The respectable corruption of Australia

At the centre of this system is the political class. By background, it is increasingly detached from commercial and operational reality. Roughly 20–30% of MPs have never had any private sector experience at all. That rises to 50–60% with no meaningful private-sector career, and around 60–70% have no exposure to commercial accountability. If 60-70% of people running the country have primarily operated in environments where procedure, not outcomes, are prioritised, the consequences for productivity and results are profound.

Without exposure to real constraints, policy becomes an exercise in managing stakeholders rather than solving problems.

The result is a country that, despite increasing wealth, is becoming more fragmented, less productive, and less confident in its institutions. This is not unique to Australia, in fact is prevalent across the West. The blame for the crisis of confidence in Western institutions can be shared by both sides of politics and has lead to the rise of Donald Trump in the US, Nigel Farage in the UK, and Pauline Hanson in Australia.

For now, it is a story of warped incentives, out of alignment with outcomes in the public interest, and a system that increasingly reinforces its own expansion regardless of performance.

It is not sustainable.