Well, we actually became one of the dearest and many say the dearest country in the world from about that statement on , right !
One of the main reasons for this is our cost of labour - not the labour itself; all the added on little wins we all enjoy.
But they are pushed extremely hard for by the Unions (and supported by all workers on PAYE as well), so the Gubb can't take the blame for all the perks.
The second problem for us is size of Country versus size of population.
We have bugger-all humans here per square mile by world standards (I quite love that and am happy to never fill up the place with more of us and happy to pay more for the privilege) and so the cost to supply infrastructure, etc comes at a higher price due to tyranny of distance, combined with labour costs.
And did l not read somewhere , Howard was actually our highest taxing gov in history.
I am more than happy to pay less tax, but everyone wants to keep on improving the lifestyle - not decrease it - and a decrease in taxes will do that, but will return a deficit we can't afford to service, and ultimately worse infrastructure and services....unless we ship in truckloads of 437 Visa workers....
Think; the bloke who was earning $100k per year, but got retrenched and had to find a $50k job, but refused to downsize the Toureg, the Country Club Membership, kid's private schooling and the Foxtel....
We want our cake and eat it too in this Country;
more wages, more time off, more sick pay and more paid parental leave, more super guarantee, more shift penalties and weekend rates, better infrastructure, less tax, more welfare, nicer bosses who make less for themselves and give us more - and can't sack us if we stuff up all the time, cheaper consumer goods but more staff in the shops to help us decide on the green cushions or the purple, faster broadband to peruse the purple cushions online instead going to the store, cheaper housing and right near work with no commute....and so on.
