By Denis Hay
Discover how neoliberalism in Australia affects community, work, and empathy. Learn how reforms can promote civic life and shared prosperity.
Australia has long prided itself on values of mateship, equality, and a fair go for all. Yet, these ideals are increasingly threatened by the rise of neoliberal policies prioritising competition, individualism, and deregulation over community and solidarity.
This article examines the fundamental clash between our innate human traits of empathy and altruism with the neoliberal framework dominating Australian politics. By understanding the roots of this tension and exploring solutions, we can chart a path toward a more compassionate and fair society.
Humans are uniquely ultrasocial, thriving in collaborative and empathetic environments. Traits such as altruism, kindness, and shared purpose are central to survival and well-being. According to studies on human behaviour, over 70% of people strongly prefer fairness and community benefit over personal gain.
These traits have historically defined Australian communities, from grassroots activism to national solidarity during crises such as bushfires and floods.
However, neoliberalism in Australia presents a starkly opposing view. Promoting the myth of the “self-made” individual celebrates self-interest and competition as virtues. This ideology assumes humans are primarily selfish and greedy, reducing complex social dynamics to transactional relationships.
It denies the importance of collective effort and the innate human need for connection, creating a distorted framework for society and governance.
Neoliberalism in Australia has reshaped society by embedding values into every aspect of life, often at odds with dominant human traits. This has led to significant societal challenges:
1. Privatisation of Public Services: Neoliberal policies have prioritised profits over people, leading to underfunded healthcare, education, and public infrastructure.
2. Economic Inequality: Deregulated markets and tax policies favouring corporations have widened the gap between the wealthy and the average Australian.
3. Isolation and Loneliness: The erosion of communal spaces and support systems has contributed to a mental health crisis, with 1 in 4 Australians experiencing loneliness.
The disconnect between neoliberal values and human nature has resulted in widespread dissatisfaction, with many Australians feeling alienated from their communities and the political process.
Civic life – where people gather, share ideas, and form bonds – has been systematically undermined by neoliberalism. Public spaces such as community centres, libraries, and parks are crucial for fostering connection and solidarity. However, these spaces are increasingly under threat:
– Funding Cuts: Federal and state budgets prioritise corporate subsidies and tax cuts over investments in public infrastructure. For example, funding for public libraries in Australia has declined by over 20% in the past decade, leaving many communities without accessible gathering spaces.
– Privatisation of Public Housing: Over the past 40 years, the privatisation of public housing has displaced vulnerable Australians, disrupted community networks, and increased homelessness.
– Youth Services Decline: Youth centres and programs that once provided safe spaces for young people have been defunded, leaving fewer opportunities for meaningful engagement and development.
Without these communal spaces, Australians are left isolated, unable to participate in civic activities that strengthen democracy and community resilience.
Neoliberalism in Australia encourages consumerism as a means of fulfilment, replacing meaningful human connections with material possessions. Australians spend more time engaging with screens than interacting with neighbours, with 70% of adults using social media daily. This shift has profound consequences:
– Superficial Interactions: Social media fosters shallow connections, eroding the deep relationships necessary for emotional and social well-being.
– Distraction from Civic Issues: Constant bombardment with advertisements and entertainment diverts attention from pressing political and social challenges.
– Economic Pressure: The emphasis on consumerism fuels financial stress, with Australians holding over $1.8 trillion in household debt, the second highest globally.
This focus on individual consumption over collective well-being perpetuates isolation and diminishes the sense of community vital for a thriving democracy.
To counter the isolation and disconnection fostered by neoliberalism in Australia, we must invest in community-led initiatives that empower citizens and revitalise civic life. Key strategies include:
1. Neighbourhood Assemblies: Create inclusive forums where residents can deliberate on local issues, ensuring all voices are heard. These assemblies promote accountability and shared decision-making.
2. Revitalising Civic Spaces: Increase funding for public libraries, youth centres, and parks to provide accessible venues for community engagement.
3. Participatory Budgeting: Let communities decide how public funds are distributed, ensuring resources address local needs and priorities.
These measures foster collaboration, rebuild trust in institutions, and empower citizens to shape their communities actively.
Work is central to human identity and purpose, yet neoliberalism in Australia has devalued it by prioritising profits over people. To restore dignity and fulfilment in work, Australia must:
1. Introduce Universal Basic Income (UBI): UBI provides financial security, reduces reliance on exploitative gig work, and allows Australians to pursue meaningful careers.
2. Adopt a Four-Day Workweek: Shorter workweeks improve work-life balance, enhance productivity, and create more time for civic engagement.
3. Promote Ethical Employment: Encourage industries that prioritise social benefits, such as healthcare, education, and renewable energy, to create jobs that align with shared values.
These reforms ensure work contributes to individual and societal well-being rather than perpetuating inequality and isolation.
To move beyond neoliberalism, Australia needs a unifying story that reflects our shared values of empathy, community, and sustainability. This new narrative should:
1. Celebrate Community Heroes: Highlight individuals and organisations making a positive impact, inspiring collective action.
2. Advocate for the Commons: Promote policies that protect shared resources, ensuring they help communities rather than private interests.
3. Embrace Sustainability: Frame degrowth as an opportunity for fair development, reducing environmental harm while improving quality of life.
By redefining success as collective well-being rather than GDP growth, this narrative can inspire Australians to rebuild a society grounded in compassion and cooperation.
Neoliberalism in Australia has eroded the foundations of society, prioritising individualism and competition over community and solidarity. This has led to the decline of civic spaces, the rise of isolation, and a loss of meaning in work.
However, by investing in participatory democracy, redefining work, and crafting a new narrative, Australia can reclaim its values of empathy and shared prosperity. Together, we can build a society that reflects our innate human traits and creates a fair go for all.
