Edition 472 – Visionless

What a dour Federal Election campaign this has been? Uninspiring. Bland. Completely lacking in vision.

On the one hand, we have a Government who trumpet the fact they’ve overseen two budget surpluses, without letting you know that it’s as a result of two factors:

1. Rocketing personal income tax collections – which are now at their highest number, and the highest proportion of the tax take, in the country’s history.
2. Royalties from Iron Ore revenues.

Government spending is out of control, and growing at a much faster rate than the economy is, and faster still than revenues are growing.

On the other side of the coin, is an Opposition that has proven itself surprisingly effective at being an Opposition over the past three years, but done nothing to present itself as an alternative Government. I’m sorry, but a temporary drop in the fuel excise is not economic or taxation reform. It’s a vote buying grab! Let’s not even countenance the “will we or won’t we” policy thought bubbles that have come and gone throughout the campaign, either.

Where is the vision for Australia’s future? Where is the boldness of the Hawke, Keating and Howard years, where those Governments looked 10, 20 and 30 years into the future, and gave us the foundations of what we have today –  universal health care, a superannuation system that is the envy of the world, and a sovereign wealth fund that continues to provide for the nation’s future, amongst a huge raft of other achievements.

No one is standing up and saying what they want Australia to look like in 2050. No one is looking into the future and asking the hard questions, that need to be asked today, like?

1. What will Australia’s population be in 2050?
2. Where will we all live, and how will that differ to today?
3. How will we all work?
4. How do we best take advantage of what we do well in this country, and how do we build on that, to take it to the rest of the world?
5. What’s the expertise we’re buying in, but should be growing here?
6. What will our lived, and natural environment look like, all the way from energy to national parks and through to waste management?
7. What does the education system look like – from pre-school all the way through to post graduate degrees and trade qualifications?
8. Where will the Federal Budget experience growth, and as a country, how do we manage those costs, whilst at the same time, delivering a high standard of living to every Australian?
9. What does the taxation system look like in the future, and how will it fund what is needed to keep Australia as one of the most prosperous, advanced and egalitarian nations in the world?

In 2050, I’ll be 82. You’d think I’d not care what things are going to be like at that age, but in actual fact, I care as much about 2050 as I’ve always cared about the future, no matter the age I am.
We deserve better from our politicians. Our children deserve better and so do their children, living or not yet born.

This Week’s Tip

“We’re one of the few countries in the world to have compulsory voting.
I believe in it for many reasons, one of which is that we live in a country that values democracy.
There’s plenty of countries that don’t – and some that say they do,
but are drifting away from those democratic values.”