Part 1 Neoliberalism and the changing role of the state
In response to this criticism, neoliberal policy recommendations were developed, and they were eventually implemented as so-called “structural adjustment programmes” throughout the developing world. For example, according to Bauer and Dal (among others), the objective of SAPs is to deal with the state’s inability to carry out its tasks correctly. The overall message is that tax cuts, privatization, trade liberalization, and deregulation are all good things and that they should be implemented to increase the ‘freedom of action’ of private entrepreneurs and small business owners, among other things (Mudge 2021). Government spending is the essential supporter of high expansion; second, state-claimed ventures are less productive than the private area; third, protectionism hinders the free progression of labor and products; and, at last, the public authority has exhibited a powerlessness to effectively assign assets. To be sure, Australia is now one of the few Western nations that have not experienced a recession in more than a decade, making left-wing allegations of neoliberalism in Australia more difficult to credibly level the country (Andrew et al. 2020). There have been a number of other factors that have contributed to Australia’s ability to weather the effects of the global financial crisis, in addition to stimulus measures, economic growth in China (Australia’s largest trading partner), and significant interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia. One of these factors has been the government’s fiscal stimulus package (GFC). When the global financial crisis struck again in 2009, the Labor government was praised by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which noted that the government had implemented a $42 billion stimulus programme that had helped to keep job losses to the absolute bare minimum in the aftermath of the crisis. Despite the fact that these transient estimates assisted the Australian economy with recuperating from the GFC, perhaps the main variable was the drawn out change and the board of the Australian economy, which brought about the nation enduring the worldwide financial slump with for all intents and purposes no administration obligation and reliable spending plan excesses, which was quite possibly the main element. Because of this, neoliberal changes implemented over a four-decade period have been widely acknowledged as having protected Australia from the Great Recession during that time period (Humphrys & Cahill 2016). In the late 1960s, Australia’s post-war economic boom came to an abrupt halt following an extended era of development, which was fueled in part by an unprecedented inflow of European immigration. During this period, the country’s adoption of neoliberalism began to take root. Despite the fact that Australia’s economy was still strongly reliant on fundamental exports, the country maintained its position as one of the world’s most protectionist societies. The Australian economy has been compared to that of an emerging market or “third world” export economy during this time period, according to academic study. Australian economy endured a continuous period of economic stagflation during the period 1973 to 1983, as the world economy entered a time of crisis. As a result, Australia’s share of global commerce decreased by half between 1973 and 1983 (Beer et al., 2015).
Part 2: Recent Articles
A discussion on the Prime Minister’s statement that opening the borders to skilled migrants and international students will proceed, followed by his “victory lap” address to the Sydney Institute the next night, was the subject of an article provided by (Kohler 2022). In the days that followed, the Morrison government and the majority of states lifted the majority of pandemic restrictions in time for Christmas, much to the relief of the public but against the recommendation of epidemiologists. Even their chief medical officers were probably opposed to the decision, although we won’t know that until the impending royal commission questions them one by one under oath, as they will do in the coming weeks and months. There appears to have been no preparation at all for the inevitable spike in COVID-19 cases that was bound to occur as a result of Omicron’s release. Because of the lack of accessible tests, companies closed, store shelves were bare, hospitals and emergency services were overloaded, the economy took another swan dive, and Novak Djokovic, who had not been vaccinated, was granted a visa, which was subsequently revoked by the government. Denniss 2020 released an essay in which he explained how neoliberalism is spreading coronavirus at a higher rate than any “reckless adolescent” could possibly imagine. Most of Covid-19 transmissions and passings in Australia are credited to private gatekeepers at isolation lodgings, private matured care offices that focus on benefits over staffing levels, and the way that those in control neglected to have their wellbeing experts appropriately survey the gamble of the Ruby Princess. It is essentially expressed that assuming Australia had relied upon the security of an exceptionally redressed and thoroughly prepared public area with enough assets, there would have been no conclusion in Victoria, no limitations on highway development and no expectations of twofold digit joblessness. For quite a long time, defenders of reevaluating and privatization of public administrations have gloated about the investment funds that might be acknowledged because of their endeavors. Today, we’ve counted up the costs. We will keep on monitoring it for quite a long time into the future. Notwithstanding the way that our states spend more than $50 billion every year on the matured annuity and $43 billion on charge concessions for superannuation to give “respect” for more established Australians – elevated degrees of blunder and benefit imply that even $20 billion in district subsidizing isn’t to the point of keeping parasites, not to mention Covid-19, out of Australia’s privatized matured care framework. A semi-apocalyptic global financial crisis in 2008, as outlined in the essay offered by (Holden 2022), converted the word “market” into a derogatory term. A group of greedy but clever Wall Street types transformed mortgage-backed securities, which were originally intended to be a way to bundle mortgages into bonds, thereby lowering borrowing costs and increasing homeownership, into what famous investor Warren Buffett once referred to as “weapons of mass financial destruction.” It has become fashionable to associate belief in the ability of markets to lift people out of poverty, empower households, and provide the resources necessary to build a meaningful social safety net with the free-market fanaticism associated with former President Ronald Reagan and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This is a serious oversight. Markets should be embraced by those on the left of the political spectrum. The extremist laissez-faire ideas that oppose government and market control are not what we are talking about. It is possible to have a liberal vision of liberalism – in the classical sense, emphasizing individual liberty – while also harnessing market power for social and economic gain.
