New political party discussion and what I would do (1 Viewer)

[soloooooo]

I thought it would be interesting to discuss what would make a good alternative political party in the near future of Australia (say 5 years etc).

If I created a political party then below would be some of my main policies of the party:

- Abolish state governments. Local councils to not be amalgamated and would instead be given more responsibility to manage facilities within their areas.
- Increase the mining tax and close the current loopholes.
- Abolish the carbon tax. Current tax brackets would remain.
- Raise the highway speed from 110kph max to 120kph max.
- Increase tariffs on imports. Tariffs are to have an environmental cost attached to them depending upon the country they come from and its environmental controls. E.g. products from NZ would have less of a tariff than products from China or India.
- Take a traditional approach to family values.
- 3% payrise per year (and every year) for all public servants. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Superannuation raised to 15% over the next 6 years (1% per year).
- Remove medicare cost savings for those with private health insurance.
- Reduce school leaving age to 16.
- Increase refugee intake by 5000 people per year.
- Anyone seeking asylum via boat to Australia instantly goes to the back of the refugee que. The bare minimums of the intentional conventions will be met although that is it.
- Forge better ties with Commonwealth countries. Enact limited protectorate policies on key manufacturing goods with a requirements that a percent of these are made in Australia should foreign supplies ever become unavailable or unreliable.
- Go ahead with the NDIS
- Raise university fees by 20%
- Qantas is to be removed as the official national airline. Other approved airlines will be allowed to compete with Qantas on certain routes.
- Legalise marijuana use and growing for personal use only. Increase roadside drug testing.
- Introduce the death penalty which may be requested for those charged with murder, terrorism or grievous sexual assault charges.
- Organise prisoner swap with Indonesia and bring Schapelle Corby back to Australia.
- Get rid of fixed speed cameras. Cops can still use mobile speed cameras although no longer have to signpost when they do.
- Add an extra runway to Sydney Airport (i.e. no second airport at this stage). The night curfew on passenger jets is to be lifted.
- Investigate the possibility of Australian and New Zealand armed forces merging into a combined defense force.
- Increase stamp duty on all properties with a value over 1 million. A sliding scale will be applied.
- Place caps back on the number of university places universities are allowed to offer in each course.
- A thorough review of all government department positions and departments is to occur. Waste is to be removed although there would be no set efficiency dividend.
- Raise international university students fees by 60% over 3 years (20% per year) for all new students. Existing (continuing) international students would only pay the across the board 20% fee increase once. The money raised is to be used to increase the salaries of everyday Australian heroes: teachers, nurses, police officers and associated professionals.
- Remove 457 visa scheme. The skilled migration scheme to remain.
- Introduce civil unions in Australia.
- Nuclear power to be the next major form of power generation in Australia. No new non-renewable power plants will be approved.
- Power prices to be capped at a maximum 6% increase per year.
- Hunting in national parks to be outlawed.
- Greater level of scrutiny on foreign investment in Australia.
- Greater protection for the Great Barrier Reef.
- Governments to have fixed 4 year terms.
- Cigarettes to be phased out over 5 years. Significant help offered to addicts to help them kick the addiction. Each year for the next 5 years the cigarette legal purchasing age increases by one year (i.e. 23 is the minimum age to purchase them after 5 years). Tobacco can still be grown, possessed and smoked for personal use only although manufactured cigarettes will be illegal to buy/sell.
- Euthanasia for adults is to be legalised.
- Baby bonus to be scrapped.
- Public housing brought under close scrutiny. Tenants who consistently damage public housing properties or are troublemakers will lose the privilege of access to public housing.
- Discriminatory policies on Indigenous communities in the NT to be removed.
- All Australians regardless of race are to have the exact same access to welfare benefits.

Any comments on the potential policies?

 

[hayabusaboston]

Some are fucked up, others are ok, and a few are super. I would reconsider a large proportion of them.

 

[soloooooo]

Which ones are super and which ones did you not like as much?

 

[Tasteless]

I thought it would be interesting to discuss what would make a good alternative political party in the near future of Australia (say 5 years etc).

