The ANU's Robert Breunig is not a fan of economic nationalism
The ANU professor and tax expert thinks overblown geopolitical concerns are being used to justify subsidies for certain industries. He also says policy should focus on fixing absolute poverty, not inequality.
Professor Robert Breunig is concerned that the Australian government is increasingly heading down a path of picking winners and increasing regulation under the guise of geopolitical tensions.
The federal government has spent the past week tackling political opposition over its Future Made in Australia legislation, a $22.7 billion package aimed at driving investment into the nation in new and critical industries. One of the focuses is on the national interest with an emphasis on “economic resilience and security”.
Breunig is scathing of this approach and is equally unmoved by the heightened concerns policymakers have about protecting supply chains in a geopolitically challenged environment.
“In general there’s this growing theme of ‘we need to protect ourselves from supply chain problems by making everything in Australia and not buying from overseas’. The thing that has made Australia rich over the last 50 years is that we got rid of all those policies,” Breunig tells Capital Brief as part of a wide-ranging interview about his career and economic thinking.
