Sep 10, 2018
Essentials
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Essentials
Weak Leaders Follow The Power Elite
PM Anthony Albanese was never going to stand up to the gas industry downunder. Weak leaders follow the power elite. They are content to see inequity and inequality flourish in this time of zombie neoliberalism. Nero fiddled whilst Rome burned or so the story goes. Governments do little these days but talk and let the markets run the show to the detriment of the working poor. We have a severe housing crisis and it is not getting any better. What is the government doing about it? Talking about it, but talk is cheap. They are not actually getting their hands dirty and getting into the game by building houses themselves. No, they are ineffectually encouraging private interests to do something about the housing crisis. The figures do not stack up in terms of meeting the challenge of new housing stock being built at the required rate.
“Housing construction is falling behind both on estimates of demand and the government’s target of building 1.2m homes in five years, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.”
- (https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2025/apr/16/abs-housing-construction-data-labor-target-estimated-demand)
Albanese A Timid Leader Doing Little
Timid fiddling around the edges of structural problems will not fix things. Australia is headed for a return to feudalism, according to OECD economists, on our current tax and housing settings. The divide between rich and poor is growing like it is on steroids. 20 years of Coalition federal governments, prior to this Labor one, have put us on this collision course, with the 50% CGT discount, negative gearing, rampant overseas investment in property, superannuation boltholes, and the transfer of public assets to private hands all doing their work over decades. The Commonwealth Bank was once a national asset owned by all Australians. Now, in private hands it boasts a massive share price, which is great for the few who are investors. On average, home loans deliver $200K profit to lending banks downunder. Is it any wonder that buying a home is now more unaffordable than ever? Unfortunately, changing the CGT discount back to pre-Howard years will not be a silver bullet to fix the rampantly overinflated property market. It will take much more than this single adjustment to fix things.
Playing Politics Results In Nothing Getting Done
Why action has not been taken to redress these economic inequities for so long is all about politics. Australia has been in the grip of our leaders ‘playing politics’ for decades. This is fed by our media and journalists emphasising the political contest over policy content for their own need for ratings and eyeballs on screens. Even the ABC, follows suit in this regard, despite being paid for by tax payers. Anthony Albanese is a political animal, which is one of the reasons why he is in the position he is. That and the vicissitudes of time or dumb luck saw Peter Dutton lose all credibility with a batshit crazy nuclear power policy and the blowback from Trumpism. Albo in his second term, now leads Labor in its largest federal parliamentary advantage ever. Is he making use of this to make much needed change? No, he sees it as an opportunity to appeal to those voters who didn’t vote for him instead. Politicians see their legacy in terms of the duration they stay in power, rather than what they actually get done whilst in power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNz-1lqRoy8 Right Wing Alternatives Are Even Worse Downunder
Of course, the alternative to Albo is far worse. The Libs self-destructed under Dutton and things have only stagnated since his departure. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is an oligarch’s plaything, billionaire mining magnate Gina Rhinehart. Weak leaders follow the power elite. One Nation voters are equivalent to Australia’s MAGA, right wing folk looking for simplistic answers to complex issues. Populism has never solved anything but made things worse down the track for vulnerable members of the community. Blame it on the immigrant and all those who don’t fit in with a narrow definition of what white Australia views as the national identity. Meanwhile, the wealthy make hay at the expense of everyone else. Take a look at Donald Trump’s America to see where this extreme right wing agenda leads. Tax breaks for billionaires and savage cuts to welfare spending on the needy.
What Is Zombie Neoliberalism?
It is a long standing belief that markets always know best and that governments have a minimal role to play in running the country. The housing crisis has come about for a number of reasons but governments getting out of building houses has only made things worse. Private enterprise has not been building affordable housing for workers and governments stopped building social housing. Australia has a long history of social housing projects creating rooves over the heads of its citizens. Neoliberal policies saw the demise of these and no private groups have filled the black hole. Housing is way too expensive downunder because of banks filling their boots, overseas investment in the sector, negative gearing and the CGT discount. Combine this with local councils making development hard via onerous bylaws and a building industry stuck in outdated modes of practice slowing things down and you have a recipe for nothing much happening quickly. The market is a bunch of rich people and companies betting on things. These gamblers define the prices of things. Every night on the news you can tune in to hear how stock markets are going, whether up or down, as if these somehow reflect the wealth and aspirations of millions of ordinary citizens.
