Saul Eslake on Australia’s New Protectionism

Join Saul Eslake for a discussion about how Australia’s prolonged border closures are indirectly providing a short-term boost to spending, and making it easier to reduce unemployment – although in the long run this form of ‘protectionism’ like all the other forms will make us worse off.

Saul will argue in this webinar, it’s a new version of an old Australian habit – ‘protectionism’. ‘Protectionism’ is about forcing people to spend at home money they’d prefer to spend, if they were allowed, on things (goods or services) produced outside Australia. And it’s about reducing the competition Australians face from foreigners. Its advocates say it’s a ‘Good Thing’ – that’s why they call it ‘protection’ – because what true patriot could be against ‘protecting’ ‘Aussie businesses and jobs’.

But our own history shows that while ‘protectionism’ can deliver a short term ‘sugar hit’ to an economy – in terms of increased local sales and jobs – it comes at a much greater long-run cost, in terms of efficiency and productivity, and ultimately, in terms of standards of living. This webinar is being offered free of charge in the interests of prompting wider awareness of some of the implications of the government’s health and economic strategies.