Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was interesting to hear that diatribe, but let us talk about a few of the facts here. In the article under discussion the Prime Minister wrote:

Neo-liberalism and the free-market fundamentalism it has produced has been revealed as little more than personal greed dressed up as an economic philosophy.

He went on to say:

The current crisis is the culmination of a 30-year domination of economic policy by a free market ideology that has been variously called neo-liberalism, economic liberalism, economic fundamentalism, Thatcherism or the Washington consensus.

Neo-liberalism is a late 20th century philosophic doctrine, a continuation of classical liberalism influenced by the neoclassical theories of economics. The central principle of neo-liberal policy is untrammelled free markets and free trade.