“Politics is ultimately about one fundamental problem: how we balance the needs of the individual against the necessity of living together … Every religion, belief system or political theory is an attempt to walk this tightrope.”[1]

Tim Dunlop

“Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change … What is needed is a realisation that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”

Martin Luther King Jr

“To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.”[2]

Raymond Williams

I think I share the sentiment of many other Australians, that is, our politics is broken, certainly at the Federal level. Our political class have moved beyond just letting us down, they are now failing us and have done so for some time. I am frustrated that our federal government appears more interested in slogans, political point scoring, power and ego and are consistently being found to be either lying to us or incompetent, and sometimes both. I am frustrated that we are not making any headway on the issues that matter, such as climate change, having a progressive tax system, having adequately funded and resourced aged care, promoting social cohesion, ensuring accountability, removing corruption in politics, treating refugees and asylum seekers with compassion, and ensuring the safety of woman. This list could go on and on.

I am in the process of writing a book and some of what is contained in this blog will be included and expanded in it, but as we approach the upcoming election, I have been moved to write this blog to express not only my dismay and frustration but to also offer some potential solutions, initiatives and actions that will address some of the above issues and hopefully provide some food for thought for the type of country we may want Australia to become.

Please read this blog in the spirit it was shared; with love, compassion and a desire to learn. I wish to state that in no way am I wanting to impose myself on others with my writing, but I feel a deep desire to share my thoughts and inspirations with whoever may be reading this and I am very grateful that you are, I warmheartedly wish you all the very best.

My aim is to improve myself and strive to be better each day. Writing is one way I am trying to meet this aim and it is one way I can contribute towards my wish to live in a society that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. Hopefully my writing will go some way to showing why this is important and how we can achieve this.

I hope my words inspire some understanding and reflection and above all, some hope.

…

Before I get into my frustrations about politics as well as outlining some solutions and alternative approaches to the issues I believe need to be addressed, I guess I should provide some comments on my own experience with politics and where my political allegiance sits.

I have enjoyed a 20 odd year career working in executive leadership roles in Local Government, and I have written about it, here is a link. From this experience I have gained some appreciation for how political machinations work and I have witnessed the whole spectrum of how politics can be a success and deliver great things for the community as well as its abject failure at times, resulting in animosity and cynicism.

I am currently a member of the Australian Democrats and I often reflect on their demise in the early 2000’s as a tragedy for Australian politics. The Australia Democrats were formed in 1977 with Don Chipp its inaugural leader. His election campaign was focused on the return to the political virtues of ‘honesty, tolerance and compassion’ and he described the Democrats as an independent, incorruptible, middle-of-the-road ‘watchdog’ for the Senate.  It was during the 1980 campaign that he first voiced the famous catch cry of the Democrats to ‘keep the bastards honest’. I was initially drawn to the Democrats because of their policies seeking the protection of the environment, reconciliation with Indigenous people, homosexual law reform, gender equality and multiculturalism. They are also very supportive of the public sector and of public education as well as supporting a more equitable distribution of wealth and a progressive taxation system. I also admire their adherence to the principle of parliamentary democracy, the ability of their parliamentary representatives to vote according to their conscience as well as leading the way in promoting woman to leadership positions. They held the balance of power in the Senate, either solely or with other minor parties or independents, from 1981 to 2004.  Sadly, no Democrat has been in Federal parliament since 2008. Many factors played a part in the decline of the Democrats but its support for the GST legislation in 1999 was a key factor as well as its turnover of parliamentary leaders, not getting their message heard and the rise of the Greens.[3] From my perspective it appears the Democrats cannibalised themselves and allowed ego and the playing of politics to get the better of them and unfortunately, they have yet to recover from it.

I believe our current parliament needs a party like the Democrats now more than ever.

I also believe we need to develop a new progressive agenda which will unite ordinary Australians against the elite driven policies that pervade our current Government. To provide food for thought for such an agenda this blog will cover topics such as Democracy, Neoliberalism, Climate Change, the Murray Darling Basin, Political Discourse and Behaviour, Taxation, First Nation Voice, Asylum Seekers, Reforming the Parliament and Human Potential.

Democracy

Winston Churchill once said that: “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.”

I have often thought that the best form of government would be a benevolent dictatorship but the only person I am aware of in history that may match this description is Ashoka the Great[4] who was an Indian emperor who ruled over the Indian subcontinent from 268 to 232 BC. He is considered one of India’s greatest emperors and is renowned for his tolerance of other faiths, setting up one of the first welfare states in the ancient world with equal laws for all and focusing on peaceful and effective communication. However, it was Lord Acton[5] who said ‘power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’ which conveys the belief that, as a person’s power increases, their moral sense diminishes and as such a benevolent dictator would be very rare. So, the best system we have is democracy but many of us are losing faith and confidence in it. To rebuild our faith, we much build a better democracy.

To do this, perhaps we need to consider democracy as not just a system of government. According to John Dewey[6] democracy is a way of life, tantamount to freedom, an ethical ideal or imperative and a tool for social unification that we all have an ethical obligation to maintain. True democracy should allow everyone to fulfil their true potential and is not just a popularity contest every 3 years.[7]

Education is fundamental to enable us to fulfil our potential, as well as to maintain a healthy democracy. We are experiencing in our society the rush to extremes, the need for certainty and simplified thinking.

“There are those who seek certainty; who divide the world up and take sides. I don’t trust certainty; I know that in certainty, ignorance and deceit lie. Give me questions more than answers.”[8]

It has confounded me that it has become normal for a person to run for elected office on the basis that politicians are corrupt and there is little the government can do to make our lives better. This is essentially the platform for One Nation.[9] Surely, those who seek to be elected should believe that government and democracy can be a positive force for our society. As Richard Denniss points out, “…there can be no more destructive act of populism than to rise to office on an updraft created by burning the community’s faith in the institution you seek to lead.”[10]

Instead of giving up on democracy as we see with politicians running for parliament on premise that the system is stuffed but not offering solutions, instead we need to double down and focus even more strongly on education to give us the skills to not fall into the trap of simplified thinking. Furthermore, our society hinges on the ideas of the individuals that make it up, so why wouldn’t we do everything we can to educate all people and teach ourselves to think and adapt in changing environments. This is ever more pertinent when considering our need to move to a post carbon economy.

Our democracy is also undermined by our current Government’s focus on marketing and spin; hence truth, honesty and evidence appear to have become disposable. As Barry Jones points out, ‘…when politicians are no longer constrained by a moral obligation to tell the truth, lying becomes standard practice.”[11] With an election on the way I am reminded of the fact there are no truth in political advertising laws for Federal elections. I believe we need such laws at a federal level as that will go some way in ensuring our confidence in our democracy (at least during election time) as the potential impact of misleading or false statements made during an election can adversely affect the public interest, can distort the election outcome, divert our attention from substantive issues and even discourage decent, qualified people from running for office.[12] I am glad to say that both South Australia and the ACT have truth in political advertising laws in place.

We can also rebuild confidence in our democracy by having a Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The failure of our government to introduce an ICAC is reprehensible. A robust, well-resourced ICAC will deter some of the behaviours we have seen and ensure accountability of our parliamentarians and the Federal public service. I am bewildered by the procurement processes (or lack of) and selection criteria (well pork barrelling) that has occurred and I know as a Public Officer working in Local Government, I would have been hauled in front of our state ICAC as well as lost my job had I ever entertained the behaviour that appears to have become commonplace by our federal government.

Our political parties themselves also need to embrace democracy within their own ranks. The ALP and the Coalition parties are best described as oligarchies who discourage large scale membership, reject democratic reforms, and are run by factions. As for the Greens they are extremely sensitive and secretive about their party operations. Combined, our two major parties claim to have a total membership of around 100,000 or 0.66% of all voters but the reality is the numbers are likely to be much less. Neither of the parties wish to recruit members from the community on a large scale especially if it may threaten the powerbase of existing factions.[13]

To stop ourselves losing trust in democracy, we need to build a better democracy, and this can occur by raising expectations regarding truth and honesty, educating ourselves and ensuring accountability, transparency and integrity of our federal politicians and public service. This blog will also explore a range of other initiatives that are aimed to build the better democracy that we all deserve.

