John D has suggested a quicklink post as below.
Steven Bartos at the ABC Drum suggests 10 policy issues that he considers more important than asylum seekers.
He starts by saying that:
A visitor to Australia with any more than minimal interest in media and politics would be forgiven for thinking that our paramount policy problem is asylum seekers. For our politicians and the press gallery the issue has assumed a significance way beyond what it actually deserves. It is more often than not the lead story both on the front pages of print and in the electronic media.
In terms of both international comparisons and our own migration program, the numbers of so-called unauthorised arrivals are tiny…
A very senior bureaucrat lamented to me recently that there were so many more important issues of concern that deserved attention from our parliamentarians and media. Asylum seeker policy was vexed and difficult, but not overwhelming.
I took this comment as a challenge – to list at least 10 policy problems more important to Australia than asylum seekers. Not counting climate change.
So do you think he’s right? What policy areas do you think are more important than refugees, and if so, why?
Our most recent post on asylum seeker policy is here.
Simple. Just ignore the insane rantings of the mullahs of Murdochistan.
“What policy areas do you think are more important than refugees, and if so, why?”
Almost everything because asylum seekers constitute a tiny percentage of people, most of whom no-one will ever even meet. In addition, if you were just worried about people being persecuted, asylum seekers that finally manage to turn up in Australia also constitute a tiny percentage of them.
I think that the primary issue much spoken of but only partially resolved is the issue of alternative energy and all of its down stream considerations.
Climate Change is the principally recognised driver of this need, but lurking in the background is the issue of peak oil and energy sustainability. Here is an interview with Mike Friend of the Boeing Research Team talking about aircraft and the future. Take note of what he has to say about fuel for aircraft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUR8scqjJMY&feature=player_embedded
This does not talk about a steady state energy supply for the next 300 years.
So regardless of how it is achieved we as an energy driven economy need alternatives. Alternative energy sources mean alternative means with which to use that energy to service our needs. Front runner in that area are electric vehicles, but there are a huge range of other technologies beyond that which need to be brought up to market level rapidly, the most interesting of these I cannot mention for commercial reasons. So we need to ramp up our R&D capabilities to a highly dynamic level rather than a “oh, you want to do that? Then we can help if we have to” level.
We also need to envigorate industry. Particularly in the small to mid range. This level of industry is the most dynamic, agile and self reliant once established. It is also the most flexible employer. Australia must fight back from the notion of being a service economy and a net importer of goods. To not do this would be to fall completely into the US economy trap where the economy hangs on the housing industry and nothing else.
We need to dynamically encourage and support entrepreneurialism.
A few as I sit at the kiosk in Coffs Harbour Palms shopping centre:
1. Improved and more secure income support,and less demonisation and bureaucratic harassment, for the unemployed and sole parents.
2. More support for young people transitioning from care.
3. Suicide prevention.
4. Removing unjustifiable exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.
5. Subjecting all contractors for outsourced government service delivery to the same public policy requirementsand scrutiny as government agencies were/would be subject to (and returning these functions to government agencies if contractors are unable/unwilling to comply).
6. More funding for higher education.
7. World’s best practice (i.e.Scandinavian) policy on parental leave for both parents.
8. Regulating political advertising so as to eliminate the present advantages enjoyed by the top end of town vis-a-vis less cashed-up stakeholders.
That’ll do for one morning.
The number one issue is having a highly diversified, honest and accountable media industry. This will allow for a more informed public debate about the issues that really do matter.
Ok I’ll have a go at 10 things more important than asylum seekers. There are some good things above, but let’s see …
1. The misuse of the apostrophe … that really is annoying. The Mitsubishi site even made this mistake while promoting the MIEV
2. People who say “perductive” capacity, “inferstruckcha” or “particuly” I’m looking at you Wayne … also Jule-ree for jewellery and “miyyon” and “Austrayan”. Ugh!
3. Urban assault vehicles (with or without “baby on board” or “cattlemen care for the high country” stickers)
4. People who park on the ends of aisles in shopping centre car parks
5. Billboards … visual pollution …
6. Spam or Junk mail — just wrong. The physical stuff is worse.
7. Those inflatable figures inside car yards — WUWT?
8. Local papers that are essentially just more junk mail (see #6 above) The Weekly Times is especially egregious in my area because apart from the ads, it’s “juliar” and “carbon cate” all the way.
9. Poker machines — do we need 200,000 of them? WA gets by largely without them
10. Drugs in elite sport — should the state be worried? Not really.
The manufacturing sector, specifically:
a) do we want one?
b) if yes – what do we want it to do?
c) what policies are we prepared to implement to build it?
