Spectator discovers taxation, files it as the fall of the republic

Spectator Australia · Dimitri Burshtein and Peter Swan · Sunday 19 April 2026

Spectator discovers taxation, files it as the fall of the republic

Burshtein and Swan declare Australia a failed socialist state — a country with compulsory super, means-tested welfare, and one of the most market-liberal economies in the OECD.

The Spectator's wheeled out the 'failed socialist state' line about a country with compulsory super, means-tested welfare, and a central bank that'd make Friedman blush. Mate, if this is socialism, Menzies was Trotsky. Burshtein and Swan have discovered that taxation exists and filed it as revelation.

Also covered by

Spectator Australia