some of the smartest people I know do not have degrees, and several others with multiple degrees are failing as baristas.
Our system has been bastardised over the years to accommodate fiscal and ideological demands. The result is a distortion in the allocation of resources and the increasing polarisation of opportunity for Australian kids. This is in addition to the conversion of education into a privatised profit centre. Now we have qualifications for sale, and an education system dependent on those sales for survival.
If we are to genuinely address the opportunities of the future, the State/Federal squabbles have to be sorted, and resources allocated to deliver that equality of opportunity.
The largely discarded for political reasons Gonski report, now 11 years old, provided a least a starting point for the school system. A similar exercise needs to be done for the tertiary sector, recognising that technical and academic education combined will deliver the manufacturing and operational skills needed for future productivity improvement throughout the economy.
There also has to be the political will to implement, without which, we will continue to stagnate.
Climate change. The science has been in for 30 years, it is a generational challenge, and should not be a political football tied to short term politics in a few seats. Despite the scathing third report by the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) released the week prior to the election being called, the silence has been deafening. This is despite increased recognition of the impact of Climate change by the voters. Meanwhile, there are a cohort of independents threatening mainly formerly safe Liberal seats whose priority is climate change, along with integrity in public life.
We need to be thinking differently about the term ‘climate change’. It is too narrow a term, implying we just need to be concerned about the impact of CO2 on weather, and the human and capital impacts of those changes. Instead, we need to be thinking about the challenge more holistically. We humans are just a small part of the ecosystem of the planet. For millennia we had no appreciable impact in the balance between what we took out, and what nature was able to put back. Suddenly, that changed, and we now take out of the planets ecosystem far more than the capacity of the system to replace it.
There is nothing we do that does not come from nature. The oxygen we breathe the water we drink, the food we eat, the materials we use, all come from nature. We are part of the planets ecosystem, whether we like it or not, and we are consuming the resources of the ecosystem at an unsustainable rate. Think of it as you would a balance sheet. On one side you have assets, on the other liabilities and equity. When your assets grow faster than your liabilities, you add to the store of equity. When it is the reverse, you deplete equity. The tipping point is when your equity is gone, and you can no longer sustain the difference between the rate in increase of liabilities over the production of assets. At that point you are bankrupt. We humans have been depleting the assets of the planet unsustainably since the beginning of the industrial revolution, and the rate at which the depletion is happening is increasing. At some point in time, the music will stop, and subsequent generations will inherit an unwinnable challenge.
Apolitical Policy advice. The politicisation of the public service is a problem. The government does not get frank and detailed policy advice anymore. Instead, they are paying consultants, who are in effect paid to tell the government what it wants to hear in relation to policy, while the public service has been relegated to the role of implementers.
Expenditure Productivity. Fiscal debate, such as it is, has been reduced to how much has been spent, with no reference to the return for that spending. We need to increase productivity of public revenues radically or the reduced number of taxpayers in future will be unable to shoulder the burden of an ageing population. The increased demands for the government to look after people down to the minor details which should list as ‘personal responsibility’ will become overwhelming. Promising no more taxes is not sustainable unless coupled with explanations of how the productivity of the current expenditure will be radically increased.
Governance. The parties cannot rule themselves, how on earth can we, the electors believe that they can deliver for the country. Besides, to use Paul Keatings immortal phrase, they are ‘unrepresentative swill’. Both major parties have about 60k members. Such small and skewed numbers are hardly a representative sample from which the political leadership of the place should be drawn. Instead of having people in parliament who genuinely wish to contribute, who have proven themselves worthy elsewhere in the economy, we now have politics as a career. Smart youngsters with degrees, mostly law, getting jobs as political staffers of various types, and progressing by proving only that they are effective political mechanics to the point where they are endorsed as candidates, and they keep trying until they land a spot. Alternatively, they can be shovelled into a range of highly paid roles that are appointed by political fiat. No experience beyond politics required.
As a director of companies, I am subject to the Corporations Act 2001. The act amongst other things, outlines the obligations of directors to exercise their duties in good faith, and in the best interests of the shareholders. In other words, do not tell lies, deliberately mislead, or act in a way that is not in the shareholders best interests. Both sides of the house fail on all counts. If they were also subject to the provisions of the Corporations act, half of them would be holidaying at Long Bay.