If we are to have a democratic society that can function correctly, we need to share in everything, from power to health care to government. When we decide to remove these things for common ownership, we hand control from the many to the few, and when decisions are made as to who gets what it is no longer decided by the citizens but by those who control the money.[14]

This is exactly what is happening under the guise of neoliberalism which had been adopted by our political class and has effectively transferred a significant amount of our democratic political power to private corporations.

Neo-Liberalism

“Neoliberalism, the catch-all term for all things small government, has been the ideal cloak behind which to conceal enormous shifts in Australia’s wealth and culture. It has provided powerful people with the perfect language in which to dress up their self-interest as the national interest. Without such a cloak, policies to slash income support for those most in need while giving tax cuts to those with the most money would just look nasty.”[15]

According to David McKnight, neo-liberalism “…became the mindset of the political class in the 1980’s and was a very deliberate project to wind back the welfare state, reducing the public sphere with its public goods of health, education, transport and culture, along with the tax system which paid for it. The neoliberal project is based on the idea that the market is the most efficient distributor of goods because it combines the profit motive and competition. It takes no account of justice, inequality or social cohesion. Ultimately this promotes the transformation of all human relationships (not just economic ones) into commercial transactions.”[16] The shift that we have experienced over the last 30 odd years has not just been economic, but cultural.

Neoliberalism has driven privatisation, deregulated markets, globalisation, growing inequality and social polarisation.

I have not met anyone who is in favour of privatisation, especially for natural monopolies such as energy, water, ports, communications, public transport, roads and railways or for human services such as health, aged care and education and training. I am not aware of any examples where it has resulted in improved service and/or a decrease in cost, in most cases it is the opposite. Not everything should be privatised and there are some things that are better provided by governments, like human services as the profit motive creates a culture that is the antithesis to the compassion and care required. We should not create industries that rely on human suffering to make a profit but instead invest in a public service that aims to decrease human suffering and build social capital.

Privatisation has also contributed to our sense of losing control of our country. We should consider the renationalising of natural monopolies, and this could occur through a new company structure category that has been created in Britain, called a public benefit company (PBC). This new corporate structure would write into its constitution that its purpose is the delivery of public benefit to which profit making is subordinate. There is a bit more detail about this structure that I won’t go into here but essentially it enables the process of renationalisation at no cost to us (our government) and we get the benefit of public control without having to buy out the current owners.[17] Appears a ‘win-win’ situation to me and something well worth investigating for Australia.

Whilst our governments have consistently trotted out the mantra of neoliberalism, they have also shown themselves to be hypocrites as they are all for subsiding fossil fuels, mining and private schools. Perhaps a better description of the ideology of our government is crony capitalism instead of neoliberalism. Crony capitalism is an economic system in which businesses thrive not because of free enterprise, but rather as a return on money amassed through collusion between a business class and the political class. It is apparent that getting rich in Australia is mostly about working your political connections in heavily regulated industries like mining, property development and finance. If you wish to learn more about how the wealthy are siphoning of billions from the economy to line their own pockets at the expense of the rest of us I encourage you to read Game of Mates by Cameron Murray and Paul Frijters.

I would also encourage you to read the report, Confronting State Capture, which was released by The Australian Democracy Network[18] in February 2022. it makes a compelling case that state capture is a problem undermining our democracy. The World Bank defines state capture as “the exercise of power by private actors — through control over resources, threat of violence, or other forms of influence — to shape policies or implementation in service of their narrow interests”. The report identifies six channels through which state capture by corporate interests is being exercised in Australia: financial, lobbying, revolving doors, institutional repurposing, research and policymaking, and public influence campaigns. Some of these channels will be discussed throughout this blog. The report also includes two case studies that identify how fossil fuel and arms companies exercise forms of control over the political process in Australia and firmly meet the definition of state capture. It is also argued that disillusionment with our democracy and a lack of trust in politicians is not always apathy – it’s a legitimate response to state capture. The embrace of our politicians of neoliberal ideology has facilitated the ability of corporations and the wealthy to exercise state capture. This can be addressed by implementing the recommendations of the report, which include:

• Recognising state capture as a systemic threat to Australian democracy.
• All parties and candidates should commit to legislating reforms under the Framework for a Fair Democracy, including:
  • Stamping out corruption
  • Ending cash for access
  • Levelling the playing field in election debates
• Creating political, economic and social consequences for the corporate powers and the political decision makers who participate in the tactics of state capture.
• Protecting vibrant, diverse civic participation at the heart of our healthy democracy

There is more detail around these dot point which can be found in the report and some of which will be detailed later in this blog.

Our politicians love affair with neoliberalism has also created growing inequality in our society and has undermined our egalitarian ethos. We are now in a situation whereby the wealthiest 1% of our population own more than the bottom 70%.[19] There will always be wealthier and poorer people but our current economic policies and the language that neoliberalism brings is driving the polarisation of wealth in our country. This is killing our hope and increasing resentment, making us more selfish, cruel, and nasty and less trusting which is undermining social cohesion and our democracy.

When I consider the anti-vaccine protests, I believe the underlying dissatisfaction of these members of our community is a result of the neoliberal project of the last 30 odd years and the realisation of state capture. It has driven people to not trusting our government and feeling as though they have been left behind, aren’t listened to and are powerless. I can understand the fear, suspicion, and anger directed at our governments; I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them either. I am not a fan of mandates myself (however I am triple vaccinated) but if we lived in a society that focussed more on the greater good instead of individualism and greed, we wouldn’t need to mandate vaccines as we would all trust and follow the advice of our medical professionals in best managing ourselves through a pandemic.

I guess that’s where we need to start if we want to develop an alternative to neoliberalism and that is to restore the philosophy of the common good by promoting the values of sharing, mutual support and cooperation. To me, the success of a society should be determined by how it treats its most vulnerable, and right now we are failing.

The need to adopt the philosophy of the common good as a fundamental element of our democracy is even more crucial with the current challenge posed by climate change.[20]

Climate Change

It seems incredulous to think that back in 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) was unanimously approved by the US senate and Australia was among one of the first countries to ratify it. Since then, we have experienced some 30 years of ‘shitfuckery’ by our political class and we, as a country, are not any closer to tackling this issue in a positive and meaningful way. I apologise for using such coarse language, but I can’t think of a word to properly describe what has occurred over the last 30 years. Evil doesn’t really cut it; I mean, how can we describe people who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of humanity so they can put a few more dollars into their already very full pockets? Seriously, WTF!

Anyway, I will try to make some sense of what has occurred to make climate change a policy issue plagued by ideology and partisanship since the 1990’s. I will start with our blind acceptance of the ideology of neoliberalism and small government. Somehow, climate change became all about the expansion of the role of government with some conservative leaders deciding calls for action on climate change as anti-capitalist and “… the issue was seen by many as the biggest threat to the liberal private enterprise culture since socialism.”[21]

Our failure to act favours the present and maintains the status quo but is prejudicing our future and accelerating the challenge ahead of us. I guess it is of no surprise that our government aligned with the big business lobby and shares the view of many mining and fossil fuel companies that things are fine just as they are, and Australia is just a quarry to be exploited at all costs.

I keep thinking that there is something deep within our psyche that stems from the spread of Western civilisation broadly and the colonisation of our country more specifically. Maybe it is the influence of our Abrahamic religions story of creation, the Book of Genesis, when it says “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.“[22] It is no wonder we now face the existential crisis of climate change as we have felt we have a divine right to exploit Earth as we see fit which has led to over exploitation and the desecration of it.

I guess it is encapsulated by Thomas Edison when he said, “Sunshine is a form of energy; and the winds and tides are manifestations of energy. Do we use them? Oh no; we burn up wood and coal, as renters burn up the front fence for fuel. We live like squatters, not as if we owned the property.”[23] We must realise we are a part of nature and not separate or above it. Whatever we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves, so we need to get back to tending the garden for all of creation and not exploiting it for our own greed, ego and power.

Greed and power are certainly behind the similarities between the current climate change debate and the smoking causes cancer debate during the 20^th century, with fossil fuel companies following the same playbook as tobacco companies did. Fossil fuel companies with the most to lose, such as Exxon, have contributed millions of dollars of funding to many climate sceptics groups, think tanks and scientists with the aim of undermining the science and to spread misinformation to distort the public’s understanding of the issue.

