The old parties have completely lost touch with their origins and purposes. They are corrupted or captured by big money and captured by the United States’ toxic vision of the world.
While the Labor government ties itself in knots trying to appease Peter Dutton and the Murdoch media, and dancing in the small space they tolerate, how many important issues go unaddressed?
Here is a quick and partial list.
Stop approving new fossil fuel extraction projects. Stop subsidising the fossil fuel industry with over $10 billion annually. Fossil fuel exports only feed the world’s addiction. Get serious about transitioning to clean energy.
Pay attention to the advice of climate scientists. The climate is showing alarming signs of tipping into runaway, catastrophic warming. There is no more time. The time to act is now, yesterday.
Intervene to immediately end the grotesque practice of imprisoning children as young as 10, even in solitary. Children need our care, there is nothing to discuss.
Demand that the US stop facilitating Israel’s mass murder in Gaza. The US is supplying most of the weapons and finance that enable Israel’s assaults. Then seek a genuine settlement, giving Palestinians full rights and acknowledging Israeli’s status as colonial invaders (like Australians).
Withdraw from AUKUS. Those submarines would be to attack China and would be too few and ill-equipped to defend Australia.
Stop and reverse the conversion of northern Australia into a staging ground for a US war with China. Ensure there are no nuclear weapons in Australia.
Engage constructively with China. China would have little interest in threatening an independent Australia pursuing the echidna strategy (prickly up close, no threat at a distance).
Get over the debt-and-deficit myth. The Federal Government creates money, through the Reserve Bank. It does not have to borrow money. Issuing interest-bearing bonds is a hold-over from the past, and they could be paid off tomorrow. There is no “burden” of debt.
Notice that under-regulated commercial banks also create money, money that inflates the housing bubble, promotes gross inequality and loads the private sector with debt. The solution is not easy, but starts with recognising the problem, and probably requires credit squeezes.
Withdraw from ANZUS. Recognise that the US is militaristic and aggressive, with hundreds of overseas bases in more than a hundred countries. Its foreign policy is governed by a class of paranoid absolutists who see the world in simplistic terms of good (us) and evil (them). It is having a hissy fit because there is a new tough kid on the block (China).
Rebuild the public service so it can give frank, fearless and well-informed advice and can deliver government services.
Acknowledge that markets are usually counter-productive in delivering social services and commonly counter-productive in other contexts as well. Markets need to be managed by ensuring their financial incentives align with our wishes and policies.
Cut immigration rates back to what they used to be, 70,000 per year, or even less. High immigration rates are a huge financial burden on Australia.
Push back on the Murdoch media. Call out their lies, their vendettas and their hatefulness. Most Australians are better than that – appeal to our better angels.
Prohibit the publication of blatant falsehoods, propaganda and disinformation. It will not be easy, but there needs to be some balance between allowing debate and preventing our social conversation from being flooded and debilitated by falsehoods.
Get courageous about establishing a partnership with Australia’s First People, as the Uluru Statement from the Heart invited us to do. Their condition will improve when we allow them to have power over their own communities. Whitefellas will benefit from learning more of their culture. We can learn tolerance, diplomacy and caring for the land.
Urgently pursue means to limit the imminent threat posed by so-called artificial intelligence. It is really just artificial cleverness, but it threatens to pollute the core of our social interactions.
Get serious about stopping habitat destruction. Stand up to the developer and agri-business lobbies.
Promote regenerative farming and forestry. Store more carbon dioxide and water in the soil and create greater fertility and biodiversity. Soils are the foundation of life.
Some of these issues are about our survival as a society. Some are about reclaiming a caring, fair-go society and stopping the slide into a deeply conflicted society like the US. Some are about how the economy and society works. This list is far from exhaustive.
The Labor Government is making some things worse, fiddling around the edges of many issues, and ignoring, or oblivious to, many opportunities. It shows no sign of a vision to avoid disaster and move into a better world.
The old parties have completely lost touch with their origins and purposes. They are corrupted or captured by big money and captured by the United States’ toxic vision of the world. We need to dump them and get people in the parliament who will represent our interests, work for our survival and create the independent, compassionate, creative, unique society we can be.
Dr. Geoff Davies is an author, commentator and scientist. He is the author of A New Australia: Discarding Delusions and Organising for the Wellbeing of All (2023, https://betternaturebooks.net/my-books/regenoz/). He blogs at Thrival Economics https://thrivaleconomics.blog/.