Bracket creep and soft economists

Is Australia so ‘unique’ because lefties dominate the education system, academia, and the media?

The Albanese government reduced the Stage 3 tax cuts that were designed to address some the burden of bracket creep. The trouble is bracket creep is built into our progressive tax system. Unless something is routinely legislated to fix it, bracket creep happens systemically. Labor sent that plan backwards.

Instead, Labor has focused on the unjustifiable figure of $600 billion they made-up as a costing for the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy while denying that their ‘cheapest form of energy’ isn’t cheap at all. Their promised $275 energy saving was grossly wrong, and energy prices keep going up and will continue to do so under Labor.

Where are the economists? In my opinion, they must all be Labor supporters who are staying mum.

My lates in The Spectator Australia, Bracket creep and soft economists.

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "Where are the economists? In my opinion, they must all be Labor supporters who are staying mum."

I am beginning to think Australia is so ‘unique’ because lefties dominate the education system, academia, and the media.https://t.co/VPEjyBz18i

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 20, 2025

Keen to punish the Coalition this election? It’ll cost you!

There's plenty of evidence to support the Uniparty thesis, but a second Labor term will destroy us.

The Coalition may not be in its best shape, but when they were in power, most Australians were better off. We keep hearing about how Albo inherited all this debt and deficit, but it’s nonsense. By the time Albo moved into the Lodge, prices were already going up. As he lifted wages for unionised sectors, the false economy showed low unemployment (mostly government jobs) but inflation kept going up. One interest rate cut went straight into ever-increasing power bills. Nobody is better off.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Keen to punish the Coalition this election? It’ll cost you!

Housing policy debate mismatched with Australian culture

Housing is a major election issue but neither party is providing the details voters need.  

From the National Press Club: Housing policy is very tricky to balance effectively. There is no set formula because times and circumstances change. What worked in the Menzies era, when home ownership in Australia was at its highest levels, may not work now. But some things remain the same.

We need infrastructure. Not just roads but also potable water, sewerage, telecommunications, energy, shops, schools, hospitals, emergency services, and police.

Today’s debate at the Press Club between Labor Minister for Housing and Homelessness Clare O’Neil and her counterpart, Liberal Michael Sukkar, was uninspiring. We were introduced on one hand to a Labor policy based on talking to people in inner cities with no clue about the regions, and a Coalition policy closer to reality but not presented in a way that was convincing.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say.

Meanwhile, the prosaic election campaign set pieces continue. Yesterday it was a debate between housing spokesmen. Political correspondent Michael de Percy, whose National Press Club house account is taking a battering to give you a ringside seat, was totally unimpressed with both the debate and the way the spokesmen spoke. That sentence pretty well applies to the whole campaign for your scribe.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Housing policy debate mismatched with Australian culture.

MICHAEL DE PERCY | "Plenty of land for wind turbines and solar panels - but no land for living." 🙃
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"Both sides have prioritised headlines over blueprints. Many Australian families want detached houses, not shoebox apartments. It’s part of our… pic.twitter.com/oaWqP9dPP8

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) April 16, 2025