These lobbyists against effective action on climate change assume that since they themselves habitually tell half-truths, exaggerate wildly, advance the cause of vested interests, and engage in character assassination, that climate scientists would act in the same way. But scientists are by enlarge, people devoted to finding truth and are methodical, meticulous and rely on logic, reason, and evidence. The essence of scientific methodology is they can be wrong, are willing to be wrong and willing to change with new knowledge but the overwhelming evidence available from the myriad of studies and reports over the last few decades have confirmed that climate change is real and is happening.

“We appear to be embarking on a massive experiment of which the consequences are hard to predict and the effects may be irreversible. The kind of temperature changes we face are not tiny probabilities of inconvenience, but substantial probabilities of catastrophes.”[24]

It appears another problem we face is complacency, seeing climate change as just another issue or we simply see it as ‘just’ an environmental issue. We seem to have forgotten that without our environment we can’t have a society or an economy, hence climate change should be at the centre of our concerns and political action. [25]

I have already alluded to the role of state capture but what we are also seeing with discussions around fossil fuel and climate change is a kind of culture capture as well. This is identified by Rebecca Huntley as her research has revealed that many of us find it hard to imagine a prosperous and secure future without fossil fuels. It’s not that we don’t want such a future, we just can’t imagine how we can get there. This is the result of our politicians praising fossil fuels while criticising renewables coupled with the millions of dollars spent by the fossil fuel industry on PR and advertising telling us we can’t live without them.[26]

To address climate change, we will need to restructure our economy and re-regulate it. To do this successfully we will need to be innovative, courageous and strategic. It will require strong leadership with our leaders prepared to tell us things we may not want to hear. But it will also require us to remember that Australia has an impressive population to draw upon and is not just a place to dig things up. We already have world leaders in many fields and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be leaders in the global transition to a post carbon economy as well.[27]

Climate change has also identified a problem for our political system as it requires long term action, and our government and political parties are not designed to act in the long term as they can rarely see past the next election. This is one reason I believe we need to adopt a Strategic Planning approach at a federal government level. This is a legislated requirement for Local Government, at least here in South Australia, and is something I wish to explore in my book. Strategic Planning is about making choices and considering future options for our community and taking actions now to achieve desired outcomes. It should ensure the interaction and balance between economic, social and environmental goals and encourage open and accountable governance which is responsive to community needs and aspirations. At the very least we could agree on a national set of values that could act as a prism through which all decision making, and political actions can be assessed.

According to Rebecca Huntley, “…The task for any leader inside or outside politics who cares about climate change is to tell a better story, one based on fact but that also paints a vivid and compelling picture with renewable energy and a healthy environment at its heart.”[28] Strategic planning at a federal level could go a long way to achieving that.

If you wish to get a thorough insight into the truth behind our inaction on climate change in Australia, I recommend you read The Carbon Club by Marian Wilkinson.

The same thinking, based on the influence of power and greed, that is causing us to delay action on climate change can also be seen in our attempts to manage the Murray Darling Basin, which I happen to live in.

Murray Darling Basin

As Richard Beasley points out in his book, Dead in the Water, what started as a noble idea – to save our rivers and wetlands became “corrupted by everything that is greedy, venal, untrustworthy and cowardly at the centre of Australian public life.”[29]

Back in 2007, the Murray Darling Basin was facing an economic and environmental catastrophe, it was six years into the Millennium Drought, and we had experienced the lowest inflows in the basin since records began. I was working at the Coorong Council at the time, and I remember the devastating and heartbreaking effects the drought was having on our communities. During that year, the Federal Government, under John Howard, passed the Water Act and its significance should not be underestimated. The Water Act seeks to balance the need to use water in the basin for economic use to grow food and fibre with the need to ensure enough water is available to protect key environmental assets and key ecosystems. The amount of water was to be determined by using ‘the best available scientific knowledge’. The Water Act requires the establishment of a Basin Plan, and it is on those science-based facts that the plan must set its targets.[30]

“No one is asking to return the condition of the rivers to pre-1788, the Water Act does not require that. It presumes the river will be irrigated but it seeks to restore balance between the old notion of ‘irrigate the Murray dry’ and the assumption that water will be used for economic purposes, like growing food and fibre. It requires this to be done sustainably. To be done in a manner that protects the ecosystems of the rivers and watercourses and restores the damage done.”[31]

To manage water in the basin in a sustainable manner is imperative for the wellbeing of Australia, not just for those of us living in it. The basin covers an area of more than 1 million square kilometres, the equivalent of 3 Germanys, contains 40% of Australia’s farms and the food and fibre produced contributes $25-30 billion per year to the economy. Furthermore, some $8 billion is also spent on tourism in the basin each year. It is home to around 30,000 wetlands, many of which are nationally significant not to mention the Coorong and other Ramsar listed wetlands. It is also home to 2 million people and over 40 Indigenous Nations.[32]

In 2019, the South Australian Murray Darling Basin Royal Commission constituted by Bret Walker SC as Commissioner, delivered its report to the South Australian Government. The report contains 111 findings and 44 recommendations, but in essence, found that Commonwealth officials committed gross maladministration, negligence and unlawful actions and recommended a complete overhaul of the Murray Darling Basin Plan, including reallocating more water from irrigation to the environment.

The Commissioner found that climate change had not been considered by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) when setting Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDLs) under the Basin Plan and that the MDBA ignored advice from the CSIRO.[33] It would be hard to argue that is using ‘the best available scientific knowledge’.

The process of developing the Basin Plan by the Murray Darling Basin Authority and hence the management of water across the Murray Darling Basin is an example of gross mismanagement of $13 billion, decision making that is unlawful and negligent as well as fraud.[34]

The example of the Murray Darling Basin also identifies the language used by our government who paints everything as ‘us versus them’, or a war, in this case its agriculture versus the environment, or people versus fish. This promotion of simplified thinking is not constructive nor reflects the complexity of the matter and is based on the old adage of divide and conquer.

We should no longer regard the ‘environment’ as some vague concept that we can ignore. As stated by Richard Beasley, “…it is a real thing that future generations have a right to enjoy and doesn’t just belong to this generation to exploit and destroy. That ought to be a basic, moral approach to development.”[35]

The examples of climate change and the mismanagement of the Murray Darling Basin also indicate a need for a change in our political discourse and behaviour.

Political Discourse and Behaviour

“Some people consider that there are depressing trends in the governance of Australia: the thinning of talent, and the use of phrases ‘let’s be clear about this’, immediately before being unclear, and that of ‘quiet Australians’ – a term that seems to be a euphemism for idiots. There are more disturbing trends, however. An alarming reliance on secrecy. An intolerance to scrutiny, and an often-vengeful response to criticism – especially if that criticism is measured, rational, and well informed. An increasingly insatiable appetite for condoning or defending conduct that would once have been considered disgraceful. The reduction of public discourse and debate to sound bites and, worse still, slogans.”[36]

 In 1996, in John Howard’s first year as prime minister, 7 of his ministers resigned over conflicts of interest or claims for travel and other allowances. Some current Ministers, such as Angus Taylor[37], would not survive in a Howard government.[38] Once upon a time a politician would resign at the mere perception of mistrust but unfortunately that is no longer the case.

Our leaders need to be held at a high level of accountability and given the behaviour of our current government with examples such as sports rorts[39], Community Development Grant program[40], offshore detention centres[41], purchasing nuclear submarines[42] and a Minister receiving $1 million in a blind trust to pay for legal expenses[43], we need a federal ICAC, especially as this all feels like the tip of the iceberg of maladministration at best and corruption at worse.

We have also entered a period where policies are adopted not because they are right but because they can be sold. This practice has been referred to as ‘retail politics’ and is a dangerous development. We need evidence-based policies and a revival of the process of dialogue and negotiation, not mere slogans and resorting to populism. But I guess evidence lacks the psychological power created by appeals to prejudice or fear of disadvantage and that is where our government has taken us.[44]

The toxicity of politics in Canberra is also at unprecedented levels. Barry Jones highlights that people with long political experience regard the Abbott and Morrison governments as the most vindictive they can recall. There has been a breakdown in personal relationships across party lines and our politicians seem to have abandoned the practice of debating with ideas and instead resort to incessant personal attacks, wild exaggeration and the endless repeating of slogans. When we have Ministers and MPs who are behaving appallingly in parliament, with no wish to debate public issues, it means our political system is no longer capable of tackling major problems such as climate change, the refugee issue, the ethical basis of taxation, education, secrecy and corruption in public life. [45]

The behaviour of our politicians is central to creating trust and confidence in our democracy. Public confidence comes with leaders being open and honest about the situation, including the uncertainties, and accompanying that with a credible solution-oriented message. Done consistently that brings trust and with trust comes community confidence.

