Don't Let Australia's Crisis Go to Waste
Leaders have cover to do what they should be doing anyway: ramp up fiscal spending.
They deserve it.
Photographer: SAEED KHAN/AFPAustralia's bushfires have given officials plenty of cover to do what they should be doing anyway: ramp up fiscal spending. A lot hinges on whether they can get comfortable with the idea.
An area larger than Ireland has been destroyed, at least 25 people are dead, 2,000 homes have been razed, and 25 million acres of forest and bush have been wiped out. As many as a billion animals may have been incinerated since September, some species almost to extinction. Tourism, farming and consumer confidence have taken a hit. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been lambasted for too little action, too late. His government announced a $1.4 billion recovery fund over the weekend; with more than 100 fires still tearing through the country’s most populous state, more is bound to be needed.
The truth is, Morrison has the fiscal bandwidth to rebuild Australia and then some. Treasury projections published last month pencil in a return to surplus for the year ending June.