A controversial economist has issued a brutal warning to ‘lazy’ Australians saying they need to get off the ‘couch’ to prevent the economy sinking into recession.
University of New South Wales Professor Gigi Foster told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that Aussies ‘need to get off your lazy couch and actually do something’.
Reporter Tom Steinfort replied: ‘So you think the pathway out of this is to just start working a bit harder?’
University of New South Wales Professor Gigi Foster said if people didn’t get off their ‘lazy couch’ and help fix the economy, Australia would soon enter a recession
The economist said that while Australia wasn’t strictly heading for a recession, it was about what it ‘felt like on the street’.
‘The pathway out is to recognise we are in a lot of strife at the moment and its on everybody’s shoulders to try and get us out, even if it wasn’t everybody’s fault that we got here, because the government is not going to save us,’ Prof Foster replied.
‘The government can’t save us, even if it wanted to. The bank, the RBA, can’t save us.
‘The way economies work their way out of recession is through hard work and the pulling up by the bootstraps of the individual person on the street realising, “I’ve got to make this happen for myself”.’
Her comment comes after one of Australia’s biggest consultancy firms, Deloitte Access Economics, warned in April that the country was headed for a ‘consumer recession’.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Prof Foster said that post-Covid, communities needed to band together in order to rebuild a strong economy by helping neighbours where they could.
‘We need to stop the lazy attitude of ‘she’ll be right’ and you know, ‘I’ll go have a barbecue and let our government makes the decisions’,’ she said.
‘People are finding it very hard, after the destruction that was Covid, to find the energy to fight. These are the people I’m trying to get this message to.’
‘People are uncertain, they’re depleted, they’re weaker, they’re stressed not knowing whether to trust institutions or each other. That’s no way to live,’ she said.
Prof Foster, who in 2020 lashed the government’s use of lockdowns to reduce Covid infections, said it would be years before Australia returned to pre-pandemic prices.
‘I think we are in for more high prices and uncertainty before all of this resolves. I think unfortunately, it’s going to be at least another couple years before it gets back to anything like we saw pre-Covid,’ she told 60 Minutes.
Aussies were quick to respond to the professor’s call to arms – many saying it wasn’t their responsibility to fix the economy.
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‘It is absolutely NOT the responsibility of each individual to work ever harder for a centrally planned currency that grows ever weaker,’ one said.
‘We didn’t f*** it up in the first place, so why should it be up to the people to put it right?’ another wrote.
It’s not the first time the economist has dealt Australia some uncomfortable ‘truths’. In 2020, she told 60 Minutes that lockdowns were doing more harm than good.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Professor Foster said the decisions made during the Covid era were made to benefit the elite, rather than everyday Australians
It’s not the first time the economist has dealt Australia some uncomfortable ‘truths’. In 2020, she told 60 Minutes that lockdowns were doing more harm than good
‘No death is okay, but welcome to life. Death is part of life,’ she said at the time.
‘We are killing more people by keeping ourselves locked down than we are saving.’
In March, during an episode of the ABC’s Q&A program, Prof Foster blamed rising inflation on the effects of Covid policies.
She responded to a question from a university student who said her dreams of becoming a teacher had stalled because she couldn’t afford the fees.
‘Unfortunately, these are some of the consequences we’re seeing from the mismanagement of the economy over the last few years,’ she said.
‘We have spent hugely for little return and on things that were never really predicted to have much of a return.’
The economist argued the decisions made by governments during the pandemic were ‘for politics, not health’.
‘There are tens of thousands more Australians we’ve lost since the middle of 2021 than we should have by historical standards and not all are Covid deaths by any stretch,’ she continued.
‘So, what are they? Delayed lockdown deaths? Deaths of despair? People who had crowded out cancer screenings now dying of cancer? Vaccine side effects? What is it? This should be front-page news because you don’t hear about it.
‘Those policies created the economic crisis you are now living through and you are paying the price, unfortunately.’