Tax policy also lies at the heart of the democratic project, and this is also an integral issue that needs to be addressed.

Taxation

“The incessant propaganda war against the efficiency and effectiveness of government services, combined with obsession with shrinking the size and role of governments, is now helping to drive a loss of faith in democracy itself.”[46]

I’d be happy to pay more tax if it meant more investment in our public services resulting in free health and education services such as how the Nordic countries manage their societies. There must be something to it, they are some of the highest taxed people in the world but also some of the happiest. The predominant narrative in Australia has been against governments providing services and infrastructure and the need for small government. But I am not afraid of big government when it means big education, big health care, big childcare, big aged care and big public transport. Although I am not a fan of big government when it means big surveillance, big subsidies for fossil fuels and mining, big subsidies for private schools, a big push for discrimination, a big war on drugs and big governments wanting to curtail sovereignty of my consciousness[47].

Our government for many years has made much of the perceived need to reduce the amount of public spending which has denied us having a genuine democratic discussion about ideas and initiatives to create the society we want. Our public discourse has been reduced to slogans, debates reduced to costings and economic modelling and fabricated culture wars. We are at a point where the mere suggestion that government spending, regulation and ownership could significantly improve the lives of most Australians is so derided that it is almost never seriously talked about.[48]

This is all despite the evidence of our history and of international experience. Nordic counties such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland have delivered health and wealth to their populations with higher standards of living, greater happiness and greater productivity growth than us and have done without slashing health and education spending or selling off key infrastructure. Here is Australia we have experienced unabated economic growth since 1991 up until the pandemic hit in 2020 and our government tells us we can’t afford things such as free education or free health care. We slashed spending on health, education, and welfare in the late 1990’s based on reducing debt, but we didn’t restore this expenditure when the mining boom hit in the 2000’s. Instead, we slashed income tax, company tax and capital gains tax but also allocated a lot of money towards subsidising private schools, private health insurance and defence.[49] The current strategy of our government appears to be, tax cuts for themselves and their friends and reduced services for everyone else.

You might find it as astounding as I did when I learned that despite all this talk of downsizing by our government over the last 30 years, our annual Commonwealth spending has increased from around $139 billion in 1996 to more than $588 billion today. Unfortunately, this increase in expenditure has not resulted in a great public school system, or free health care, or free childcare or free tertiary education but has resulted in private childcare, expensive (albeit subsidised) private schools and our children leaving university with substantial HECS debts.[50] On top of that we now no longer own much of the essential infrastructure that was built by our previous generations.

I was also astounded to find out that our government has set a cap of 23.9% for the amount of tax it will collect from our national income. This is an arbitrary figure. Surely the amount of tax collected needs to correspond with the need or the circumstances of the day and could rise and fall as required. Richard Denniss has pointed out that if we set that arbitrary figure at 24.9% than would mean an additional $20 billion to spend, or if we set our tax level to something similar to the Nordic countries, we would have an additional $100 billion to spend.[51]  Maybe then we could pay teachers, health care workers and aged care workers a bit more to recognise the vital role they play in our society.

Richard Dennis also points out, “There is no evidence that collecting more tax harms economic growth but there is overwhelming evidence that collecting more tax redistributes income and can have a transformative effect on society.”[52]

Tax policy is at the heart of the democratic project and should be treated as such. While taxes will always have an essential role in economics it is not an economic issue only for the purview of the powerful.

For too long we have been told that the public sector is too big, and that money is too tight, constraining the scope of democratic debate in our country. I’d like a government in power that will be willing to consider increasing taxes and government spending, noting this will not ruin the economy but could reshape it for the benefit of all of us. Here are some initiatives and taxes I think we should discuss to achieve that aim.

Corporate Taxation

“Some estimates put the costs to Australia of international; tax avoidance at around $6 billion per year, though industry whistleblower George Rozvany estimates the true losses are closer to $50 billion per year.”[53]

In 2013/14, 40% of the biggest 1,539 companies in Australia paid no taxes at all. The low level of taxation is due to low levels of company tax rates as well as favourable tax regulations, we also have the largest legal loopholes that provide tax discounts to select groups in the OECD.[54]

In 2015/16 the Commonwealth Bank was the biggest taxpayer, paying $3.3 billion on total income of $42.7 billion. The ANZ ($2 billion), NAB ($2.4 billion) and Westpac ($3 billion) all made substantial contributions. More than 60% of mining companies did not pay tax, however BHP paid $1.3 billion on $26.7 billion in income, Rio Tinto paid $1 billion on $27.8 billion in income, Fortescue Metals Group paid $393 million on $8.9 million in income and Hancock Prospecting paid $225 million on $1.9 billion. For the big IT companies, Apple paid $118 million in tax on $7.6 billion in total income and Google paid $16 million in tax from $502 million in total income. Of the big media companies News Corp Australia, declared $2.9 billion in income but did not pay any tax. Seven West Media paid $53.5 million on a taxable income of $199 million. The non-tax paying corporations included, Glencore Investments ($18.3 billion in income), Bluescope Steel ($4.9 billion), Sydney Airport ($1.3 billion), Toll Holdings ($5.1 billion), Transurban ($2.5 billion) and BNP Paribas ($4.5 billion). Chevron Australia had $2.1 billion in income but failed to pay tax. It was the third year in a row that the firm had not paid tax despite earning more than $8 billion in income over the period.[55]

In 2020 Facebook generated $713 million in advertising revenue and paid $20 million in tax by funnelling more than half a billion dollars of its revenue through an offshore subsidiary.[56]

A review of the above tells me that we need a much stronger tax system that will ensure corporations pay their fair share. We have been told that taxing these companies will make Australia uncompetitive in the global market and that it will result in less investment in Australia. I beg to differ.

Let’s take LNG as an example. In 2019 we became the biggest exporter of LNG in the world. In 2017/18 LNG companies in Australia had revenue of almost $30 billion yet paid just $1.07 billion in royalties levied under the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT). In 2016/17 they had $22.7 billion in revenue and paid just $970 million PRRT.

By comparison, Qatar, a close second in production to Australia received $26 billion in royalties. My maths tells me we missed out at on up to $25 billion if we charged the same royalties as Qatar. Just to rub salt into the wound, 87% of our new LNG projects are owned by overseas companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, so all that money is going to overseas shareholders. The problem is the PRRT is based on profits and not production and the companies can structure their balance sheets to minimise profits for their Australian operations and Chevron and ExxonMobil have admitted they don’t expect to pay any PRRT until the mid-2030’s.[57]

Furthermore, of the $27 billion of LNG exported from WA in 2021, just $430 million was paid in royalties to the state government. This amounts to about 1% of that state’s revenue and is similar to the amount of revenue received from vehicle registrations. So much for the assertion that we rely on fossil fuels to fund government services.[58]

It appears to me the PRRT system needs to be scrapped and started over, and be based on production, not profit. Perhaps we also need to revisit the corporate super profits tax that was proposed by the Rudd Government back in 2010.

Whilst this is an issue at a US or international level, it could be argued that companies such as Google and Facebook have now accumulated too much power and make too much profit while not paying enough tax. It is interesting to note a similar situation occurred in the 1890’s when JD Rockefellers Standard Oil controlled 88% of all oil refining in the US. The government at the time introduced strong competition regulations resulting in Standard Oil being compulsorily broken up which is todays Chevron, Mobil and Amoco.[59] These things can happen if we have the political will.

We should also remember the power our government has compared to these corporate giants. We should not fear them, and this was illustrated when our government introduced the News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, forcing Google and Facebook to negotiate payments for content from Australian news outlets. Whilst Google threatened to leave Australia and Facebook shut down its newsfeed for a day, they now pay around $100 million for content they used to get for free.[60] Furthermore, every time one of us clicks on something in our newsfeed, we are creating data that these companies sell to advertisers, all our social media activity creates data that can be sold. They should be paying us for that data either through appropriate taxation or some other charge the government could collect on our behalf and put towards service delivery (or tax cuts).

