One insight gleaned
from this lecture is that the socio-economic polarisation
that exists now in Australia has created a class (the overclass)
that has no need of public services like public education,
health, income support, housing assistance; at the other
end of the socio-economic spectrum, another group (the
underclass) is very reliant upon public services.
This
socio-economic divide finds an echo
in a new political divide, where
discourse is focused on the merits and morality
of the role and size
of government, taxation and redistribution.
The “winners” in
this discourse, so far, are not the
most disadvantaged.