“While mortgages for owner-occupiers make up 22.7% of the big four banks’ loans, they make up 39.3% of their profits – suggesting owner-occupiers disproportionately contribute to the $43 billion in pre-tax profits the big banks recorded last year.”
- (https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/australian-banks-now-make-228900-profit-from-the-average-home-loan-new-research/) Workers Pay Whilst Investors Profit
You know if you are running a café or restaurant in Australia you may well be operating on a 1% or 2% profit margin. That is very different to the Big 4 banks or Big Gas exporting $69 billion worth of LNG. Weak leaders follow the power elite and let the rest of us suffer being screwed by large corporations not paying their fair share of tax. Aussie workers pay the lion’s share of tax revenue via personal income tax. On top of that many are burdened with huge amounts of excise on their booze, bets and smokes. Shareholders, property owners and company executives are comparatively lightly taxed in Australia if you take a look at the ATO figures. This Labor government should really change its name, because it does not represent the worker’s interests in truth.
“We need an Inquiry into why LPG gas deals have been so financially bad for the nation as a whole. Why do the gas companies pay so little tax and royalties on the huge amounts of gas they export for enormous profits? When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, you know something is wrong with our democracy. Polling has indicated that 75% of Australians support a 25% export tax on LPG gas. Yet, this federal Labor government has knocked back proposed legislation to make this happen.”
- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/when-elected-representatives-are-deaf-to-their-constituents/)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
©WordsForWeb
When Elected Representatives Are Deaf To Their Constituents
We need an Inquiry into why LPG gas deals have been so financially bad for the nation as a whole. Why do the gas companies pay so little tax and royalties on the huge amounts of gas they export for enormous profits? When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, you know something is wrong with our democracy. Polling has indicated that 75% of Australians support a 25% export tax on LPG gas. Yet, this federal Labor government has knocked back proposed legislation to make this happen.
“Five news polls conducted for The Australia Institute reveal an overwhelming majority of Australians want a gas export tax to fund improvements in services like health and aged care.”
- (https://australiainstitute.org.au/report/national-and-electorate-polls-taxing-gas-exports/) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmUM1GF1PtY
Australian Politicians Not Listening To The People
It is no secret to some that big companies pay large donations to political party election funds. In addition, there has been a steady revolving door of resource ministers and senior civil servants taking up well paid jobs in the mining sector post-political careers. This is, in effect, corruption hiding in plain sight. These are the individuals supposed to be making deals with these companies on our behalf. The proof is in the fact that these deals are financially underwhelming for Australia, especially when compared with what happens in other western countries like Norway. Either these resource ministers are idiots or they are corrupt and possibly a mix of both. We need hard nosed professionals, who are quarantined from the largesse of these multinational corporations, negotiating these deals. Too often short term political considerations like the jobs these projects generate influence these state and federal resource ministers into signing crap deals for Australia. In realty, the mechanisation of the mining sector means the actual number of jobs are not that great these days. Bunnings employs more workers than Big Gas in Australia.
“In 2023–24, Australian governments provided $14.5 billion in subsidies to coal mines, oil and gas operations and major fossil fuel users. This is equal to $27,581 for every minute of every day of the year, more than is spent on the army or the air force.
Economists and scientists have long called for fossil fuel subsidies to be stopped, as have international forums like the International Energy Agency, the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).”