Taxes for Wealthy

Billionaires doubled their wealth during the pandemic while many of us are struggling. A report conducted by Oxfam identifies that the 47 billionaires in Australia doubled their wealth during the pandemic by a combined $255 billion. These 47 people have more wealth than the poorest 7.7 million Australians, or 30% of our population. [61] This is manifestly wrong in my opinion. As I have already mentioned, there will always be wealthier and poorer people however we need to ensure a redistribution of wealth to stop this growing inequality in our society. Our government rightly spent $200 billion on Covid measures which could be covered by these 47 people by just their additional wealth from the last 2 years alone. Perhaps we need a Covid/Billionaire Tax for that express purpose?

Instead of our government giving tax cuts to our wealthy I believe we need a Billionaires Tax on the super wealthy. It’s not as though they can’t afford it and they’ll still have more money than most of us could imagine having at their disposal.

I also believe we should consider the introduction of an Inheritance Tax. We did have one once and it was only applied to the top few percent of the wealthiest individuals. I note that in 1968 it accounted for 3.1% of total tax revenue and 0.6% of GDP but by 1989 the tax was completely disbanded. Had this tax remained, based on 2014/15 data today 0.6% of GDP is $10 billion or 2.8% of tax revenue. Both France and Belgium raise a similar proportion of inheritance tax revenue to what Australia once did in the 1960’s. These things can happen if we have the political will.[62]

We could also consider removing the discount on capital gains tax of 50% which costs $6 billion per year in lost revenue. I must put my hand and say that I have benefitted from this discount when I sold a property two years ago. However, I still paid some $30,000 or so in addition tax that year which is much more than many corporations did.

Add together the tax dodge of multinationals (up to $50 billion), tax breaks on trusts (around $1 billion) and the loss of inheritance tax (about $10 billion) we get about $67 billion in reduced Federal taxes which the average Australian makes up by paying an extra 23% of taxes.[63] We could be paying 23% less in tax or we could have an extra $67 billion to pay towards improved services such as healthcare, education, and aged care. If only we had the political will.

Negative Gearing

I must put my hand up again and confess I have benefitted from negative gearing for many years, from about 2002 to early 2021. But I don’t agree with this benefit which is one of the contributing factors why I sold my investment properties. Be that as it may, the benefit of negative gearing goes to high income households with about 50% of the benefit going to the top 20% of households. Negative gearing has pushed house prices up which is making it hard for young people to enter the housing market. About 70% of the benefit of negative gearing goes to those of us aged over 40 so young people get the double hit of missing out on the negative gearing tax concession as well as being priced out of the housing market.[64]

Interestingly almost a half of all federal politicians own an investment property whereas only 10% of the general population do.[65]

As we saw at the last election in 2019, when Labor proposed to remove negative gearing (as well as cut the capital gains discount) to properties purchased after 1^st January 2020 it caused quite a stir by the Coalition. I agreed with Labor’s proposed policy as it would make the housing market more equitable in the long run and reduce a benefit that mainly benefits the wealthy. There is probably a whole other related discussion around increasing house prices and rental hikes that needs to be addressed by I’m not going to go there for now.

Fuel Excise Tax

Perhaps with the impending move towards Electric Vehicles (EVs), not to mention our rising petrol prices where we are closing in on paying $2 a litre, we should also consider the Fuel Excise Tax. This is a regressive tax where the poorest pay the highest proportion of their income on it. We are currently paying 42.2 cents per litre in fuel excise, and this will rise again before the end of the year in line with inflation. However not all of us pay this tax, in 2019/20 our government paid out $7.8 billion in fuel tax credits. This has been described as the largest fossil fuel tax break whereby oil, gas and coal companies claimed $14.5 billion in fuel tax credits from 2006/07 to 2019/20. The justification for the credit is their vehicles don’t use public roads however despite the tax originally being introduced to fund road infrastructure it currently just goes into general revenue so that is now a moot point.[66]

As EV’s become common place revenue from fuel excise will reduce and perhaps a more equitable replacement may be a road user charge which taxes motorists on the distance they drive with maybe some tax credits for small businesses and regional communities. Or maybe fuel should be treated the same as other goods and services and only have the 10% GST applied.

Universal Basic Income

Whilst not a tax, I want to include some comments about the idea of implementing a Universal Basic Income (UBI), which is something I believe we should consider. A UBI is defined by the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) as ‘a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement’. It could be a payment that will be enough to survive on whilst removing the stigma of welfare payments. The implementation of a UBI could not be achieved without substantial changes to government programs and the tax system, it would be quite a revolutionary thing to do. The overall effect and cost of a UBI depends on the entire package of changes that may be required to be implemented.

There are a heap of potential benefits and issues to be resolved when considering such a radical change to our taxation system but if the pandemic has taught us anything it is that our economy depends on the resilience of our most vulnerable. It can give the poor what the wealthy take for granted, the ability to make decisions about the work they do in and outside the labour market. And as Tim Dunlop has said, “Its universality reinvigorates the idea we are all in this together, that there is such a thing as society, that we can’t buy ourselves out of social obligations, and that all of us contribute to, and benefit from, the common wealth.”[67] A UBI is a matter of common justice, can enhance freedom and provide basic security, which is a human need and a public good.

But to sum up my thoughts on taxation, it is unfortunate that the political sensitively of taxation means that it is never rationally debated. The profound moral implications of balancing immediate gains with long term security are ignored and discounted. This also inhibits creating an effective response to climate change and transitioning to a post carbon economy.[68]

Fact is, we are one of the richest countries in the world and we can afford to do anything, but not everything, and a democratic discussion about what values we wish to uphold as a society will go a long way to helping us determine what shape our taxation system should take.

First Nation Voice

I have written about the ‘Importance of our Indigenous Culture and Heritage’ in 2019, here is a link, I have also written about racism and the #BlackLivesMatter movement in 2020, here is a link to that.

For us to meaningfully look ahead to the future we need to recognise and reconcile our colonial past as well as address the ongoing discrimination of our Indigenous people. I support our government entering a treaty with our First Nations people as it can provide a symbolic recognition of First Nations Peoples’ sovereignty and provide a framework for living together and sharing the land that Indigenous peoples traditionally occupied.

I am inspired by the idea of creating a Makarrata Commission which is an essential outcome sought by the Uluru Statement. Makarrata is a word in the Yolngu language meaning coming together after a struggle, facing the facts of wrongs and living again in peace. Essentially, Makarrata is a peace-making process and is long overdue for our nation. We can look to the example of South Africa for how to approach this process. South Africa had a truth and reconciliation commission that was headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the focus being forgiveness and reconciliation. Without forgiveness, Tutu said, there is no future. Justice was not sought even though it may have been easier, but it would have triggered vengeance.[69] Coupled with a treaty, a Makarrata Commission and speaking truth would be a powerful process for Australia and could have far reaching positive impacts on our culture.

I also agree with having an Indigenous Voice to Parliament and this could be enshrined into our constitution and/or the treaty. It is not creating a third house of parliament as some politicians have asserted but is the creation of a consultative and advisory body to ensure that indigenous voices are heard when proposed laws would significantly impact them.

I wrote about Australia Day back in 2019, here is a link. In that blog I suggested that it could be a symbolic gesture for reconciliation and recognition to officially sign a treaty on Australia Day, we could also bundle in the official start of an Australian Republic on that day as well. I can understand if our indigenous people could never bring themselves to celebrate Australia Day so maybe this idea should be discarded, but perhaps these acts could make the day meaningful and inclusive for all where we can both celebrate and commemorate the past and future of our country.

Just while I am thinking of an Australian Republic, I am a fan of an Australian Head of State continuing in the more symbolic role of the current Governor General and that they be chosen by a 2/3 majority of parliament. I don’t want a popularly elected ‘President’ as we don’t need another level of politics to contend with. I also believe we should refer to our new Head of State as ‘Auntie’ or ‘Uncle’ and I would also like our first Australian Head of State to be Indigenous.

I also believe the frontier wars need to be recognised at the War Memorial in Canberra as this would go a long way to us coming to terms with this aspect of our history, to build common understanding and mutual respect.

