Australia is slipping badly against the US, Europe, and even the UK in GDP per capita. By Alexander Downer in The Australian.

Then:

Through the first decade of this century, Australia’s economy was seen globally as an outstanding example of success.

From the mid-1980s until the mid-2000s, we deregulated our economy, scrapped tariff protection, privatised government enterprises, reformed the tax system, paid off all government debt and ran budget surpluses.

By 2010, Australia’s per capita GDP was slightly above that of the US. We were fractionally richer than the Americans. We were some 20 per cent richer than the countries in the eurozone, and around 30 per cent richer than the UK. What is alarming is to see how we have done relative to those countries over the past 15 years.

Now:

Let’s start with the US. We have gone from being slightly richer than the US to our per capita GDP being just over 70 per cent of America’s. … America’s economy has performed much better than Australia’s over the last 20 years.

In 2010, Australia was approximately 20 per cent richer than the eurozone countries on a per capita basis. By 2025 it was only 9 per cent richer. So, for all the talk of slow growth in Europe and its lack of economic dynamism and entrepreneurship — which is by the way completely justified — Australia has been performing less well than the eurozone.

But surely, you’re thinking, we would have done much better than the UK. We’re always being told that the UK’s economy is broken, that it is in permanent crisis, that it was devastated by Brexit and that immigration has plunged the country into penury. Well, don’t be too hasty in drawing that conclusion. In 2010, we were approximately 30 per cent richer per capita than the UK, but now that gap has been reduced to around 13 per cent.

The crime:

Australia is richly endowed with resources and energy; there is no excuse for its weak economic performance. We have also benefited substantially from the economic rise of China and, more broadly, the Indo-Pacific region. Despite all of that, we are performing less well than America, Europe and the UK. Yet 20 years ago, we were admired for our outstanding economic performance….

Socialism and climate religion:

There are two key, if not sole, factors.

The first was the reaction to the global financial crisis, which led to a loss of confidence by the establishment, as well as the general public, in the liberal market….

This model has been replaced with a social democratic model, which involves huge increases in unprofitable public investment and a rapid expansion of the welfare state. …

Secondly, the overall obsession by the political class with climate policies has been crippling for Australia. Not only has there been eye-watering amounts of public money pumped into the so-called energy transition, but by establishing a dual system of renewables and conventional fossil fuel electricity generation, there has been a pronounced decline in productivity in the energy sector and a commensurate substantial increase in electricity prices. According to the Productivity Commission, investment in electricity generation since 2001-02 has grown by 126 per cent, and output has grown by 14 per cent, so it’s hardly surprising there has been an astronomical increase in electricity prices.

The single reason boils down to the takeover of Australia’s leadership by the current ruling class — bureaucratic, university indoctrinated, and woke. They don’t have experience in private industry, and they didn’t do due diligence on the carbon dioxide theory of global warming (even though it was pointed out to them it was much exaggerated and essentially bogus). They have had taxpayer-funded everything all their lives, and cannot imagine why anyone would want anything else. They don’t trust the private market, or their fellow Australians. In fact, they want to replace both.