Australian Political & Infrastructure Discussion Thread

[Perikuresu]

Also, has anyone else been getting those stupid United Australia Party ads? Fucking idiots and their climate change denial.

It's plaguing our TVs like gambling ads

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

Also, has anyone else been getting those stupid United Australia Party ads? Fucking idiots and their climate change denial.

It's plaguing our TVs like gambling ads

Wonder how much AFL and NRL clubs receive from pokies. As seen with what happened at Crown,
they became a hub for organised money laundering and haven't been told to bugger out of VIC or NSW yet.
Jeesh, Dan, please stand up to the gambling lobby. (without getting dumped on by the gambling lobby at the next
Victorian election)

[Australian rePublic]

If I could build light rail lines in NSW, I'd build the following:

Gosford to North Avoca via Erina and Terrigal
Wollongong Station to WIN Stadium and perhaps further to Stocklands Shellharbour
Extend Canberra light rail into Queanbyean
Extend Gold Coast light rail into the Tweed
Extend Parramatta Light Rail from Sydney Olympic Park down Parramatta Road to the city and through to North Sydney

It's plaguing our TVs like gambling ads

Wonder how much AFL and NRL clubs receive from pokies. As seen with what happened at Crown,
they became a hub for organised money laundering and haven't been told to bugger out of VIC or NSW yet.
Jeesh, Dan, please stand up to the gambling lobby. (without getting dumped on by the gambling lobby at the next
Victorian election)

I'm pretty sure clubs in Victoria don't have pokies. but clubs in NSW do. I don't really think that there are money laundering. Some of them are small organisations, and all of them are not for profit

[Mathuvan Union]

Also, has anyone else been getting those stupid United Australia Party ads? Fucking idiots and their climate change denial.

It's plaguing our TVs like gambling ads

Bunch of idiots with too much money.

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

I'm pretty sure clubs in Victoria don't have pokies. but clubs in NSW do. I don't really think that there are money laundering. Some of them are small organisations, and all of them are not for profit

A
Are you sure?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-13/wilkie-says-clubs-non-compliant-with-money-laundering-laws/11958254
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/nsw-pokies-whats-the-scam/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/high-profits-low-principles-betting-losses-balloon-as-big-4-keep-lending-to-gamblers/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/coonan-draft-conflict-of-interest/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/australia-gambling-lobbyists-luke-stacey/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/pokies-putsch-rsls-pokies-captured-old-guard-fend-off-young-veterans-reforms/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/licked-and-loaded-how-much-are-clubs-pushing-free-grog-on-pokies-players/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/holy-dooley-catholic-clubs-make-a-killing-from-poker-machines/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/dee-why-rsl-pokies-prodigious-profits-and-personal-tragedy/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/dracula-time-new-pokies-stats-show-community-benefits-are-a-mirage/

According to Troy Stolz, a whistleblower from ClubsNSW, 95% of clubs have failed to comply with money laundering and counter-terrorism finance - meaning money launderers can just as easily get into pokies machines. That goes for your big sports clubs, to ones in places like Taree or even Gloucester. Besides that, the gambling industry's a bit of a horrible one, really. Fossil fuel majors destroy the planet, tobacco companies profit off destroying your lungs, and the alcohol industry generate profits off of alcohol abuse. Gambling is designed to be addictive in and of itself.

Sure, there are your mom and pop small pubs - but I mean clubs, not pubs, I don't mean things like your local pub at Bungadoodle or Sneezetown. I mean your clubs in places like your RSLs at Windsor - but I'm not denying nor confirming that country clubs might be - and might just be - involved in this.

[Australian rePublic]

I'm pretty sure clubs in Victoria don't have pokies. but clubs in NSW do. I don't really think that there are money laundering. Some of them are small organisations, and all of them are not for profit

A
Are you sure?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-13/wilkie-says-clubs-non-compliant-with-money-laundering-laws/11958254
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/nsw-pokies-whats-the-scam/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/high-profits-low-principles-betting-losses-balloon-as-big-4-keep-lending-to-gamblers/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/coonan-draft-conflict-of-interest/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/australia-gambling-lobbyists-luke-stacey/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/pokies-putsch-rsls-pokies-captured-old-guard-fend-off-young-veterans-reforms/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/licked-and-loaded-how-much-are-clubs-pushing-free-grog-on-pokies-players/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/holy-dooley-catholic-clubs-make-a-killing-from-poker-machines/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/dee-why-rsl-pokies-prodigious-profits-and-personal-tragedy/
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/dracula-time-new-pokies-stats-show-community-benefits-are-a-mirage/

According to Troy Stolz, a whistleblower from ClubsNSW, 95% of clubs have failed to comply with money laundering and counter-terrorism finance - meaning money launderers can just as easily get into pokies machines. That goes for your big sports clubs, to ones in places like Taree or even Gloucester. Besides that, the gambling industry's a bit of a horrible one, really. Fossil fuel majors destroy the planet, tobacco companies profit off destroying your lungs, and the alcohol industry generate profits off of alcohol abuse. Gambling is designed to be addictive in and of itself.

