Gerry Harvey takes aim at politicians, labels parliament a ‘disaster waiting to happen’

The billionaire boss of Harvey Norman has ripped Australian politics, claiming China’s take-no-prisoners approach is the “best way” to get things done.

There’s some laughter from Australian billionaire Gerry Harvey when he suggests that China’s one-party led dictatorship is a model Australia should aspire to if it wants to get things done.

But there’s more than a hint of sincerity.

Mr Harvey, who turned 83 last week, says the “best” political system to “get something done” is the Chinese system.

“If you want to get something done, the best system is the Chinese one,” he told news.com.au.

“You just do it. You’ve got a government that’s in total control and they don’t give a f**k what the people say.”

Mr Harvey made the comments while lamenting the direction of Australia’s democracy – specifically the historic move away from the two major parties and the rise of the so-called “teal” independents.

Six sitting Liberal MPs were among those turfed out at the 2022 federal election to make way for the likes of Allegra Spender in Wentworth, Kylea Tink in North Sydney, Monique Ryan in Kooyong and Zoe Daniel in Goldstein.

Billionaire Gerry Harvey has lamented the rise of so-called ‘teal’ independents like Zoe Daniel (left) and Monique Ryan (bottom right) in Australia.

He said Australians are living through a time unlike any he has witnessed and that the current makeup of Australia’s parliament is a “recipe for disaster”.

“We have a situation now with our politics that we’ve never seen before.

“Going forward, whoever forms government somewhere down the path, the major parties may be having only 30 per cent of the vote.”

Asked if he thinks having more independents in parliament is a good thing, he said “you could argue both ways”.

“When you’ve got a government that sees Labor in with full control or Liberal in with full control, you can get things done.

“When you’ve got a coalition of two, three, four or five or more independents, the process is slowed extraordinarily. They never get stuff done.

“It’s a recipe for disaster in many ways, but the way we’re heading with democracy I don’t think that’s going to change.

“If I had to predict the future I think there’ll be a lot more of these coalitions. I can see some advantage in that, but then if you want to build a road or a bridge or make something, it never gets done, it’s stopped dead.

“Everyone wants a say and you’ve got big minority groups with a very loud voice and not a lot of numbers behind them.”

Mr Harvey last week revealed to news.com.au that he is unsure what he will do next – but retirement is not on the cards.

In a revealing interview, one of Australia’s wealthiest men said his life is too interesting to consider retirement.

“From my point of view, as a businessman, I’ve got to sort of figure out, you know, where’s my business going in the future? What sort of shop do I build and where do I build it?” he said.

“Do I build shops? Do I get out of shops and start mining uranium because that’ll be the big new thing, or lithium or rare metals?

“Or do I go in and start building houses because there’s not enough in Australia. There’s so many different things that you’ve got to work out what’s the future and what sort of business do you do.

Harvey said the system led by Chinese President Xi Jinping was the ‘best way to get something done’. Picture: Sergei Bobylyov/AFP

“Why would you slow down at 83, it’s more interesting like this. Every day I’ve got all these challenges and triumphs and disasters.”

On the prospect of life after 90, Mr Harvey says he is constantly learning from his elders.

“Every time I come across somebody who is over 90, I question them: ‘How’d you get to 90? What exercise do you do? How’s your diet?’,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s a local bloke who might not even be making money, still working hard at 92. Doing a lot of exercise, his diet is good, he’s happy, healthy – I’m gonna talk to him.

“He doesn’t have to be successful. He just has to be alive and well. In my observations, the ones that do that have a longer happier life.”

Mr Harvey revealed that several weeks ago he was battling an illness, which gave him pause to consider what is important in life.

“I got sick the other week and I was really sick with a virus,” he said. “I would’ve given away every penny I’ve got just to be healthy.”