Political scientist and Liberal Party member John Roskam, on the rise of the self employed:

The relationship between self-employment and voting intention is, of course, not simple, and many other factors determine an individual’s political choice at elections. But what this analysis does show is that neither side of politics can afford to ignore the growing number of self-employed. Because the self-employed are by their nature independent, they haven’t been collectively represented — nor have they sought to be. They have stood aside from the battles between employers and employees because they are neither.

At the level of national policy, the full impact of the self-employment revolution has yet to be recognized. To an increasing number of Australian workers the old-speak of industrial relations is irrelevant. The challenge for all governments and political parties is to think in new ways about employment and recognize that the growth in self-employment is the inevitable consequence of the economic and social conditions of the late twentieth century. There is no likelihood of the trend being reversed.

Read more on the Henry Thornton website here .