The business lobby in Australia has long been a wet swamp of wokeism. Partly due to clueless CEOs giving in to blue-haired Millennials with communications degrees in HR, and partly through pure cowardice and fear of being cancelled. Another massive factor has been the coterie of DEI hires put in charge of the billions of dollars of working people’s compulsorily deducted money sloshing around in union-run superannuation funds.
As the wave of anti-wokeness sweeps the West, though, the well-heeled c-suite numpties are finally almost summoning the courage to stand up to the socialist Labor government.
The nation’s biggest businesses are urging the federal government and opposition to adopt US President Donald Trump’s attack on red tape, warning that Australians’ living standards will fall without slicing regulations.
As leaders from 30 members of the Business Council of Australia prepare to press Treasurer Jim Chalmers and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor on ways to overhaul the economy, the organisation has called for a war on regulation in addition to tax relief for the business sector and the winding back of recent changes to industrial relations.
Changes that delivered unprecedented power to Labor’s union paymasters, as it just happened: changes that business groups cravenly gave in to. Now, with Trump and Milei providing a much-needed example, these shivers are finally discovering a spine to run up.
At the top of the Business Council’s pre-election wishlist is creation of a minister for deregulation who would have responsibility across all government departments to reduce laws and red tape in a bid to “make it easier to do business in Australia” […]
Council chief executive Bran Black said that without reducing red tape, Australia would struggle to bring down inflation and improve living standards.
“Other jurisdictions around the world, and especially the United States, are looking to make their regulatory systems more efficient – if we don’t follow suit then we will lose investment and see a consequent reduction in our way of life,” he said.
Sensing the political winds, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is following Trump’s lead, appointing Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as a shadow minister for government efficiency. Dutton is also hinting at cutting back public servants whose numbers have exploded under Labor.
Further, the opposition is putting together what the MSM call a ‘populist’ agenda. Meaning, of course, popular ideas not approved by the elites.
Coalition MPs are pushing for bolder “Australia-first” populist policies in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US, as an influential conservative think-tank questions the party’s economic vision.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and treasury spokesman Angus Taylor spent the early part of this week in shadow expenditure review committee meetings as the party prepares to roll out proposals on home ownership, using gas to lower energy bills and broader economic plans before an election due by May.
In an ad campaign launched on Thursday, Dutton and Taylor emphasise the opposition’s philosophical attachment to smaller government after months of promises to peg back spending to reduce inflationary pressures.
Dutton is clearly trying to re-take the coalition’s long-held mantle of superior economic management. A mantle that was squandered when the so-called ‘moderates’ seized power in the party. With Labor presiding over a collapse in living standards, voters are all ears for a cohesive economic strategy.
Institute of Public Affairs senior fellow John Roskam [… said] “There’s a belief in the Coalition that the Australian public isn’t ready for an honest discussion about the country’s economic condition. Australians have become accustomed to ever-growing government spending, which is a big problem for the Coalition. The scars of Joe Hockey’s and Bill Shorten’s failed attempts at tax reform run deep.”
“Trump’s economic populism can’t be translated to Australia – we won’t win a tariff war. But Dutton can learn from Trump that working-class voters will listen to an economic argument.”
At the heart of any economic campaign by the coalition will be Dutton’s simple but devastating question: ‘Are you better off after three years of a Labor government?’