IPA

                                                       INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

(A 'public' ...{read 'private'} "Think Tank" who says of Tony Abbott; “We hope he grasps the opportunity to fundamentally reshape the political culture and stem the assault on individual liberty”. Doublespeak lives and it bears the IPA moniker and is determined to swing our beloved nation to the Hard Right of the Tea Party in the USA. Be afraid ...be very afraid and aware. IF Abbott says ANY of these points during the election campaign you will KNOW who is pulling the strings, really...and they include Gina Rhinehart [note the dividing Northern Australia from the rest of the country]..)

1 Repeal the carbon tax, and don’t replace it. It will be one thing to remove the burden of the carbon tax from the Australian economy. But if it is just replaced by another costly scheme, most of the benefits will be undone.

2 Abolish the Department of Climate Change

3 Abolish the Clean Energy Fund

4 Repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act

5 Abandon Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council

6 Repeal the renewable energy target

7 Return income taxing powers to the states

8 Abolish the Commonwealth Grants Commission

9 Abolish the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

10 Withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol

11 Introduce fee competition to Australian universities

12 Repeal the National Curriculum

13 Introduce competing private secondary school curriculums

14 Abolish the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

15 Eliminate laws that require radio and television broadcasters to be ‘balanced’

16 Abolish television spectrum licensing and devolve spectrum management to the common law

17 End local content requirements for Australian television stations

18 Eliminate family tax benefits

19 Abandon the paid parental leave scheme

20 Means-test Medicare

21 End all corporate welfare and subsidies by closing the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education

22 Introduce voluntary voting

23 End mandatory disclosures on political donations

24 End media blackout in final days of election campaigns

25 End public funding to political parties

26 Remove anti-dumping laws

27 Eliminate media ownership restrictions

28 Abolish the Foreign Investment Review Board

29 Eliminate the National Preventative Health Agency

30 Cease subsidising the car industry

31 Formalise a one-in, one-out approach to regulatory reduction

32 Rule out federal funding for 2018 Commonwealth Games

33 Deregulate the parallel importation of books

34 End preferences for Industry Super Funds in workplace relations laws

35 Legislate a cap on government spending and tax as a percentage of GDP

36 Legislate a balanced budget amendment which strictly limits the size of budget deficits and the period the federal government can be in deficit

37 Force government agencies to put all of their spending online in a searchable database

38 Repeal plain packaging for cigarettes and rule it out for all other products, including alcohol and fast food

39 Reintroduce voluntary student unionism at universities

40 Introduce a voucher scheme for secondary schools

41 Repeal the alcopops tax

42 Introduce a special economic zone in the north of Australia including:
a) Lower personal income tax for residents
b) Significantly expanded 457 Visa programs for workers
c) Encourage the construction of dams

43 Repeal the mining tax

44 Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states

45 Introduce a single rate of income tax with a generous tax-free threshold

46 Cut company tax to an internationally competitive rate of 25 per cent

47 Cease funding the Australia Network

48 Privatise Australia Post

49 Privatise Medibank

50 Break up the ABC and put out to tender each individual function

51 Privatise SBS

52 Reduce the size of the public service from current levels of more than 260,000 to at least the 2001 low of 212,784

53 Repeal the Fair Work Act

54 Allow individuals and employers to negotiate directly terms of employment that suit them

55 Encourage independent contracting by overturning new regulations designed to punish contractors

56 Abolish the Baby Bonus

57 Abolish the First Home Owners’ Grant

58 Allow the Northern Territory to become a state

59 Halve the size of the Coalition front bench from 32 to 16

60 Remove all remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade

61 Slash top public servant salaries to much lower international standards, like in the United States

62 End all public subsidies to sport and the arts

63 Privatise the Australian Institute of Sport

64 End all hidden protectionist measures, such as preferences for local manufacturers in government tendering

65 Abolish the Office for Film and Literature Classification

66 Rule out any government-supported or mandated internet censorship

67 Means test tertiary student loans

68 Allow people to opt out of superannuation in exchange for promising to forgo any government income support in retirement

69 Immediately halt construction of the National Broadband Network and privatise any sections that have already been built

70 End all government funded Nanny State advertising

71 Reject proposals for compulsory food and alcohol labelling

72 Privatise the CSIRO

73 Defund Harmony Day

74 Close the Office for Youth

75 Privatise the Snowy-Hydro Scheme

and folks… there’s more…

25 more ideas for Tony Abbott

IPA REVIEW ARTICLE

| John Roskam, Chris Berg and James Paterson

Following on from our 75 ideas in the last edition, John Roskam, James Paterson and Chris Berg offer 25 more ideas to reshape Australia.