If I created a political party then below would be some of my main policies of the party:

- Abolish state governments. Local councils to not be amalgamated and would instead be given more responsibility to manage facilities within their areas.
- Increase the mining tax and close the current loopholes.
- Abolish the carbon tax. Current tax brackets would remain.
- Raise the highway speed from 110kph max to 120kph max.
- Increase tariffs on imports. Tariffs are to have an environmental cost attached to them depending upon the country they come from and its environmental controls. E.g. products from NZ would have less of a tariff than products from China or India.
- Take a traditional approach to family values.
- 3% payrise per year (and every year) for all public servants. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Superannuation raised to 15% over the next 6 years (1% per year).
- Remove medicare cost savings for those with private health insurance.
- Reduce school leaving age to 16.
- Increase refugee intake by 5000 people per year.
- Anyone seeking asylum via boat to Australia instantly goes to the back of the refugee que. The bare minimums of the intentional conventions will be met although that is it.
- Forge better ties with Commonwealth countries. Enact limited protectorate policies on key manufacturing goods with a requirements that a percent of these are made in Australia should foreign supplies ever become unavailable or unreliable.
- Go ahead with the NDIS
- Raise university fees by 20%
- Qantas is to be removed as the official national airline. Other approved airlines will be allowed to compete with Qantas on certain routes.
- Legalise marijuana use and growing for personal use only. Increase roadside drug testing.
- Introduce the death penalty which may be requested for those charged with murder, terrorism or grievous sexual assault charges.
- Organise prisoner swap with Indonesia and bring Schapelle Corby back to Australia.
- Get rid of fixed speed cameras. Cops can still use mobile speed cameras although no longer have to signpost when they do.
- Add an extra runway to Sydney Airport (i.e. no second airport at this stage). The night curfew on passenger jets is to be lifted.
- Investigate the possibility of Australian and New Zealand armed forces merging into a combined defense force.
- Increase stamp duty on all properties with a value over 1 million. A sliding scale will be applied.
- Place caps back on the number of university places universities are allowed to offer in each course.
- A thorough review of all government department positions and departments is to occur. Waste is to be removed although there would be no set efficiency dividend.
- Raise international university students fees by 60% over 3 years (20% per year) for all new students. Existing (continuing) international students would only pay the across the board 20% fee increase once. The money raised is to be used to increase the salaries of everyday Australian heroes: teachers, nurses, police officers and associated professionals.
- Remove 457 visa scheme. The skilled migration scheme to remain.
- Introduce civil unions in Australia.
- Nuclear power to be the next major form of power generation in Australia. No new non-renewable power plants will be approved.
- Power prices to be capped at a maximum 6% increase per year.
- Hunting in national parks to be outlawed.
- Greater level of scrutiny on foreign investment in Australia.
- Greater protection for the Great Barrier Reef.
- Governments to have fixed 4 year terms.
- Cigarettes to be phased out over 5 years. Significant help offered to addicts to help them kick the addiction. Each year for the next 5 years the cigarette legal purchasing age increases by one year (i.e. 23 is the minimum age to purchase them after 5 years). Tobacco can still be grown, possessed and smoked for personal use only although manufactured cigarettes will be illegal to buy/sell.
- Euthanasia for adults is to be legalised.
- Baby bonus to be scrapped.
- Public housing brought under close scrutiny. Tenants who consistently damage public housing properties or are troublemakers will lose the privilege of access to public housing.
- Discriminatory policies on Indigenous communities in the NT to be removed.
- All Australians regardless of race are to have the exact same access to welfare benefits.

Any comments on the potential policies?

Bold = Awful imo

What's your problem with fixed speed cameras btw?

 

[SylviaB]

The following should be made unequivocally illegal, punishable by internment in a concentration camp or execution:

Judaism
Usury
Abortion
Pornography
Sodomy
Homosexuality and transgenderism
Deforestation
Genetic Engineering
High fructose corn syrup, trans-fats, artificial sweeteners, etc.
Industrial Pollution
Environmentally destructive farming practices
Obesity
Immoral messages in movies, music, books and other media
Competing political parties
Cults
Judaphilia and Judaphilic Christianity
Psychiatry
The use or sale of dangerous drugs (marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms excluded, most pharmaceuticals included)
Exploitative or unfair business practices
The abuse of animals
Casino gambling
Street beggery
Freemasonry and other “secret societies”
Marketing and advertisement that uses manipulative psychological techniques
Electronic devices which produce harmful levels of radiation
Police brutality

