Populist right policy – show us the evidence

February 19, 2025

There is no evidence that cutting public sector jobs saves the taxpayer money. History attests to the contrary. The point about populist right policy is that it is based not on fact but on popular misconception exploited for electoral advantage.

During the years of Thatcherism, the series “Yes, Minister” was conceived to pillory the public sector as ridiculously bureaucratic, hopelessly inefficient, and perpetually self-serving. It thus reinforced the neoconservative ideological project of small government, “public choice” theory, and free-market economics.

The reality is that public sector job cuts equal service cuts; and outsourcing and privatisation result more often than not in higher government expenditure. Electors who naively accept that smaller government will put more in their pockets, are being misled and misinformed. Peter Dutton is once again simply shuffling his Trump cards.