There are always choices in the journey of life that will determine the ultimate destination. It applies equally to individuals, families, business owners and governments. Every decision is a potential alteration of course with known and unknown implications.
Often, the less consideration given to the decision, the worse the implications for the decision maker. That’s not to say that instinct and previous experience don’t have an important place in leadership, but a considered response is vital to continuing success.
That’s why I am worried about the passage of Labor’s carbon dioxide tax. From the moment Ms Gillard was reliant on the Greens and independents to cling to government, this tax was a fait accompli. Any pretence otherwise is simply wishful thinking.
The Greens have dictated the terms of this economy-wide tax that will have no environmental benefit despite its masquerading as a green measure.
The effective function of this carbon dioxide tax is to impose further government intervention as a central element to the operation of business in Australia, redistributing wealth to those the government deems worthy.
The draconian compliance and regulatory regime attached to this tax, coupled with rapidly escalating industry costs will have a severe impact on our economy. These costs will continue to rise in the decades ahead which will place Australian industry at a clear disadvantage to its international competitors.
It will also hurt Australian families. Despite the one-off sweeteners that will see the carbon dioxide tax become the first new tax in history to have a negative effect on the budget, there is no built-in cost of living protection for the decades ahead.
In short, this tax will make balancing the family budget that much harder in the future.
So why would any sensible person support a tax that will not achieve its stated aims, will hurt industry and disadvantage families over the long haul?
To my mind, this is simply one part of the process that is slowly turning the Australian nation into an antipodean version of the European economies.
One review of the state of Europe was given by the head of China’s overseas investment arm Jin Liqun.
He said that Europeans are too reliant on state handouts and that their current troubles are “purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn-out welfare society.”
He continued by saying:
“The welfare system is good for any society to reduce the gap, to help those who happen to have disadvantages, to enjoy a good life, but a welfare society should not induce people not to work hard.”
Unfortunately, by introducing a raft of new taxes and redistributing the wealth according to their social engineering agenda the Greens-Labor government is proceeding down a failed path.
The end result will be a society where the unelected bureaucracy will wield unprecedented power and where everyday Australians will become increasingly reliant on their largesse to preserve their way of life.
Neither of these options are the path to increased prosperity and the sooner we all reject this creep toward the European model of the welfare state, the better off we all will be.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
