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We hear a lot about the independence of our central bank, but not so much of their political bias. The RBA funded right wing think tanks for decades. These are the intellectual influencers dedicated to promulgating neoliberalism and anti-unionism downunder. If you want to know why the gap between rich and poor has widened so immensely in Australia look no further than these institutions and their influence upon the Aussie economy over the last 30 years.
“And in 2020, the RBA said it had been paying the Centre for Independent Studies, and the Sydney Institute, $20,000 a year each since 2006 to support their work, but it hadn’t provided similar support to left-leaning think tanks.”
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-02/sally-mcmanus-actu-thirty-year-war-against-unions/101458318)
Right Wing Think Tanks Funded By Big Mining Companies
The H.R. Nicholls Society was formed over 1985 and early 1986 by a group of men who strongly opposed Australia’s arbitration and centralised wage fixing system at the time. They wanted to see major change. The group were Peter Costello (now the Nine chairman), former treasury secretary John Stone, the director of the Australian Wool Selling Brokers Employers’ Federation, Barrie Purvis, and Western Mining Corporation’s Ray Evans.
Ms McManus said there had been a “30-year war” against Australia’s unions and that war hadn’t ended.
That startling phrase was a reference to a 2014 speech by Eric Abetz, the then-employment minister in the Abbott Coalition Government.”
- (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-02/sally-mcmanus-actu-thirty-year-war-against-unions/101458318)
Aussie Right Wing Media Slammed Union Corruption
I witnessed the decades of anti-union campaigning, which targeted the predominantly right wing media in Australia. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp controls most of the print and other forms of legacy media downunder. There is no real progressive voice in the Australian media landscape. The ABC used to partially fill this role but has been silenced via conservative lobbying and LNP federal governments over recent years. A heavily disproportionate media focus on unproven union corruption went on for years. Bill Shorten copped masses of undue slurs and criticism for accusations which were never proven. The effect was that many ordinary Australians believed that unions were a bad lot. I come across these beliefs and attitudes in the workplace today. Many of the younger workers cannot remember the times when unions played a major role in defending Australian culture from avaristic businesses and development. This is a great pity in my view.
Right Wing Neoliberalism Has Defined The Last Few Decades Downunder
We now find ourselves in an Australian economy defined by decades of neoliberalism, where a few made vast profits at the expense of the many. Public assets have ben sold off to create oligarchic billionaires at home and abroad. Our energy utilities are an illustrative example of this with SE Asian billionaires controlling many of the companies in this space now. The transition to renewables has to negotiate with these corporate players and much of Australia is ignorant to this fact. Ordinary workers have been shafted by the economic times if they have not become shareholders in the right companies along the way. Residential property prices in Australia have been inflated to a huge degree. Rents have followed suit making having a roof over your head an expensive business downunder. The RBA funded right wing think tanks for decades. This makes it easy to see what side the power elite were on throughout the last 30 years. The ‘so-called’ trickle down effect has proven to be not enough to live on in 2026.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/430048935923399/posts/525359389725686
The Wealthy Look After The Wealthy
The wealthy look after the wealthy. The RBA was actively supporting a right wing economic and political view of the country. They and governments were not providing unbiased governance. It has been the right way or the highway, folks. Soaring costs of living have chased super high house prices and we are in the midst of a prolonged housing crisis and endemically sluggish GDP growth. Obviously, the RBA’s neoliberal vision has not proved to be the universal panacea the right wing think tanks promised it would be.
The Coming Revenge Of The Young
Young people in Australia are about to take their revenge at the ballot box. Get ready for progressives to take the greed of the baby boomer generation to task over things like negative gearing, the capital gains tax discount, superannuation tax minimisation by the wealthy, and a host of other failures to tax wealth in Australia. PM Anthony Albanese is the last of the moderates too afraid to make the changes required to even the playing field in Australia. A new generation of political leaders are coming. Why should young Australians have to work 3 jobs just to get by, whilst the propertied class wine and dine to their heart’s content? Real change is coming folks.
Rise Of The Asset Rich Class
“The rise of the billionaire class presents our societies with new challenging questions. Is it OK for private individuals to accumulate billions? Everyday people may think to themselves, I want to be able to accrue as much wealth as I can through my life, unhindered by governments. Unfortunately, the unfettered accumulation of vast wealth goes beyond simplistic equations like this. For instance, once a certain level of wealth is reached the growth of that wealth becomes exponential. Rich people make lots of money on the back of their ability to purchase assets that appreciate. Property, especially, residential property in places like Australia has been on a boom cycle of appreciation over the last 30 years. It has become the single greatest divider between rich and poor in this country.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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