On the last point – ‘leave it to the market’ is certainly an option. However the outcomes of our ‘free’ market policies will be shaped by the non-market policies of other countries.
Paul N,
Your list is all overheads and no production. As we all instinctively know if you don’t earn it you can’t spend it. What do you have for the other side of the ledger?
Bil, good universities are an investment in future production. So is parental leave, both in terms of future outcomes for children, and workforce participation for parents.
Here’s a few for you:
Domestic violence.
Death and injury caused by medical errors.
A big increase in sexually transmitted disease rates.
Urban (non-CO2) air pollution.
Urban congestion.
Appropriate sock length for racing cyclists.
1/. Full fee payment up front for university degrees. If someone is going to benefit from it, they can pay for it.
2/. National Service. Teach the youth some disciplne & respect.
3/. Removal of single mother’s benefit. Stop the freeloading.
4/. Death penalty for drugs. Treat the problem seriously
5/. Mandatory sentencing. Cure the crime wave.
6/. Removal of Compulsory Superannuation Guarantee. It is a rort.
7/. Mandate that for every law passed, a law (any law) must be repealed.
8/. No benefits of any sort paid to migrants. They either contribute or ship back to where they came from.
9/. Go back to 10 senators per state. This will remove several freeloaders.
10/. Sell off the ABC. It produces rubbish.
bilb @ * “As we all instinctively know if you don’t earn it you can’t spend it.” No we do not all instinctively know that at all…….only if we have the “instincts” of a corporation and the politics of a wingnut.
I would not dispute that, or any of Paul N’s, points at all. Primary focus should always be on production. When polishing surfaces the first rule is to avoid the edges because the edges are mostly polished by accident. The same thing in business. You do not go looking for things to spend profits on because it is far to easy to overshoot with expenditures because, obviously that is far more fun that working.
In government, of course there are other considerations such as lead time. Underfunded Universities lead to no expertise which in turn means minimal innovation and inefficient industry. On the other hand where there is dynamic industry there is a solid demand signal for graduate expertise and the funding is automatic from tax returns on profitable industry. I should point out here is that I do not see improved productivity coming from lower wages and longer working hours. Productivity comes from better techniques, fully productive properly remunerated staf and each industry achieving its maximum affordable degree of automation. Where I do draw the line is with redundancy payments and 12% superannution premiums.
Motivated by the English riots and a walk through my local mall, I see a desperate need to give hope and capacity to society’s ‘losers’ and bring them into mainstream society. I’m talking of the educationally and socially unsuccessful, drug and alcohol addicts and the mentally ill. My impression is that this sector is growing despite Australia’s extraordinary levels of prosperity and it will eventually bring us all down unless we start finding solutions. I suspect that one of the underlying reasons for boat-people anxt is concern that the new arrivals might further swell the numbers of society’s misfits.
BilB @8,I was thinking of issues in addition to those nominated by Steve Bartos (several of which will have significant implications for production). I also endorse Tim Dimond’s point. That said, I think items 1, 2, 3, 4 and (as Robert M has noted) 6 and 7 on my list would all yield economic/production pluses, in addition to their non-economic benefits.
SATP @11, please don’t take this personally but if you don’t intend your 4th point to apply to yourself, your customers and your suppliers I don’t think it can be taken seriously.
Steve at the Pub @ 11
I suspect your list is the ten points of view most likely to get a strong reaction from the average LPer. Good to see a bloke enjoying himself.
1. Ban poker machines
2. Ban cigarettes
3. Sell the ABC to News Ltd (might as well make some money on the deal).
4. Ban News Ltd
5. Ban all shock jocks and Phil Gould from polluting the airwaves
6. Introduce a real mining profits tax
7. Require an intelligence test for all pub owners
8. Require mandatory pre-commitment technology in all bars/pubs etc
9. Ban the following words: ” Un-Australian”, “working families” “moving forward”, “the national interest”, “stop the boats”, “insiders”.
10. Ban Mark Arbib.
One needn’t agree with SATP’s 10 point attempted threadhijack or even agree that any of them makes a scrap of sense to agree that each of these is more important than cracking down on asylum seekers.
He left out #11 though
11. No posting to blogsites from pubs.
re: #4 “Death penalty for drugs” — As far as I know, drugs aren’t alive so you can’t execute them, (although I have heard that they can be abused). This may raise feasibility issues.
#2 “National Service: Teach the youth some discipline & respect.”
This sounds doubtful. The handful of people I’ve met who did it stopped having respect for the armed forces. I understand the feeling was mutual. The hijinks at ADFA suggest earning respect may not be what most people think it is.