How can Australia redefine its policies to reflect our values of empathy and community better? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Do you see opportunities for community-driven change in Australia’s dollar sovereignty?
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View Comments
Denis, your opening section on the contribution of sociality to human evolution is beautifully put, and of the utmost importance. So important that even those few libs with a conscience accept it as truth.
Friedrich von Hayek, darling of the libs/neolibs/libertarians, seems to refute the foundations of individualism with the following interpretation of the individual’s relation to society; “ ...it is largely because civilization enables us constantly to profit from knowledge which we individually do not possess and because each individual's use of his particular knowledge may serve to assist others unknown to him in achieving their ends, that men as members of civilized society can pursue their individual ends so much more successfully than they could alone.”
When the basics of individualism are expressed rationally as Hayek does here, it sounds more akin to collectivism.
And in The Fatal Conceit published in 1988, Hayek writes, “To understand our civilization, one must appreciate that the extended order resulted not from human design or intention but spontaneously: it arose from unintentionally conforming to certain traditional and largely moral practices, many of which men tend to dislike, whose significance they usually fail to understand, whose validity they cannot prove, and which have nonetheless fairly rapidly spread by means of an evolutionary selection - the comparative increase of population and wealth - of those groups that happened to follow them. The unwitting, reluctant, even painful adoption of these practices kept these groups together, increased their access to valuable information of all sorts, and enabled them to be 'fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it' (Genesis 1:28). This process is perhaps the least appreciated facet of human evolution.”
If we put aside the Bible reference and a couple of arguable points, this is surely evolution from a socialist perspective!
But it was the Australian economist Barry Hughes who, in Exit Unemployment, pointed out the deceitful basis of the liberal/neoliberal/libertarian case when he revealed the great weakness of our financial system, that; “Only when the pursuit of self-interest remains the preserve of the few does the system remain workable.”
That fact alone destroys any pretense that liberals have to a moral justification for the financial system for which they claim there is no alternative.
The heartbreaking global turmoil we are witnessing right now is simply those few making sure that their system remains workable.
And who is the ‘Father of Neoliberalism’ in Australia? Paul Keating.
In regard to the observation by Barry Hughes that the pursuit of self-interest remains the preserve of the few, it’s important to keep in mind that the purpose of a system is what it does, not what it says.
You can call the financial/economic/political system liberalism, you can call it neoliberalism, you can call it whatever you want.
The labels change nothing.
But they do divert attention from this underlying reality.
The system protects the wealth of the already wealthy, at the expense of those who have little. This ensures that those with little, stay that way.
That’s what the system does, so that is it’s purpose.
Just came across an interview by Chris Hedges with George Monbiot to review Monbiot’s book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism.
Hedges points out that “Neoliberalism is a stealth ideology, one that at once dominates our lives, but exists in relative anonymity. Its effects have radically reconfigured Western societies through deindustrialization, austerity, the privatization of utilities, postal services, schools, hospitals, prisons, intelligence gathering, police, parts of the military and railroads, along with spawning wage stagnation and debt peonage. It has deformed a tax system and gutted regulations to funnel wealth upwards, creating an income inequality that rivals pharaonic Egypt. Yet neoliberalism remains largely unmentioned and unexamined, especially by academia and a media that has been captured by a ruling class that profits from neoliberal doctrine.”
In the final sentence from that quote Hedges almost hits the nail on the head.
Neoliberalism is indeed largely unexamined by academia and mainstream political pundits in general. It’s only by those on the fringes and in forums such as this that doubts are raised and examinations begun.
The point Hedges missed is that if academics were to examine neoliberalism and its history they would find that it’s no more than an extension of the liberalism that they have deified for decades.
An unbiased observer of neoliberalism will conclude that it shares so much in common with liberal economic theory that it is in fact a logical development of liberalism.
A flowering of liberalism.
It can be nothing else, when liberalism has been flying the flag for property rights and unlimited wealth accumulation since the Industrial Revolution.
Unlimited wealth accumulation necessarily entails deprivation for some. That’s the link.
So a comprehensive examination of neoliberalism will never be undertaken by the servants of Power. To do so would reveal that their cherished “liberal democracy” that they have so carefully idealised and idolised is no more than a brilliant scheme to constantly transfer wealth away from where it is needed to those who need nothing except to feel superior.
In an interesting side-note, back when Bill Clinton was pushing free trade agreements as though humanity could not survive without them, he tried to popularise the label “free market democracy”.
It failed miserably.
The powers behind the throne must have been horrified. Clinton may well have believed the lies about the social benefits of free trade ideology, but those in the know anticipated correctly the fallout they would suffer once the label lost its gloss.
As it is, reality catches up eventually, as today we see a retreat by the Global South from the liberal consensus.
When the conditioned masses of the West go through a similar awakening, the fallout will be significant.
Thought provoking article and comments.
With the BRICS alignments coming more into play "the conditioned masses" may get their awakening sooner than later.
You can call the financial/economic/political system liberalism, you can call it neoliberalism, you can call it whatever you want.
The labels change nothing.
Steve, is that really you? Blink twice if you're in danger.
... examine neoliberalism and its history they would find that it’s no more than an extension of the liberalism that they have deified for decades.
Phew, you're safe. I was really worried for a moment.
That's amusing leefe, but what would be even more amusing, would be you refuting my analysis of the connection between liberalism and neoliberalism.
You obviously disagree with me, so throw your hat into the ring.
Why hold back?
I'm not here to debate today, just for shits and giggles while downing the popcorn.
Glad you got a laugh out of it as well.
But leefe, all I got out of it was a chuckle.
We've had 700mm of rain here in 7 days, I've got cabin fever, i need a good bellylarf!
I'm not your performing poodle.