Delusional optimism to believe Labor on productivity

One would have to be a deluded political optimist to dream that Labor’s 93-seat win will be delivering any of the productivity reforms the nation needs not to continue declining.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has already put productivity reform on a delayed timeline. No ideological policy U-turn is in sight.

We await any word from the Labor Party in response to Judith Sloan’s chillingly accurate economic demolition of the Prime Minister’s childcare goals (“Beware super grab as PM seeks to fund childcare legacy”, 13/5). Also in the cone of silence are the ongoing haemorrhages of public money on the NDIS, impossible net-zero goals and the renewables revolution. With fantasies about green energy and effective batteries, productivity is dead in the water. Even reforming our education debacle remains in slow motion (“Education will prove key to economic reform”, 13/5). As usual, Labor’s woke ideology is the roadblock.

Betty Cockman, Dongara, WA

It is not in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s track record to be the leader of a vibrant and competitive private sector-led economy of innovation and risk-taking that drives productivity-enhancing investment to lift living standards because the whole raison d’etre of his party is to redistribute wealth from productive to nonproductive sectors of the economy, mostly from increased taxation.

His model, based on the principles of socialism, with the government playing a large role in the economy and society, is clearly not sustainable because, with little incentive for the private sector to invest, the economic pie will barely grow, with living standards falling to unacceptable levels. (“Reverse productivity slump to improve living standards”, Editorial, 13/5).

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Troy Bramston writes that the Labor Party process in selecting its candidates for the ministry is less than perfect (“Brutal factional power play tarnishes Labor’s victory”, 13/5).

It has been forever thus. In effect, most who have served as a minister in a Labor government have owed their lofty station to a factional affiliation. In previous carve-ups, both Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus have been the beneficiaries of a process that favours the numbers over individual capacity. For either to question the outcome when they are victims of that process on this occasion leaves them exposed.

Labor’s current ministry is made up of 15 members from the Left and 15 from the Right. That sounds like a reasonable balance but, as Bramston explains, those individuals who make up each grouping are not the product of a democratic process.

They serve at the whim of “faction bosses”.

Kim Keogh, Claremont, WA

With a new Labor government sworn in, and ministers eager to assert their authority, it is time to look at some of the long-term issues facing Australia.

Cost of living and housing were issues in the election, but there are hosts of other important issues. These include the belligerence of China and Russia, too-high immigration, how to react to Donald Trump, foreign ownership of Australia’s resources, the long-term decline of the Australian dollar, our declining GDP per person, climate change, beefing up our armed forces, nuclear energy, budgets that are balanced and paying off the national debt. The list goes on.

I want to see the new government making announcements, and progress, on these issues.

Ken Moore, Chapel Hill, Qld

Could this be the winter of their discontent as Labor’s recently minted new politicians find their way around the corridors of power looking for a place to unpack their ambitious hopes for a life in politics?

While Labor celebrates new faces, these new arrivals may find themselves being one of too many, as their individual hopes and aspirations will be under pressure to be heard in a crowded room. The new arrivals will be slotted into the system somewhere, but may find that their voices are muted or unheard. The voices in cabinet will decide on the country’s future directions and the new arrivals may well find that their ideas will wither on the vine of factional politicking. Politics is a tough game.

Stephanie Summers, North Turramurra, NSW