As the mining boom & the riches that came with it begin to evaporate away, Australia faces several major immediate & present challenges.
And whilst at least on the surface Malcolm Turnbull appears to be the most suitable leader on all sides of politics capable of tackling these challenges, he does have a mountain to climb.
Whilst different interest groups would argue over the degree of urgency of various reforms, there are two major issues which needs the most urgent attention. And from the various overtures since his elevation, it is encouraging that at least on the surface Turnbull & his new team acknowledge the urgency of these issues (although it appears Turnbull has promised the hard right Liberals to leave Climate Change alone for the time being):
a) Tax Reform
b) Industrial Relations Reform
c) Climate Change Policy Reform
And here is where the main challenge for PM Turnbull lies:
Malcolm Turnbull must address, attack & neutralise the following powerful toxic electoral terminology that has put an end to any chance of any reform in these very important policy areas, with thanks to Labor, Julia Gillard & Tony Abbott:
"Work Choices" "GST" & "Carbon Tax"
Australia's taxation system is generally acknowledged as complex & in many instances regressive. Whilst GST is considered a regressive tax, with appropriate compensation for lower income earners, a broadening of the base & an increase to the rate in return for discontinuation of most Federal & State indirect taxes, is the easiest & most logical way of addressing the problem. This is because a consumption based tax system (GST) has many benefits which an income tax dos not provide.
On the other hand, as I always say: "If as it was claimed, Work Choices made it too easy to sack workers, then Fair Work has made it ten times harder to employ or sack workers".
Fair Work, with its stifling provisions & excessive penalty rate schedules is surely the most urgent policy reform requiring attention. Employer Groups, big & small, whilst happy to pay reasonable penalty rates, are reluctant to hire more workers due to the inflexible, unworkable & stifling provisions of the Fair Work Act.
Australia desperately & urgently requires IR reform to reintroduce flexibility back to the system & improve productivity.
However, the Unions & Labor have made "Work Choices" such a toxic & untouchable term to the point that any discussion of any IR reform is choked on the spot.
Thanks to Gillard's broken promise & Tony Abbott's cunning ploy whilst in opposition, any discussion on Climate Change & Environmental Policy is also deprived of any traction by the mention of the toxic term "Carbon tax"!
As the new PM, Malcolm Turbull & his main advisor the Cabinet Secretory Arthur Sinodinos acknowledge, the PM must carry the voters behind him in order to succeed with any major reform, something that ultimately Rudd, Gillard & Abbott all failed to do.
In order to bring about reform & growth, Turbull must tackle Tax, IR & Climate Change.
Turnbull's starting point is to neutralise the powerful & toxic electoral impact of three simple terms:
"GST", "Work Choices" & "Carbon Tax".
It is only after he achieves this that he can be sure his opponents, detractors & enemies are sufficiently disarmed to allow him to proceed with reform......easier said than done!