On top of this, though the right of a person to hold their own personal opinions should not be infringed unless those opinions are representative of an organization which represents a clear and present danger to the people or the state, it should be punishable by internment in a concentration camp to propagandize for the following ideologies in electronic and printed media, public speaking, etc.:

Communism
Capitalism
Atheism
Libertarianism
Liberalism
Nihilism
Free love
Feminism
Anarchy
Any other doctrine which seeks to undermine the state or the morality of the people

Though they should not be outright made illegal, individuals should be under strong social pressure to avoid the following:

Divorce
Remaining unmarried (bachelorism/Old Maidism)
Failing to produce children
Promiscuous sex
Corporal punishment against ones children or wife
Internet addiction
Unnecessary cellphone usage
Video games
Laziness
Complaining
Being a pothead
Women wearing pants and other men’s clothing, men wearing make-up, gayish clothing, looking scruffy or unkempt

 

[soloooooo]

Bold = Awful imo

What's your problem with fixed speed cameras btw?

Noted.

I don't have a problem with them I just think they are there for revenue rising however and not safety purposes. People deserve better.

 

[Tasteless]

Noted.

I don't have a problem with them I just think they are there for revenue rising however and not safety purposes. People deserve better.

Yeah that's fair enough.

 

[lochnessmonsta]

I thought it would be interesting to discuss what would make a good alternative political party in the near future of Australia (say 5 years etc).

If I created a political party then below would be some of my main policies of the party:

- Abolish state governments. Local councils to not be amalgamated and would instead be given more responsibility to manage facilities within their areas.
- Increase the mining tax and close the current loopholes.
- Abolish the carbon tax. Current tax brackets would remain.
- Raise the highway speed from 110kph max to 120kph max.
- Increase tariffs on imports. Tariffs are to have an environmental cost attached to them depending upon the country they come from and its environmental controls. E.g. products from NZ would have less of a tariff than products from China or India.
- Take a traditional approach to family values.
- 3% payrise per year (and every year) for all public servants. Nothing more, nothing less.
- Superannuation raised to 15% over the next 6 years (1% per year).
- Remove medicare cost savings for those with private health insurance.
- Reduce school leaving age to 16.
- Increase refugee intake by 5000 people per year.
- Anyone seeking asylum via boat to Australia instantly goes to the back of the refugee que. The bare minimums of the intentional conventions will be met although that is it.
- Forge better ties with Commonwealth countries. Enact limited protectorate policies on key manufacturing goods with a requirements that a percent of these are made in Australia should foreign supplies ever become unavailable or unreliable.
- Go ahead with the NDIS
- Raise university fees by 20%
- Qantas is to be removed as the official national airline. Other approved airlines will be allowed to compete with Qantas on certain routes.
- Legalise marijuana use and growing for personal use only. Increase roadside drug testing.
- Introduce the death penalty which may be requested for those charged with murder, terrorism or grievous sexual assault charges.
- Organise prisoner swap with Indonesia and bring Schapelle Corby back to Australia.
- Get rid of fixed speed cameras. Cops can still use mobile speed cameras although no longer have to signpost when they do.
- Add an extra runway to Sydney Airport (i.e. no second airport at this stage). The night curfew on passenger jets is to be lifted.
- Investigate the possibility of Australian and New Zealand armed forces merging into a combined defense force.
- Increase stamp duty on all properties with a value over 1 million. A sliding scale will be applied.
- Place caps back on the number of university places universities are allowed to offer in each course.
- A thorough review of all government department positions and departments is to occur. Waste is to be removed although there would be no set efficiency dividend.
- Raise international university students fees by 60% over 3 years (20% per year) for all new students. Existing (continuing) international students would only pay the across the board 20% fee increase once. The money raised is to be used to increase the salaries of everyday Australian heroes: teachers, nurses, police officers and associated professionals.
- Remove 457 visa scheme. The skilled migration scheme to remain.
- Introduce civil unions in Australia.
- Nuclear power to be the next major form of power generation in Australia. No new non-renewable power plants will be approved.
- Power prices to be capped at a maximum 6% increase per year.
- Hunting in national parks to be outlawed.
- Greater level of scrutiny on foreign investment in Australia.
- Greater protection for the Great Barrier Reef.
- Governments to have fixed 4 year terms.
- Cigarettes to be phased out over 5 years. Significant help offered to addicts to help them kick the addiction. Each year for the next 5 years the cigarette legal purchasing age increases by one year (i.e. 23 is the minimum age to purchase them after 5 years). Tobacco can still be grown, possessed and smoked for personal use only although manufactured cigarettes will be illegal to buy/sell.
- Euthanasia for adults is to be legalised.
- Baby bonus to be scrapped.
- Public housing brought under close scrutiny. Tenants who consistently damage public housing properties or are troublemakers will lose the privilege of access to public housing.
- Discriminatory policies on Indigenous communities in the NT to be removed.
- All Australians regardless of race are to have the exact same access to welfare benefits.