A further pressure on the governance performance of current institutions that has long term impacts on the economy is in the management of R&D expenditure. Our federated and short-term driven system works against the focus necessary to deliver strategic outcomes. Billions of dollars are thrown at the wall of grant programs, most of which do not deliver outcomes that add to any sort of ‘vision’ for the Australia we would like to hand to our grandchildren.
CSIRO used to be a relatively apolitical and deep reservoir of scientific capability that was able to collaborate and co-ordinate across sectors and around the nation. That was before it was progressively gutted and politicised over the last 30 years.
The Labour party has just announced as part of their election platform a new defence research agency similar to the successful American DARPA model. It would make more sense to re-fund and expand the remit of CSIRO, rather than starting again and risking duplication and turf wars.
Institutional integrity. We should not need an integrity commission, but sadly we do, desperately. It would appear to the casual observer that the adage that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely is at work. It needs to stop, so the public can have some level of confidence that the taxes they pay are not being wasted, and worse, diverted.
Democracies only work when there is trust in the institutions that run them, and by inference, the people in those institutions are trustworthy. The fact that trust is so low is an alarming indicator, something the government should be addressing, both by its own behaviour, and by increasing the level of transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, the perception of the behaviour of governments is very low, and the refusal of the government to sensibly address the question of an integrity commission with teeth makes us assume the worst. Remember the 26 times the current government voted against a royal commission into the banking industry? When dragged kicking and screaming to hold it, the depth of the avaricious and morally bankrupt behaviour revealed was breathtaking.
The end of cheap money. The inflation figures released on April 27th put the annualised inflation rate at 5.1%, up from 3.5% at the end of the December quarter last year. While it may bounce around given the volatility of fuel and food prices, the trend is very clear, and the current election driven lucky dip of spending promises will not help.
No matter the rhetoric, and short-term giveaways that come with an election campaign, Australia is in for a rocky ride, and it will not matter who wins on May 21, the impact will be felt in every corner of the economy, and by every Australian. Most currently in parliament, and those who realistically aspire to be there after May 21 have not been in a management role in an inflationary surge. That is a very dangerous situation, it is easy to make the wrong call through inexperience.
Inflation led cost cutting
When you are in the red, as we are, the temptation is always to cut the discretionary spending. In a corporation that leads to reduced advertising, not replacing employees who leave, sell and lease back assets, in other words, cashing in on the things that will generate the cash in the future. Governments struggle with this as so much of their spending is baked in, and subject to the swings of the economic cycle. Nevertheless, we should be increasing what we spend on education, R&D, and those future cash generators, and aggressively look to reduce institutionalised waste to fund the increases. Unfortunately, this leads to the difficult choice of accepting short term pain in the expectation of long-term gain, not usually a politically palatable choice.
Cyclic mismatch. Election cycles do not match with those that run the rest of our lives. Generations come and go, scientific discovery to product commercialisation usually takes 20 years or more, the constitution has had only 8 amendments since federation in 1901, the last successful one in 1977 relating to the relatively benign question of the retirement age of judges. The world has changed a bit since 1977, and our strategic framework is almost unchanged after 121 years. We must wonder if the constitution is still fit for purpose. There is not much any government can do about this beyond acknowledging the reality and being prepared to invest in the long-term health of the economy by building intellectual, social, and educational resilience. However, we should be able to have an informed debate about the nature and limitations of our ‘institutional guardrail” the constitution, and be prepared to make changes as necessary to meet the challenges of the 21st century
Header cartoon credit: gapingvoid.com
Apr 11, 2022 | Governance, Personal Rant, rant
On Sunday as the 2022 election was being called, I was sitting in a café in one of those affluent strips observing life, and gathering my thoughts.
It occurred to me that the blather we are all now about to face will avoid any reference to the key question that should be addressed: the growing distance between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’, and how to redress the balance.
This is not about the cost of living, price of petrol, or availability of some subsidised form of income. It is about the national income, and the way governments of both persuasions over the last 50 years have let the money required for schools, hospitals, aged care facilities and all the rest slip through their fingers, while ensuring some sticks to selected fingers on the way through.
A brief economic history lesson, recognising I am neither an economist nor historian.
