Consensus and inclusion: hallmarks of a strong leader
Christian Porter and Scott Morrison announce the government’s childcare package. Picture: AAP
As Australia changes under the influence of the COVID-19 crisis, so too Scott Morrison is changing before our eyes. As he does, he’s fundamentally altering the administration of government, political philosophies and the concept of how the economy works.
In the name of finding an Australian way, the Prime Minister is forging a new direction for himself, the Liberal Party, the Coalition government, relations between the federal and state governments, and providing a way forward for centre-right politics.
Morrison has created new forums, sought new alliances and demonstrated an adaptability that goes beyond his innate caution and Liberal philosophy. It took John Howard years to recognise that Medicare had become a bedrock of Australian society and politics and to adjust to supporting both Medicare and private health. Morrison has embraced need, equity and huge spending on welfare and job security in a matter of weeks, although he wisely warns the spending is deep but short-lived and there will be a “snap back”.
While the coronavirus has already wreaked a terrible toll on lives and livelihoods, bringing the economy to its knees, the basic principles of Morrison’s approach are providing a way through and, most important, not only a way to survive but also to revive.
Politically, socially and economically, Australia is changing but it is essential the permanent changes are for the better and that the opportunities to rapidly repair the damage are taken.
Only a few weeks ago, Morrison was a cautious leader, prepared only to make incremental changes, wary of policy divisions within the Coalition.
He didn’t want to talk about industrial relations policy, was defensive in dealing with state and territory leaders over the bushfire response and had allowed Anthony Albanese’s campaign to damage his public profile to distract him.
The lack of an overarching strategic plan meant Morrison was more easily knocked off track by events and setbacks, and the miraculous aura around his election victory was dimming.
Yet this week Morrison spent the biggest amount of money by any prime minister in history — the new $130bn JobKeeper payment of $1500 a fortnight for up to six million Australians, which committed the nation to a new generation of debt.
It took the cost of cumulative actions to protect workers and businesses to more than $200bn and will rack up a national debt of $1 trillion.
As well, in just a few days the government altered the principles of the unemployment benefit through JobSeeker allowances, joined the banks to offer businesses radical debt coverage, recruited the private health industry as never before, and picked up the bill for workers’ childcare.
The Prime Minister worked with the states to introduce draconian measures to limit personal movement, as well as protect tenants from eviction, and negotiated with the unions to drastically alter employment awards and conditions.
What’s more, all these billions are being spent directly to keep people in jobs and keep the economy idling until it can move again without recourse to huge projects. After all, you can’t build a Hoover Dam to pump the economy if social-distancing rules mean a workforce can’t work together or travel.
As Morrison said on Thursday: “Now is the time to dig deep.
“We are living in unprecedented times with the twin battles that we face and that we fight, against the virus and against the economic ruin that it can threaten. This calls for unprecedented action, governments making decisions like they never have before. And today our government has made a decision that no government has made before in Australia in response to crises such as these.
“And I hope and pray they never have to again.’’
Addressing the size of the commitment, he predicted: “Some will say it’s too little. Others will say that it’s too much.”
But it’s not actually the size that’s the issue; it’s the aim and the implementation. Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann are trying to head off a depression and the ruin and lives that will cost. It is possible that an economic upheaval as great as that of the 1930s could kill as many people as the coronavirus itself.
Yet their objectives in the JobSeeker allowance and how it is paid are not the expected ideologically pure responses.
Morrison has declared that the Coalition’s aims are to address the twin crises of health and the economy by protecting “lives and livelihoods” based on “need not entitlement”. He refused to go down the path of Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving all British workers, including high-income earners, 80 per cent of their wages, because it was inequitable.
“Our plan will see our businesses, large and small, right across our entire economy, share the load with our welfare system, deliver these important income supports,’’ Morrison said.
“Our JobKeeper plan sees every Australian worker the same way, no matter what you earn.
“There is not more support for some than there is for others. That is not the Australian way. If one person falls on a hard time, if anyone falls on a hard time, it’s the same hard time. We’re all in this together. That’s what’s fair. That’s what’s Australian.’’
Apart from equity, Morrison did not want to “dream up” a new system but to use existing vehicles such as the Australian Taxation Office and employer registrations. “We are introducing a $1500 per fortnight JobKeeper payment to keep Australians in their jobs, even when the work may dry up,’’ he said.
“We will pay employers to pay their employees and make sure they do. To keep them in the businesses that employ them and to ensure they can get ready together to bounce back on the other side. We want to keep the engine of our economy running through this crisis. It may run on idle for a time, but it must continue to run.’’
That Morrison was announcing the massive scheme only a week after the principles had been agreed on March 27, over a dinner he had with the Treasurer and Cormann, with the secretary and deputy secretary of Treasury, Steve Kennedy and Jenny Wilkinson, virtually present, is a testament to the speed and scale at which the Prime Minister now works.
On March 21 — the day before the second fiscal package of $64bn was announced — Treasury had briefed Frydenberg on the British wage subsidy and explained its design and limitations.
Kennedy had been seconded to Kevin Rudd’s prime ministerial office during the global financial crisis and appreciated the necessity of avoiding the creation of new systems beyond the federal government’s experience and capabilities.
Morrison was committed to an “equitable” system of wage subsidy, was determined to introduce a flat payment to those whose jobs had been lost, regardless of income, and recognised that the labour movement needed to be brought into the plan.
He had already recruited former ACTU boss and Rudd government minister Greg Combet to work with Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter and the union movement to ensure necessary flexibility was able to be put into awards, so retail and hospitality workers could keep working as long as possible.
Morrison was also working with the national cabinet — his own creation, the leaders of all nine jurisdictions in the federation — and adjusting the “scaleable” wage package to allow for the tougher restrictions on movement that the premiers had been flagging.
After the JobSeeker announcement, Morrison described the unions as being “fantastic” and continued to praise individual businesses and industry generally for “all coming together”.
Union officials and business groups continue to be appointed to crisis advisory and management bodies. And there are now regular government meetings with the Opposition Leader and his senior frontbenchers.
There is a sense of consensus and inclusion that gives Australia one of the best chances in the world to not only defeat the virus on health grounds but also to recover more quickly economically.
