End of an Age of Entitlement in Australia

Personal Responsibility Beckoning

We posted recently about wholesome progress being made in Australia under the Abbott government to end corporate welfare.  The collusion of between business and government is never pretty and always represents a corrupt rort whereby the owners of favoured businesses get to be enriched at the expense of the taxpayer.  (The same may be said of the collusion between unions and governments, but that's a matter for another day.)

Treasurer Joe Hockey is proving to be up to the challenge, according to a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by Mark Kenny, entitled "Hockey Calls an End to 'Age of Entitlement'". 

Treasurer Joe Hockey has bluntly warned Australians that the days of governments saving businesses and jobs had passed, telling them, ''the age of entitlement is over, and the age of personal responsibility has begun''.  The tough comments come as the government braces for further requests for public funds from big employers such as Toyota, and as some within the federal cabinet seek more help for farmers.


With a vicious drought gripping Queensland and NSW, Mr Hockey defended existing ''exceptional circumstances'' assistance and called for a proper debate about ''sustainable farming'' including an honest look at the realities of water usage.  In a pointed message to the Coalition's junior partner, the Nationals, who have started agitating for increased drought assistance for beleaguered farmers, a determined Mr Hockey reaffirmed the government's new determination to resist the usual pressures for governments to rescue unviable businesses.

Hockey went on to tear down the false case that had been put up to justify the government squandering millions of tax payers' money on cannery SPC-Ardmona, owned by corporate giant, Coca-Cola Amatil.

Just days after the cabinet shocked workers at the Shepparton based SPC-Ardmona cannery by refusing a request for $25 million to stay afloat, Mr Hockey also fired a warning shot across the bows of any companies thinking of putting their hands out.  Describing the SPC decision as a signal to the rest of the country that past practice no longer applied, he said it was up to businesses to take all necessary steps to get their own houses in order before the last resort of seeking a government bail-out.

He said SPC Ardmona was part of a very profitable larger company, Coca-Cola Amatil, so it was not appropriate for taxpayers to subsidise bad decisions.  ''Even by their own admission, they haven't run it properly. So they came to us, in fact they came to the previous government and asked for help … so taxpayers' money would be buying new plant and equipment in the SPC Ardmona factory so that Coca-Cola Amatil could make a larger profit,'' he said, campaigning in Brisbane for Saturday's Griffith byelection.

Continuing the government's criticism of SPC's generous industrial agreements, he said companies needed to negotiate agreements with their employees that were sustainable for that business.  ''Ultimately it comes down to the partnership between employers and employees, and if that is what they negotiate, then please do not come to the government asking for other taxpayers' money when those agreements fail,'' Mr Hockey said. ''I say to you, emphatically, everyone in Australia must do the heavy lifting now.  ''The age of entitlement is over. The age of personal responsibility has begun.''

The author of the piece, Mark Kenny claims that the SPC-Ardmona decision shocked workers.  May we suggest it would have been far more of a shock to the board of SPC-Ardmona and the senior management team and board of Coca-Cola Amatil who had long been slurping at the government trough.  The idea that the taxpayer was no longer going to be on tap to bail out reckless corporates so that their shareholders could continue to have gilt-lined pockets must be deeply disturbing.  

In the medium term, however, it will all be to the good for Australian businesses, which will be forced to face up to the free market of more open competition.  That will force them to become corporately more lean, mean, and mobile--and, consequently more competitive--to the ultimate good of their customers and clients.

Long may it continue.  We acknowledge that both Labour and the Liberal/National Coalition have been guilty of supporting measures of government corporate welfare over many years.  Both are guilty of helping create the "age of entitlement" that has pervaded Australian business for so long.  It's too early to tell whether Hockey and Abbott will carry the day and effect a sea-change in Australian business ethics and political integrity.  But we admire the attempt and the beginnings. 

In conclusion, we reiterate why we Christians ought to strongly oppose corporate welfare.  It is intrinsically corrupt, and the longer it continues, the more perverse and corrupting it becomes.  The politicians and government become involved to curry votes (otherwise known as bribery) and secure corporate donations from businesses; corporates exploit tax payers to line their own pockets and subsidise their lazy, inefficient business operations;  and the ordinary bloke suffers at both ends, having his taxes misspent to make the privileged few more wealthy, whilst being forced to pay higher prices for products and services produced by inefficient businesses, which are being subsidised by his taxes. 

Higher taxes and higher prices so that a corrupt plutocracy can be kept swaddled in cotton-wool.  Oh, what a lovely world the age of entitlement has produced. Let's hope the age of personal responsibility will succeed in its coming and long may it last.