Towards the end of WW11, recognising the coming challenges of post war reconstruction, the allies set about removing the danger of the wild ride that had been the relative value of currencies up to that time. The result was an agreement amongst the allies in the little New Hampshire town of Bretton Woods. That agreement laid out the mechanism by which post war currencies would be tied to the price of gold, pegged at $US35 an ounce. The US dollar became the ‘reserve currency’, a guarantee to exchange an ounce of gold for $US35. At the time, the US was about the only solvent nation, and held most the world’s gold in Fort Knox (Remember ‘Goldfinger’). The International Monetary Fund was created as a part of the agreement as a release valve to address short term fluctuations.
The laws of supply and demand being what they are, the value of gold outside the official control of central governments soared, leading to an active unofficial gold market where it was traded for multiples of $35. Trouble is, you had to move the stuff, and it is heavy. (Goldfinger again)
Over time the core problem of a fixed currency regime became obvious. Money is international, it can be moved and exchanged globally, while the regulatory control of any one country ends at their borders. The obvious example of this disconnect is the so called ‘pirate’ radio stations positioned in the North Sea just outside the international boundary of the UK. These popped up because the BBC which controlled all the UK radio stations refused to play the emerging ‘Pop’ music of the 60’s and early 70’s. Being outside the border, the BBC could not close them down, but those who wanted the music could listen as easily as they could to any other radio station, just move the dial a bit.
Analogous to the pirate radio stations, the gnomes in Switzerland who were sitting on huge and very private sums of hidden wealth that could not be easily used by the owners created their own pirate system: bearer bonds. These enabled those hidden fortunes to be put to work, not only earning interest on the loans, but increasing the capital value of the investments, previously impossible.
By the late 1960’s the Bretton Woods system was clearly broken, and the US terminated the convertibility of US dollars to gold at the fixed $35 in 1971, followed closely by the pound sterling, and other major currencies. In effect we then had floating exchange rates, in an environment where countries still had regulations that stop at their borders, while money is globally mobile. It did not take long for countries to recognise the value of attracting this previously inaccessible capital by a range of means around low tax rates, banking secrecy, and personal anonymity. The lawyers and accountants since then have made this disjoint between the mobility of money and the static nature of sovereign borders a financial bonanza for those individuals and organisations with the money and will to hide their assets and ensure they do not pay tax. Hundreds of billions have been looted from the system by these ‘legal’ means, leaving those with insufficient income to fund the legal complexities to hide their income to pay for the schools, hospitals, and aged care facilities we are all demanding.
This is, to my mind, the core challenge of this election that will not be spoken about.
Labor policy is to collect tax from multinationals by denying deductions for royalties to related parties. This makes sense, but will be hard to enforce, and does not address the inequities in other huge areas of tax minimisation and avoidance. Besides, when sovereign rules change, the tax arrangements of corporations and individuals change as well, moving to a more accommodating regulatory environment. On top of that, those who make the rules are also the ones who benefit, so while there might be some ineffective fiddling at the edges for a press release, real change which requires global collaboration and endorsement currently is just a pipe dream.
However, the first step in solving any problem is to recognise that we have a problem.
Unfortunately, this conversation will not be started by either party in this coming election. For the long-term health of Australia, and Australians, as well as every other person on the planet, apart from the tiny minority of looters, it is a conversation that needs to be started, and followed through.
I need another coffee after all that.
May 9, 2021 | Change, Governance, rant
As I look at the current state of the economy from my spot as a boomer who has largely lived my life in times of peace and easy excess, it is becoming clear to me that there are two tracks at work.
The first is the one along which is driving those who work for a wage, pay taxes in the absence of choice, and struggle to feed, house and educate the kids. In the decreasing incidence of the traditional nuclear family, both parents tend to work, often multiple jobs, and seemingly get nowhere.
The second is those who own stuff. Specifically, property and shares. They are doing OK in the enormous inflation of price that has occurred.
The problem for our society and the glue of community is that the latter group are living on what economists call ‘rent’.
Income from ‘rent’ comes from what you own, rather than what you produce. In the absence of producing greater income ‘producing’ than from ‘owning’ you get what we have now, a two-speed economy.
It further seems to me that the system is weighted towards those who own, so can charge rent. Our tax system and increasingly education system which is the gateway to ownership is increasingly weighted towards ‘rental’ at the expense of ‘production’ by those in control. The controlling group are themselves renters, and so set the rules favourable to them, rather than being equitable to all.
This is not a simple challenge for us to address. It has been a long time in the making, and will be a long time in the fixing, which makes it unlikely to be fixed in the absence of strong political leadership that is able and willing to look beyond the current electoral cycle.
