Change politics

Three years ago I addressed the National Press Club on the topic ‘The Future for Young Australians’. Over the past three years, I have become increasingly convinced that creating a future for young Australians requires not just a change in policies, but a fundamental change in politics.

Significant events have occurred in the past three years: the independence of East Timor and our peacekeeping role; the fallout from the battle on the waterfront; hundreds of thousands of ordinary Australians crossed bridges for Reconciliation; and of course the ‘greatest Olympic games ever’.

Some things, however, have stayed the same. As The Australian newspaper’s political editor Dennis Shanahan, pointed out last weekend, "We are confronted with the prospect of a third election in just eight years being fought on tax".

For too long, taxation has dominated political debate in Australia, while there has been relatively little discussion about where we - as a nation - should spend those funds for the greatest rewards. Well, I believe Australians want more than that from their elected representatives. I think they want honesty. I think they want a vision of where Australia could be in 20, or even 30 years time, not just after the next election. I know they want more funds for education and health.

This election should be about the triple bottom line: the economy, the community and our environment. It should not be about who has the biggest tax cut.

The Australian Democrats pledge to change politics. We pledge that we will not support any increase in the rate of the Goods and Services Tax. We will not support tax cuts to the rich while the poorest are neglected. We will not support tax cuts unless necessary improvements are first made in education, health and environmental protection.

The Democrats have always looked out for the most disadvantaged Australians. Welfare reform will be a key part of our election platform. In the coming months, the Democrats will be releasing a number of policies focusing on aged care, disabilities, veterans and other Australians to whom we owe a special obligation.

I am announcing one of the key commitments the Democrats are taking to the election and beyond. One million Australians live significantly below the poverty line. There are unemployed people, students and other young people who are struggling to live on Government allowances that are 20% to 40% below the poverty line.

The Democrats want to start pulling people out of poverty by raising welfare allowances including the Youth Allowance, Austudy and Newstart, to the level of the aged pension. The initiative would also include sickness allowance, widow allowance, partner allowance and mature age allowance. The base payment rate would be the single pension rate, indexed to movements in male total average weekly earnings. (MTAWE).

A single unemployed adult presently receives $21 a week less to live on than a single pensioner. An adult student receives $52.90 a week less. The McClure Welfare Reform Report recommended that there be a common base payment for all eligible persons. Regrettably, the Government ignored this recommendation. Real welfare reform would have raised these payments to above the poverty line.

This initiative would mean a much needed increase in income for one million Australians. It would cost an extra $1.5 billion per year, but a phased implementation could be achieved for $300 million per year, with greater expenditures in subsequent years covered by the same economic growth that John Howard wants to turn into tax cuts.

We should not be considering tax cuts for those on higher incomes until we have addressed the issue of welfare recipients living in poverty. Last month, Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott said: "We can't abolish poverty because poverty, in part, is a function of individual behaviour". Well it is also, in part, a function of the Government’s failing to give people enough money to live on. We are talking about people who are in poverty before they even start making choices about where to spend their money. Let us at least start them at an income they can live on.

Mr Howard says voters must choose between Labor’s likely increases in income tax or return the present Government for a third term. Actually, there are more choices than that. A Federal election should provide the ultimate contest of ideas and ideals for a nation. Mr John Howard will run a tax bribe strategy hoping Australians will forget that it could disappear as a non-core promise the morning after. Mr Kim Beazley will try to remain the smallest possible target for the longest possible time, in the comical hope that he can tiptoe into the Lodge.

People have seen the past six years of government, and many remember the thirteen years before that, under Labor. The old parties’ lack of vision has created a vacuum ready to be filled by a credible alternative. We are seeing record numbers of Australians turning away from the old parties.

Election analyst, Antony Green wrote recently in The Age:

"The strongest conclusion that can be drawn from Aston is that the electorate’s record vote for minor parties will be repeated at the federal poll. The Democrats and local independents look set to draw huge support …"

It is an exciting time for the Australian Democrats, with membership and polls on the rise. This election we are going to run Democrats in every House of Representatives seat, giving all Australia a chance to vote for a real alternative.

