After decades of uninterrupted economic growth, how is it that we all still feel so poor? It’s the question that leading Australian economist, Dr Richard Denniss, gets to the heart of in his newest book Dead Right: How neoliberalism ate itself and what comes next.

In a national book tour, starting next week, Denniss will explore ‘the big con’ of neoliberalism and its lasting effect on Australia. Dead Right provides a template to understand the next federal election; discusses how and why the right of politics has continued to splinter; why energy and climate policy is such a problem for conservative politics; and what could come after neoliberalism.

“In the past 12 months of Australian politics, the only thing that has collapsed more quickly than the Liberal-National Coalition has been our politician’s neoliberal faith in market forces,” says Dr Richard Denniss, Chief Economist of The Australia Institute.

“For decades, we have been led to believe that the private sector does everything better, that governments can’t afford to provide the high-quality services they once did, and that security and prosperity for all are just around the corner.

“In reality Australians are now less equal, millions of workers have no sick leave or paid holidays, and housing is unaffordable for many. The land of a fair go is a ghost of Australia past – lost to deregulation, privatisation and trickle-down economics.”

In Dead Right, Denniss looks at how the big banks were allowed to run wild for so long, why so many aged-care residents are malnourished and why arms manufacturers are listed as official sponsors on the Australian War Memorial.

“The era of so-called ‘economic rationalism’, small government and blind faith in market forces in Australia is dead. Now it’s up to us to decide what comes next,” says Dr Denniss.

Background on Richard Denniss:

Dr Richard Denniss is chief economist at The Australia Institute. He is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and a former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.