Sure, there are your mom and pop small pubs - but I mean clubs, not pubs, I don't mean things like your local pub at Bungadoodle or Sneezetown. I mean your clubs in places like your RSLs at Windsor - but I'm not denying nor confirming that country clubs might be - and might just be - involved in this.

Not preventing money laundering=/=causing money laundering
If the guy who lived across the road frome had a dog who shat on my neighour's lawn on a daily basis, and I failed to spray that dog with the hose to prevent it from shitting on my neighbour's lawn, it would be very different to me going to my neighbour's lawn, pulling my pants down and taking a dump

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

Not preventing money laundering=/=causing money laundering
If the guy who lived across the road frome had a dog who shat on my neighour's lawn on a daily basis, and I failed to spray that dog with the hose to prevent it from shitting on my neighbour's lawn, it would be very different to me going to my neighbour's lawn, pulling my pants down and taking a dump

Ok, let me rephrase that.
By not preventing money laundering, or choosing to deliberately prosecute those who
expose their own failures, they are aiding and abetting money laundering.
Again, look at the scandal Crown has gotten itself into.

And even then, I think gambling's just an unethical industry
in and of itself. That goes for sports betting and lottos too. Look at the problems it causes in society.
It's not as simple as 'set yourself a limit' or 'gamble responsibly' as the gambling and betting industry loves to splash at the bottom of their ads-I mean spoken aloud during sports events, but it's that it's designed to be nigh-inescapable - and addictive.

[Perikuresu]

So uhhhhh, what do y'all think of ScoMo's (depending on if you're on the left, lack of, or on the right, pretty good response for a) Climate Plan?

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

So uhhhhh, what do y'all think of ScoMo's (depending on if you're on the left, lack of, or on the right, pretty good response for a) Climate Plan?

It's not strong enough.

To be fair (although this doesn't justify his inaction), the US, UK, Norway, and others aren't much better. Norway's slightly better, the UK as well, but still grossly inadequate. Subsiding green technologies is all great, but if we had consistent, unified action on climate change by the international community, we'd be able to keep global temperatures from rising above 2'C ages ago. (hypothetically)

It's essentially saying, 'Well, we're not going to do a Tony, so let's do marketing and use creative accounting while doing
sweet nada - except building new coal and gas plants."

[Australian rePublic]

Please sign my petition:
https://www.change.org/p/the-australian ... anny-state

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

Opinion:
Australia has very little in the way of actual industry. I mean, manufacturing creates jobs, yes, but not enough. When Ian MacFarlane, as the Industry and Science Minister under Abbott, cut auto industry subsidies/assistance by about half a billion, that eventually led to Ford and Holden moving their factories offshore.

Our mainstream film industry is basically nonexistent. The art industry dragged in about $110 billion in 2016-17, so there is potential for growth there. Look at comedy groups like Aunty Donna (responsible for classics like Don't Get in the Kiln) and The Chaser. Melbourne is a particularly strong magnet for artists, considering they have a huge, massive film festival almost every year, and paintings and art in alleyways. Not to say there aren't artists elsewhere. Why not subsidise those? The ABC and Screen Australia are already hamstrung by budget cuts, and the future of local content quotas for free-to-air and subscription networks like Netflix looks grim.
YouTube is obviously a choice, but Gurgle-I mean Goggle-I mean Groggy, has made it really hard for competition to rise up. It's not easy.
Plus, Google and Netflix don't pay tax in Australia - nor does ExxonMobil, News Corp, Virgin Australia as well a list of other companies, thanks to tax loopholes and offshore tax havens. If so-called "dole bludgers" - a term which I hate, can get coverage on ACA a few times a week for claiming a few extra dollars when ExxonMobil avoids tax on profits upwards of $50 billion?
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/revealed-australias-top-40-tax-dodgers-for-2021/
Anyone wishing to share their perspective on multinational and domestic tax evasion?

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

Please sign my petition:
https://www.change.org/p/the-australian ... anny-state

I read your petition, and again, wish you luck, and yes, they're annoying pieces of legislation,
but Victoria's road rules do make for some very good Highway Patrol content.