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

I need to say straight off the bat, there are no illegal refugees or asylum seekers. No human can be illegal on the only planet capable of sustaining us. Refugees and asylum seekers are humans in desperate need of our humanity and compassion.

According to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, in June 2020, the average time an immigration detainee spends in a facility is 545 days. The average length of stay in detention in Australia has stood at over 400 days since 2015. It places us as a total outlier in the world, the average length of stay in immigration detention in the United States is 55 days and in Canada is 14 days. Around a quarter of detainees have spent over two years in immigration detention.[70]

During the whole Djokovic debacle earlier this year I first learned of Mehdi Ali. He arrived in Australia by boat when he was 15, fleeing his home country Iran because he faced systemic oppression as a member of the Ahwazi Arab minority. Mehdi is now 24 years old and has been detained for nine years with no end in sight. Despite our government recognising Mehdi’s claim for protection, he is still locked up. Over the last nine years, he has been held in Nauru, Brisbane and now Melbourne’s Park Hotel. During his time in Nauru, he witnessed his friends burning themselves alive out of desperation and he was beaten and abused. He is one of 35 refugees currently imprisoned at the Park Hotel.[71] Many of us are also aware of the plight of the Murugappan family, who lived and thrived as part of the Biloela community in Queensland until they were forced into detention in March 2018. Unfortunately, the stories of Mehdi and the Murugappan family are not isolated and are the norm for many of those seeking a new life here in Australia.

I just can’t even think of a word to describe the actions, or inaction of our government and the abhorrent way we are treating these people. I used ‘shitfuckery’ to describe our government’s response to climate change earlier and even that doesn’t come close. It defies belief and is one of our most unforgivable acts as a nation and it reflects on all of us for allowing our government to continue this gross injustice and evil.

But it gets worse.

The Nauru Detention Centre where we are currently imprisoning 107 refugees is operated by Canstruct, who were essentially a shelf company that had assets of just $8 when they were awarded a $385 million contract in 2017, which has become a $1.6 billion contract without any competitive tender.[72] Canstruct made a profit of $101 million last financial year.

Can you see why we desperately need a Federal ICAC?

I am heartened that Labor have pledged to release these refugees if they were to be elected this year and I just wish our current government had it in their heart to do it now. The immigration minister has the power to do this immediately, if only he had the humanity and compassion to do so.

Reforming the Parliament

 “In a democracy, if governments lose the trust of the electorate, then electorates will ultimately rebuild governments.”[73]

It appears obvious to me that we need to implement several reforms to rebuild trust and confidence in our parliament.

Lobbying Revolving Door

More than a quarter of major party federal MPs who served in executive government moved across to peak bodies, lobbying firms or directly into big business in their political afterlife.  While the direction of flow for senior MPs may be mostly one-way, the career paths of senior public servants, consultants and industry figures are frequently more circular between private industry and the public sector, this has been described as a revolving door. It has also been observed that the boundaries between private and public sectors are so porous you can’t tell where the coal industry ends, and the Australian Government begins.[74]

Our federal government does have a non-binding Lobbying Code of Conduct. It requires lobbyists to have filed a statutory declaration to the effect that they haven’t been convicted of a serious crime and are not “a member of a state or federal political party executive, state executive or administrative committee, however, the Code has no basis in legislation and there are no penalties for breaches of its vaguely worded provisions other than removal from the register. Direct engagement with MPs and public servants by company CEOs, government affairs personnel or in-house lobbyists – many of them former MPs or advisors – is a significant avenue of corporate influence, operating outside the ambit of the Lobbying Code of Conduct.[75]

Lobbying Code of Conduct also requires former federal Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries to not, ‘for a period of 18 months after they cease to hold office, engage in lobbying activities relating to any matter that they had official dealings with in their last 18 months in office’, this is also consistent with the Ministerial Code. In 2019 it appeared there were two straightforward breaches of these codes, by Christopher Pyne whose immediate employment after leaving parliament was with EY and Adelaide-based arms industry lobbyists GC Advisory, and Julie Bishop’s directorship with private aid contractor Palladium. I guess it was no surprise that following an internal investigation by the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet found the standards has not been breached.

I agree with the Confronting State Capture Report that recommends we should:

• Create a strong federal integrity commission
• Introduce an enforceable code of conduct for politicians
• Introduce a merit-based process for appointing government advisors
• Create a public register for lobbyists and publish ministerial diaries
• Impose a three-year mandatory cooling-off period for ministers and their staff

A candidate willing to commit to these reforms would get my vote.

Political Donations

The Grattan Institute analysis of the 2020/21 financial disclosures showed that huge sums of money from undisclosed sources are flowing to the major parties. For the Coalition it was 62% or $39 million of their $62 million revenue and for Labor it was 43% or $20.2 million of their $47 million of revenue.[76]

The national donations disclosure regime has several characteristics that are readily exploited. It is uncapped, meaning there is no upper limit to the amount of money a donor can pay, or a candidate can receive. The source of amounts below $14,500 don’t need to be declared, and multiple donations below this threshold can be made to state and territory branches of the same party without needing to disclose the total. Reporting only occurs annually, when the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) publishes returns each February, long after the funding sources of any given election campaign have ceased to be topical. Furthermore, the AEC is also not well placed to provide assurance that disclosure returns are accurate or complete. The cumulative effect is a disclosure regime that is unclear, uncapped and easily manipulated and our financial disclosure system has been described as one of the worst in the world.[77]

Of course, any reforms of our political donation regime are going to affect the only people who have the power to change the system and will affect their vested interests to some degree. I agree with the Confronting State Capture Report that recommends we should:

• Ban large donations to politicians altogether.
• Limit the amount candidates and parties can spend on election campaigns
• Declare all political donations over $2,500 publicly and in real time
• Limit how much anyone can spend on trying to influence the outcome of an election.

A candidate willing to commit to these reforms would get my vote.

Accountability

There are several measures that we could implement to increase accountability of our parliament. I have already mentioned previously the establishment of a Federal ICAC is one that is long overdue and necessary. A robust, well-resourced ICAC will deter some of the behaviours we have seen and ensure accountability of our parliamentarians and the Federal public service.

The role of the Auditor General is also imperative in ensuring accountability of our parliament and its office also needs to be well resourced and funded. Unfortunately, the Auditor Generals budget has been cut in real terms by 20% between 2013 and 2020. The current budget for the Auditor General is $80 million which does not seem adequate to scrutinise over $500 billion in expenditure especially if it is compared to the governments advertising expenditure of $100 million.[78]

I would recommend the budget for the Auditor General be set by an independent authority to ensure it can adequately scrutinise government spending.

Sortition

Voting in elections is not the only way to have democracy. Before voting we had sortition and it was understood by the ancient Greeks that if you wanted government to be truly democratic, so that every citizen’s views are heard then you had to use sortition. According to Aristotle, “It is accepted as democratic when public officers are allocated by lot; and as oligarchic when they are filled by election’.[79]

I’d love for us to consider using sortition for the Senate. The House of Representatives would still be made up of elected representatives however the senate could be filled by a random ballot of all eligible voters. We could stipulate the make-up of the senate to make it truly reflective of the demographics of our community, by gender and age and any other aspect of our population we deem appropriate. A new senate could be selected each year or possibly in line with the election cycle, and it would provide the opportunity for any of us to be part of our decision-making process.

Whilst it may come with some inefficiencies and there would be logistic and economic considerations for participants, I don’t think they would be insurmountable and the benefit of having a much more representative, equal and collaborative body may ensure our democracy and parliament is much more likely to deliver what we want.

I guess this is similar to the idea of a UBI as it could revolutionise how we engage and view our democracy and could be a transformative initiative for our society.