76 Have State Premiers appoint High Court justices

77 Allow ministers to be appointed from outside parliament

78 Extend the GST to cover all goods and services but return all extra revenue to taxpayers through cutting other taxes

79 Abolish the federal department of health and return health policy to the states

80 Abolish the federal department of education and return education policy to the states

81 Repeal any new mandatory data retention laws

82 Abolish the Australian Human Rights Commission

83 Have trade unions regulated like public companies, with ASIC responsible for their oversight

84 End all public funding to unions and employer associations

85 Repeal laws which protect unions from competition, such as the ‘conveniently belong’ rules in the Fair Work Act

86 Extend unrestricted work visas currently granted to New Zealand citizens to citizens of the United States

87 Negotiate and sign free trade agreements with Australia’s largest trading partners, including China, India, Japan and South Korea

88 Restore fundamental legal rights to all existing commonwealth legislation such as the right to silence and the presumption of innocence

89 Adhere to section 51(xxxi) of the Constitution by not taking or diminishing anyone’s property without proper compensation

90 Repeal legislative restrictions on the use of nuclear power

91 Allow full competition on all foreign air routes

92 Abolish the Medicare levy surcharge

93 Abolish the luxury car tax

94 Halve the number of days parliament sits to reduce the amount of legislation passed

95 Abolish Tourism Australia and cease subsidising the tourism industry

96 Make all government payments to external parties publicly available including the terms and conditions of those payments

97 Abandon plans to restrict foreign investment in Australia’s agricultural industry

98 Cease the practice of setting up government-funded lobby groups, such as YouMeUnity, which uses taxpayer funds to campaign to change the Australian Constitution

99 Rule out the introduction of mandatory pre-commitment for electronic gaming machines

100 Abolish the four pillars policy which prevents Australia’s major banks from merging

Hot March 2013

There is to be a Federal Election in September. Politicians are nervous. Their jobs are on the line. Poll watching is a favourite sport for some of them.
Shit hit the Australia media this past week. It really wasn't anything much, but the Main Stream Media missed out when our present female PM ousted the encumbant people popular PM, so this past week was a time for the MSM NOT to miss a beat, even if they had to beat it up themselves.
Nothing happened. Nothing awful, or illegal or immoral...just some blokes thought they would give it another go to get their man back into the role before the election takes hold.

Our female PM is still there...she has changed her ministers and all back to normal.

Except for all the hatred, anger, sides, disunity, frustrations, blame and distasteful remarks that are whizzing around the social media, the MSM and opinion pieces.

Then I came across this speech.

THIS is what I like. This ( and I have mentioned this man at some other time) is what politics should be all about. If you can imagine a grey haired smiling Scots/Australian accent when reading this it makes it all the more enjoyable.

• Doug Cameron I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
  
  I would also like to acknowledge Cassandra, my fellow panel members and all of you who have come here to make life better for the most vulnerable Australians.
  
  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address a great organisation, an Australian institution, the Australian Council of Social Services; an organisation committed to building a good society.
  
  The Labor government is responsible for many significant policy initiatives which contribute to building a good society. These include, but are not limited to:
  • Abolishing WorkChoices and giving Australian workers a fair go;
  • effectively managing the global financial crisis and ensuring Australia did not fall into recession;
  • introducing the biggest single increase to the aged pension;
  • introduce the country's first paid maternity leave scheme;
  • pricing carbon;
  • commencing construction of the National Broadband Network;
  • investing billions in our education system including building long overdue school infrastructure;
  • developing the National Disability Insurance Scheme;
  • increasing funding to the health system; and
  • ensuring that cleaners and process workers do not subsidise the health insurance payments of wealthier Australians.
  
