‘Life under Howard: relaxed and comfortable; in control and in debt’

Thursday, March 2, 2006.

Christian Kerr writes:

What have ten years of the Howard Government given us? What are the ten trends in Australian life and politics that define the decade?

The answer’s very easy for Crikey subscribers. You’re seeing an unprecedented centralisation of power and decision making in the Prime Minister’s office. Not only that. You believe that some of this power is being accumulated by “fear-mongering” – or, worse, the exploitation of ignorance – and is being wielded under a cloak of excessive secrecy.

Trend number three of the Howard decade for Crikey subscribers is a natural corollary of the first two – a decline in accountability and openness and honesty in public life. As is the fourth – the politicisation of our civic institutions.

This changing balance of power shows again in trend number five. You believe that a denigration of our nation’s intellectual and academic life is occurring and worry about “underinvestment in education”.

Crikey subscribers fear this is reflected in our international standing, in “the erosion of our international reputation as a leading liberal democracy” over the Howard decade.

But you’re also concerned by what you see closer to home: “Consumerism is the new religion”. Trend number seven leads to trend number eight: Consumerism driven by borrowing or credit cards. “We’re riding on a tidal wave of debt. I worry what might happen when the wave breaks.”

At the same time, you fear that “there is no drive for social betterment; we should only be interested in those things that directly impact us.” You’re worried about the growth of “an increasingly insecure workforce, on casual contracts” and the “us and them” mentality that it provokes. Trend number nine.

And this, finally, ends with trend number ten – the failure of the Howard Government to introduce “any major innovative economic measure of any substance that will have lasting positive influence on the Australian economy” compared with the Hawke and Keating years. “The GST was just a new tax,” you say.

So what about the next ten years?

To celebrate Crikey’s 10th birthday, every day for the rest of the year we’ll be dipping into the vault to publish an item from the very same date from one of the past 10 years. Today: Thursday, March 2, 2006.