Reviews no substitute for learning lessons of the past

As Anthony Albanese lands the AUKUS defence pact initiated by his predecessor, Scott Morrison, the big domestic question is whether the Prime Minister will be able to deliver a growth strategy from the blizzard of reviews and consultations initiated by Labor since it took office. While a stocktake may be warranted, the Albanese government must avoid the perception that it is becoming a reprise of the Rudd-Gillard experience.

There is still some way to go to match the Rudd-Gillard years when 490 reviews, audits, inquiries, discussion papers and taskforces were put in place. But as Geoff Chambers reports on Tuesday, the Albanese team already has doubled the number of probes set loose by its Coalition predecessor. Since last year’s federal election, the government has announced at least 47 reviews, 38 consultation papers, accords and strategies, two summits, the robodebt royal commission, 51 ministerial roundtables and an inquiry into Mr Morrison’s multiple ministries. This has opened the charge from Peter Dutton that the Albanese government had hit the ground reviewing, rather than running. Ultimately, the assessment must not be made on the number of reviews but rather the fruits of these endeavours.

On this score, the vital need is to find a way to rein in unnecessary and unsustainable spending and set a course for growth. Nobody can argue the National Disability Insurance Scheme does not deserve thorough investigation. But it must result in a credible plan to weed out costs that have been pushed on to it by opportunism, fraud or cost shifting by the states. Another thing that must be dealt with is the perception that, despite making a big show of consultation and review, the government already has made up its mind in ways that most often favour the trade union movement. This has been the case with industrial relations, where business groups were blindsided by the reintroduction of industry-wide bargaining. And it appears to be true with superannuation, where a brief conversation with voters resulted in a clampdown on large balances that most likely already was in the works. When the legislation is presented to parliament it is likely that Labor’s preconceived changes to superannuation extend well beyond the higher tax rate for balances over $3m.

Neither of these changes goes to the heart of what the Albanese government must do to restore budget integrity and grow the economic pie. Or the substantial financial challenges it has set itself. As editor-at-large Paul Kelly wrote on Saturday, aside from AUKUS, Mr Albanese has pledged to see through the energy transition and run a responsible budget that reduces the deficit. But Labor’s economic growth strategy looks dubious, Kelly argues. It is compounded by the poor state of public policy and economic reform ethos that prodded former Productivity Commission chairman Gary Banks to make public his concerns about a nation heading down an unenviable economic path.

Lack of policy credibility is reflected in Labor’s use of off-balance-sheet funds, as highlighted by Judith Sloan on Tuesday. Although they were promised in the election, Rewiring the Nation ($20bn), the Housing Australia Future Fund ($10bn) and the National Reconstruction Fund ($15bn) are of dubious benefit and will hide the true state of the budget. Sloan finds that all three funds are based on shaky assumptions and that their presumed success defies past experience. As happened with WA Inc, the Victorian Economic Development Corporation and State Bank of South Australia, Labor’s earlier attempts to join with business to pick winners, the inquiries of future governments are likely to be directed towards how politicians were again allowed to be so reckless with taxpayers’ money.