  All of these initiatives will be under threat with a change to a conservative government.
  
  One of the fundamental outstanding issues is to ensure that the Newstart allowance is sufficient to allow families who are dependent on government help to survive with some dignity and respect.
  
  I have yet to hear the evidence for the right-wing theory that forcing individuals and families into poverty and on to charity will improve their capacity to find employment.
  
  Simply asserting that it is "self-evident" or "beyond dispute" is not sufficient grounds to force children into poverty.
  
  Frankly, I think too many parliamentarians are unaware of the hardship and social isolation caused by poverty and unemployment.
  
  There are not too many John Curtin’s in parliament, politicians who experienced poverty and deprivation and developed an outrage at injustice.
  
  The great Labor Prime Minister Curtin described his poverty as "tea without milk, bread without butter".
  
  Too many Australian children whose parents are reliant on Newstart are still having their tea without milk and bread without butter.
  Curtin set out to uplift and empower the poorest sections of society declaring citizens can only make a contribution to society when he or she was adequately remunerated, educated and housed.
  
  Bob Hawke, despite the controversy around his child poverty statement in 1997, was correct in raising the need to address child poverty by 1990.
  
  Here we are in 2013 with far too many children in poverty.
  
  Some in the political class try to convince themselves that Newstart is a temporary allowance and that an allowance 30 per cent below the poverty line is fair reasonable and equitable.
  
  It is not!
  
  As the former US President, Theodore Roosevelt said:
  "This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in".
  
  This applies equally in Australia in 2013 as it did in the United States of America in the early 1900s.
  
  The issue before us is how to develop a community consensus for a strong, modern welfare state.
  
  Unfortunately, neoliberal economic theory and globalisation which promotes international economic integration and a race to the bottom in taxation policy and welfare payments is still the dominant approach in English-speaking nations.
  
  When you add to this the massive power and influence of Australia's mining and media corporations the opportunity for progressive economic and social policies is constrained but not defeated.
  
  Financial risk has been shifted from corporations to the state and from the state to the individual.
  
  This shifting of risk has created significant insecurity for many
  Australians at a time of great economic growth and wealth.
  
  This insecurity manifests itself in a focus on the individual at the expense of the collective good.
  
  The key issue for progressive social forces is to develop an alternative economic model and a voice which challenges the dominance of the Friedmanites in politics, government bureaucracies and the media.
  
  We must have a compelling argument as to why the collective good requires a new analysis and debate on the role of taxation as a tool of nation building and the collective good.
  
  The Nobel prize-winning economist Prof Joseph Stiglitz, in his book, The Price of Inequality, draws attention to the argument that taxes required to finance social benefits stifle growth.
  
  According to Stiglitz, over the period 2000 to 2010, high taxing Sweden, for example, grew far faster than the United States – the countries average growth rates have exceeded those of the United States – 2.31 per cent a year versus 1.85 per cent.
  
  Stiglitz quotes a former Swedish finance minister telling him "we have grown so fast and done so well because we had high taxes".
  
  Stiglitz argues that it is not that taxes themselves led to higher growth but that the taxes financed public expenditures – investments in education, technology, and infrastructure – and the public expenditures are what had sustained the high growth– more than offsetting any adverse effects from the higher taxation.
  
  Where should the money come from to fund a substantial increase in Newstart and other important welfare reforms?
  
  I cannot remember the last time I spoke to anyone who did not harbour the aspiration for our country to be a good society; one that is without peer when it comes to looking after people with disabilities, taking care of the elderly and building a public education system second to none.
  
  There is almost universal acceptance that we should do these things.
  But manifestly it seems there is almost universal timidity when it comes to the question of how we pay for them.
  
  Tax to GDP:
  
  I have said this before, and I say it again. I cannot understand why it is a badge of honour for a Labor government to have a lower tax to GDP ratio than the Howard government.
  
  Measured by tax receipts as a proportion of GDP, Australia is the 5th lowest taxing country in the OECD.
  
