This is the text of a speech given by Andrew Leigh, ALP member for Fraser in the ACT, to the McKell Institute.
Leigh was elected to parliament in 2010. Previously, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University.
The speech was originally published on Andrew Leigh’s blog.
What Do We Eat After the Low-Hanging Fruit?
A Brief Economic History of Australia, With Some Lessons for the Future
In the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of South America, sit the Galapagos Islands. Although they straddle the equator, the pattern of ocean currents have a cooling effect, making them an ideal breeding ground for tortoises, iguanas, penguins, finches, albatrosses, gulls, and pelicans.
Because the islands are volcanic, what’s striking about animal life on the Galapagos Islands is that all of it came originally by flying or floating nearly 1000 kilometres from Ecuador. And yet for the species that survived, life on the Galapagos Islands was perfect. Migrating birds lucky enough to be blown off course found an environment with few natural predators. Tortoises that floated here found beaches perfectly suited to their breeding environments. Life flourished.
Looking back across Australian economic history, I am often struck by the extent to which luck has similarly played a part in our success. Politicians are sometimes reluctant to talk about luck – preferring to focus on the things we can control than those we can’t. It is true that ‘chance favours the prepared mind’. But I think it’s still worth talking about the role that luck has played, if only to help understand what preparations we should be making. If we don’t do that, we’re like the Galapagos tortoise, which must have thought itself the luckiest species on earth, until British sailors discovered the islands in the late-eighteenth century, and ate them in their thousands. [Read more...]
The triennial Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions has paid tribute to the work of its former Secretary, Bill Kelty.
The four years of surpluses I announce tonight are a powerful endorsement of the strength of our economy, resilience of our people, and success of our policies.
11.15pm – Notwithstanding the usual annoying and incessant interruptions from his interlocutor, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has just offered up a remarkably woolly performance on Lateline.
The President of the Business Council of Australia, Tony Shepherd, has delivered a speech calling for more imaginative leadership and offering “a plan to lock in Australia’s prosperity”.
The speech centres on the concept of “building a new economy” in “the Asian century” which is transforming the global economic order. Gillard says “our nation is strong enough to bend those