Any comments on the potential policies?

These ones I really like. Like wtf, how do we still have a baby bonus. every other country in the developed/ing world is attempting to limit population growth, and we are here giving out incentives? At least its now in periodic payments.

And get rid of that damn mining tax.

But not too keen on a few, and others i dont know enough to make a decision. Dont like the scrapping of savings for private health insurance, i would prefer more people to move to private health, decreasing public hospitals and letting the government fill the gap in the things the private sector cant financially provide but is required. Id never smoke, but I (would like to) think people are intelligent enough to weigh pros/cons.

 

[townie]

- 3% payrise per year (and every year) for all public servants. Nothing more, nothing less.

This pretty much already happens

 

[hayabusaboston]

I thought it would be interesting to discuss what would make a good alternative political party in the near future of Australia (say 5 years etc).

If I created a political party then below would be some of my main policies of the party:

- Abolish state governments. Local councils to not be amalgamated and would instead be given more responsibility to manage facilities within their areas. Give greater autonomy
- Increase the mining tax and close the current loopholes. Bad idea
- Abolish the carbon tax. Current tax brackets would remain. Good idea
- Raise the highway speed from 110kph max to 120kph max. Bad idea for highway, good for freeway
- Increase tariffs on imports. Tariffs are to have an environmental cost attached to them depending upon the country they come from and its environmental controls. E.g. products from NZ would have less of a tariff than products from China or India. Bad idea
- Take a traditional approach to family values. Good idea
- 3% payrise per year (and every year) for all public servants. Nothing more, nothing less. Bullshit idea, payrise only from good performance.
- Superannuation raised to 15% over the next 6 years (1% per year). BULLSHIT IDEA
- Remove medicare cost savings for those with private health insurance. Bad idea
- Reduce school leaving age to 16. OK if u make some form of extra education compulsory, we dont want to have to pay for fucktards on welfare who are too dumb to get a job.
- Increase refugee intake by 5000 people per year. BAAAD IDEAAAA U DONT WANT MORE VILLAWOOD SCENES DO YOU?? And fuck they multiply fast.
- Anyone seeking asylum via boat to Australia instantly goes to the back of the refugee que. The bare minimums of the intentional conventions will be met although that is it. Good idea
- Forge better ties with Commonwealth countries. Enact limited protectorate policies on key manufacturing goods with a requirements that a percent of these are made in Australia should foreign supplies ever become unavailable or unreliable. Just retain australia's autonomy imo
- Go ahead with the NDIS ....idk
- Raise university fees by 20% Shit idea
- Qantas is to be removed as the official national airline. Other approved airlines will be allowed to compete with Qantas on certain routes. Good Idea
- Legalise marijuana use and growing for personal use only. Increase roadside drug testing. Bad idea
- Introduce the death penalty which may be requested for those charged with murder, terrorism or grievous sexual assault charges. Brilliant idea. If only we could have had this oh, idk, about 200 years ago lol
- Organise prisoner swap with Indonesia and bring Schapelle Corby back to Australia. Bad idea. Keep that bitch away from us.
- Get rid of fixed speed cameras. Cops can still use mobile speed cameras although no longer have to signpost when they do. Bad idea
- Add an extra runway to Sydney Airport (i.e. no second airport at this stage). The night curfew on passenger jets is to be lifted. Bad idea
- Investigate the possibility of Australian and New Zealand armed forces merging into a combined defense force. Good Idea
- Increase stamp duty on all properties with a value over 1 million. A sliding scale will be applied. Good Idea
- Place caps back on the number of university places universities are allowed to offer in each course. Good Idea, it might motivate the lazy cunts to work harder to get into the course they want to do
- A thorough review of all government department positions and departments is to occur. Waste is to be removed although there would be no set efficiency dividend. Good idea
- Raise international university students fees by 60% over 3 years (20% per year) for all new students. Existing (continuing) international students would only pay the across the board 20% fee increase once. The money raised is to be used to increase the salaries of everyday Australian heroes: teachers, nurses, police officers and associated professionals. Bad idea, will cause trouble with determining who can be deemed a "hero", everyone will want to get this extra payment.
- Remove 457 visa scheme. The skilled migration scheme to remain. Bad idea, a lot of australians are lazy cunts, immigrants are often brought up in a culture that praises hard work and condemns laziness. We need more of them.
- Introduce civil unions in Australia. Good Idea
- Nuclear power to be the next major form of power generation in Australia. No new non-renewable power plants will be approved. Very Good Idea
- Power prices to be capped at a maximum 6% increase per year. Good Idea
- Hunting in national parks to be outlawed. Good Idea
- Greater level of scrutiny on foreign investment in Australia. Good Idea
- Greater protection for the Great Barrier Reef. Good Idea
- Governments to have fixed 4 year terms. THis one is interesting idea, if u have shit government they wont fuck u up for longer than 4 years, but if u have good government, you wanna keep em there for as long as possible.
- Cigarettes to be phased out over 5 years. Significant help offered to addicts to help them kick the addiction. Each year for the next 5 years the cigarette legal purchasing age increases by one year (i.e. 23 is the minimum age to purchase them after 5 years). Tobacco can still be grown, possessed and smoked for personal use only although manufactured cigarettes will be illegal to buy/sell. Good idea
- Euthanasia for adults is to be legalised. Good idea
- Baby bonus to be scrapped. Very good idea
- Public housing brought under close scrutiny. Tenants who consistently damage public housing properties or are troublemakers will lose the privilege of access to public housing. Good idea
- Discriminatory policies on Indigenous communities in the NT to be removed. Good idea
- All Australians regardless of race are to have the exact same access to welfare benefits. new system of welfare needs to be introduced.