The important choice facing the voters is not just which Party will be in Government, but whether the Democrats will continue to hold the balance of power in the next Parliament, or whether a coalition of minor parties and independents will. How the Democrats poll will determine whether Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party shares the balance of power role. We believe that most Australians recognise that politics is about more than complaining, it is about finding positive solutions.

The International ratings agency Standard and Poor’s recently released paper on the repercussions of this year's election, says, "If the Coalition decide that a Labor victory is most likely, they might seek to complicate things for the incoming Labor government by preferencing the non-Democrat minor parties …." and "it would be preferable for the Democrats to hold the balance of power …"

This finding recognises that, for the last 24 years, the Democrats have been negotiating with whichever Party is in Government, to produce the fairest laws for all Australians. We are offering positive solutions.

Australians want leadership – but not the leadership the old parties offer. The recent Voter’s Voice series in The Australian newspaper, looking at the views behind the polls, has uncovered community dissatisfaction with the old parties.

The public’s cynicism about politics is not surprising. It is quite logical in light of what they see of parliamentary politics: ‘non-core promises’, rorts, junkets, and the childish cheap shots during question time. The Voter’s Voice survey found that what Australians say they want is honesty, strength, dignity and compassion.

There are exciting and even inspirational aspects to politics, and that is what I want to try and convey to people. In the Parliament, the Democrats favour negotiation and intelligent debate to find positive solutions. When you do not have the majority numbers you have to rely on the merits of your argument, rather than the loudness of your voice. Unfortunately, negotiation and mutual agreement rarely make the news, even if they are the key to achieving the best and fairest laws for all Australians.

I am not saying all cynicism about politics is unhealthy. The democratic spirit is to challenge, to debate and to protest against what is unjust. I welcome the fact that Australians are proudly irreverent, they challenge their leaders, and speak their minds. But I am concerned when politics seems so distant, so corrupt, and so irrelevant that almost half Australia’s 18-year-olds are not enrolled to vote.

As well as the Democrats’ traditional role of keeping them honest, the Democrats also provide a few good ideas: World Heritage Legislation; tax breaks to conserve land; Health Care cards for foster children; and Private Member’s bills to address emerging issues in Science and Technology. Most of the measures this Government has instigated to combat climate change through reducing Greenhouse emissions are Democrat initiatives.

We are a Party that has shown initiative, coming up with practical positive solutions and negotiating to bring them about. This is what the Change Politics campaign is about: good ideas and positive outcomes, not just insults and underbidding the opposition.

The Democrats have led the field in terms of accountability and honesty in Government. It was ten years ago the Democrats forced a public register of political donations to be kept. The Democrats stand for a new type of politics where backroom deals and powerful vested interests do not dominate. We listen to business and we listen to unions but we are not bound by either. Our first commitment is to the Australian people.

Change Politics is about creating the Australia we want over the next 30 years at least, not just trying to buoy the polls over the next 4 months. Health, education, environment, and job creation, are all areas in which you invest now, and the long-term returns are priceless.

Environmental protection, is essential to our long-term future. The Democrats’ Environment policy will be the first major policy launch. It is an area in which the Democrats have a long and proud record of achievement and we will be proposing some new initiatives.

The other vital investment a country can make in its future is education. Yet, education barely rated a mention in the Prime Minister’s address last week, and it is hardly surprising since his Government's performance has been disgraceful. He has presided over the systematic degradation of public education in schools, TAFEs and universities.

Australia is one of the few OECD countries with declining school retention rates. This is a very poor base to grapple with the massive future challenges and opportunities of the knowledge economy.

Similarly, as a result of the Government’s cut to the Research and Development tax concession, business investment in R&D has declined each year since 1996, in real terms and as a percentage of GDP. To encourage internationally competitive levels of private investment in R&D, at a minimum we must restore the R&D tax concession to 150% and prevent this Government's attempts to constrain R&D definitions.

The Democrats’ triple bottom line is the environment, the economy and the community. All the Prime Minister’s talk about ‘choice’ does not acknowledge that the marketplace can only ever provide market values, not community values. Beneath the economic bottom line there is a treasure chest of community values that cannot be costed, but must be counted.

Mr Howard emphasised the choices his Government was offering people but neglected the greatest choice Australians want at the forthcoming election – to change politics.