Mike O’Connor: Why govt is telling us that rich people in big houses are so bad

Portraying successful people to be the bad guys sends the wrong message to emerging generations of Australians, when the message should be financial rewards are honourable goals, writes Mike O’Connor.

Political systems, sporting codes and it could be argued our respective senses of humour aside, there is one other element that distinguishes us from Americans.

They admire and celebrate success, whereas we demonise it.

If you have succeeded in your chosen path and enjoy the financial rewards that have followed, an American would be likely to ask you how you did it in the hope that they might emulate your achievements.

Not here, mate. If you are well off then you must have either inherited your wealth from mummy and daddy who made their pile by rorting the system and exploiting their workers or you made your own pile by – that’s right – rorting the system and exploiting your workers.

You would have hoped that as a country we might have achieved that level of maturity that would allow us to move on from class wars and the politics of envy that attend it.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: AAP

Instead we are faced with the unedifying spectacle of the Anthony Albanese-Jim Chalmers duo fanning the flames of inter-class rivalry in a sad, self-serving attempt to divide the country into Them and Us.

If you are a Them, then after a lifetime of toil you’ve got a healthy superannuation balance, part of which you may have gained by salary-sacrificing in your working years and going without some of life’s pleasures along the way in the hope of enjoying financial independence and a comfortable lifestyle in retirement.

This doesn’t make you a fat cat.

It just means that you smarter than your neighbour, the one with the boat, jet ski, caravan and new SUV every two years who whines about the cost of living and says he can’t afford to retire.

There is more to Treasurer “Grinning Jim” Chalmers’ tax grab from retirement savings than fiscal gain.

It’s about penalising success in the name of equality in an attempt to don the mantle of Robin Hood by virtuously claiming to be taking from the rich and giving to the poor.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The narrative is that the government is taking your side against the bad people in the big houses.

Keep voting for us, remembering that only one in three did, and we will look after you.

We will take the wealthy down a peg or two on your behalf.

We will take some of their money and give it to you.

We’ll strike a blow for the battlers.

The laughable justification for this is that they can afford it. This rather overlooks the fact that it’s theirs.

They worked for it. The paid taxes along the way. They employed people who paid taxes and bought things for their business from other people who employed other people who paid taxes.

The newly appointed secretary of the construction division of that paragon of virtue the CFMEU, Zach Smith, has joined the debate by calling for government limits on how much money companies can make.

Maybe if the government took over the running of the mining and energy companies and the banks and supermarkets we would finally arrive in the Workers’ Paradise.

CFMEU secretary Zach Smith.

To try to make successful people and corporations out to be the bad guys sends the wrong message to emerging generations of Australians

The message should be that success and the financial rewards that can come with it are honourable goals to pursue.

Legions of our young people are out there now having a go and hoping that if they’re smart enough and diligent enough, one day they and their families will enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Some people try hard and some don’t.

Some people are quick to see an opportunity and grasp it while others would rather go to the beach. Some people take great risks to achieve great gains and others lack the nerve or the desire.

Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

In his failed bid for the Lodge, Bill Shorten was a great one for railing against ”the big end of town”, leading John Howard to say that this was “an insult to every successful small businessman who has worked hard and accumulated a bit and wants to leave it to his kids”. “That’s what this country is all about,” Howard said. “That’s what people aspire to do!

“And this fella Shorten is after those people, and he sneers at them, says, ‘You’re the big end of town’, and his putative treasurer Chris Bowen, says if people don’t like it, don’t vote for us.”

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.