The economic problem posed by renters is that they tend to double down on what is producing the income today. In other words, optimising the short term at the expense of the long term, which is messy, uncertain, and therefore subject to greater risk. Risk minimisation is core to a renters mindset. That is why small enterprises are more innovative and less risk averse, they have much less to lose, and are reaching for the point where they can become renters, a much easier life.
When looked at through such a lens, the source of the current malaise in this country is obvious. Too many renters, owning way more than their ‘fair share’ of the largess we have inherited.
I wonder what constitutes a ‘fair share’? This is not something you can legislate, and in any event, the legislature is controlled by renters, so no joy there. In a democracy, we the great unwashed are supposed to be able to bring about change via the ballot box, but that seems unlikely in the short term. Again, the game is rigged to exclude anything other than very gradual change from the edges, and that is too hard for the renters to think about and accept the minor risk it might entail. The outcome of the last federal election when the Labor party put a few anti renter ideas on the table, they were scuppered. To my mind this was the result of incredibly poor marketing rather than the ideas being lousy.
I am first and foremost a strategist, one who looks at the big picture and articulates the principals by which the resource allocation and tactical decisions are made. As such, I propose two principals by which the foundations of our economy, and therefore the society we should be aiming for are sourced.
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- Education. Make this more accessible to all, from preschool to advanced tertiary, and everything in between. We need not only the scientists, doctors, and managers, that make the industries and services we want work, but the plumbers and toolmakers who actually make things that produce income. It is that latter group that have been killed off by policy decisions based on something other than the long term good of the community.
- Funding. It is a simple matter that the aspiration above needs to be paid for, somehow. Increasingly the tax burden is supported by the ‘workers’ while the renters get a pass. This simply must change. Not a proposition easily accepted by those who will ‘lose’. It will be resisted with all the resources at the disposal of the renters, and their allies. First target should be the multinational corporations that infest our industries, who reduce their tax, legally, to close to zero by a mix of entirely legal strategies, usually involving transfer payments to head offices domiciled in places where the rates are lower. This is an international problem, not just ours, so the benefit is that others need our cooperation as much as we need theirs, and the economies of the Bahamas and Cook Islands can be assisted in other ways to play their role in a fairer world economy. Then there are multiple soft targets in our domestic tax system that need to be progressively addressed so the balance is reweighted towards those making, at the expense of those renting.
We need to share the largess of the golden goose more widely by re-weighting the distribution of the gold, rather than the ownership of the goose.
It is Sunday morning, and clearly, I am dreaming!
Apr 10, 2021 | Governance, rant
Dismay is the only (polite) word to describe the feeling as I watch the machinations and manipulation of current politics that passes for representative government.
Where is the humility, empathy, dignity, and recognition that they are there to serve, which is a specific choice encapsulated in the role?
Instead, we are confronted by ego, hubris, pride, and arrogance, manifested by the all-pervading sense of entitlement.
Where is the vision, and the expertise to deliver on that vision?
Nowhere to be seen.
Where are the facts?
Nowhere to be seen.
I am sure there are good people languishing on the back bench, and in the ranks of the political organisations as disgusted as most of us seem to be, at least in my wide networks, but their voices are not heard. There are many other great people in the community, with the drive, vision, and expertise to deliver positive outcomes for their communities, made up of their children, grandchildren, and thousands of those of others, who would not go anywhere near a public role.
The reason: They have no wish to be associated with the body politic and the toxic culture that surrounds it.
That leaves us with a huge problem: how do we change it?
The key to success is working together. Always has been, always will be. That is the nature that human evolution has bestowed on us, as it has proven to be the only way to survive and prosper.
Somebody should tell those in the Canberra Clown Factory. Both sides of the factory, and both floors.
A few months ago, I read, again, the narrative of Alan Mullaly delivering Ford from the executioners door, building the foundations that have resulted in its current prosperity.
The overriding impression from that narrative is that besides being the smartest and most driven bloke (or gal) in the room, he was also the most humble. It was by that humility that he created a culture of visionary co-operation and accountability for outcomes.
Compare that to the products on show in the Clown Factory showroom.
The header for this rant is a reproduction of the little card Mullaly handed out at every opportunity. By way of example, he ensured he and those for whom he was responsible worked for the common good. The card originated when he saved Boeing from visiting the receiver in the nineties and lived on through his tenure at Ford.
