It’s the economy, stupid - Op Ed piece

‍There’s a lot of clever language coming out of Canberra ahead of this budget. But behind the words, Australians can see what’s really going on. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is talking a lot about “intergenerational equity”, “resilience” and “social cohesion”. It all sounds thoughtful and fair. But when you strip it back, it’s doing one job: covering for economic failure.

 “Intergenerational equity” is the latest phrase doing the rounds. In plain English, it’s being used to justify taking more from some Australians and giving it to others, dressed up as fairness. More than that, it’s being used to set Australians against each other—young versus old, renters versus homeowners, workers versus retirees, and increasingly, country versus city. That last one matters. Regional Australians are hearing a lot about “equity” while dealing with weaker services, patchy connectivity, higher costs and fewer opportunities close to home. You don’t fix that divide with a slogan. You fix it by backing regional economies, building infrastructure and delivering services where people actually live. That’s not happening at the scale it should be.

 We’re now being told that “boomers” are the problem. That somehow older Australians are to blame for housing affordability, wealth gaps and budget pressures. It’s a convenient story, but it’s not an honest one. Not every older Australian is wealthy, and not every younger Australian is struggling. More importantly, blaming a generation doesn’t build a single home, lower a single power bill or fix a single structural problem. It just shifts the blame.

 Here’s what’s actually happening in the economy. Energy prices are high and unstable, up 40 per cent under Labor.

 Business costs are rising – a recent survey showed 57 per cent of regional and remote small businesses were considering shutting down in the preceding 12 months.  Regional businesses are struggling to make any profit at all.  Not long ago, 75 per cent of small business owners were earning less than the average full time wage.

 Productivity is flat – that is, zero, despite Labor having a productivity growth target of 1.2 per cent per year.

 Housing supply is nowhere near where it needs to be.  The former Coalition Government oversaw 200,000 home completions a year – under Labor, its 174,000 despite them bringing in 1.3 million more migrants in just 3 years.

  Government spending keeps growing, now $160 billion higher than when the Coalition left office in 2022 – that is 27 per cent of GDP, the highest government spending level outside a recession in nearly 40 years. Labor is giving future generations a $1.5 trillion debt bomb – the current government is living large on future taxpayer’s mammoth interest repayments. That’s the real picture. Instead of tackling those fundamentals, Australians are getting a lecture about “equity”.

 Energy sits at the centre of it all. When power is expensive, everything else follows—businesses pull back, investment slows, jobs are put at risk and households feel the squeeze. That flows through to food costs, which are up 16 per cent since Labor took office  rent up 22 per cent, transport and manufacturing costs. You don’t fix that with words. You fix it with reliable supply, sensible policy and getting costs down. Right now, that’s where the focus should be.

 There’s also a deeper issue with how terms like “equity” are being used. Australians are being told government can somehow create a level starting line, that everyone can be made equal through policy. That’s not reality. People start life in different places—different families, different regions, different opportunities. Government can help remove barriers and back opportunity, but it cannot make everyone start the same, and it shouldn’t pretend it can. Once you go down that path, equity stops meaning fairness and starts meaning constant redistribution with no clear end point.

 Australians are practical people. They don’t expect perfection, but they do expect honesty. They know you don’t fix housing without building more homes. You don’t fix the budget without controlling spending. And you don’t fix the economy without fixing energy, which has risen 40 per cent under Labor. Labor know how to massage the language to dodge the real issues, like the biggest collapse in living standards in the developed world on their watch.

 This budget shouldn’t be about slogans. It shouldn’t be about dividing Australians by age or postcode.  

 The most divisive PM in Australia’s history has divided the nation on the voice, city versus country and on recognising Palestine. Now, he is dividing Australians according to the year they were born.

 Labor shouldn’t be about hiding tough choices behind soft words. It should be about getting the economy back on track. Because when the economy is strong, opportunity grows, pressure eases, and Australians—whether they live in the city or the country—get ahead together. Everything else is just spin.