My Dad was a wise man and a citizen of this country (Australia) back in the olden days when money and prudence seemed to mean more than it does in this day and age. He never spent beyond his means but was not miserly or frugal in any sense of spartan deprivation. Dad’s advice to me as his growing up son over 70 years ago was simply, “Henry, save it to spend it”.

Now I have been criticised by many a person for that rather unimaginative philosophy but thank God, it is one I have stuck to as unswervingly as possible. Dad used to say not to spend what wasn’t yours in outright ownership terms. He was for many years a member of a Roads Board in Western Australia and a major contributor to local government.

As a student of government, he always told me that Australian Federal Labor Governments were famous for two things. Firstly, they were dead set keen on centralising authority and wresting decentralised power unto themselves in Canberra. Secondly, if they inherited a decent set of treasury figures and savings, they got to and dissipated that largesse as quickly as possible. He said that coalition governments built country through savings, all too short term because Labour Governments were not happy until the treasury was bare.