Jokes aside, I think they are somewhat inconvenient, but there are certainly much bigger fish to fry,
like the aforementioned tax evasion by large companies.

[Australian rePublic]

So uhhhhh, what do y'all think of ScoMo's (depending on if you're on the left, lack of, or on the right, pretty good response for a) Climate Plan?

It's not strong enough.

To be fair (although this doesn't justify his inaction), the US, UK, Norway, and others aren't much better. Norway's slightly better, the UK as well, but still grossly inadequate. Subsiding green technologies is all great, but if we had consistent, unified action on climate change by the international community, we'd be able to keep global temperatures from rising above 2'C ages ago. (hypothetically)

It's essentially saying, 'Well, we're not going to do a Tony, so let's do marketing and use creative accounting while doing
sweet nada - except building new coal and gas plants."

Without rewarding the rich by punishing the poor, what exactly would you do for climate change?

Aside from cutting the coal miners' jobs, there's no point in cutting out coal mining, it'll do jack shit. China would just give their money when buying coal from someone else. Mining won't stop, it'll just get moved out of Australia and into something else, causing economic carnage along the way.

Until renewable alternatives become reliable, we still need coal and gas to keep our power running. Renewables will eventually become reliable, but it's not gonna happen over night, and until it does, we need to keep the lights on.

If it were up to me, I would do it through investment investment investment. I'd pay millions of dollars to give away native plants for free, and encourage people to plant them. I'd pay millions of dollars to reforest much of Australia. I'd put 3 billion dollars aside to invest in making plastic-free alternatives marketable. For example, plastic free cling-wrap would recieve part of that $3 billion. Plastic is the worst thing for the environment, but rather than banning it, I'd invest in alternatives. I'd encourage private citizens to do the same as well. Rather than regulation, my approach would be innovation, rather than just banning everything that's bad for the environment, I'd do my best to make it obsolete.

[Perikuresu]

If it were up to me, I would do it through investment investment investment. I'd pay millions of dollars to give away native plants for free, and encourage people to plant them. I'd pay millions of dollars to reforest much of Australia. I'd put 3 billion dollars aside to invest in making plastic-free alternatives marketable. For example, plastic free cling-wrap would recieve part of that $3 billion. Plastic is the worst thing for the environment, but rather than banning it, I'd invest in alternatives. I'd encourage private citizens to do the same as well. Rather than regulation, my approach would be innovation, rather than just banning everything that's bad for the environment, I'd do my best to make it obsolete.

It's not a bad thing, and not all Aussies are fuckwits, cunts, and dipshits, but I'm just saying: you put too much faith in human beings.

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TawlwTXGBOU
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/25/tech/australia-social-media-parental-consent-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNNi&utm_content=2021-10-25T11%3A00%3A05
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/26/australia-social-media-privacy-law/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=wp_main
https://au.news.yahoo.com/graph-shows-australias-declining-global-reputation-climate-060108633.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN2M1NyuG0tsFFVKakLZBtO9mDz59PzhsyFmYNDCxK8N75mMYJY7ejz7KPHa_blVGJXIxmeZJoxEX7fMZvifmpGpWYgSNr7qVBhTStXhYsawSWnc6fZ0QmkB3j13wHHPEWOwSjEz8Fgr1hzYC5bU-GjMuJKEgdiTLhmDQhDsDIG3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkUIbjsEAOc

God, and I thought defamation laws weren't bad enough.

Sure, this'll net legitimately hateful people, but it's not even surprising to hear this anymore.
Eventually, it's going to reach a point where social media companies just pull out of Australia entirely. And you know what? I reckon that benefits both ends of the deal - normal people don't have an easy-to-access outlet to air the Government's dirty laundry, which serves them just fine, and Big Tech avoids tax and regulation in Australia.

Otherwise, it'll be a different story, where platforms are treated like publishers, and therefore have to regulate what is deemed 'offensive content' by the eSafety Commissioner, under the Online Safety Bill.

Not to mention the defamation actions by politicians against their critics, like:

Christian Porter, Member for Pearce: sued ABC for publishing allegations of rape against himself,
and accepting money from a blind trust to fund his legal case

John Barilaro, Ex-Deputy Premier of NSW: Sued Jordan Shanks and called the Fixated Persons Unit on his producer
for exposing his rampant and blatant corruption - everything from pork barrelling to handouts to mates to
debt-trapping clubs, all to line his back pocket.

