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Cameron Murray
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Rigged: How networks of powerful mates rip off everyday Australians Kindle Edition

by Cameron K. Murray (Author), Paul Frijters (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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The shocking story of how networks of Mates have come to dominate business and government, and managed to rob the majority of ordinary Australians of half our wealth.

'This book will open your eyes to how Australia really works. It's not good news, but you need to know it.' - Ross Gittins

'You'll be shocked at how far the Mates have their hand in your pocket.' - Nicholas Gruen

Australia has become one of the most unequal societies in the Western world, when just a generation ago it was one of the most equal. This is the story of how networks of Mates have come to dominate business and government, robbing ordinary Australians.

Every hour you work, thirty minutes of it goes to line the Mates' pockets rather than your own. Mates in big corporations, industry groups, government departments, the halls of parliament and the media skew the system to suit each other. Corporations dodge taxes, so you pay more. You pay more for your house and higher interest rates on your mortgage, more for your medicines and transport, and more for your children's education and insurance, because the Mates take a cut.

Rigged uncovers the pattern of political favours, grey gifts and information-sharing that has been allowed to build up over two decades. Drawing on extensive economic research, it exposes the Game of Mates as nothing less than cronyism on a grand scale across Australia and how we have fallen behind other countries in combating it.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Allen & Unwin
  3. Publication date
    August 2, 2022
  4. File size
    2746 KB
  5. Page Flip
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  6. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr Cameron K. Murray is a Research Fellow in the Henry Halloran Trust at the University of Sydney and an economist specialising in property and urban development, environmental economics, rent-seeking and corruption. Professor Paul Frijters teaches at the London School of Economics and was previously Professor of Health Economics at the University of Queensland.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09ZF3H324
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen & Unwin (August 2, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 2, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2746 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

About the author

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Cameron Murray

Cameron Murray

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Dr Murray specialises in the economics of property and housing systems, natural resource management and corruption, but is broadly interested in how societies organise, invest and progress. He regularly communicates economic ideas at his one-man think-tank Fresh Economic Thinking.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
48 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

There are 0 reviews and 6 ratings from the United States

Top reviews from other countries

C. J. Summerfield
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in Australia on November 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
Educated by Rigged I am now noticing far more corruption in my every day interactions with government.
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Pixfan
4.0 out of 5 stars Confirms prevailing opinion
Reviewed in Australia on August 31, 2022
Verified Purchase
Well researched and presented topic. Tends to confirm what everyone suspects is the present situation, particularly when considering the ongoing situation being experienced in State and Federal spheres of Government at the moment.
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David Maywald
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a book for our times, as modern and messy as they are...
Reviewed in Australia on October 19, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book follows the release of Game of Mates in 2017, which for many people was an eye-opener for how ordinary Australians are being ripped off.

“This is the story of how networks of Mates have come to dominate business and government, robbing ordinary Australians… Mates in big corporations, industry groups, government departments, the halls of parliament and the media skew the system to suit each other… Rigged uncovers the pattern of political favours, grey gifts and information-sharing that has been allowed to build up over two decades. Drawing on extensive economic research, it exposes the Game of Mates as nothing less than cronyism on a grand scale across Australia and how we have fallen behind other countries in combatting it.”

There are chapters on property development (re-zoning, planning, approvals), privatised infrastructure, superannuation, mining, banking, and the many other Games. They cover a very wide range of areas, sometimes dipping down into granular details while mostly navigating a higher perspective.

The authors point to four necessary components of the Game of Mates: “grey gifts”; a group of Mates; “a suite of reliable signals that can be used by current and potential members of the group to prove their loyalty”; and a plausible story to show why the Game is good for society (referred to as “a cloak of myths”)…

Grey gifts are discretionary decisions over the allocation of things that have large private value, but are not priced. These grey gifts are traded as favours between the Mates (who include politicians, senior bureaucrats, business people, lobbyists, and many other political elites). Mates thrive in complex systems of regulation, because they can pay lawyers/advisors to navigate this maze, and they can convince politicians or bureaucrats to provide them favours. Hence, by making the regulatory system more detailed and complicated it can actually tilt the playing field in favour of Mates (hurting ordinary people)…

This book is a great read for the age of distrust that we currently live in. Highlighting the various economic classes of people and specific elites is often shied away from, because it doesn’t suit the Mates to have a spotlight on their power/privilege. Murray and Frijters have certainly shone a bright light into these dark places. Good on them for publishing this in black and white (even more interesting would be the stories that weren’t printed, and the context for their narrative).
Customer image
David Maywald
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a book for our times, as modern and messy as they are...
Reviewed in Australia on October 19, 2023
This book follows the release of Game of Mates in 2017, which for many people was an eye-opener for how ordinary Australians are being ripped off.

“This is the story of how networks of Mates have come to dominate business and government, robbing ordinary Australians… Mates in big corporations, industry groups, government departments, the halls of parliament and the media skew the system to suit each other… Rigged uncovers the pattern of political favours, grey gifts and information-sharing that has been allowed to build up over two decades. Drawing on extensive economic research, it exposes the Game of Mates as nothing less than cronyism on a grand scale across Australia and how we have fallen behind other countries in combatting it.”

There are chapters on property development (re-zoning, planning, approvals), privatised infrastructure, superannuation, mining, banking, and the many other Games. They cover a very wide range of areas, sometimes dipping down into granular details while mostly navigating a higher perspective.

The authors point to four necessary components of the Game of Mates: “grey gifts”; a group of Mates; “a suite of reliable signals that can be used by current and potential members of the group to prove their loyalty”; and a plausible story to show why the Game is good for society (referred to as “a cloak of myths”)…

Grey gifts are discretionary decisions over the allocation of things that have large private value, but are not priced. These grey gifts are traded as favours between the Mates (who include politicians, senior bureaucrats, business people, lobbyists, and many other political elites). Mates thrive in complex systems of regulation, because they can pay lawyers/advisors to navigate this maze, and they can convince politicians or bureaucrats to provide them favours. Hence, by making the regulatory system more detailed and complicated it can actually tilt the playing field in favour of Mates (hurting ordinary people)…

This book is a great read for the age of distrust that we currently live in. Highlighting the various economic classes of people and specific elites is often shied away from, because it doesn’t suit the Mates to have a spotlight on their power/privilege. Murray and Frijters have certainly shone a bright light into these dark places. Good on them for publishing this in black and white (even more interesting would be the stories that weren’t printed, and the context for their narrative).
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Locutius
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be compulsory reading in Australian high schools.
Reviewed in Australia on September 19, 2024
Verified Purchase
Also written under the title "Game of Mates"

Shocking, eye opening, well researched expose of the individuals that are the mates you DO NOT want to have. The manipulators and influencers of the corporate, and worse, the political system, to maximize the increasing wealth gap and reduce the opportunities available to the average person.

Describes and details the erosion of public wealth and standards of living and services that were built and paid for by tax payers in this country.

Theft on a grand scale. Spotlight on the new Robber Barons.
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Peter Holland
5.0 out of 5 stars How did we let this happen.
Reviewed in Australia on September 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
Explains how the "mates" rig the system for the benefit of the elites and stuff the rest, very easy to think of many examples as you read through the book.
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