Description: How
did the big banks get away with so much for so long? Why are so many
aged-care residents malnourished? And when did arms manufacturers start
sponsoring the Australian War Memorial?
In this passionate
essay, Richard Denniss explores what neoliberalism has done to
Australian society. For decades, we have been led to believe that the
private sector does everything better, that governments can’t afford to
provide the high-quality services they once did, but that security and
prosperity for all are just around the corner. In fact, Australians are
now less equal, millions of workers have no sick leave or paid holidays,
and housing is unaffordable for many. Deregulation, privatisation and
trickle-down economics have, we are told, delivered us twenty-seven
years of growth ... but to what end?
In Dead Right,
Denniss looks at ways to renew our democracy and discusses everything
from the fragmenting Coalition to an idea of the national interest that
goes beyond economics.
‘Neoliberalism, the catch-all term for all
things small government, has been the ideal cloak behind which to
conceal enormous shifts in Australia’s wealth and culture ... Over the
past thirty years, the language, ideas and policies of neoliberalism
have transformed our economy and, more importantly, our culture’
—Richard Denniss, Dead Right