Peter Dutton, Minister for Defence: Sued Shane Bazza over a tweet asking about his treatment of asylum seekers.

ClubsNSW, one of the largest lobbying groups for gambling in the world: Sued Troy Stolz for exposing money laundering through
their poker machines, and has used some very questionable tactics during the legal case.

Why do the powerful need protection from the powerless, again?

[Australian rePublic]

No matter what your political persuasion, can we all agree that Malcolm Turnbull is a serial pest?

[Australian rePublic]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TawlwTXGBOU
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/25/tech/australia-social-media-parental-consent-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twCNNi&utm_content=2021-10-25T11%3A00%3A05
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/26/australia-social-media-privacy-law/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=wp_main
https://au.news.yahoo.com/graph-shows-australias-declining-global-reputation-climate-060108633.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90LmNvLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN2M1NyuG0tsFFVKakLZBtO9mDz59PzhsyFmYNDCxK8N75mMYJY7ejz7KPHa_blVGJXIxmeZJoxEX7fMZvifmpGpWYgSNr7qVBhTStXhYsawSWnc6fZ0QmkB3j13wHHPEWOwSjEz8Fgr1hzYC5bU-GjMuJKEgdiTLhmDQhDsDIG3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkUIbjsEAOc

God, and I thought defamation laws weren't bad enough.

Sure, this'll net legitimately hateful people, but it's not even surprising to hear this anymore.
Eventually, it's going to reach a point where social media companies just pull out of Australia entirely. And you know what? I reckon that benefits both ends of the deal - normal people don't have an easy-to-access outlet to air the Government's dirty laundry, which serves them just fine, and Big Tech avoids tax and regulation in Australia.

Otherwise, it'll be a different story, where platforms are treated like publishers, and therefore have to regulate what is deemed 'offensive content' by the eSafety Commissioner, under the Online Safety Bill.

Not to mention the defamation actions by politicians against their critics, like:

Christian Porter, Member for Pearce: sued ABC for publishing allegations of rape against himself,
and accepting money from a blind trust to fund his legal case

John Barilaro, Ex-Deputy Premier of NSW: Sued Jordan Shanks and called the Fixated Persons Unit on his producer
for exposing his rampant and blatant corruption - everything from pork barrelling to handouts to mates to
debt-trapping clubs, all to line his back pocket.

Peter Dutton, Minister for Defence: Sued Shane Bazza over a tweet asking about his treatment of asylum seekers.

ClubsNSW, one of the largest lobbying groups for gambling in the world: Sued Troy Stolz for exposing money laundering through
their poker machines, and has used some very questionable tactics during the legal case.

Why do the powerful need protection from the powerless, again?

I said it before, and I'll say it again, fuck the big social msdia companies. I wish every country would regulate them as hard as we do. I hope the rest of the world watches and follows suite (the social media companies would never pull out for that reason). As for governments over stepping their boundaries, surely they know that the people are too smart to put up with that

As for why they need to be regulated:
Google funded ISIS terrorists, and profits from 401 scams. It took boycotts from major companies to stop the former, and the later is still happening
Facebook is a hot bed for cyber bulling
Etc.
These companies think they're above the law, and the law needs to clamp down hard on them

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

No matter what your political persuasion, can we all agree that Malcolm Turnbull is a serial pest?

He's spineless, i'll give him that.

I actually have a book on the 2018 leadership spill called 'Plots and Prayers', detailing everything from the National Energy Guarantee to the same-sex marriage plebiscite, Abbott, the religious right, pretty much everything leading up to the 2019 election in relation to his demise.
Why do you think he's a serial pest?

[Australian rePublic]

If you could make any changes to the Constitution, what would they be. Here would be mine:
1. Explicit freedom of speech and freedom
2. A charter of civil rights to protect our freedoms
3. Safeguards in place to stop us from being such a nanny state
4. Nò member of parliament nor any party can serve any seat for more than 4 consecutive terms. The purpose of this would be to prevent pork-barreling. Under my proposal, in theory, safe seats would get something at least once every sixteen years
5. Minimal funding guarantees to regional/rural areas

[Australian rePublic]

No matter what your political persuasion, can we all agree that Malcolm Turnbull is a serial pest?

He's spineless, i'll give him that.

I actually have a book on the 2018 leadership spill called 'Plots and Prayers', detailing everything from the National Energy Guarantee to the same-sex marriage plebiscite, Abbott, the religious right, pretty much everything leading up to the 2019 election in relation to his demise.
Why do you think he's a serial pest?

