Thirty years ago (March 2, 1996), the defeated Prime Minister Paul Keating said: "When you change the government, you change the nation." It was one of the most profound and prophetic statements in Australia's political history.

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As what remains of the Liberal Party celebrates the anniversary of the ascension of John Howard as its second-longest-serving prime minister, it is worth pointing out that longevity in office is not worth celebrating in Howard's case. Indeed, the longer he was in office, the more damage he did.

Virtually every social and economic ill in Australia today has it's genesis in the policies of the Howard government. Let's itemise them.

Population, housing, and employment

Howard ramped up immigration at the behest of business which wanted cheap labour. Howard was ideologically obsessed by reducing the power of unions. That policy had some merit in moderation, but the wholesale destruction of secure employment with decent conditions (which Howard's Work Choices did) had no merit.

The side effect of disempowering unions through mass cheap immigrant labour was manifold. It spawned the gig economy, job insecurity, stagnant wages, and lower productivity. It caused huge pressure on infrastructure, health, and education. It gave fodder to the racism of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.

To make the high-immigration policy palatable, Howard had to be seen to be harsh on refugees to politically counter the Hanson slogan of Australia "being swamped by Asians".

Yes, the massive boat arrivals had to be controlled, but it was at the expense of humanity and taxpayers through the bribing of Nauru to take refugees and the wasteful funding of contractors to keep them imprisoned. It made vilification of refugees acceptable.

The 2002 $3000 baby bonus added fuel to population fire. Immigration has never since been ramped back down to a level that helps rather than burdens the nation.

High immigration put enough pressure on housing, but the 50 per cent capital gains tax concession in 1999 made it worse. In effect, higher income investors could buy housing, deduct the outgoings including the interest on the loan against........

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