So what does a retired regulation and competition policy hack write about during a time of pandemic – well she writes about climate change of course.

I will get onto the topic du jour soon, but felt the need to tidy up after my last blog – and believe me when I say I have a good segue into the current state of the world too.

My 14 January blog was really just my letter to the (then) relevant Ministers in the federal government. I did receive a response, on 13 March 2020. I have tried (poor result) to provide a copy at the end of this blog.

I did however, immediately note several things. 1) This is in the true style of a bland Ministerial response composed of a number of previously okayed paragraphs which sort of fit my questions and concerns without actually answering them. So that much hasn’t changed. 2) It’s mostly spin. 3) I am a bit surprised that the Morrison government is spruiking so forcefully that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (the ‘green bank’ set up by the Gillard Government in 2012) is the lynchpin of their climate mitigation hopes. This from a group of politicians who tried valiantly – twice – to abolish it (under Abbott’s leadership) and then to hobble it with an outrageously high rate of return when that failed. At least Turnbull saw its worth. So I find it not a little too cute to have it paraded as the basis for a lot of what this coalition government is planning to do without so much as a mea culpa we got it wrong. Too cynical?

So there you have it. I really think that’s probably enough said.

So let’s introduce that segue.

I don’t think there’s much point in harping on about what was government policy –or at least what they were content to pass off as policy, pre-covid-19. What we have witnessed in recent weeks is requiring a whole new rethink of the game, a wholesale change to the way our democracy and economy are run and even more uncertainty than we ever imagined.

We have now got changes left right and centre. Government here focussed on agreed (more or less) outcomes, changes to the emphasis on policy – albeit on the run – over politics. Altered states of relative power in governance – with the states and territories now taking a bigger role than I think the Commonwealth envisaged at the outset, but probably rightly so given they are responsible for delivery of a large part of the response. But I wonder if they will relinquish this once things quieten down a bit? Like lots of changes being made now I think they will be hard to reverse.

But I want to think about what comes next. What is this ‘recovery’ of which they speak? How will it unfold? How different will things be and what will change? I am sure the answer to the last question is undoubtedly lots will change but we can only guess what and how.

But one thing looks likely, and that is continued government involvement in the economy – while not like the 1950s and 1960s, still a lot of involvement. John Quiggan [Quiggan on the new command economy] and others have referred to this as Australia stepping into a command economy. Maybe, but it certainly is unusual for us now to think about how much the government is suddenly involved in so many, previously unthinkable, aspects of social and commercial life. I, for one, would be appalled if the government thought that at the end of this, they can simply walk away and everything will go back to ‘normal’. They shouldn’t because it won’t.

But what I would like, and really expect, is for the new world to have less of a focus on politics and more on policy. To demonstrate this by having ready a suite of policies, including climate and energy, that will help lift Australia back onto a steady keel. The old order will have been so thoroughly altered that there will be plenty of scope – and need – for new ideas. Hopefully too, we will have a leadership with enough kudos to stare down relics of the past and adopt a more useful policy stance. So relevant departments and Ministers, set some of your smartest folks off to devise innovative and effective climate policies ready to get up and going by, let’s be optimistic, the end of this year.

Post Script

Is it just me or are others cringing when middle aged white men make comments like – the explosion in working from home is an exciting prospect – where mothers can log in to do a couple of hours work while their babies have a sleep?

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