An idea that drew its first breath 76 years ago still stalks the streets of Shepparton.
In 1947, 39 scholars, mostly economists with some historians and philosophers, were invited by Friedrich Hayek to meet to discuss the state and possible fate of classical liberalism, and the ideas they settled on hardly seemed objectionable.
They were about human dignity and freedom, founded in such matters as private property and a free and competitive market.
What became known as the Mont Perelin Society played the “long game” and set about discovering ways in which the private sector could replace many functions currently provided by government entities.
The society, named after the Swedish town in which it first met, emerged in the societal restlessness of post-World War II and has been successful way beyond anything imagined all those decades ago.
Here in Shepparton, we labour under a Labor government, and a coalition government is even worse, adhering fundamentally to ideas, policies and decisions that can be traced easily to what happened at Mont Perelin.
The ideas arising from the 1947 Mont Perelin meeting, morphed into neo-liberalism at the extreme, are so enmeshed, entangled and mired in our thinking today that to suggest another way immediately brings accusations of being a socialist, communist or anarchist.
The latter fascinates me for what we have today: borders on anarchy dressed up as healthy competition and given some respectability through claims of freedom, choice and individual rights.
All this fascinates me for when scraping away the marketing pizazz, the things that matter, really matter, in Shepparton arise when the community buries freedom, choice and individuality to bind as one to take on such things as the COVID-19 or flooding dilemmas.
Those at Mont Perelin in 1947 were making decisions in the shadows of what they saw as a threat from socialism and communism but chose to ignore, or refuse to acknowledge, that most everything of broad benefit to the world community arose from public intervention.
Many of those ideas, philosophies, and tools allowing cities such as Shepparton to function were generated by publicly funded projects, even though many have been captured by private enterprises, which frequently claim the idea as their own.
Just two examples — the internet arose from an idea initiated by the publicly funded US armed forces, and what is now known as the “smartphone” also came from another publicly funded project.
An example of a powerful public project that was sacrificed over a decade by the LNP government was Australia’s NDIS, which is now a sclerotic shadow of what was envisaged because of privatisation, ideas reflecting the 76-year-old philosophies of the Mont Perelman Society.
Early this year, a PhD student from a Queensland university talked about a paper in which he explored the idea that the neo-liberal thinking encouraged by the Mont Perelin Society was the driver behind the cancerous-like spread of housing estates in most urban areas, including here in Shepparton.
Those who feared socialism or communism also feared the idea of people living close to each other and being able to talk and develop counter ideas and philosophies, and subsequently movements, equipping them to challenge the singular profit-driven essence of the existing economy.
Before moving to Sydney, a Shepparton friend lived for many years in a popular estate and yet rarely saw his neighbours, among them even the fellow who lived next door.
Social media was sold as a beautiful tool enabling people to join the public conversation, step into the public square, have their say, be heard, and so bring out the best in our communities.
That, largely, has been shown to be a lie as a noisy few have populated the process, and commercial interests have raced to fill up every niche, leaving the public square an almost empty place.
Social media is rooted in individualism, and with no-one effectively at the helm, moderating the process, there is a sense that it was set up to serve everyone, but in reality, it serves no-one.
I stand as biased, I admit that and know it, but the local newspaper, radio and TV stations were moderated by a local, giving us more focused and stronger communities. Yet, in many ways, they were founded on ideas favoured by the Mont Perelin Society.
What a weird contradiction — market demands drove those institutions and yet were built around the wants and needs of the communities they served.
Yes, here in Shepparton, we are held hostage to a 76-year-old idea.
So in 2024, we must turn, swim against the current, the pressing notion that success is found in individuality and avoid the idea prosecuted by former British PM Margaret Thatcher that there is no such thing as society; we must stand together and embrace the adage; “alone we go fast, together we go far”.