Fightback! was a 650-page economic policy package document proposed by
John Hewson, federal leader of the
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia (LP) is the prominent centre-right political party in Australia. It is considered one of the two major parties in Australian politics, the other being the Australian Labor Party (ALP). The Liberal Party was fo ...
and
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
from 1990 to 1994. It represented the start of their new
economic liberal 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 an ...
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 union, labor/trade
unions, employer organ ...
, including the abolition of
awards
An award, sometimes called a distinction, is 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 may be d ...
and the elimination of automatic entitlements to
unemployment benefits
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...
after nine months;
* Changes to
Medicare, including the "abolition of
bulk billing 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Paul Keating 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 from
direct taxation of the wealthy to
indirect taxation 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, 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
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 labou ...
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, 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 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 Hewson's 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 an Australian former 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 and was the member of parli ...
as press secretary to
Liberal Leader John Hewson 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
WorkChoices was the name given to changes made to the federal industrial relations laws in Australia by the Howard government#Fourth term: 2004–2007, Howard government in 2005, being amendments to the ''Workplace Relations Act 1996'' by the '' ...
implemented by the Howard government and John Howard was the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister prior to the 1993 election.
Peter Hendy who worked for Hewson's deputy, Shadow treasurer
Peter Reith, 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
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