Katie Page-Harvey and Gerry Harvey. Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images.

Harvey Norman owner Gerry Harvey says Australian democracy “is not working” and the only solution to the current political stalemate “is to have a dictator like in China”.

The outspoken billionaire retailer, who has previously railed against shopping online, describing it as “unAustralian”, and successfully lobbied to reduce the threshold for GST paid on goods bought online from overseas, told The Daily Telegraph that the problem was the precarious nature of Australian politics since John Howard was tossed out of office meant “neither side can do anything about it because the minute they do they’re hammered”.

He said the whole world was demonstrating “a great deal of dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and the people are showing their frustration.”

“Our democracy at the ­moment is not working,” Harvey said.

“The only cure we’ve got is to have a dictator like in China or something like that,” he said.

In February, Harvey Norman posted a 30.7% jump in half-year profit to $185.51 million on a strong performance by its franchise stores. The result would have been bigger, but Harvey lost $17.51 million in investments in mining camp accommodation joint ventures and the write-down of commercial loans.

The full Tele story is here.

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