Voter Directed Learning
I have never been a politician but I have always been big on
giving advice. In my opinion, this government has things completely
arse up and, being an experienced adviser myself, I blame their
advisers.
Many politicians have few qualifications or expertise that can inform
them about the intricacies of the departments that they represent.
Christopher Pyne, for example, went from President of the Young Liberals
to Parliament. At the age of 25, with less than two years’ work as a
solicitor under his belt, he entered Federal Parliament and now, over 20
years later, he is being paid by us to make crucial decisions about
education that will affect generations of children. He has chosen to
ignore the expert advice from the Gonski panel because it is “too
expensive”.
We hear daily how courageous our government considers itself to be,
out there in the trenches “selling” the budget. That terminology really
grates on me. The snake oil merchants will say anything to sell their
product, as shown by how they played their own colleagues in the
National Party by threatening to scrap the diesel fuel rebate to trick
them into agreeing to increasing the fuel excise. How clever of them
(so they think).
And I wonder who came up with the afterthought of a “medical
research” slush fund to sell the co-payment. It of course has the added
benefit of reducing the deficit by getting sick people to hand over $20
billion that will just sit there to make Hockey’s numbers look better.
Yet this is sold to us as a way to make “medicare more sustainable”? I
am sick to death of hearing “nothing is free”. Have they forgotten
that we all pay a medicare levy already and were happy to increase that
to pay for the NDIS, which they then try to tell us was unfunded?
So….onto my advice to this government. I think they need some voter directed learning.
Get rid of all your current advisers and stop thinking that image and
spin and “selling the message” are more important than the message
itself. Be advised by experts who do not have political or business
conflicts of interest. Respect the knowledge and experience of public
servants who have served many masters. Don’t hamstring your real
negotiators in favour of dragging round a planeful of businessmen and
journalists for photo opportunities.
Once you have cleared the decks of toxic influences like that odious
Textor creature, start thinking about what you actually want to
achieve. All I hear from this government is “get rid of debt and
deficit”. That isn’t a goal. It may be the best means to achieve a
goal, though that is questionable, but it is not a goal within itself.
They are just numbers on a fiscal statement.
Think how we can improve our society. We need to close the gap for
our Indigenous people, we need to educate our children, we need
healthcare to remain universally available, we need to protect our
environment, we need to keep people employed and lift people from
poverty, we need to develop new industries for the future, we need to
provide a safety net for those who fall on hard times, and to provide
for an aging population both in care and in utilising their skills and
experience, we need affordable childcare and housing and public
transport. These are the things we should be striving for.
The next step is to work out how to raise the money for the programs
to achieve these goals. Obviously it is preferable to increase our
income rather than cutting spending. That should be investigated
first. After you maximise your income you THEN look at prioritising the
expenditure of that income to achieve your goals.
Stop demonising debt. It is just silly. Every successful business
and individual uses debt to their advantage. Borrowing to invest in
ventures that help you achieve your goals is a normal course of events.
One must assess the value of the investment, the possible return it
will bring, and one’s ability to service the loan.
Stop selling profitable assets to eliminate debt. The only reason
someone sells a profitable business is because they want to invest the
money in another more profitable venture, or they want to retire and
live off the proceeds of the sale. You don’t get rid of a source of
revenue to get rid of a debt. It makes no sense.
Government assets are usually sold for less than their potential
value. If it is not a profitable asset then buyers pay very low prices
for white elephants unless they have future potential for development.
If it is a profitable business, then you can be sure that the buyer
thinks they will make a greater profit which will usually be at the
expense of services and jobs.
Abbott has had to admit that our economy is in good shape currently
so the words crisis and emergency should not be used – they are
incorrect. We do not need a fire sale.
I think everyone can see that adjustments need to be made to prepare
for the future. That will always be the case in government. You cannot
be so set in stone on one course of action when you are at the mercy of
volatile world markets. What we need are long term goals with the
ability to make short term reactions to even out the effects of changes
in the global economy. We are relatively well-placed for the reaction
part, but we are sadly lacking in any long term planning.
There are many reasons this budget stinks and why the sheisters are
having trouble finding anyone to buy their spin. They are giving up
revenue hand over fist to pander to their financial backers while
hitting the poorest and most vulnerable to tighten their belts for the
sake of the nation and sacrificing many long term projects that are
already underway.
There are countless articles showing how billions in revenue could be
easily raised, not least of which would be just cutting concessions to
the rich and getting them to pay the tax they are supposed to.
Lobbyists for average Australians are being undermined at every
turn. The Human Rights Commissioner for the Disabled – sacked.
Countless health advisory groups and social welfare groups – disbanded.
Indigenous and refugee advocacy groups – defunded. Unions – demonised.
Policies are being dictated by the mining companies, the big
polluters, the gambling industry, the big banks, and the big
pharmaceutical companies.
Not one of these groups has any motive other than to maximise their
profits. They will only consider social cost if regulated to do so.
This government is very obviously an arm of big business and is using
our money to further their profits and any trivial window dressing will
not hide that fact.
March on June 24. We need to remind them that we hold more votes
than all their rich backers and lobbyists combined and the resources at
their disposal are part of our common wealth.
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