Sniffle X
Australia celebrated 10 years of conservative government this week under its seemingly indestructible prime minister, John Howard. …
Mr. Howard has fundamentally reshaped Australian society through economic reform. When elected in March 1996, the plain-talking Aussie pledged lower taxes, privatization and labor market change. A political veteran who’d been defeated in national votes before, he vowed his government wouldn’t “be a pale imitation” of the Labor leadership it replaced. What an understatement.
As a result, the Lucky Country is, well, luckier today than it’s ever been. Over Mr. Howard’s tenure, Australia has experienced an enormously stable and robust economic boom. The Sydney stock market’s capitalization has swung skyward. The central bank was granted independence and promptly brought average inflation down to around 2.5%. Employment picked up. Australians now feel a renewed confidence that strongly echoes America’s vibes under Mr. Reagan in the boisterous 1980s.
All of this wealth creation has come from common sense, something Aussies seem to acquire at birth. If you give businesses the freedom to make decisions about wages, prices and employment, they’ll respond rationally, Mr. Howard’s government reasoned. If you encourage healthy competition among firms, only the best will prosper. If you make your citizens shareholders, they’ll have a personal stake in companies’ success, and productivity will soar. More Australians today own stock than are members of labor unions, thanks to Mr. Howard’s reforms. That’s what I’d call an ownership society, and that’s why Australia’s economic success is likely to continue after Mr. Howard has left office.
Well done, Oz! In other anniversary news, Tim Blair catches up with:
Former human shield Donna Mulhearn, now safely back in Australia, nonetheless finds herself in another country:
…Ten years of John Howard’s reign has left us with a culture of violence, rampant racism, and a police state where gentle old demonstrators are being injured by police and the public not allowed to carry flags!
Can’t please everyone, I guess.
(Oh and I just noticed: How providential is it getting to X now! I’m amazing.)
March 6th, 2006 at 12:59 am
What’s really great about John Howard, (and his successor-in-waiting, Peter Costello) is that not for a minute has he lost sight of what still needs to be done to make Australia a better place. Almost exclusively this has involved getting rid of stuff that has been put in place by governments over the last century or so.
There is still a long way to go, but I clearly sense that most Australians – especially younger ones – recognize this. The only significant support for the “progressive” (leftist) parties, whose platform, if they have one, is to hold back reforms, seems to come from people over 50.
March 6th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Oh, and congrats on the title!
March 6th, 2006 at 3:21 am
Can we borrow Costello for a few years if you’re not using him, please Brett? Or has ninme got first dibs?
March 6th, 2006 at 10:39 am
Oi! Get in line!
Hissss
Ah, the steady march of the progressives towards the old folks’ homes… Hut, two three four…
March 6th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
So cruel… hehe. There might be a bit of snow on top, but the brain underneath is as mushy as ever.
March 7th, 2006 at 1:41 am
“I am an aged Liberal. Do not fold, spindle or mutilate.”
March 7th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Woah woah, the Liberals down under we like.
March 7th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
Thanks, nin!
We refer to the others as “small ‘l’ liberals”. Phut!
March 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
But that gets confused with liberal ideologies, et al. I think “progressives” is good, as is “leftists” or “lefties”, or “dirty rotten pinko commies” will do.