Perhaps I should send one to the clowns?
Jan 1, 2021 | Governance, rant, Strategy
Well, we made it through the most disruptive year in the last 50. As I reflect, it was the last gasps of the war in Vietnam and Australia’s involvement that even comes close to the disruption of 2020.
However, sitting in the epicentre of the Corona ‘Croydon Cluster’, 2021 looks pretty sad. Unlike a year ago looking forward to 2020 with optimism, despite the fires that had been lingering around, about to break out into the inferno that started 2020 on such a bad footing.
As the year progressed, downwards, we had now forgotten floods right after the fires that destroyed communities and took lives, then the Corona bug caused an economic and social lockdown which continues.
Our PM started the year very badly, hiding in Hawaii, then trying to find a hand to shake in the ashes of Cobargo, but learnt his lesson and did a surprisingly good job of leading into the corona crisis, bringing the state Premiers and unions into a collaborative forum which for a few months looked like having a lasting benefit. Then the urge for political and partisan chicanery took hold across federal and state jurisdictions, and the year ended in a dogfight over proposed IR changes that will be central to the 2021 destruction of any remaining urge to collaborate across party and philosophical lines.
On top of the chicanery, we had the NSW premier, perhaps the (formerly) most respected political leader in the country, first fess up to a relationship with a disgraced former parliamentarian who had clearly used the premier in more ways than one for personal gain at the expense of the taxpayers. Then followed her admission that pork barrelling was a normal part of the political process. While we all knew that is the case, the evidence over a long period is unequivocal, it is just that hearing it said, so explicitly, was shocking.
Then China decided Australia needed a kick up the backside, and progressively closed off their economy to Australian exports, a process still evolving, although apart from iron ore, there seems little left to ban. We represent only a tiny fraction of China’s imports, but they represent almost 40% of our exports, and 27% of our imports. This is a dislocation of our economy that will have severe long-term consequences, and the best we can do is have a new minister with no diplomatic chops at all, blathering about a pivot to India. To be fair, it is not an easy problem to solve, but politicians grandstanding and publicly shooting their mouths off are unlikely to help much.
We have become hooked on Government stimulus spending, what happens when it is turned off? This is uncharted territory as private investment has been booted in the belly, despite the lowest interest rates in my lifetime, and households are deleveraging as fast as possible given the uncertainty.
Stimulus investment has been more about mitigating the negative impact of Corona, than it has been about putting in place the drivers of future growth. This is understandable, and has been commendable, but we must recognise that it is a tactical response to the crisis, not a strategic one with long term outcomes of growth as the objective.
Politically, we have no confidence in the collective leadership to address the problems in creative and constructive ways, but we assume the pollies will make sure they are OK. We simply do not trust them any more, the old adage that if a pollies mouth is open, they must be lying, is sadly more current than ever.
Underlaying all this we had the spectacle of many politicians who for unfathomable reasons continue to have power, resolutely refusing to accept the overwhelming science surrounding climate change for the last 30 years, jump in the ‘believe the science’ bandwagon in relation to the virus. This level of obstinate hypocrisy is dazzling in its depth.
We might hope that the collective ‘We’ have learnt a lot from this year but suspect that we have not. With a federal election coming any time from August this year, strap in for more piles of rhetoric, lies and pork barrelling, laced with sweet smelling perfume trying to hide the stench of the bullshit. That will be piled on top of a now highly partisan media that has replaced fact with opinion and populism, largely controlled by a former Australian octogenarian billionaire living in New York. No independent thinking and reporting there, so we will have to dig harder than ever to see the truth in whatever ‘mainstream’ media feeds us.
As a final note, most people are thinking about how to make 2021 better, they are making resolutions, usually big things, outcomes. Something like ‘I will lose 20kg‘. 99.9% of these resolutions made in the depths of new year celebrations, go out the window by the second or third week of January. Instead, decide to make some small changes that will lead to the outcome. We all know that small changes in behaviour both compound and lead to the opportunity to make bigger changes later, so resolve to make a couple of small, easy to maintain changes to your behaviour that will contribute to achieving the objective. This is basic management, do not focus on the objective without recognising that changes must happen if you are to get a different outcome from that which you are trying to move away from.
Look out and stay safe.
Mar 12, 2020 | Governance, rant
#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
