Column 8 · The Rub
They said productivity. They meant you should work harder.
Productivity is the most abused word in Canberra after "sustainable," which is saying something. Properly used, it means more output from the same hours and kit. In the wild it means a lecture about lunch breaks, delivered by people who have never had to time one.
Australia's level of output per hour is not the scandal. The scandal is how slowly that level has been moving, while houses, rents and the interest bill have been doing laps. If pay does not follow output, someone else collected the difference. That is not a sermon. That is arithmetic.
Working longer is not productivity. That is simply a longer day. The chart you want is output per hour, not a homily about grit.
Which, if we are being precise, is the rub.