Fightback! was a 650-page economic policy package document proposed by
John Hewson
John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election.
Hewson was ...
, federal leader of the
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...
and
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
from 1990 to 1994. It represented the start of their new
"dry",
economic liberal
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism, ...
future policy direction, very different from the
Keynesian
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...
ism they previously practised. The package was part of their unsuccessful policy platform at the
1993 election.
Key elements
The key elements of Fightback! were:
* Changes to
industrial relations
Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade
unions, employer organizations, ...
, including the abolition of
awards
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration.
An award ...
and the elimination of automatic entitlements to
unemployment benefits
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployment, unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are fun ...
after nine months;
* Changes to
Medicare, including the "abolition of
bulk billing
Bulk billing is a payment option under the Medicare system of universal health insurance in Australia. It can cover a prescribed range of health services as listed in the Medicare Benefits Schedule, at the discretion of the health service provid ...
except for veterans, war widows, pensioners, health card holders and the disabled" and the "provision of gap insurance for medical bills".
* The introduction of a
goods and services tax (GST) at a 15% rate;
* A $13 billion personal income tax cut, directed largely at the middle and upper-middle income earners;
* A $10 billion cut in government expenditure partially offset by increasing other areas, including $3.6 billion in selected government programs on social welfare;
* The abolition of State payroll taxes and substantial cuts in petrol excise duty and proposed schemes for savings;
* The sale of a number of government-owned businesses.
* The elimination of Tariffs.
Response
The fifteen percent GST was the centrepiece of the policy document. Through 1992,
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously serv ...
mounted a campaign against the Fightback package, and particularly against the GST, which he described as an attack on the working class in that it shifted the
tax burden
In economics, tax incidence or tax burden is the effect of a particular tax on the distribution of economic welfare. Economists distinguish between the entities who ultimately bear the tax burden and those on whom tax is initially imposed. The t ...
from
direct taxation
Although the actual definitions vary between jurisdictions, in general, a direct tax or income tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax. There is a dis ...
of the wealthy to
indirect taxation
An indirect tax (such as sales tax, per unit tax, value added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), excise, consumption tax, tariff) is a tax that is levied upon goods and services before they reach the customer who ultimately pays the ...
as a broad-based
consumption tax
A consumption tax is a tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services. The tax base of such a tax is the money spent on Consumption (economics), consumption. Consumption taxes are usually indirect, such as a sales tax or a value-added ta ...
.
After a negative reception to the Fightback policies, Dr Hewson reconsidered Fightback! and relaunched it in December 1992. The major changes were to remove the goods and services tax on food and child care through zero rating and provision for a Rebuild Australia fund for new public works. Changes to Medicare, the $10 billion cut in government expenditure and Jobsback package of
labour market reforms remained unchanged.
Hewson's difficulty in explaining to the electorate what food would and wouldn't have the GST applied was exemplified in the infamous
birthday cake interview, considered by some as a turning point in the election campaign.
Legacy
Keating won the
1993 federal election marking a fifth consecutive Labor term. In April 1994, Dr Hewson declared the Fightback! policy to be 'Dead and Buried'.
Despite this declaration Liberal frontbencher Peter Reith said that elements of Fightback could still be used.
As Deputy Liberal Leader and Shadow Treasurer between 1990 and 1993 Reith was the co-architect of Fightback with Hewson.
Hewson viewing this as a defiance of his authority in declaring Fightback dead and buried threatened Reith with a sack from the frontbench if he did not toe the line on the Coalition's official position on Fightback.
One month later in May 1994
Alexander Downer
Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...
replaced Hewson as Leader of the Liberal Party. Hewson resigned from Parliament in 1995.
A number of the proposals were later adopted in to law in some form, to a small extent during the
Keating Labor Government, and to a larger extent during the
Howard Liberal Government (most famously the GST although different to Hewsons version), while unemployment benefits and bulk billing were re-targeted for a time by the
Abbott Liberal Government.
Tony Abbott
Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
Abbott was born in Londo ...
as press secretary to
Liberal Leader John Hewson
John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election.
Hewson was ...
from 1990 to 1993, helped to develop the Fightback! policy.
The industrial relations element of Fightback has been viewed as an early version of WorkChoices implemented by the Howard Government and John Howard was the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister prior to the 1993 election.
Peter Hendy
Peter Gerard Hendy, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill (born 19 March 1953) is a British transport executive and politician. He is the current chairman of Network Rail and was formerly the Commissioner of Transport for London.
Education
Hendy was ...
who worked for Hewson's deputy, Shadow treasurer
Peter Reith
Peter Keaston Reith (15 July 1950 – 8 November 2022) was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2001, representing the Liberal Party. He was the party's deputy leader from 1990 ...
, stated on ABC TV that three people knew the GST policy thoroughly, Reith, Hendy and another Reith staffer. Hendy also stated Hewson was not among those three that knew the policy thoroughly and also that due to being overloaded with letters from the Australian public asking questions about the GST and Fightback! policy had to be made on the run in Hendy's mind. The birthday cake interview was an example of this. Hewson stated in response, that had Hendy and the staff done their job, no policy would have needed to be made on the run.
[Politics will get you". The Liberals. Episode 5. 1995.]
See also
*
Early 1990s recession in Australia
The early 1990s recession saw a period of economic downturn affect much of the world in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The economy of Australia suffered its worst recession since the Great Depression.
Background
In October 1987, the internat ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Fightback: taxation and expenditure reform for jobs and growth (pdf) Liberal Party of Australia, Political Party Documents, Parliamentary Library, 21 November 1991
* Boyle, Peter
Hewson is a health hazard ''Green Left Weekly'', 24 February 1993
* Harrison, John
The GST Debate - A Chronology Australian Parliamentary Library, Economics, Commerce and Industrial Relations Group, Background Paper 1 1997-98, 22 September 1997.
* Painter, Steve
What the Liberals would do to our lives ''Green Left Weekly'', 3 March 1993.
* Quiggan, John
''Australian Tax Forum'' 9(2), 12754, 1992.
* Quiggan, John
''Australian Financial Review'', 12 December 1992.
Political history of Australia
Political manifestos
1990s documents
1992 documents
1992 in Australia