When The Australian Financial Review in association with KPMG recently hosted the Future of government roundtable in Sydney, KPMG’s head of infrastructure, government and healthcare, Michael Hiller , neatly outlined a problem facing Australia.

According to Hiller, we have arrived at a point in our nation’s history where we must really decide on the role of government. Hiller’s suggestion is that over time Australians (and especially the middle class) have become dependent on the government through the rise of middle-class welfare.