While you have been away, a lot has changed.
President Trump is implementing what he promised to do. That is a novelty that you might like to emulate.
Some of his key policies will require changes in Australia too. They are going to take bipartisan support. So, this is a message for you all.
Firstly, he is planning to reduce personal and corporate taxes. We will need to review ours too. To compete for talent and capital we cannot be too far out of kilter with the rest of the world. The policies that the Coalition took to the election are already out-of-date. If the USA has a corporate tax rate of 15%, a promise to reduce ours to 25% in ten years’ time is never going to be competitive.
Secondly, he is planning to ignore the Paris agreement on climate change. USA will have cheap fossil fuel to drive its economy. China and India will follow suit. It will be pointless for Australia to impoverish itself with uneconomic energy policies. We are going to need to use coal (high energy low emission technology) and gas. We will need to defer the move to renewable energy for the present.
Thirdly, he is going to eliminate regulation that is strangling business. Much of this regulation is driven by ideological opposition to the free market economy. The consequence is that it adds costs, delays entrepreneurial activity, lowers productivity and reduces the number of jobs available and the wages that can be earned. We must follow his lead.
I do hope you can put aside your personal ambitions for the time being and all get together and act in our national interest.
