The abundance logic behind Labor’s new economic ambition
Commentators have missed the deeper shift behind Labor’s economic agenda — one that challenges old assumptions on progressive policy.
The foundations of a fundamentally new, more ambitious Australian economic model are being built by Treasurer Jim Chalmers — and commentators are missing the signs of its scale.
At its core is a deeply alluring, subversive argument: to achieve the progressive goals of the 2020s and 2030s, we'll need to make tradeoffs with the progressive policies of the 1970s and 1980s. That idea is catnip to some Australian progressives who have watched parties like the US Democrats wither and understandably worry about their own longevity.
The intellectual framework driving this shift has a name: Abundance, the book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson which has become required reading in the halls of power.
It argues that progressives should embrace building more of what people need — housing, energy infrastructure, transit — even if it means streamlining or rethinking the regulatory processes that have traditionally been progressive priorities.
