Corporate Power in Australia: Do the 1% Rule?
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Publication Date: Feb 2020
RRP: $29.95
ISBN: 9781925835427
Format: Paper back
Size: 153mm x 234mm
Pages: 240
Category: Investigating Power, Politics

Corporate Power in Australia

Do the 1% Rule?

Lindy Edwards

Also available as an ebook from your favourite retailer.

‘Does big business have too much influence over our politicians? Lindy Edwards examines the Australian evidence with great care. She isn’t reassured by what she finds. Her strongest reform proposal will surprise you.’ Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

Trust in Australian democracy has more than halved over the last decade, from 86% in 2007 to 41% in 2018. Part of this erosion of trust stems from a belief that big business has too much power. Community concerns have sparked major campaigns for a federal anti-corruption body and political donations reform. People are concerned that politicians are privileging the concerns of their mates in big business over the community or the public good.

This book sets out to test the evidence for these public fears, considering mining companies and the mining tax; the banks and the financial advice scandals; Telstra and the NBN; News Ltd and media reform; Coles and Woolies versus the farmers; and attempts by government to reform contract laws and laws on the abuse of market power. It asks if the major corporates are disproportionately winning in our political debates? And if so, why?

Lindy Edwards

Dr Lindy Edwards is an academic at the University of New South Wales who has previously worked as an economic adviser in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and as a press gallery journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.