Having gone to considerable lengths in lobbying for one of our very own, former finance minister Mathias Cormann, to become Secretary-General of the Paris based OECD, the Government — at least the international set – would be very pleased with itself.    

Unfortunately, the OECD has long outlived its former fervour for economic rationalism: balanced budgets, low tariffs, and small government that leaves competitive free markets to be the essential supply force (with agriculture always an exception given the protectionism of its key European membership).   

In more recent times it has focussed on decarbonisation, assisting the poor, gender issues (there is an OECD “gender portal” and scoldings about how progress-on-gender-equality-is-too-slow).