David Elliott: Taking stock of all the ways we’ve become rich

The ticking over of a new financial year has got me thinking of the significant economic milestones Australians have endured over the years — here’s my Top 9, writes David Elliott.

Digi art for Daily Telegraph

Last Tuesday, something magical happened.

At the stroke of midnight, we passed one of those annual milestones leading to a little tingle in the loins of those very excitable people in banking and ­finance when they watch their clocks before going wild with a second glass of sherry to celebrate the new financial year.

Just think, for a few hours you had no income tax liability, your marginal tax rate was zero and you could sell all your worldly assets knowing that the capital gains tax liability would be at the minimum threshold.

But like all fairytales, you had to wake up. And in true Australian fashion as soon as you clocked on for work all those very agreeable financial arrangements went to pastry and from the first hour on the shop floor those bastards at the Australian Tax Office once again put their cold boney hands into your hip pocket and started taking advantage of you, and not in a nice way either.

It got me thinking of significant economic milestones that we have had to endure over the years.

He’s a list of the top nine.

Farming sheep

When John and Elizabeth Macarthur first imported a Spanish merino sheep in 1797 I doubt they dared to even dream that one day Australia would produce more than a quarter of the world’s fine wool, but they really did find the golden fleece in every sense of the word.

Sheep are an incredible sustainable economy. Picture: Zoe Phillips

And to think, when the quality of sheep’s wool declines, we can throw a barbecue.

Now that’s the sort of sustainable economy that makes a nation great!

Digging

As the descendant of coalminers, I can’t think of a luckier strike than finding gold and minerals in them there hills.

We still can’t get enough dirt under our fingernails.

The decision to extract the bounties of the earth and export the surplus turned out to be one hell of a way to kickstart our post-convict economy.

Two centuries on and we still can’t get enough dirt under our fingernails.

Federation

What a stroke of ­genius. Instead of having a continent of six competing economies, let’s create one big one, and with Section 92 of our Constitution guaranteeing “free intercourse between the states” what isn’t to like about federation?

Mind you, Daniel Mookhey will have you believe Western Australia took that bit out of context.

Shedding pounds

Probably the most significant economic decision of the Menzies era.

Made cents (see what I did there?).

Embracing our own currency made sense.

Having a unit of currency named after the weight of silver in the UK valued centuries ­beforehand was never going to work for a modern economy.

Deregulating the banks

This one could have gone either way, but full marks to the Hawke government for doing what, quite frankly, should have been a Liberal policy straight after federation.

The funny thing is that less than a generation ­beforehand the Labor Party had wanted to nationalise the banks, so it was refreshing to see their newfound love of capitalism.

Compulsory superannuation

I read recently that it was ­former union boss Bill Kelty who was the one to lobby Bob Hawke into ­embracing what is essentially the ­outsourcing of the taxpayer-funded pension scheme.

As someone who left the army before qualifying for a military pension and entered politics after they abolished the parliamentary pension, I’m hardly one to give financial advice, but we have a lot to be grateful for when it comes to our unique superannuation scheme.

Introducing superannuation was essentially like outsourcing the pension.

Besides, it’s proof-positive that when unions and business get ­together they certainly know how to make a quid.

If you’re not in an industry super fund, you’re giving away your hard-earned.

Privatisation

Another Bob Hawke special made even better by John Howard.

Former right-wing British prime minister Margaret Thatcher once famously said she admired Bob Hawke’s economic vision.

Before Tony Blair had created New Labour, Hawke was out selling the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas with such flair that his caucus colleagues were forced to admit that they were “all Thatcherites now”.

Howard’s decision to sell Telstra and reinvest the capital created the vision for subsequent asset-recycling policies embraced by state governments.

GST

All that fuss over nothing.

Here’s me thinking that after the 1993 election Australia would never be able to reform its taxation system.

How did we live without it?

Wests Tigers merger

Controversial I know, but given the role Benji Marshall has with the club, we can safely say this had international ramifications.

In terms of financial gambles, this was a big one. Picture: Tom Parrish

The courage it took for the NRL to take a group of basket-weavers from Balmain and merge them into the same club as those fibro-biters from Lidcombe and then tell them that they would all have to travel to Campbelltown to watch a home game was just gutsy.

Happy New (financial) Year. Now pay up.

Originally published as David Elliott: Taking stock of all the ways we’ve become rich