Team Purple

I have long thought that we need a new political party in this country, my working title for this party is ‘Team Purple’ as it should reflect the positive elements of the current blue (Liberal) and red (Labor) parties and include a tinge of green as well. My sense that we need a new political party further reinforces my dismay at the demise of the Democrats who could have been this force by now had they not imploded in the 2000’s. I was quite heartened when I learned that Barry Jones also advocates for a new political party however he has called his the ‘Courage’ Party. Whilst we have given each party different titles the sentiment of both is the same. We would both like to see a party that commits to both economic and non-economic objectives with a strong emphasis on moral values and truth telling. ‘Team Purple’ would commit to the following list of actions that can be found in Barry Jones’ book What Is to Be Done. It would:

• Take strong action on climate change and moving towards a post carbon economy
• Replacing the Australian Constitution, building on the current model but include references to cabinet government, democratic practice, recognising Indigenous rights and an Australian head of state. I believe the constitution should be an inspiring document and one that we are all proud to know its contents.
• Adopting a Bill of Rights.
• Creating a Federal ICAC (I’ve laboured this point a bit in this blog but it is essential to protect our democracy from corruption and maladministration)
• Open government, judicial review, and rejecting the imposition of secrecy to save governments from embarrassment (citing ‘national security’ as the excuse for suppression).
• Ensuring appropriate funding for the ABC, CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology and the Bureau of Statistics.
• Recognising the value of the humanities and the arts and providing adequate funding to them.
• Giving a high priority to science as a key to understanding how the world works, and adopting the scientific method in decision making, including economic goals.
• Establishing a moral base for progressive taxation.
• Acknowledging the increase in social inequity and the role taxation and school funding as contributing factors
• Providing funding for schools based on need, ending favouritism towards particular sectors and ending the political weaponisation of parental anxiety about school choices.
• Revising school syllabuses to include understanding of democracy, ethics, philosophy, tribalism, patriarchy, misogyny and colonial history. I would also add the syllabus should also provide the tools and skills to advance our thinking capability, the outcome being the ability to think in a more complex, systematic, strategic and independent manner.
• Rethinking foreign, defence and trade policies.
• Being open minded and sceptical about involvement in foreign wars (Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq) and super charged spending on military hardware (especially submarines) without rational analysis and full parliamentary debate.
• Taking more creative approaches to resolving tensions arising from multiculturalism.
• Rejecting the notion of education, health and the arts as industries.
• Reviving the concepts of ‘the public interest’ and the ‘common good’.
• Adopting compassionate and rational policies towards refugees and asylum seekers arriving by sea.
• Establishing openness in the party’s own procedures.[80]

In addition, ‘Team Purple’ would:

• Seek to enter a treaty with our Indigenous People coupled with Constitutional recognition as well as the establishment of a Makarrata Commission and establishing an indigenous voice to parliament.
• Develop policies to support and encourage small business and placing the role and success of small business as the centrepiece to our economy.
• Legalise cannabis and encourage the creation of industries based on medical cannabis and the use of hemp products.
• Implement a strategic planning process to ensure the interaction and balance between economic, social and environmental goals and encourage open and accountable governance which is responsive to community needs and aspirations.
• Develop a set of national values that could act as a prism through which all decision making, and political actions can be assessed.
• Phase out pokie machines in all pubs and clubs. This could occur over a 20-year period reducing the number of pokies by 5% each year (or maybe reducing them by 10% each year over 10 years). This will enable pubs and clubs to transition to other business models whereby they aren’t reliant on pokie revenue.

With the absence of a ‘Team Purple’ in the upcoming election I am heartened by the number of ‘centrist’, climate change focussed independents that are running for office this year and I love that they are all woman (at least those that I am aware of anyway). I believe that a proper proportion of woman in parliament (that is at least half) will break down some of the macho masculine chest beating behaviour in parliament as well as the patriarchal nonsense which drives us to purchase big military toys and go to wars based on lies (such as Iraq). It should also mean we get some action on climate change and see more compassion in our policies which we need for our refugees and asylum seekers.

I hope that these independents get the balance of power following the election. It should be noted that a minority government can still achieve a lot, our most recent example being the Gillard Government which was able to get 570 bills passed by the Senate, with key achievements including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the child abuse royal commission, implemented a carbon price and paid parental leave.

In the meantime, I will keep thinking about ‘Team Purple’ and working on how this could become a reality.

Human Potential

“The huge task of exploring human potential has never been taken seriously. Nor has the equally huge task of meeting human needs.”[81]

I believe democracy should also be all about us achieving our greatest potential individually and collectively. If I can borrow some words from the South African Constitution which includes the following intention, ‘Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person’, I love that phrase, ‘free the potential of each person’, it inspires me so much, and I think a way of achieving this is by recognising that the depth of human experience is more than just material things, technology and our egos.

At the end of the day democracy is all about us, the people, and we seem to have lost that connection. We have let greed, power and ego lead the way which has meant we have embraced the ideology of neoliberalism and reduced everything down to an economic value. Life is so much more than that and that needs to be reflected in our politics and democracy.

We have treated arts as optional throughout the pandemic, this is a grave mistake. Arts are not optional; they are the answer. I wish to live in a society where engagement in all forms of creative expression and the arts are at the heart of our cultural life.  As Barry Jones wrote, “Writers, musicians and creative artists throw light on the human condition and help us find out who we are. As do philosophers, historians, political scientists, psychologists, journalists, critics and anthropologists.[82]

Education is a key the enabling us to achieve our potential and to that end we should strive to have a great public school system. Our education system is currently failing us, and we were ranked 39 out of 41 for our education system compared to other high/middle income countries by UNICEF in 2017. We should strive to provide an education system like Finland which is held up as the ‘gold standard’. In Finland, students vie for places in teacher/education degrees like the way we do for law or commerce. Their teachers are paid well, most have postgraduate qualifications, and their profession is highly respected and sought after. This could be us too if we decided to appropriately fund our education sector.[83]

Our current funding model is flawed, disadvantages the public system and is directly contributing to an overall decline in our educational standards.[84] In the period from 2009/10 to 2019/20 private school funding increased by $3,358 per student compared to an increase of $703 per student for public schools (made up of a $1,181 increase in federal funding and a $478 reduction of state funding). In 2019/20 the average funding for a public school student was $15,181 (including $3,246 federal funding) and $13,189 for a private school student (including $10,211 federal funding).[85]

We should be phasing out the subsidies for private education and direct all our funding to the public system as this will address the widening gap between privilege and disadvantage in our society and enable us to build a public school system that could rival that of Finland’s and get us towards the top of the UNICEF rankings. Our children, who are our future, deserve such an ambition.

This will also enable us to achieve our greatest challenge, which as Hugh Mackay has identified for all of us “… to enable humanity to achieve its full potential, not just as consumers, and to preserve our home, our planet, to understand what we are capable of.”[86]

Conclusion

“The unique intersection of ecological, biological and economic imperatives may finally be bringing us to a point where we will be forced to abandon the pursuit of certainly and control, where we will see through the vanities of individualism and consumerism, where we will begin to understand that not all opinions are equal and that some suitably credentialled people actually know more about their field of expertise than the rest of us do; where we will begin to embrace a more communitarian, cooperative ethos. It might not be a choice; our survival as a species might depend on it.”[87]

What I’d love to hear about in the coming election are ideas, especially ideas from those running in my own electorate, their ideas about how they want to improve and/or reform our democracy and politics and what their aspirations are to build a better Australia. My question to all candidates is, what is the thing that they are passionate about that has motivated them to stand for office, and what it is that they want to achieve in the coming term of government?

But I fear the election will be more like the last couple of weeks in parliament, which has been a slanging match around legislation that appears to have been introduced not for national stewardship but to create an environment for angry, self-interested disputes and wedge politics. I fear an ugly election campaign, especially from what appears to be a desperate government, as this will just further entrench our views that our politics are broken.

I can only hope I am wrong. But I am not despondent. I believe we can develop a new progressive agenda which will unite ordinary Australians against the elite driven policies as our future depends on it. We just need to keep our minds and our hearts open and not get drawn into the mire that some candidates will want to drag us into.

We have a massive challenge ahead of us if we wish to create a world that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. One of those challenges will be reforming our political systems and improving our democracy and I hope this blog has provided some food for thought and some inspiration for initiatives, opportunities and actions that can be part of this process.

For our democracy’s sake, it is incumbent on all of us to step up, not be complacent, take an interest, focus on the common good and speak our truth.

I will conclude this blog with the words Barry Jones used to end his book ‘What Is to Be Done’, he wrote, “It is essential that we don’t fall into despair and retreat to the caves. But citizens have to be informed, and then challenge and speak truth to power. It will not be easy. It will be exhausting. It will not be comfortable. We will probably lose some friends. But it must be done.”[88]

Thank you so much for reading this blog.