- (https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/fossil-fuel-subsidies/) Governments Deaf To All But The Big End Of Town
When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, and only listening to the big end of town, we the people have a problem. The rise of One Nation, as much as I abhor their racist ideology, is a reaction to governments not listening to their voters. If the Albanese government goes on ignoring the profiteering of the gas sector, especially during this Donald Trump inflicted energy crisis, it will be the beginning of the end for them down the track. It is time to act decisively against the long pandered to interests of this multinational owned sector. Politicians are not up to the job of doing billion dollar deals, as shown by the crap results in negotiating these gas contracts. The GDP might look good on the national spreadsheet but ordinary Aussies get bugger all from them. It might be good for the few actually working directly in the industry, but it is ripping off our resource wealth for the rest of us. Bad deals over many years are deserving of an Inquiry into all the details surrounding them, including who got what job in the wash up. It is time for a comprehensive Inquiry. Time to root out the corruption at the heart of our political democracy.
https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Aus-Institute-Mar26-poll-summary-20032026-votingintention_GAS.pdf
The AI Betrayal Of Us All
“AI digital technology is coming for your job. AI heresy a betrayal of humanity. Big Tech is being run by oligarchs hell bent on profitability at all costs. Ruthless American capitalism has no interest in you or your family. This is a betrayal of us all and not merely a fight between doomers and boomers. Read all about it, if you dare. Of course, you might not be smart enough? Your brain may have already begun to atrophy? Is AI thinking for you and making decisions for you in your life? Robert Sudha Hamilton has written The AI Heresy: A Betrayal of Humanity as a warning to us all. A clarion call to wake up before it is too late. Do you have the symptoms? “
- (https://wordsforweb.com.au/ai-heresy-a-betrayal-of-humanity/)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
©WordsForWeb
Politicians & Civil Servants Are Not Accountable In Australia
The Robodebt accountability debacle exposes the inadequacies at the heart of the NACC. This anti-corruption body is yet another paper tiger, established by politicians to look like they are doing something about it but not really. The fact that half a million Australians were subject to illegal, invasive and incorrect attacks upon their integrity has never been properly dealt with and never will, it seems. Politicians and civil servants are not accountable in Australia, nor are they liable for their actions, according to the NACC. It is further proof that the Albanese federal government is a sham when it comes to effecting real progressive change. If I had to cast a word salad representing this Labor government it would read as such: timid, uninspiring, pragmatic, disappointing and ineffective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGpJaqIXdcA
Labor Politicians Moving Right To Stem Any Real Change
Of course, the other mob in this 2 party preferred situation have moved so far Right that rationality has left their building. What happens when your longtime opponent becomes unelectable? Unfortunately, the answer is that Labor becomes the Coalition lite and inhabits that space. PM Anthony Albanese is busy shoring up his right wing credentials in the minds of the undecided racists and selfish me-centric Aussies. Siding with the News Corp led white Australia Zionists who are backing the illegal US/Israel war on Iran. Tip toing around any calls for real change when it comes to the ballistic property market and growing unaffordability for renters and first home buyers. These are the characteristics of the Albanese government.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RK3crAk5huE
This Labor Government Is Right Wing Lite
Treading water is not the kind of momentum required to effect real progressive change in Australia. Yet that is what we have seen over the federal government’s time in office. At a juncture, when the world is witnessing first hand the cruelties and chaos of extreme right wing governance under President Donald Trump, Albo has maintained his small target strategy downunder. Don’t rock the boat, would be the chorus most suitable for this Labor government’s efforts so far. Once bitten twice shy, also, after the bitter defeat of the Voice referendum. You could say that the people of Australia let down Albo and the Aboriginal people by embracing Peter Dutton’s negative campaign. Old white men are not famous for their idealism, as that kind of thing most often belongs in their youth. Pragmatism reigns supreme in the realpolitik. Albanese is more interested in protecting the status quo than anything else. Politicians and civil servants are not accountable in Australia, when things get serious folks.
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Ineffective governments get a certain smell about them. One that indicates their prioritizing of staying in power over actually achieving anything. The soft hand on the tiller is all about not upsetting anyone powerful or important. How many times have we seen a longtime opposition come to power and not reverse any of the legislation they most bitterly fought against when in opposition? Looking after wealthy, property owning Australians has been the raison d’etre of both political parties downunder for the most part. The Coalition brought in lots of tax and superannuation gifts for asset rich Australians. Labor just went along with it too. It is like there is an acceptable archetype for Aussie politicians whatever the colours they may wear. It is like women in the LNP, they are welcome, as long as they act just like the blokes do.
