Equality of opportunity must remain an Australian value. We have to equip people to participate in the economy so they can access the benefits of growth. This budget won't achieve it
In recent months Pope Francis, president Barack Obama, and the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, have all nominated inequality as one of the key challenges of our time.
That is an impressive triumvirate, and I think it shows that this is a debate which needs to become more prominent in Australia.
Put simply, a severely skewed income distribution harms the pace and sustainability of growth over the longer term. It leads to an economy of exclusion, and a wasteland of discarded potential.
Continue reading...