Economic irrationalism would have Bert Kelly turning in his grave
As our productivity declines and living standards stop growing, someone will come along in the political class and drive Australia back to the formula that helped to transform the economic debate
Last week our political leaders spoke at a conference about building the economy. They spouted the now fashionable doctrine of economic irrationalism. They had all sorts of centrally planned, government-directed ideas for making us richer.
This reminded me that for a couple of decades this newspaper ran a weekly column called A Modest Member. It was written by Bert Kelly, a federal backbencher from South Australia. In the laconic but crystal-clear style of the farmer he was, Kelly dissected the economics of pork-barrelling and political populism, drawing readers’ attention to the net costs of these policies.
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Alexander Downer was Australia's longest serving foreign minister, from 1996 to 2007, and most recently Australian High Commissioner to the UK.