“#3/. Removal of single mother’s benefit. (sic) Stop the freeloading. ”
Misused apostrophe! Three-word slogan. Misogyny. You are Tony Abbott and I win the internetz. For the record, I support freeloading by those in need, even if they are women and children.
#5/. “Mandatory sentencing. Cure the crime wave.” Mandatory sentencing would be a crime wave. Certainly, it would clog up the prisons and ensure that people who could support themselves would be supported at great expense by most of those not in prison. On the positive side, prison can be a great place to learn new skills. These may not be the skills we want people to learn of course.
“7/. Mandate that for every law passed, a law (any law) must be repealed.”
Sidebar: If that’s a law, then which law has to get repealed? Hmmm … maybe that one purporting to keep out asylum seekers.
Just the same, SATP may be onto something here. We bring in national service and then repeal the law that makes drugs illegal. Party time at ADFA!
#9/. Go back to 10 senators per state. This will remove several freeloaders.
Not radical enough SATP. We can get rid of about 76 freeloaders by abolishing the senate. We can get rid of a bunch more abolishing the states. We can get rid of even more my amalgamating councils into regional government. Follow through, or at least drink up!
Adrian
You left out from #9 “people smugglers’ business model (psbm)” and “carbon tax” (when used to describe things that are not carbon taxes). I’d ban the word “tax” on the same condition. People violating this law would have to write out definitions of tax, levy, fee, regulation several times and compose a published essay for critique by experts. If the essay didn’t pass they’d have to do it again. People uttering “psbm” would have to produce a copy of the model or make one up and have it approved by actual people smugglers. If they couldn’t read it because they were semi-literate Indonesian fisherfolk, the psbm would need to be redrafted. If the fisherfolk couldn’t pass a test on it, then again, it would have to be redone.
1. Equip the ADF with major combat equipment that a) works and b) is deployable on operations with our major allies.
I’ll happily accept those additions/amendments Fran, to which I’d add ban “government sources claim” and “the opposition says” which alone would put those journalists not working for the former News Ltd and former ABC out of a job.
SATP, you should ask some professional soldiers what they think of national service. I can’t recall anyone I served with (over a 26 year career in the Army) who thought it was a good idea.
I like your idea, Razor, although there are a few other suggestions upthread which I reckon are even more important. Dealing with climate change tops my list.
Adrian would ban “government sources claim” and “the opposition says” …
Sounds good, but if they said: “the voices in my head said” I’d accept that as “outcry statements”. Nobody should be denied the opportunity to give voice to their angst.
oops {as an “outcry statement”}
Maybe SATP could give that single mother who is freeloading a job at his pub? Problem solved, as long as he provides childcare.
SATP @ 11:
What about widows?
Terangeree @ 26 The arrangements for widows are covered in the Talmud or somewhere, a man has the obligation to marry his brother’s widow.
Mindy @ 25: You are suggesting that someone be paid heaps more because they have bred! This is discriminatory against the barren! (dobbing you in right now to HREOC)
Perhaps practically everything mentioned on this thread so far is a distraction from what this guy is saying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqN3amj6AcE&feature=share
Our whole debate about returning to surplus in this or that fiscal year may start looking very trivial soon.
Top 10 issues facing Oz:
1. Republic
2. Disband army
3. Nationalise press
4. Nationalise industry
5. Dissolve parliament
6. Institute one party government led by Bob Brown, or if he’s too gutless, myself
7. Recognise Palestine
8. Ban use of fossil fuels
9. Free the farm animals
10. Union with NZ (easy) and WA (hard).
I wanted to put nationalise housing in there but you can probably guess that’s going to follow.
Take out #3, #5 & #6 and you are more appealing than the ALP. Mind you, that’s a pretty low bar.
I imagine we could tweak most of them with advantage of course.
I call Poe on SATP.
SATP is pretty much a living Poe
@11
You’re doing impressions now? Let me guess, ummm Ted Bullpitt, no wait … Alf Garnett …?? Comedy gold.
1. The most scientific , thorough and comprehensive study/investigation/debate into the breakdown of families/relationships.
The findings implemented at any cost.
This would help address ,
PN@4s’ #1 & #3
At least one of RM@10.
SATP@11 #s’ 1,3,4 and 5.
Also ban murder of human beings in the 40 weeks prior to their birth.
And build some fricken dams FFS!!
James McDonough:
I had a good laugh at this one.
More seriously, why on earth would NZ want to enter into any kind of union with Australia? We can see exactly what your mining riches do to the dollar, and hence infer what it would do to our (predominantly milk and tourism) export industries. What would Australia have to offer us?
dear Brian
whatever. just get pedestrians to pass on the left again – i had to learn it, why’d everyone else get to forget?
yours sincerely
alfred venison
This thread is more important than asylum seekers because Fran has found and mined a rich vein of humour in it. Others have too, like the LOL by Adrien @ 17 Vs 7, but I am impressed with your humour Fran.
