The Looking Forward Podcast Episode 65: Liberalising Australia: Then and Now.

As Australia is once again faced with the desperate need to liberalise and our reinvigorate our economy post-lockdown, we’re joined by an intellectual warrior of the last great era of reform in 80’s and 90’s, Professor Emeritus Wolfgang Kasper, to explore what’s similar and what’s different between then and now, and what are the eternal truths about how to mobilise labour, capital and entrepreneurship by cutting red and green tape and getting government out of the way.

Drawing on compelling case studies from post-war German, Spain, Malaysia and indeed Australia, liberalisation is shown to deliver great benefits. But there is a whole new challenge to be faced, and not just from left, as free market reformers grapple with an intellectual landscape convinced deregulation somehow failed and that Governments are best placed to mobilise capital, and the exposure of reliance on China for key supplies has changed everything. The best responses draw on the greats, on Locke and Smith, and also the simple realities of trade where it impossible to untangle supply chains. Wolfgang joins regular co-hosts Scott Hargreaves and Chris Berg and guest panelist Andrew Bushnell to discuss needed reforms, reflect on the Prime Minister’s National Press Club address, and question whether the language of reform in the 80’s will cut through in 2020s.