The way he's criticising Australia on the world stage. It's his job as a politician to try to fix Australia's problem, not air Australia's dirty laundry globally, and the way he keeps bagging Scomo and praising Macron on the submarine deal is something else

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

If you could make any changes to the Constitution, what would they be. Here would be mine:
1. Explicit freedom of speech and freedom
2. A charter of civil rights to protect our freedoms
3. Safeguards in place to stop us from being such a nanny state
4. Nò member of parliament nor any party can serve any seat for more than 4 consecutive terms. The purpose of this would be to prevent pork-barreling. Under my proposal, in theory, safe seats would get something at least once every sixteen years
5. Minimal funding guarantees to regional/rural areas

I agree with most of the things you'd add to the constitution.

41 other things I'd do (aside from the Constitution):
1. Increase the inheritance tax for people earning upwards of $150k-200k a year.
2. Reduce tax cuts for the top 10% introduced under previous governments.
3. Establish an 80% renewable energy target by 2030, and heavily subsidise the EV industry. Who knows, Holden and Ford might come back to play!
4. Increase the Newstart allowance to $60 per day.
5. Abolish the Cashless Welfare Card.
6. Introduce stronger data privacy laws to prevent data mining by large tech companies.
7. Increase scrutiny at the Tax Office for ASX companies, to keep an eye on companies dodging tax.
8. Inject funding into the arts sector
9. Increase Sunday penalty rates for hospitality workers.
10. Ban flammable (PE, Polystyrene and the like) cladding on tall buildings.
11. Ensure property developers follow building safety requirements.
12. Cap political donations at $4,000. Or hell, just get rid of them altogether.
13. Lower or abolish the Medicare levy.
14. Put a higher tax on exported resources so Australia at least gets a bit more wealth from their resources.
15. Subsidise wind, solar, hydro, batteries and green hydrogen.
16. Rule out any financing for the Adani coal mine or major oil/gas projects.
17. A federal Independent Commission Against Corruption with its own charter.
18. Create a Natural Disaster Relief Recovery Fund to assist communities in times of natural disaster.
19. Properly fund public housing.
20. Abolish or decrease retirement benefits for politicians.
21. Reform the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australian Press Council and Ad Standards Board,
or just abolish ACMA outright and replace them with a new body through a Royal Commission.
22. Re-introduce responsible lending laws.
23. Act on the majority of the recommendations from the Hayne (Banking) Royal Commission.
24. Rule out funding for all future coal mines by 2030 and all oil and gas projects by 2035.
25. Re-introduce the "two out of three" media ownership law.
26. Have a constitutionally-recognised voice in Parliament for First Nations people.
27. Re-nationalise Telstra, or at least partially sell it off and run it as a joint venture.
28. Strengthen local content guidelines for free to air and SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) services like Netflix and Stan.
29. Boost funding to Screen Australia.
30. Exit AUKUS and re-enter the $90 billion contract with France. (that Fella Down Under)
31. Increase funding to fire services.
32. Have independent - actually independent people - review our education system and national curriculum.
33. Cease or reduce funding to private/independent schools. Continue funding Catholic Education schools. When I say private, I mean your Grammar schools. They shouldn't need tens of millions in government funding when they can sustain themselves.
34. Increase protections for whistleblowers and journalists.
35. Abolish data retention and anti-encryption laws passed under Morrison and Abbott.
36. Break up the Department of Home Affairs into its original independent functions, and have it under scrutiny by an independent board.
37. Close detention centres on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island.
38. Support Julian Assange not being extradited to America.
39. Mandate an ethical / environmental screen for superannuation investment.
40. Increase the corporate tax rate for ASX companies, while decreasing SME and income tax.
41. Strengthen environmental regulations to protect endangered species like koalas and the southern corroboree frog.
How does it sound?
A bit radical, imo, but I'm fairly certain this could help people.

[Dazchan]

He's spineless, i'll give him that.

I actually have a book on the 2018 leadership spill called 'Plots and Prayers', detailing everything from the National Energy Guarantee to the same-sex marriage plebiscite, Abbott, the religious right, pretty much everything leading up to the 2019 election in relation to his demise.
Why do you think he's a serial pest?

The way he's criticising Australia on the world stage.

He's criticised Scomo. While Scomo has an ego the size of Australia, he is not Australia.

[Australian rePublic]

If you could make any changes to the Constitution, what would they be. Here would be mine:
1. Explicit freedom of speech and freedom
2. A charter of civil rights to protect our freedoms
3. Safeguards in place to stop us from being such a nanny state
4. Nò member of parliament nor any party can serve any seat for more than 4 consecutive terms. The purpose of this would be to prevent pork-barreling. Under my proposal, in theory, safe seats would get something at least once every sixteen years
5. Minimal funding guarantees to regional/rural areas

I agree with most of the things you'd add to the constitution.

