Senator Matt Canavan, having won the Nationals leadership last month, today presented a plan for what he termed an "Australian economic revolution" at the National Press Club. The "Patriot Agenda for an Australian Economic Revival" proposes extensive state intervention to secure profits for specific capital factions and exert greater control over the national labor supply.
Canavan declared, "I am proposing an Australian economic revolution, not a replay or a reset," and stated that "We won't get revival by tinkering around the edges. Some of this will require the long-overdue slaying of sacred cows." Among these "sacred cows," Canavan identified "our naive belief that open borders for goods and people are always and everywhere a good thing."
Who Profits: State-Backed Capital
The agenda includes a push for a domestic space industry, with Canavan arguing that "Our continent is uniquely placed for rocket launches." This renewed space age, he claimed, could secure Australia's communications, defence, and national security interests, while also boosting regional populations. Such ventures represent significant state investment and contracts for the military-industrial complex and associated technology firms.
Canavan also identified the steel industry as a sector requiring protection, stating it has "fallen victim to overseas imports." He noted that "Australia is the largest exporter of coking coal and iron ore in the world, the two main ingredients to make steel." He argued that Australia should not need to import foreign steel, asserting that reliance on other countries for basic materials stems from a failure to act against their protective barriers. This protectionist stance directly benefits domestic heavy industry capital.
Central to this industrial strategy is the scrapping of the net zero plan. Canavan stated, "To restore sovereign capability and unleash energy abundance, we must end net zero, scrap all carbon taxes and end all bans on energy production in Australia." He added that "A real Made in Australia agenda will only work when it is fuelled by all types of Australian energy," signaling a commitment to fossil fuel extraction and its associated capital interests, directly opposing efforts to transition away from carbon-intensive industries.
Who Pays: Controlled Labor and Public Services
The plan also calls for closing borders to "mass migration" and implementing measures to boost the birthrate, including favorable tax settings for dual-income households and promoting working from home. Canavan argued these measures would increase populations in regions and smaller towns, stating that "In the past the opening of a new mine or factory could convince the whole family to move but today, unless the other partner has a job in their career, the family will likely stay and fly in and out instead." These proposals aim to manage and control the national labor supply, ensuring a workforce for regional capital while restricting the movement of labor across borders.
Canavan suggested that promoting working from home in professional and public service jobs would facilitate regional relocations for families, proposing that "The public service should lead by example, and we should look at tax incentives or infrastructure concessions to encourage it in the private sector too." This represents state-directed efforts to optimize labor distribution for capital, rather than addressing the systemic issues that drive urban congestion or regional decline.
The State's Role and Liberal Inadequacy
The plan includes a "national works program" to build infrastructure projects such as dams, roads, seaports, and spaceports. While framed as regional development, such programs represent state investment that primarily facilitates capital accumulation by providing necessary infrastructure for industry and resource extraction. Canavan also argued for dam building and refurbishment to protect the "food bowl," stating, "If we don't start planning now for their refurbishment we will lose our nation's food bowl." This secures water resources for agribusiness, a key faction of capital.
The Farrer by-election, scheduled for May, is being presented as a litmus test for this agenda. Canavan pointed to Albury Wodonga Health as an example of failed service delivery, where its executive management was the subject of a no-confidence vote by doctors last month. While acknowledging the crisis in public services, Canavan's "economic revolution" focuses on re-orienting capital and managing labor within the existing framework, rather than addressing the systemic underfunding and privatization that lead to such failures. The Coalition has already announced a commission of inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin, a state action that manages the symptoms of resource exploitation without challenging its underlying causes. Canavan's proposals, while presented as bold, ultimately serve to manage the contradictions of capital accumulation through state intervention, rather than fundamentally altering the exploitative economic order.