Can future Liberals achieve small government?

The Liberals have never achieved small government in Australia, and they are unlikely to do so because of our political culture and contemporary ideas about the role of government in society. Small government is an ideal that is most obvious when contrasted with Labor’s interventionist approach to markets. But the parties’ ideals rarely get in the way of pragmatism when it comes to electoral politics.

Australia has a mixed economy that sits somewhere between the coordinated capitalism of Sweden and the competitive capitalism of the United States. The Australian system focuses on equality of opportunity in education and healthcare. If one has access to universal education and healthcare, then through hard work, one can improve one’s lot in life. Or so the story goes.