41 other things I'd do (aside from the Constitution):
1. Increase the inheritance tax for people earning upwards of $150k-200k a year.

$200k is peanuts. This warrants its own post, so I'll get to it later, but $200k is peanuts

2. Reduce tax cuts for the top 10% introduced under previous governments.

3. Establish an 80% renewable energy target by 2030, and heavily subsidise the EV industry. Who knows, Holden and Ford might come back to play!

How heavily? Anything less than 75% rewards the rich by punishing the poor, and that's if you can afford a new car (rather than a second hand car) in the first place. Also, EVs suck. They use to too much colbate and take forever to recharge. If you're someone like me who drives a lot, you're really disadvantaged, you might get like 3 hours of juice and have to charge for 30 minutes. Not to mention that you need charging ports everywhere, where as servos are only needed every few kms or so, and can serve as public toilets for people on road trips. If it were up to me, I'd skip the whole EV phase to begin with and invest in making hydrogen cell cars marketable

4. Increase the Newstart allowance to $60 per day.
5. Abolish the Cashless Welfare Card.
6. Introduce stronger data privacy laws to prevent data mining by large tech companies.

Agree

7. Increase scrutiny at the Tax Office for ASX companies, to keep an eye on companies dodging tax.

Dodging taxes is legal though. It's not an enforcement matter, it's a matter of closing loop holes. Also, if you do that, you're just gonna get them to move overseas and lose all tax from them all together, Companies look for tax havens

8. Inject funding into the arts sector

Fair

9. Increase Sunday penalty rates for hospitality workers.

Reward big companies like McDonalds, by taking away the competition of small mom and pop stores who can't afford such wages

10. Ban flammable (PE, Polystyrene and the like) cladding on tall buildings.
11. Ensure property developers follow building safety requirements.
12. Cap political donations at $4,000. Or hell, just get rid of them altogether.

Fair

13. Lower or abolish the Medicare levy.
14. Put a higher tax on exported resources so Australia at least gets a bit more wealth from their resources.
15. Subsidise wind, solar, hydro, batteries and green hydrogen.
16. Rule out any financing for the Adani coal mine or major oil/gas projects.
17. A federal Independent Commission Against Corruption with its own charter.
18. Create a Natural Disaster Relief Recovery Fund to assist communities in times of natural disaster.
19. Properly fund public housing.
20. Abolish or decrease retirement benefits for politicians.
21. Reform the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australian Press Council and Ad Standards Board,
or just abolish ACMA outright and replace them with a new body through a Royal Commission.
22. Re-introduce responsible lending laws.

23. Act on the majority of the recommendations from the Hayne (Banking) Royal Commission.

Many of which were objectively bad and punished small mom & pop mortgage brokers for no bloody reason

24. Rule out funding for all future coal mines by 2030 and all oil and gas projects by 2035.
25. Re-introduce the "two out of three" media ownership law.
26. Have a constitutionally-recognised voice in Parliament for First Nations people.

Fair

27. Re-nationalise Telstra, or at least partially sell it off and run it as a joint venture.

How do you renationalise a company?

28. Strengthen local content guidelines for free to air and SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) services like Netflix and Stan.
29. Boost funding to Screen Australia.

30. Exit AUKUS and re-enter the $90 billion contract with France. (that Fella Down Under)

Why? AUKUS is a far better deal for a far, far superior product. Also, unless sunken, nuclear submarines are better for the environment than diesel subs

31. Increase funding to fire services.
32. Have independent - actually independent people - review our education system and national curriculum.
33. Cease or reduce funding to private/independent schools. Continue funding Catholic Education schools. When I say private, I mean your Grammar schools. They shouldn't need tens of millions in government funding when they can sustain themselves.
34. Increase protections for whistleblowers and journalists.
35. Abolish data retention and anti-encryption laws passed under Morrison and Abbott.
36. Break up the Department of Home Affairs into its original independent functions, and have it under scrutiny by an independent board.

