The problem with populism: When they take over ‘it doesn’t work out so well’
The rise of One Nation shows Australia has not dodged the global populist wave. But economists say governments on both sides have been adopting populist policies for decades.
The global rise of populist politics may have finally reached Australian shores through the resurgence of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in the polls. But populist policies have been here for decades.
As EQ Economics managing director Warren Hogan put it to Capital Brief: “The hallmark of populism, when it comes to economic policy, is going to be what you would call short-termism”.
Scores of economic policies on housing, energy and the cost of living that have been put in place since Covid, and arguably before that stretching back to at least the Howard era, fit that definition.
More recently, Hogan points to governments at both the state and federal level looking to deal with the recent cost of living crisis by “providing temporary support to citizens through various instruments, whether it be electricity rebates or even cash handouts or discounts on things like motor vehicle registration”.
