In times of crisis, the cracks in our economic model are all too evident.

Our essential services are crumbling under the weight of a system built on efficiency, growth, and profit at the expense of working people’s lives.

Services like health, transport, and telecommunications which were once the jewel in the crown of state owned enterprise, generating revenue and delivering quality services to every Australian, have since been sold off to the highest bidder and hacked to pieces under the guise of productivity.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the egregious inability of the private sector to deliver life’s necessities in times of need.

Our economy has an open wound that is now festering.

Just this week we have seen the sacking of more than 600 nurses across NSW private hospitals as elective surgeries dry up and they fail to balance the tills.

To lay off health professionals during a health crisis must be the epitome of stupidity.

The sheer lack of resources available to those same nurses has also become evident.

The numbers of hospital beds has dropped from 7.8 beds per 1000 people in 1980 to 3.8 beds in 2016 according to OECD figures, not even remotely keeping up with our growing population.

Ventilators for patients and PPE for front line staff are also in short supply.

Why? Because there is no profit to be made in surplus stock, and empty beds don’t pay dividends.

Our self-sufficiency as a nation has been eroded by free, not fair, trade agreements, which have seen to the demise of our manufacturing industry, leaving us ill-equipped to deal with crisis.

Our two national airlines Qantas and Virgin are on their knees. Previously government owned, Qantas now seeks billions of dollars from the federal government to keep them afloat after sacking almost 20,000 workers and asking employees to sacrifice accrued and future leave.

Meanwhile shareholders are due for a $201 million dividend payment this year but I doubt they will be asked to forgo this hard-earned cash.

In a marketplace where airlines seek competitive advantage over shareholders not customers, it is evident where priorities lie.

For decades this country has balked at progressive social policy reform.

Blindly driven by budget surplus, reduced government intervention and de-regulation of the market. Cutting funding to the public sector whilst simultaneously writing blank cheques for the corporate sector which prioritises shareholder dividends and CEO bonuses over employee wages and customer service.

We despise the mythical ‘dole bludger’ for their burden on the economy and in the same breath spruik corporate welfare in the form of tax cuts and bailouts for companies whose productivity and profit margins go through the roof.

All the while workers’ wages stagnate and household debt and cost of living increases.

Perhaps this crisis presents an opportunity.

For a workforce empowered and protected by strong union representation and industrial action.

For an economic model with a strong focus on the funding and delivery of essential services by those with a stake in the game.

Health is a human right, not a speculative commodity.

Transport is critical to the stability of our economy.

These services belong in the hands of the Australian shareholder, otherwise known as the taxpayer.

Re-nationalise these industries and we might have half a chance at surviving the next hurdle.

Darcy Ginty, Narrabri

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