As some of you would realise, I love a quote, here are some that I considered for this blog but didn’t make the cut ….

 “When the people fear the government, we have tyranny. When the government fears the people, we have liberty.”

Thomas Jefferson

 “When a clown moves into the palace, he doesn’t become king. The palace becomes a circus.”

Turkish proverb

 “As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome”.

Noam Chomsky

 In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell

 “The ABC is one of the greatest pieces of accountability infrastructure in this country. It protects and strengthens our democracy with its free, fair and independent reporting. Attacking the ABC as a political stunt or slashing its funding weakens the ABC and by extension our democracy.”

Ben Oquist

 “There must be something rotten in the very core of a social system which increases its wealth without diminishing its misery.”

Karl Marx

 “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world”

JRR Tolkien

[1] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, pages 12 & 13

[2] Quote found on page 15 of Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’

[3] Madden, C., 2009, ‘Australian Democrats: The Passing of an Era’, Research Paper no. 25 2008–09, here is a link

[4] Ashoka – Wikipedia

[5] John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton – Wikipedia

[6] John Dewey – Wikipedia

[7] West, S., 2019, Episode #130 … Dewey and Lippman on Democracy’, Philosophize This! Podcast

[8] Grant, S., 2019, ‘Australia Day’, page 31

[9] Denniss, R., 2019, ‘Dead Right’, page 71

[10] Denniss, R., 2019, ‘Dead Right’, page 71

[11] Jones, B., 2020, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 60

[12] Williams, G., 1997, ‘Truth in Political Advertising Legislation in Australia’, here is a link

[13] Jones, B., 2020, ‘What Is To Be Done’, pages 196, 210, 211 & 238

[14] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, page 9

[15] Denniss, R., 2019, Dead Right’, pages 1 & 2

[16] McKnight, D., 2018, ‘Populism Now’, pages 21 & 22

[17] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, pages 65 & 66

[18] The Australian Democracy Network was founded in 2020 by the Human Rights Law Centre, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Council of Social Service, with support from Mannifera. Their mission is to create a thriving democracy in which civil society is robust and vibrant; public debate is informed, fair and diverse; citizens are engaged, government is clean, open and accountable and the wellbeing of people and the planet comes first.

[19] McKnight, D., 2018, ‘Populism Now’, page 33

[20] McKnight, D., 2018, ‘Populism Now’, page 170

[21] Wilkinson, M., 2020, ‘The Carbon Club’, page 45

[22] Quoted from the King James Bible, here is a link

[23] Thomas Edison, quoted in Jones, B., 2020 ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 159

[24] Lord Nicholas Stern, quoted in McKnight, D., 2018, ‘Populism Now’, page 61

[25] McKnight, D., 2018, ‘Populism Now’, page 62

[26] Huntley, R., ‘The Fossil-Fuel Industry’s Grip on Australian Hearts and Minds’, The Monthly, December 2021-January 2022 Edition, here is a link

[27] Jones, B., 2020, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 285

[28] Huntley, R., ‘The Fossil-Fuel Industry’s Grip on Australian Hearts and Minds’, The Monthly, December 2021-January 2022 Edition, here is a link

[29] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, page 9

[30] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, pages 41, 44 & 45

[31] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, page 110

[32] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, pages 4, 11 & 12

[33] Monaghan, J., 2019, ‘What were the key findings of the SA Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission?’, Australian Water Association, here is a link

[34] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, page 5

[35] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water, page 54

[36] Beasley, R., 2021, ‘Dead in the Water’, page 5

[37] Angus Taylor is currently the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction and examples of his conduct can be found here and here

[38] Jones, B., 2020, What Is To Be Done’, page 200

[39] Refer to Jack Snape of the ABC article here

[40] Refer to these articles by Michael Pascoe in The New Daily, here, here and here

[41] Peter Dutton awarded Construct International a $1.8 billion contract despite having no staff, no assets and no revenue (but they do have a rich history of donations to the Liberal Party). See The Guardian article here

[42] Refer to Michael Pascoe’s article in The New Daily here

[43] Refer Paul Osbourne’s article in The New Daily here

[44] Jones, B., 2020, What Is To Be Done’, page 195

[45] Jones, B., 2020, What Is To Be Done’, page 228 and 229

[46] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, page 7

[47] To me sovereignty of consciousness means our freedom to control our own mental processes, cognition and consciousness. It’s our fundamental right to self-determination. we must be free to make decisions over our own consciousness, always with the proviso that we do no harm to others, and any government or institution that attempts to limit our freedom over our own consciousness is itself an agency of darkness and control

[48] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, pages 5,6,10 and 12

[49] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, pages 17, 36 and 39

[50] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, page 79

[51] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, pages 3 and 47

[52] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, page 50

[53] Murray, C.K. & Frijters, P., 2017, ‘Game of Mates – How Favours Bleed the Nation’, page 122

[54] Murray, C.K. & Frijters, P., 2017, ‘Game of Mates – How Favours Bleed the Nation’, page 122

[55] Wright, S., 2017, ‘Report Reveals Which Big Companies Pay No Tax’, The West Australian, 8 December 2017, here is a  link

[56] Samios, Z., 2021, ‘Revealed: Facebooks Tax Bill in Australia is just $20m’, The Sydney Morning Herald, here is a link

[57] Bruce, M., 2019, ‘The LNG Industry is Booming. So Why Are We Not Getting the Royalties’, The New Daily, here is a link

[58] Mazengarb, M., 2022, ‘West Australian Gas Producers Pay Paltry Royalties to Government’, Renew Economy, here is a link

[59] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, page 66

[60] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Society’, pages 69 and 70

[61] Marsh, S., 2022, ‘Australian billionaires double their collective wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic: report’, 9 News, here is a link

[62] Murray, C.K. & Frijters, P., 2017, ‘Game of Mates – How Favours Bleed the Nation’, page 123

[63] Murray, C.K. & Frijters, P., 2017, ‘Game of Mates – How Favours Bleed the Nation’, page 154

[64] Grudnoff, M., ‘Who Really Benefits from Negative Gearing?’, The Australia Institute, here is a link

[65] Wignall, S., 2021, ‘Majority of Federal Pollies own two or more properties’, The Property Tribune, here is a link

[66] Elmas, M., 2022, ‘Explained: Petrol prices are smashing records, so why isn’t fuel tax on the agenda?’, The New Daily, here is a link

[67] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, pages 166 and 167

[68] Jones, B., 2021 ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 348

[69] Grant, S., 2019, ‘Australia Day, page 165

[70] Public Interest Advocacy Centre, 2020, ‘Facts & Figures’, here is a link

[71] Qazi, B., 2022, ‘Mehdi Ali’s Been in Australian Detention for 9 Years, Last Week Novak Djokovic Was His Neighbour’, The Latch, here is a link

[72] Doherty, B. & Butler, B., 2021, ‘ Brisbane company worth just $8 when awarded $385m Nauru offshore processing contract’, The Guardian, here is a link

[73] John Daley, Gratton Institute, quotes by Mackay, H., 2018, ‘Australia Reimagined’, page 27

[74] Australian Democracy Network, 2022, ‘Confronting State Capture’, page 24

[75] Australian Democracy Network, 2022, ‘Confronting State Capture’, page 22

[76] Australian Democracy Network, 2022, ‘Confronting State Capture’, page 16

[77] Australian Democracy Network, 2022, ‘Confronting State Capture’, pages 17 to 20

[78] Denniss, R., 2022, ‘BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Economy, page 82

[79] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, page 117

[80] Jones, B., 2021, ‘What Is To Be Done’, pages 334 and 335

[81] Jones, B., 2021, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 353

[82] Jones, B., 2021, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 353

[83] Mackay, H., 2018, ‘Australia Reimagined’, page 267

[84] Mackay, H., 2018, ‘Australia Reimagined’, page 250

[85] Ore, A., 2022, ‘Private School Funding in Australia has Increased at 5 Times the Rate of Public Schools’, The Guardian, 16/2/22, here is a link

[86] Jones, B., 2021, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 351

[87] Mackay, H., 2018, ‘Australia Reimagined’, page 23

[88] Jones, B., 2021, ‘What Is To Be Done’, page 353