The New Australian Socialist Experiment
Introduction and overview
A sweeping new Australian socialist experiment is now well underway. The signs are everywhere. But it’s unique. This is socialism with Australian characteristics. And it’s being plainly stated.
In a paper released on 30 January 2023, the Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced a radical remake of capitalism. The Australian newspaper explains this ‘seismic policy shift’ where “…Labor will ditch the free market policy consensus that has steered rich countries over two generations.” Treasurer Chalmers states ‘…2023 will be the year we build a better capitalism, uniquely Australian’ which is “…a new, values-based capitalism…’
In this series of three articles, I’ll look at this experiment through the eyes and minds of the socialists. I’m not seeking to debate the rights or wrongs of where they are taking Australia, but rather to understand their thinking. Why is it that they think that their unique socialist vision will work?
For those of us in business for ourselves, that is we are our own boss, understanding this seismic shift is important. If we have a comprehension of the bigger social, economic, and policy pictures, we are better able to make our business decisions.
There are two key concepts to grasp right from the beginning.
First, the bedrock upon which this new socialism rests is that Australian socialists have captured Australian capitalism. This socialist/capitalist triumph forms a new Australian Establishment.
Second, and counter to the usual anti-socialist (reds under the bed) narrative, their thinking is that socialism does not mean poverty. Socialism can include wealth. It depends on the characteristics of the socialism being implemented. At least with this new socialist experiment it must be assumed that Australian socialists fully believe that they will deliver socialism with (distributed) wealth.
Overview/Summary
At the time of writing (January–February 2023), these three articles propose that this new Australian socialism has four major structural elements:
1. The socialists are capitalists: The socialists have become the dominant capitalists by capturing the proletariat’s savings. By controlling the major superannuation funds in an institutionalised monopolistic style, the socialists have major sway across the economy about which projects are financed and how. Further, this financial power is greatly enhanced by strategic shareholdings in critical corporations. This delivers significant control over the people who run corporations and the decisions those corporations make.
2. The socialists dominate the parliaments: The socialists have achieved balance-of-power positioning in the Commonwealth Parliament and in key state parliaments. The socialists have never been in such a strong political position to implement their experiment through legislative action. Further, with strong tax revenues, government is in the position to spend/invest in the projects it wants when, where, and even if the private sector won’t invest in those socialist-favoured projects.
3. Backdoor nationalisation of business: The socialists have demonstrated their ready willingness to effectively ‘nationalise’ industry sectors. The first being gas. The technique is not necessarily for government to directly own the industry enterprises, but rather to impose such regulatory controls that the industry enterprises no longer control what they do. They become mere vassals undertaking orders issued to them through the legislative process. Direct state ownership is nonetheless still an option, as demonstrated by the Victorian government’s plans to create a state-owned electricity generation business.
4. Neuter business managers: The socialists are taking direct control of the labour arrangements inside businesses. Managers are only able to operate according to the labour arrangements dictated by labour courts. This includes suppressing and even neutering the right of people to be their own boss, to be self-employed.
The central theme:
The overarching process in these elements is the suppression of competition across the economy. Competition is the enemy of socialism. The suppression of competition is vital to achieving the socialists’ agenda.
Where the knot is tied
To observe this emerging socialist system, we must guard against being blinded by absolutes. Any political/economic system is about where the knot is tied on a long piece of string. Rarely is that knot tied at the extreme end of the string (left or right). But in this current Australian knot-tying exercise, the knot is being moved well to the left, to an anti-competition, monopolist’s Left. Given the Chalmers’ paper, this new socialism is radical.
The three articles.