Clever Accounting & Companies Not Paying Tax Downunder
Corporations, in the main, do not pay their fair share of tax in Australia. They do this via clever accounting tricks like shifting profits to tax havens. Governments at the federal level have been largely unsuccessful in reversing this trend, despite saying to voters that they would do something about it. Assets and wealth are not taxed well in this country. It is personal income tax, the wages of labour, which is taxed most fully in Australia. Thus, we get a rapidly growing inequality and inequity divide downunder. Right wing political parties, following the Americans in this regard, promote promises of tax reductions to potential voters. Paying less tax is a right wing virtue. The Right promotes attacks on the welfare state, which is what Robodebt essentially was. Robodebt accused 500, 000 Australians of ripping off Centrelink and forced them to prove they hadn’t or pay it back. The very premise of Robodebt was illegal and just plain wrong in its calculations. A few Australians in despair killed themselves over what they were accused of. To this day politicians and civil servants are not accountable in Australia, nor criminally liable, according to the NACC.
Big Gas Don't Pay Its Fair Share Of Tax
This Labor government looks after the interests of Big Gas, as they don’t pay much tax on their super profits either. It is business as usual for the LPG producers downunder, whoever is running the show in Canberra. The big end of town pay their dues to the political campaign fund raisers for both parties. This is how the system work in Australia, you pay your donation and get special treatment if and when it is required. AUKUS is a protection racket in real terms too. Australia gets to pay hundreds of billions of dollars to the US over many years, as an investment in hopefully getting protected if bad stuff happens with a foreign military beyond our capabilities. It is a transactional world. Albo has no time for histrionics, he is a pragmatist. Can you inspire your children on the back of such strategies? Probably not. Most of them will be keeping their eyeballs on the sporting fields, anyway. We lack leaders with courage and integrity in politics in Australia.
At Least He Isn't Peter Dutton!
I wonder for how much longer we all will put up with this current federal government on the proviso that at least it isn’t Peter Dutton? The truth is that as the years go by there is less and less to admire about the Albanese government. Protecting the status quo and staying in power become the only observable themes running through this Labor lite government. Being too afraid to risk their jobs if they began to undo the unfair tax policies of the John Howard era is no mitigation for future generations of Australians. The OECD economists have warned that if something is not done about the Australian property market that we will all soon be living in a feudal society. Greedy rich people make things more expensive for everybody else, remember that. Donald Trump is a good example of that, but it is true also of homegrown fat cats too. Investors have driven up residential property prices for decades to the detriment of those folk who just want to live in a home. It is not a simplistic matter of there being a shortage of supply. The market itself is corrupted by the vested interests. Banks making $200, 000 profit on loans for the average Aussie home. Negative gearing and the CGT discount are all favouring investors over people wanting a roof over their head.
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-economic-surveys-australia-2026_d22a1efd-en.html
“Welcome to right wing Australia, where even the Labor party supports zombie neoliberalism. Stop and have a think about Australian culture and institutions. Let’s start with the media, which often has the loudest voice. A chap called Rupert Murdoch defines the Australian media landscape and a more virulent right wing agent would be hard to find. Nearly all the major newspapers are owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. Plus a national network of radio stations and Sky News Australia on our screens. Oh, let’s not forget Fox News. A rung down from this is Nine Fairfax who we can safely describe as corporate media in that conservative mould. Seven West Media is in a similar vein but more right wing. The ABC is our national broadcaster and tries terribly hard to be unbiased and faced accusations from the LNP for years over this. If any Australian major media platform could have been described as progressive it would have been the ABC. The ABC does more to put diversity on our screens in terms of presenters with brown skin, a disability and a variety of ethnicities. This is important because the media reflects back who we are as a nation.”
- (https://www.housetherapy.com.au/welcome-to-right-wing-australia/)
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
©HouseTherapy
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