Issue 5: May 2005

Newspaper editors have become more perspicacious since the October 2004 federal election.  In recommending a vote for the status quo, they could find few faults with our economy.  Less than six months later, they can find more faults and are able to see that these are the result of government policy and have been simmering for some time.

A cynic might say that the newspapers had an agenda – to elect a government that would free up media ownership.  We’ll leave it to the cynics to make their case but while we have come to expect that politicians will drink their own bathwater, it is worrying that newspaper editors are imbibing the same beverage.

We have several articles on the themes of the election and the economy.  We analyse what newspaper editors said before and after the election, we analyse the accuracy of economic forecasters, and we discuss the challenges facing Australia’s future economic wellbeing.

Kaye Fallick's article "Demography is destiny but procrastination is penury" reminds us that the large baby boomer generation, the leading edge of which is approaching the traditional retirement age, will not behave according to tradition.  The problems we face with an ageing population have been predictable for decades but governments, employers, and the baby boomers themselves have been obsessed with short-termism.  Kaye's thought provoking article shows that we need to think differently for a different generation.  But we need to act quickly.

There is no doubt that the Labor opposition did not put up a good enough performance to deserve a win in the election.  Our article “What Labor has to do to win a federal election” shows that the hip pocket nerve still kicks in at the ballot box but that there is a simple demographic reason why the election was lost.