  A mere 0.7 per cent increase in the ratio of tax to GDP would raise sufficient revenue for us to realise our aspirations to be a good society.
  
  With GDP approaching $1.5 trillion it is beyond me that we cannot see fit to devote less than one per cent of it to fulfilling a promise of a good society.
  
  We would still be the fifth lowest taxing country in the OECD!
  
  It is high time we withdrew from what seems like some international virility contest where those who tax the least win, regardless of the cost to the social fabric.
  
  The federal budget still contains waste and unjustifiable expenditure.
  ACOSS has identified some of it in their recent brief on where it thinks waste can be cut from the budget to increased income support payments.
  
  Many of the items identified by ACOSS have also been on my radar.
  
  If we are to fund world-class public education and health systems, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, improvements in aged care, and increases to Newstart including changes to the taper and ongoing indexation then we need to look at how we increase government revenue as a percentage of GDP.
  
  This would include a mixture of revenue raising tax raising initiatives and cutting unjustifiable expenditure.

  
  
• 

  MRRT: {Mining Resource Rent tax}
  
  I still think we will need to widen the spread and increase the depth of the MRRT.
  
  In the medium to long term we will need to change profit based taxes from a tax which is used for ongoing budget expenditure to one which pays for nation building health, education, and infrastructure projects.
  
  Hypothecated taxes:
  
  We should also consider specific hypothecated taxes for ongoing structural expenditure that contributes to the well-being of society.
  
  Financial transaction taxes:
  
  I am also a supporter of a small financial transaction tax on speculative financial transactions. Many countries in Europe are implementing a modest financial transaction tax which has the potential to raise a significant amount of revenue for government.
  
  Trusts:
  
  Over the past year had I have been looking carefully, as part of the budget estimates process, at evidence that private discretionary trusts are being used by high wealth individuals to minimise tax, avoid tax and conceal assets. I will continue to do this.
  
  Superannuation:
  
  I am a long-standing advocate of the superannuation system and have supported many policy measures to encourage retirement savings. I am proud to have fought for superannuation as a union official.
  
  However the time has come for a reappraisal of the tax concessions that arguably act as a device to minimise the personal income tax of high wealth individuals.
  
  Many of these concessions are deeply entrenched and will be politically difficult to get rid of. No government ever built a good society by shirking the politically difficult decisions.
  
  Tax concessions on superannuation that cost about $32 billion a year are not sustainable.
  
  Treasury estimates that this figure will be $42 billion in 2015 – 16; more than the annual cost of the aged pension. At that rate we may as well double the aged pension and do away with government funded superannuation incentives.
  
  Diesel Fuel Tax Rebate Paid to Mining Companies:
  
  Of the $5 billion total cost to the budget of the diesel fuel tax credit scheme, $1.9 billion (or forty per cent of total claims) of that is claimed by the mining industry. As production expands when the investment is that the current boom winds down, this figure is likely to increase exponentially.
  
  Accelerated Depreciation:
  
  Accelerated depreciation concessions available to the mining industry are worth an estimated $1 billion a year. In years to come this will grow as the boom in capital expenditure is included in company accounts. If left unchecked, these concessions will cost the budget billions in tax expenditures in the coming decades.
  
  Profit Shifting:
  
  Profit shifting and tax avoidance by multinational companies is a challenge to all nations.
  
  I am pleased that legislation is currently before the Parliament aimed at countering profit shifting and tax avoidance associated with it.
  
  This would stem revenue losses of around $1 billion a year.
  
  Conclusion:
  The Labor government has done good work unwinding some of the more egregious middle-class welfare measures introduced by the Howard government.
  
  As ACOSS has pointed out, much more needs to be done.
  
  In pursuing the collective good we will confront some very powerful vested interests ad their political sycophants in the parliament. It was ever thus and will always be so.
  
  My role in Parliament is working to build a good society, even if it is unpopular with the rich, the powerful and the Tory press.
  
  None of what needs to be done to lift the most vulnerable in society out of poverty will be popular with those people and organisations.
  
  It never has been.
  
  Thank you.