The John Hyde Archives
Historic archive of articles and newspaper columns written by former Australian politician John Hyde OAM.
1983
The NFF and the Balderstone Report
Protectionism Industrial Relations Regulations Trade
- The report states that Australia's comparatively efficient agriculture is burdened with unnecessary regulation.
- It is in Australia's interest that the agricultural industry propers while remaining efficient.
- Australian agriculture suffers a considerable burden placed upon it by protected industries and trade unions and is under the mercy of international prices.
Australia Writ Small
Protectionism Trade Regulation
- Both Australia and New Zealand have high import barriers.
- Min price arrangements and export incentives are poor means of re-allocation of the nation's (New Zealand) resources.
- Both nations have adequate natural advantages that are blunted by government intervention.
Closer Economic Relations
- To prevent trade is to penalise both buyers and sellers.
- The Closer Economic Relations (CER) with New Zealand will benefit Australia more as New Zealand has to adjust its trade barriers as compared to Australia.
When is a Wage Freeze not a Freeze?
Industrial Relations Economics
- Wages must increase less than prices.
- High wages decrease demand
The 1983 Budget
- How much of the damage done by the previous budget can be undone.
- Displaying fiscal responsibility will enable the govt to be re-elected.
Where now
- Party allegiance should not be built upon hatred of one's opponents but rather allegiance to an ideal.
- Liberalism offers the Liberal Party the only hope of moral and intellectual structure.
Unknown
Budget Fiscal Policy Monetary Policy
- A budget deficit is an unsatisfactory way to increase money supply.
- The prime role of a deficit is to conceal politicians' expenditures so that they can appear to be better managers than they actually are.
Unknown
- Political restructuring is essential and part of the process.
- In a commercial setting, people "vote" using their dollars. It is then wrong that their votes are confiscated by limiting their choices to certain anointed candidates in a political setting.
- If Australia is unable to accept steady restructuring of our industries in accordance to market demands, then bloody restructuring becomes necessary when we become impoverished.
Double Dipping and the ACTU
- A double dipper is a person who cashes in their superannuation and draws the old age pension.
- Inequitable to have two benefits and most beneficiaries are relatively well to do.
Foreign Investment
- Investors are only interested in Australian investments that perform better than elsewhere.
- No investment can take place without the foreign buyer and Australian seller gaining something.
- As long as there are investments that Australians are unwilling to finance, foreign investments will provide jobs and additional incomes.
Unknown
- The selfish use of privilege will destroy the free Australia that men fought for.
The opposition and the Mini Budget
- If Labour does a better job of managing the economy, then the Liberal party will be in opposition for a long time.
Grimes Summit Speech
- High taxation, universal welfare approach is not the best way of coping with poverty and cannot be financed long-term.
- Expectations of a pension discourages saving and investment.
Labels - an easy way to discredit but they count
- A more relevant classification of politics should be whether you believe that choice should be exercised by individuals or to be exercised on their behalf.
- Vested interests are only wrong when governments pander to them.
Wage-fixing priesthood keeps its god alive
Industrial Relations Economics
- Centralised wage-fixing is the creation of jobs for some who would otherwise be unemployed.
- A minimum wage is often set so high that it comes the permanent wage of those in the group with employers unwilling to offer more to capable individuals.
- Marginal employees such as the young, old, and unskilled are permanently shut out.
Thatcher's Victory
- Two myths were: 1) society has a deep-seated prejudice against women & 2) elections are won by a party that espouses the middle ground.
- People voted for hope that the economy would get better
- A democratic government can earn the respect of its people by governing for the long term.
BHP
- The bigger a company becomes with government intervention, the more damage to an economy it can do.
- BHP is seeking a preference over smaller businesses when it comes to subsidies.
Debt
- Debt adds to the sum of human wellbeing, benefit both borrowers and lenders.
- Some governments borrow not to invest but to increase their life style.
Another Premiers' Conference
- Premiers can make a lot of political trouble for a Prime Minister especially those that are from the same party.
- The Prime Minister has become a convenient whipping boy for state politicians that complain about Federal taxes while saying that the Federal Government's stinginess is not helping with their state's expenditures.
The Long Term
- A nation whose economy stagnates will become hard to govern.
- Poor growth also compounds political problems that are associated.
Where will the ideas come from?
- Influential thinking is now done outside of universities in independent research foundations.
- Each successful foundation has gradually won the support of politicians, media and the community-at-large.
- The ideas that sustain a free society are more likely to come from organisations that do not have a vested interest.
Choosing the right index
Economics Industrial Relations
- For indexing wages, the right index must be chosen. Lest we get more unemployment.
- If the CPI is used to index wages, then we should exclude the effects in terms of trade, taxes and devaluation from it.
A great trading nation
- Countries with small economies must trade with foreigners while citizens of large economies have a range of specialist skills that enable them to trade with each other.
- Australia's trade is getting worse over the years.
The Budget
- A good budget speech is one that discloses various interests at the first reading.
- Liberals preach free enterprise but practice socialism.
- Families should not be taxed additionally to provide free tertiary education where a student loan would suffice.
Trade Policy Transparency
- Tariffs cause job losses and is a tax which few citizens are aware of due to lack of experiences in price comparisons.
To Doug Everingham
- Lack of agreed upon lexicon makes political debate difficult.
- An economic stagnant society is an intolerant one.
- Economic freedom is intertwined with freedom of the human spirit.
Interest Rates will fall by 2%
- Overseas influences coupled with a need to fund the public deficit and an uncertainty about future inflation caused a small dip and a raise in interest rates.
