So we can't look after ourselves?

August 14, 2026

“… the argument that the nation does not need a bigger and more skilled workforce is nonsense” claims Jack Waterford in the first of several clangers in this commentary. Well it’s true we can’t supply all the needed skills tomorrow, but that’s because we’ve wrecked our education and training systems, denying a lot of our young people a decent livelihood, and also because the housing market was left drifting in obvious dysfunction for decades.

Waterford also claims Australia has virtually full employment. Is he not old enough to remember when unemployment was below 2%? The economy was booming, wealth was better shared and people could afford their first house and first car.

He’s right that “the existing economy cannot supply the workers”, but that’s because the economy has been grossly mismanaged for the past forty years or so. But he indulges the cheap shot of blaming the alleged laziness of Australians. There’s supposed to be a market solution for a shortage of workers - pay higher wages.

Drowned out in all the shouting about wicked immigrants and racism is the cost of providing the “durable assets” for every extra person, sensibly estimated by Jane O’Sullivan to be around $500,000.