Australia: still lucky after 50 years?

"Australia is a lucky country, run by second-rate people who share its luck."

These famous words were the origin of the title of an influential book, "The Lucky Country", by Donald Horne, published in 1964.

The AFR [Australian Financial Review] Weekend has a special series of articles marking the (almost) 50th anniversary of the publication of the book, including an Editorial, and a lead article by Tony Walker.

The main issue for today is whether Australia is continuing to repeat the same mistakes, relying on the good luck of the wealth it generates from its natural resources. Most recently this has been from the China boom boosting prices and volume of our mineral exports. Maybe my pessimist temperament is too strong but I fear the analysis and warnings of Ross Garnaut may be apt.

I bought the AFR Weekend for the first time and was impressed. I have got sick on reading The Australian [too much mindless pro-business anti-Labor propaganda] and the Sydney Morning Herald [too many juicy scandals and crimes]. The AFR actually has some thoughtful analysis. I may buy it again. You can subscribe free online for January. But for me there is still no substitute for a hard copy...