For many Australians, the Howard years are remembered as a period of economic prosperity, low unemployment and political stability. To his admirers, John Howard remains the consummate political tactician who modernised the Liberal Party, balanced the budget and presided over more than a decade of uninterrupted economic growth.

Amy Remeikis has written a book that asks readers to look beyond that “relaxed and comfortable” narrative.

Where It All Went Wrong is not a conventional political biography. It is, unapologetically, a political argument: that many of the economic, social and democratic challenges confronting Australia today can be traced to decisions taken by the Howard Government between 1996 and 2007.

The thesis is essentially that Howard mortgaged the future during his prime ministership. And Ms Remeikis makes some very persuasive arguments to back this up.
The author argues the Howard years accelerated the transfer of wealth from labour to capital, entrenched insecure work, deepened housing inequality, weakened collective institutions and fostered a political culture in which market outcomes became accepted as natural rather than political choices. Rather than viewing today’s housing crisis, stagnant wages or declining trust in government as isolated problems, she presents them as the logical consequences of policy choices made a generation ago.

The book ranges across taxation, industrial relations, privatisation, higher education, immigration, Indigenous affairs, media concentration and Australia’s relationship with the United States. Throughout, Ms Remeikis challenges what she describes as the enduring myth of Mr Howard as “Australia’s great economic manager”, arguing that many of his celebrated changes came at costs that were either ignored or deliberately postponed.

For those of us involved in the trade union movement, perhaps the strongest chapters are those dealing with Mr Howard’s industrial relations programs, including the ideological foundations that culminated in WorkChoices, is placed within his broader plan to reduce the bargaining power of organised labour. Ms Remeikis contends that this was not merely an economic program but a cultural one, reshaping Australians’ expectations about work, citizenship and the role of government.

There is also a topical discussion of housing policy. Ms Remeikis argues that tax settings such as the capital gains tax discount and the expansion of investor incentives transformed housing from a social necessity into a financial asset, with consequences that continue to burden younger Australians. Whether readers agree with every conclusion or not, it is difficult to deny that housing affordability has become one of Australia’s defining political failures.

The book’s greatest strength is its accessibility. Ms Remeikis writes with the clarity that characterised her journalism. Complex policy issues are explained without becoming simplistic, and she succeeds in connecting many of Mr Howard’s policies and political statements with the situation Australians find themselves in today.
Nearly 20 years after Mr Howard left office, many of the structural changes introduced during his government remain embedded in Australia’s political economy. Casualisation, contracting-out, declining union density, unaffordable housing and widening inequality continue to shape the working lives of public sector employees.