Fair, except for number 33. If you reduce funding from private schools, you drive up private school fees. As such, fewer people can afford private school. Those people then go to public school. You end up paying more per student than what private school subsidies would cost. If it costs $30k per year, for example, to send a student to school, and a parent can only afford to pay $15k, but school fees are $10k, then subsidies would mean that the government pays $20k to send that child to school. However, if the government removes that subside, the parents can't afford the $30k to send the child to a private school, so they have to send the child to a public school, which will cost the government the full $30k. $10k might not seem like much, but keep in mind, this is PER CHILD. Because there are fewer people going to private schools, fees have to increase to $40k p/a, which means fewer people can afford to go to private school, meaning that even more kids need to go to public school and thus costing the government even more money. This is why private/Catholic school subsidies exist in the first place

37. Close detention centres on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island.

Why? It's the fairest system of processing refugess. You might want to reform the centres, but closing them all together is a bad idea

38. Support Julian Assange not being extradited to America.
39. Mandate an ethical / environmental screen for superannuation investment.
40. Increase the corporate tax rate for ASX companies, while decreasing SME and income tax.
41. Strengthen environmental regulations to protect endangered species like koalas and the southern corroboree frog.
How does it sound?
A bit radical, imo, but I'm fairly certain this could help people.

Fair

[Australian rePublic]

If you could make any changes to the Constitution, what would they be. Here would be mine:
1. Explicit freedom of speech and freedom
2. A charter of civil rights to protect our freedoms
3. Safeguards in place to stop us from being such a nanny state
4. Nò member of parliament nor any party can serve any seat for more than 4 consecutive terms. The purpose of this would be to prevent pork-barreling. Under my proposal, in theory, safe seats would get something at least once every sixteen years
5. Minimal funding guarantees to regional/rural areas

I agree with most of the things you'd add to the constitution.

41 other things I'd do (aside from the Constitution):
1. Increase the inheritance tax for people earning upwards of $150k-200k a year.

$200k is peanuts. In places like Sydney or Melbourne, $200 k is peanuts. Also, if you live somewhere remote like Mt. Isa, due to lack of economies of scale, $200k is also peanuts as groceries and petrol are like 3-4 times the price of what they are in the city. All of this assumes that you live alone. If you have a spouse who earns less than you, or children or whatever, $200 k is less than peanuts. $200k may be a substantial amount of money somewhere like Townsville or the Sunshine Coast, I don't know, but in the big cities, $200k is peanuts. But no matter the amount, even if it was $1 million p/a, you'd still be punishing/rewarding people based on geography. To solve this, every area could have its own threshold (for example, Townsville could be $200k, whilst Sydney is $1m), but if you do that, then you're asking for the system to be abused, and you're also asking for people to really hate you

Inheritance tax could never work in Australia, aside from the fact that it would be very unpopular (which I'll get to later), Australia is too vast and too diverse for an inheritance tax to work. Firstly, 200k is a variable figure. If you own a small business, your income will vary year to year. Let's say 1 year, you earn $190k and the next year, you earn $210k, if you happen to come into inheritance in the year where you earn $210k, that sucks. In the poorer parts of Sydney, a single house in a poor area could easily be worth $1 million. A house in somewhere like Bondi would be worth $3 million+. If a house in Bondi is your ONLY asset, $200k will barely cover your mortgage. Meanwhile, you could own 6 houses in Mt. Isa and it's worth less than a single house in Bondi. You may earn $200k per annum, but you inherit 6 Mt. Isa houses worth less than than one Bondi house. You can now rent 5 of those houses and live off the income, whilst the person who inherits the Bondi house also inherits the mortgage. Then you have the whole of issue of how hard it is to rent a house in Mt. Isa, and how much the prices influx. Australia is way, way too large and diverse for a single rate to apply consistently, and if you have a non-consistent rate, you're asking for abuse. Also, why is it fair for someone who earns $199,999 to pay no inheritance tax, whilst someone who earns $200,000 to pay inheritance tax? If you think one of your loved ones is likely to die within a year, you would ask your employer to lower your salary to avoid inheritance tax (people already do this to avoid higher tax brackets). Also, my son earns $200k whilst my grandson earns $100k. No problamo, I'll just write my grandson into the will, rather than my son. My son earns $150k whilst my daughter $200k? Oooh, that's gonna cause a lot, and I mean a lot of disputes amongst my kids. This is gonna probably gonna cause a lot of legal disputes. My son earns $150 but only has one child, whilst my daughter earns $200k but has 3 children. My daughter has to pay inheritance tax whilst my son doesn't. Congratulations, you have just tripled the work load of every inheritance lawyer in the country. My son lives in Townsville, and my daughter lives in Sydney. You've now quadrupled the work of inheritance lawyers. My son owns two houses, whilst my daughter owns one house. Oooh, inheritance lawyers really, really love you, people who need criminal justice, not so much, as the courts would be clogged with inheritance and will disputes

