The PLP's position is that Government can and should play a very productive role in society. The PLP rejects economic rationalism and the privatisation of important national agencies and key industries. The policy is rooted in Friedman's economic principles and applied by the Thatcher and Reagan governments. The evidence increasingly demonstrates the serious flaws in that thesis which is premised on the commodification of labour and the mistaken belief that the market place is capable of delivering benefits that it cannot deliver. A further consequence of National Competition Policy has been that Australia becomes increasingly vulnerable to take-overs by global TNCs with the inevitable result that the small national government would be increasingly powerless domestically as well as globally.
Globalisation has many meanings.
For economic rationalists globalisation means elevating the role of TNCs greatly and reducing that of the national state to that of a subservient player of little significance. Such a development will obviously also reduce the power of the people over decision-making, nationally and internationally. The notion that a small, cloutless government can still continue to exercise adequate controls over a massive private sector, advanced frequently by the supporters of privatisation, is seriously flawed Instead, the PLP argues that Australia should look towards the enterprising national state for solutions to the country's problems. The PLP also regards a strong state as a prerequisite for Australia to play a significant role globally in advancing human rights, opportunities to advance the interests of the working classes and disadvantaged peoples in other countries, and in protecting the environment.