The rise of populist, single issue and extreme minority parties has already paralysed a number of European nations and in recent years Australia has outperformed them because of a stable and workable Government that is able to take decisive action.
This election result (or more correctly the lack of one) unfortunately sees Australia possibly following the same perilous path. It is likely to lead to a weakened and impotent Government that is unable to take the tough decisions that are necessary to maintain Australia’s economic security and stability. Instead it will be paralysed by competing minor party demands. Australia’s global competitiveness is likely to fall even further and the inevitable outcome will be reducing living standards for all Australians. As the saying goes “We got the result we deserve.”
This result is also bad for the economy. Uncertainty reduces business confidence, threatens the efforts to repair the budget and could weaken the Australian dollar and put Australia’s credit rating at risk.
For the shipping sector, the election result is not all bad news. Shipping Australia has always had a preference for a bipartisan approach to shipping regulatory changes in order to ensure that the legislation survives subsequent changes in Government. The shipping industry requires long term investment and therefore needs regulatory stability.
Prior to the election, Minister Darren Chester consulted widely with all sectors on what changes were necessary to make shipping work better for Australia so, assuming the Coalition forms Government, he should be in a position to see what needs to be done. During the election campaign Labor’s shipping policy recognised the need to make changes to coastal shipping legislation by removing the requirement to apply for temporary licences in blocks of five. Shipping Australia believes that these factors now open the door to the negotiation of a bi-partisan outcome that can remove the current impediments from the effective use of shipping to move long haul domestic freight. Moving more freight around our vast coastline by sea, and removing pressure on our already congested roads, will be extremely important to our economic future.
