The former Treasury boss sometimes came to the office with a joey tucked under his shirt to keep it warm. The economist’s full-time focus is now squarely on the environment.
Former Treasury boss Ken Henry says a succession of governments have used the tax system to deliberately hurt young people,propping up the old and vested interests like mining.
Wildlife rescuers have fielded almost a call a minute,and some services are reducing their hours,as demand soars for help for injured wildlife.
Forests on the North Coast are earmarked for a national park to protect “the best patch of koala habitat in the world”,but the area is still being logged in epic proportions.
Inconvenient facts exist in a universe parallel to the one in which Australian politics is actually conducted. But there are signs that the time for deluded consensus is running out.
While it is not clear whether the former Treasury Secretary will return to listed company life,the ASX directorship was his remaining significant corporate role.
Ken Henry has revealed a litany of failures at the bank while delivering a scathing assessment of Australia’s stakeholder capitalism.
Most economists support the idea of lowering income taxes but concern is rising about a looming budget reckoning.
Taxes are the price of a civilised society and our tax system is struggling to properly raise the revenue. But there is a way forward.
Death duties,hiking the GST and more taxes on housing are on the wish lists of the nation’s top economists.