Part 3 Analysis
As per this conversation paper, composed by gathering ideas of specialists from the area of healthcare, financial aspects, and work relations, COVID-19 is an unrivaled helpful debacle from which there will be no re-visitation of the “old typical.” The pandemic’s overwhelming worldwide wellbeing outcomes have been enhanced and deteriorated by the impractical idea of monetary globalization in view of the neoliberal destruction of state limits for market influences. The subsequent financial outcomes have caused critical organic market disturbances simultaneously, as well as featuring the augmenting imbalances and precarity inside nations that have come about because of neoliberal frameworks of work market guideline (van Barneveld et al. 2020). With the overall COVID-19 pandemic, the precarity and infringement that have come from many years of neoliberal approaches have been made bounteously self-evident, prominently regarding admittance to medical services and monetary disparity. Nonetheless, to fix the damage done to neoliberal way of talking, philosophical talks of individual chivalry have been immediately utilized to fix things up. Moreover, it is vital to look at unequivocally what manner of speaking, for example, “legends of the pandemic” is covering, which requires an emphasis on friendly layers like class, orientation, race, and age, considering that forefront laborers are bound to be poor, female, of ethnic minority foundation, and either youthful or old. Eventually, as we referenced momentarily in our discussion, political elites are exploiting the pestilence to additional concrete disagreeable neoliberal changes, using the system of ‘catastrophe private enterprise’ to accomplish their objectives. A basic part of this investigation is deciding the exact thing sorts of changes are being executed, as well as the instruments that will be utilized to stay away from their analysis. It is additionally critical to consider the potential that these changes should make any future pandemics (or without a doubt more extensive emergencies) more awful for the individuals who have previously been underestimated by neoliberalism (Lohmeyer and Taylor 2020).At both the global and national levels, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown major governance flaws on a grand scale. Global health governance collapsed in a short period of time, with activity becoming increasingly national in scope, uncoordinated, and frequently zero-sum. Even in the wealthiest countries, which were allegedly best prepared to deal with a pandemic, domestic health governance was frequently ineffective, as was the case in many developing countries as well (Jones & Hameiri 2021). Much remains to be discovered regarding the function of accounting in the development of rising economic inequality. As part of the COVID initiative, the authors propose methods in which accounting researchers might add to our knowledge of economic inequality, both in terms of its causes and implications (Andrew, Baker & Guthrie 2021).
References
Andrew, J, Baker, M & Guthrie, J 2021, ‘Accounting, inequality and COVID-19 in Australia’, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print.
Andrew, J, Baker, M, Guthrie, J & Martin-Sardesai, A 2020, ‘Australia’s COVID-19 public budgeting response: the straitjacket of neoliberalism’, Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. ahead-of-print, no. ahead-of-print.
Beer, A, Bentley, R, Baker, E, Mason, K, Mallett, S, Kavanagh, A & LaMontagne, T 2015, ‘Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia’, Urban Studies, vol. 53, no. 8, pp. 1542–1558.
Denniss, R 2020, The spread of coronavirus in Australia is not the fault of individuals but a result of neoliberalism | Richard Denniss, the Guardian.
Holden, R 2022, Neoliberalism News, Research and Analysis, The Conversation, viewed 22 April 2022, <https://theconversation.com/global/topics/neoliberalism-3356>.
Humphrys, E & Cahill, D 2016, ‘How Labour Made Neoliberalism’, Critical Sociology, vol. 43, no. 4-5, pp. 669–684.
Jones, L & Hameiri, S 2021, ‘COVID-19 and the failure of the neoliberal regulatory state’, Review of International Political Economy, pp. 1–25.
Kohler, A 2022, Alan Kohler: Neoliberalism is at the heart of the Omicron shambles, The New Daily.
Lohmeyer, BA & Taylor, N 2020, ‘War, Heroes and Sacrifice: Masking Neoliberal Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic’, Critical Sociology, p. 089692052097582.
Mudge, SL 2021, ‘How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project’, Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 55–57.
van Barneveld, K, Quinlan, M, Kriesler, P, Junor, A, Baum, F, Chowdhury, A, Junankar, P (Raja), Clibborn, S, Flanagan, F, Wright, CF, Friel, S, Halevi, J & Rainnie, A 2020, ‘The COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons on building more equal and sustainable societies’, The Economic and Labour Relations Review, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 133–157.