Many have tried to introduce an inheritance tax into Australia, and all have failed for two major reasons, the first being is that it's logistically impossible due to how big and diverse Australia is. I'll get to the second reason later

Also, what happens if I earn $200 k per year, but I'll only receive $500k of inheritance. I have to pay inheritance tax, whilst the person who earn $150k per year and has a $10 million inheritance has to pay no inheritance tax. How is that fair? Also,

Here's the second reason why there will never be an inheritance tax- it would be political suicide, as way too many people rely on inheritance as part of their retirement plan. Take away their inheritance, take away their retirement, and you just have to pay them pension

The second reason why an inheritance tax would never work is because it would very, very, very unpopular

[Amorosa-Coonarra Coasts]

I agree with most of the things you'd add to the constitution.

41 other things I'd do (aside from the Constitution):
1. Increase the inheritance tax for people earning upwards of $150k-200k a year.

$200k is peanuts. In places like Sydney or Melbourne, $200 k is peanuts. Also, if you live somewhere remote like Mt. Isa, due to lack of economies of scale, $200k is also peanuts as groceries and petrol are like 3-4 times the price of what they are in the city. All of this assumes that you live alone. If you have a spouse who earns less than you, or children or whatever, $200 k is less than peanuts. $200k may be a substantial amount of money somewhere like Townsville or the Sunshine Coast, I don't know, but in the big cities, $200k is peanuts. But no matter the amount, even if it was $1 million p/a, you'd still be punishing/rewarding people based on geography. To solve this, every area could have its own threshold (for example, Townsville could be $200k, whilst Sydney is $1m), but if you do that, then you're asking for the system to be abused, and you're also asking for people to really hate you

Inheritance tax could never work in Australia, aside from the fact that it would be very unpopular (which I'll get to later), Australia is too vast and too diverse for an inheritance tax to work. Firstly, 200k is a variable figure. If you own a small business, your income will vary year to year. Let's say 1 year, you earn $190k and the next year, you earn $210k, if you happen to come into inheritance in the year where you earn $210k, that sucks. In the poorer parts of Sydney, a single house in a poor area could easily be worth $1 million. A house in somewhere like Bondi would be worth $3 million+. If a house in Bondi is your ONLY asset, $200k will barely cover your mortgage. Meanwhile, you could own 6 houses in Mt. Isa and it's worth less than a single house in Bondi. You may earn $200k per annum, but you inherit 6 Mt. Isa houses worth less than than one Bondi house. You can now rent 5 of those houses and live off the income, whilst the person who inherits the Bondi house also inherits the mortgage. Then you have the whole of issue of how hard it is to rent a house in Mt. Isa, and how much the prices influx. Australia is way, way too large and diverse for a single rate to apply consistently, and if you have a non-consistent rate, you're asking for abuse. Also, why is it fair for someone who earns $199,999 to pay no inheritance tax, whilst someone who earns $200,000 to pay inheritance tax? If you think one of your loved ones is likely to die within a year, you would ask your employer to lower your salary to avoid inheritance tax (people already do this to avoid higher tax brackets). Also, my son earns $200k whilst my grandson earns $100k. No problamo, I'll just write my grandson into the will, rather than my son. My son earns $150k whilst my daughter $200k? Oooh, that's gonna cause a lot, and I mean a lot of disputes amongst my kids. This is gonna probably gonna cause a lot of legal disputes. My son earns $150 but only has one child, whilst my daughter earns $200k but has 3 children. My daughter has to pay inheritance tax whilst my son doesn't. Congratulations, you have just tripled the work load of every inheritance lawyer in the country. My son lives in Townsville, and my daughter lives in Sydney. You've now quadrupled the work of inheritance lawyers. My son owns two houses, whilst my daughter owns one house. Oooh, inheritance lawyers really, really love you, people who need criminal justice, not so much, as the courts would be clogged with inheritance and will disputes

Many have tried to introduce an inheritance tax into Australia, and all have failed for two major reasons, the first being is that it's logistically impossible due to how big and diverse Australia is. I'll get to the second reason later

Also, what happens if I earn $200 k per year, but I'll only receive $500k of inheritance. I have to pay inheritance tax, whilst the person who earn $150k per year and has a $10 million inheritance has to pay no inheritance tax. How is that fair? Also,

Here's the second reason why there will never be an inheritance tax- it would be political suicide, as way too many people rely on inheritance as part of their retirement plan. Take away their inheritance, take away their retirement, and you just have to pay them pension

The second reason why an inheritance tax would never work is because it would very, very, very unpopular

Ok, $500,000 or higher.