Drought Aid
- Farmers that know how to use the rules and that are in the right position, can benefit from government aid at the expense of the taxpayer and other farmers.
- Subsidies creates weakness.
Dumping
- Goods are said to be dumped when they are imported and sold in Australia below current price levels.
- Predatory dumping should not be confused with price discrimination.
Peacock's Deakin Lecture
- Without political leadership, vested interests will control the Liberal party.
- The Deakin lecture lacks credibility as it did not confront the tough choices present.
Who were the Monetarists?
- Tight monetary controls may not work anymore due to rational cynicism
- Neither governments nor central banks are inclined to adopt monetarism
Sex Discrimination
- Society discriminates and would not function without doing so.
- Legislation fails to distinguish between choice from prejudice
- It is not possible to stop rational discrimination by passing laws.
- There is an economic cost to discrimination and it is better to let the market dictate.
The Liberal Federal Movement
- A country's future is dependent on the goals that are chosen by Politicians
- To give guarantee for future performance by a politician is like an alcoholic guaranteeing his or her sobriety.
- To govern effectively one needs a long-term strategy.
Statutory Marketing Authorities
- An industry that depends on world markets cannot avoid change. By delaying just long enough, many who have neither learnt to swim or moved to a higher ground will drown.
Their Own Worst Enemies
- The capitalist economy has a better track record than the socialist economy and so there is no need to apologise for it.
Airline Deregulation (11/11/83)
- Deregulation has enabled sharp reductions in the level of subsidies.
- The airline industry is no worse off while the consumer and taxpayer is better off.
Westpac to the Martin Committee
Cronyism Regulation Competition
- Westpac is caught between asking for continuation of protection from competition but is fearful that the same protection is extended to others.
- Labour ought to favour deregulation such as interest rates control as it makes the market more efficient.
Statutory Marketing Authorities
- The question most asked is whether statutory marketing authorities are adequately accountable to the various state governments, but the more important question is whether they are competent to market rural Australian produce.
- Only competition will make marketing authorities efficient.
The TPC & the IATA Agreement
- The problem with the trade practices commission is that the most serious monopolies are out of its reach.
- The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a price maintenance agreement that allows for cabin crew to share in the monopoly margins through their union.
Sir John Kerr
- Vilification of Sir John Kerr is irrational as he did the best he could and should be judged with more objectivity.
Democracy & Property Rights
Individual Rights Law Politics
- Governments when they revoke property rights change the value of whatever underlying property the rights were attached to.
- The right to trade one's efforts is as important as a right to free speech and is even more relevant in everyday life.
- Many politicians don't understand the principles that they violate and the harm the arises.
Chaney on resource industries
- A resource rental tax is arbitrary as measuring it is impossible.
Facing 1984
- Productivity may be improved by effort, improved practices or increased capital per worker
- Our productivity gains are less than other countries and is not sustainable.
Democratic Imperatives
- Free enterprise values will only adopted by Australian politics if the public wants the values implemented.
Hayden's Pearls
Politics Fiscal Policy Monetary Policy
- Lax fiscal policies lead to tough monetary policies. There should be a balance between sufficient profit and employment. OECD countries need to exercise caution in subsiding trade and trade credits with Eastern European countries.
A Basic Right to Work
Industrial Relations Politics Individual Rights
- Trade Unionists, Industrial Judges and Politicians are being unfair to our weakest citizens by denying them their basic human right to sell their own labour.
Budget Headaches - Burke and Hawke
Budget Industrial Relations Politics
- The best thing that can be done for the unemployed due to the recession is to reduce the wages of those that are closest to unemployment.
OECD Approach to Unemployment
Industrial Relations Business Politics
- Unemployment levels are kept artificially higher than which an employer can hire a potential employee.
17% Holiday Loading
- Abolition of holiday loading could have been the greatest job creation scheme of it was not set aside due to misguided notions of equity.
Who Is the Most Socialist?
- The ranking correlates with capital payments to the States by the Federal Government. The States have spent the payments increasing the size of state governments instead of compensating the private sector.
A Lesson from Argentina
- Australia and Argentina are similar in many ways. We have not made major mistakes in handling our economy but have been careless about long term growth.
- If we mismanage our economy, we will not be able to escape problems similar to what Argentina faced.
The Politics of Hatred
- We need more good-natured reasoned disagreements from our public figures. Disagreements should be made with civil discourse.
A Quiet Revolution
- The fastest way to a freer society in Australia is through the many little things done by the State and Local government, when the people have a taste of freedom, they will demand more.
Hi - Tech Industries
- Subsidising some industries at the expense of other isn't ideal but is better than standing in the way of new technology.
Tax, Slender and Privilege
- Tax avoidance is inequitable other than intended by parliament but isn't illegal. Politicians who use parliamentary privilege to slander the character of those who practice tax avoidance are cowardly.
Interest Rates
Interest Rates Monetary Policy
- Any attempt to regulate interest rates down, would be a recessive transfer of wealth from the low-income people to the middle income.
The Legislative Council
- The traditional role of parliament is the protection of the citizen from the government and seems to be often forgotten in these days of disciplined party politics.
Sex Discrimination Legislation
- Senator Susan Ryan's Sex Discrimination Bill makes the fundamental error of not distinguishing between free choice and prejudice.
- Employees will be more reluctant to employ women if they fear a third party such as the Human Right Commission stepping into a private employment arrangement.
About
John Hyde OAM is a former Australian politician. He was elected as the member for the Division of Moore in Western Australia for the Liberal Party.
John Hyde OAM is the author of Dry: In Defence of Economic Freedom.