<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/20/economic-roundtable-winners-and-losers-australia-productivity>
"As pens and notepads were being laid out for start of the much-touted economic
roundtable on Monday, the chair of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood,
made a number of dark observations in an address to the National Press Club.
People in their 30s today, Wood told us, are the first generation to be worse
off than those born in the previous decade in terms of earnings, housing
affordability, budget burden and climate impacts. Her comments laid bare how
important reform of so many aspects of the economy and regulation are if this
situation is to change.
The flipside of the situation facing millennials is the largesse that has been
laid out for the boomers, such as tax breaks on housing and superannuation that
benefit those with already substantial resources but add to the tax burden of
lower-income households who can’t get their foot in even one door. Quite
obviously, not every boomer in Australia is sitting back with multiple
investment properties and a multimillion-dollar super balance. But boomers were
three times more likely to own their own home in their 30s than their
counterparts today are.
And so, while millennials cry out for change, boomers resist even reasonable
adaptation such as the removal of tax exemptions on super balances over $3m or
phasing out negative gearing.
And it’s not just millennials v boomers. Before seats had been taken at the
roundtable, business and unions were firing off at each other over issues such
as working from home, work week length and AI adoption. Then add to all that
the intense bipartisanship we now see in politics and it’s a wonder anyone sat
down together at all.
And this is the rub. When it comes to policy decisions, too many are too quick
to focus on what’s in it for them instead of what is best for society as a
whole. So, if we make housing more affordable for younger generations, those
who are already on the housing merry-go-round cry “unfair”. Increased density
proposals are met with cries of “Not in my back yard!”
If we set much-needed strong climate targets to contribute to reducing the
horror show of unnatural disasters that have already become much more frequent,
and encouraging investment in green industries, then a narrow segment of vested
interests (mainly fossil fuel polluters) focus only on the jobs that will be
lost. They conveniently ignore the many more green jobs that will be created,
not to mention the vast costs from failure to act imposed on individuals, the
economy and the budget bottom line each time these exacerbated disasters
unfold."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