Any comments on the potential policies?

I commented on some, others I cbf, so I just said good idea and bad idea etc.

 

[townie]

I commented on some, others I cbf, so I just said good idea and bad idea etc.

How contradictory

 

[hayabusaboston]

How contradictory

How? write a full comment one some, list the rest as "Good" and "Bad"

 

[planino]

I'd prefer that the increase in public servants' salaries be indexed to the inflation rate instead, it's fairer and more economical that way.

And nah, the increased uni fees + more expensive tertiary education for international students will just deter people away from tertiary education. Out of many OECD (if not all) nations, Australia has one of the lowest percentages of people with tertiary qualifications (71% IIRC) and a more educated population is a better one for many reasons.
Not only that, a huge amount of our export revenue comes from the minerals/metals sector - heavily dependent on sustained Chinese economic growth rates btw (so if that dampens then we're screwed) - so we need to rely on other sources of income.

So increasing fees for intl students will only deter them away from Australian unis meaning less export revenue. Educational services is already our 3 or 4th largest export so why not increase its share? It'll also help more people get employed and we won't have to rely on our finite resources.

With Sydney airport, yeah a second one isn't needed. Rather I think they should either expand south into Botany Bay and build a 4th runway or use the land south of the long runway for further expansion. The fact that the Domestic terminals and the international terminal are separated by a bus ride sucks, especially considering that Sydney is Australia's premier gateway.

This is difficult, but maybe they could "shift" the long runway south by expanding it into Botany Bay, "trim" off the Northern end of it so there's more land to hopefully connect the intl and domestic complexes with new structures (that'd also allow more gates to be built etc.). The risk of low-flying A380s falling short of the runway and plouging into the complex will have to be taken care of though..
Maybe they could significantly lengthen the short 3rd runway so the long runway can be used primarily for takeoffs but it may cause trouble during the morning peak when a million large planes from Asia and the US will only have one runway to land on since the East-West may be too short (the domestic will do fine on that one though).

Apart from the legalising weed thing (come on, there will only be very few people that'll be using it responsibly) and some other stuff that I can't be bothered to mention, everything else seems quite nice You should be the opposition leader and replace Jules pls (but don't legalise weed)

 

[Frostbitten]

- Organise prisoner swap with Indonesia and bring Schapelle Corby back to Australia.

Haven't exactly investigated this case but there hasn't been any real evidence of her innocence is there?

Also, do the major mining companies pay barely anything for taxes at the moment?