There was no shortage of hard talk when politicians, economists, social policy experts, business leaders and public sector chiefs met at the Economic and Social Outlook conference in Melbourne; whether it was tax inequities, migration and low wages growth, US President Trump and China, or nuclear power and greening our cities.

But of all the issues, a recurring theme was the poor state of politics.

Jobs Minister Kelly O’Dwyer and shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh at Outlook 2018. Picture: James Rafferty

Over the two days, hosted by the Melbourne Institute and The Australian newspaper, policy questions circled back to concerns that government seems increasingly incapable of implementing much-needed policy reforms in the face of hyper-partisanship and a frustrated electorate.

“There was a lot of consensus at the conference around what we need to do and what we should be aspiring to do, but not much optimism that our political leadership or the political system was capable of executing it,” says University of Melbourne economist Professor Roger Wilkins.

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“But there was a lot of sentiment that we just need to keep trying and speaking up for public policy that will make the country work better.”

Policy and democracy

University of Melbourne economist and former economic advisor to the Hawke government, Ross Garnaut bluntly told the conference that “Australia is in trouble” as the “independent centre” gets drowned out by vested interests.

“We are now seeing policy discussion dominated more by vested interests,” he said. “We have seen a more partisan divide, we have seen less emphasis on analysis, and less respect for knowledge in the policy discussion.”

Former Treasurer in the Howard government, Peter Costello, said that governments no longer appeared to have a strong “economic narrative” around which to rally and push reform.

WATCH: Director of the Melbourne Institute, Professor Abigail Payne, highlights the importance of data and analysis. Video: Lep Beljac

“It is one of the reason why we run the Economic and Social Outlook Conference,” Professor Payne says.

“Core to our mission is that we care about scientific inquiry and economic analysis so we can help inform and evaluate policy.”

“If we aren’t consciously evaluating, how do we know what we are getting right?”

Banner Image: James Rafferty

This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article.

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Ross Garnaut

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