The death of personal responsibility

In their eyes, we, as Australians, have a right to a job, a right to a nice large house in a leafy suburb, a right to a place at university, a small debt, and low interest repayments. All of these rights are owed to Australians and it’s the government’s fault (or at least someone else’s) if they are not forthcoming.

It is this “rights rhetoric” that seems to have blinded this country into thinking its individuals deserve more than they’re getting. And has led thousands of Australians to believe that they can take on more debt than they can afford to repay.

No clearer was this "rights rhetoric" obvious than in the fallout over Ford Australia's recent decision to close its Geelong factory, ending production of six cylinder Falcon engines in 2010 with the loss of 600 jobs.

What we heard in response to this decision, to the astonishment of any Australian with an understanding of how economics and the global trading system work, wasn’t any mention of how the closure makes sense given that Australia is uncompetitive in the area of manufacturing automobile parts. Instead what we heard, primarily from union leaders, was what a sad day it was because the factory was closing and workers were losing jobs.

There was no recognition that this was a natural consequence of our integration in the global economy. There was no recognition that Geelong has never seen better economic conditions, primarily due to government liberalisation and good management of the economy.

Instead all we heard from the Union leaders and the Labor Party was how this was the fault of the government for committing to quota and tariff reductions in the motor vehicle industry, in line with our international trade commitments, that the government had jeopardised these workers' right to work in the Geelong factory by trade liberalisation, the very kind of commitments that have led to opening a host of new markets for our own exporters.

We seem to forget that there's no right to a job for life. There's not even a "right" to have a job. Period. Instead, blame was sought to be placed on the Howard Government, absurdly, for its decade of strong economic management. The predictable calls were made by the Labor Party, led by the Premier of Victoria Steve Bracks, calling on the Federal Government to put a halt on any trade liberalisation to “protect” the motor vehicle industry and its workers. But any such protection will only delay the inevitable: Australia is simply not competitive in this industry. Job losses are an inevitable consequence of exposing our economy to international competition - exposure that has made Australian firms stronger and more efficient, and delivering more jobs and better, cheaper products for Australians.

In employment, in mortgages, in personal finances and debt, we witness the death of an important liberal principle - personal responsibility.