For the first time in many years, there is a genuine opportunity to move beyond the oppositional politics that have hindered structural reform. This new parliamentary composition—more diverse but potentially less fractious—opens the door to building coalitions of the willing for major national reform. If we are to grasp this political moment, we must also confront the structural ambiguity that has long undermined innovation policy in this country. 

Despite decades of consensus that Australia must diversify beyond resource dependence, policy action has repeatedly stalled. This new Insight from the Acton Institute unpacks this paradox as a slow-moving crisis—a systemic drift that erodes capability, legitimacy, and future prosperity. The Insight explores why structural reform so often fails, and argues that policy effectiveness in the 21st century depends not just on what governments do, but how they make sense of what mus