To address inequality and the social problems it gives rise to, Australia must return to a robust mixed economy with essential services in public control.

Politicians and bureaucrats who are responsible for the neoliberalisation of the Australian economy since the 1980s remain unyielding in their belief that inequality is not a serious problem confronting the country’s economy and society today. They point to things like low productivity rates (blame the workers!) and external pressures (the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts), to explain why inflation remains a problem, and why taxing the rich is not a good idea.

Yet, Oxfam has recently reported that the 20 richest Australians now hold more wealth than the bottom three million households. Meanwhile, the ACOSS report on Poverty in Australia in 2025 has revealed that 3.7 million Australians are now living below the poverty line – that is one in seven people, an increase of 12.4 per cent since 2021. One in six children (that is 757,000 kids) now live in poverty. If this is not inequality, what on earth is it?

The grim statistics made public by Oxfam and ACOSS are not receding. Inequality in Australia is growing. It is the single most important issue facing the country today. The rich are getting richer and more selfish by the day. Their ideological defenders in the Murdoch media insist they should not be obliged to share their wealth more equitably. The poor are getting poorer, but also angrier and turning to populists like Pauline Hanson for help. Little do they understand that Hanson’s biggest backer, Gina Rhinehart, the richest person in the country, is a firm advocate of policies that would drastically increase inequality.

A timorous Labor government fiddles at the........

© Pearls and Irritations