Jumpy @ 34: We’ll have to disagree on one of your points.
I am an enthusiastic believer in abortion, to go ahead if there is simple agreement between any four sane adults, to be carried out summarily at any point from conception through until 23 years after birth.
SATP
Ihearya.
Add to my list.
legislate that anyone to have three male sons,( that could be teenagers at the same time and probably never leave home) be flogged in a public place.
Oops, “male sons”, as opposed to female sons or male daughters.
SATP – “23″
Didn’t pick you for a fan of RAW and the enigma of 23
OT
I agree this matters more
Will Australia miss global solar boom?
@41
from the link:
“”"”"I’m talking about people who found a pattern in nature and wrote several scientific articles and got it accepted by a large part of the scientific community before it was generally agreed that there was no such pattern, it was all just selective perception.”[7]“”"”
Sound familiar?
SATP @ 20-something:
What if she’s the widow of an only child?
@44
One would hope daddy( rest his soul ) would have had adequate life insurance to ensure his beloved and child would be catered for financially.
It’s the only responsible thing to do.
One of the underlying problems is that we have become addicted to economic growth. Addicted in the sense that if we don’t stay in a very narrow growth band we either end up with socially destructive unemployment or allegedly economically evil inflation rates in excess of 2.5%.
For example, if our economic activity contracted by 5% our average incomes might contract by a manageable 5% (the equivalent of an extra 2.5 weeks taken holiday/yr). Problem is that, with the current way of doing things, most of the pain will be borne by the limited number of people who will lose their jobs. As a rough guess the 5% contraction would lift unemployment above 10%.
We would have a much better country if we were better able to stand fluctuations in the economy.
One thing more important to address than asylum seekers is the shocking ignorance of most Australians about other cultures (despite cheap fares to Bali, Phuket etc)
So time to make LOTE study compulsory for all school students.
And instead of useless channels like the ABC news channel, they could just broadcast, say, an Indonesian TV channel instead.
Jumpy – “Sound familiar?”
Uh, your quoting RAW from the link I posted. You a fan as well?
This sounds more familiar, as in aligned with reality, to me
“I’m talking about people who found a pattern in their business interests and wrote
in nature and wrote several scientific articlesa few cheap ads and books, yelled a bit andgot it accepted by a large part oftried to bully and threaten the scientific communitybefore it wasto generally agreedthat there was nosuch patternproblems, it was all just selective perception.”SATP @ 27:
What if the late husband’s only brother is already married?
Does that mean he has to divorce his current wife so he can marry his brother’s widow?
Or does he become polygamous?
Quick one.
I suggest that Australia consider introducing a national “no fault” accident compensation scheme, similar to that in New Zealand, only better.
A little on the more serious side
I propose the imposition of a negativity tax for parliament. This will involve a large lid slotted tin beside the despatch box into which offending speakers will need to place $10 per offence. There would also be a mandatory negativity precomitment system which will suspend the speakers time once going over their negativity precommitment allowance, also requiring them to leave the chamber.
There would also be a roudiness levy available for the speaker to penalise excessively offensive political parties.
All of the proceeds of these crowd management devices will be donated to charitable institutions such as the Deaf, Blind and Dumb societies.
Brian said:
The number one issue facing this country is same-sex marriage. After all the ABS reports that 0.4% – thats 40% of a whole one per cent people! Its possible, although not likely, that up to half of those couples will want to tie the knot. So we are talking about 0.2% of the population constrained from wedded bliss.
This is BIG people!
We cannot let this massive injustice go on causing heart break and sorrow to this fraction of a fraction of our community.
And let us not forget the plight of our trans-gendered brothers and sisters and those undergoing gender re-assignment who also want the right to throw a HUGE party wearing lots of designer clothes on the happiest day of their lives. Thats the next BIG thing in politics.
Rowdiness, surely? Not that I want to be negative.
Regarding union with NZ: the other measures that I have suggested would drive our dollar down, which wouldn’t be a bad thing anyway. I’m in Gippsland, which in many ways should be part of NZ – cool climate, dairy farming, friendly people, cultural desert. I wave to my comrades across the water.
The real flight of capital would start with the Murdochs’ arrest for inciting war and crimes against the people. Bring it on, I say.
I’d second Russell’s point @ 47. The teaching of the language of our nearest neighbour (no not New Zealand) is declining at an alarming rate. This should be a major issue, but not in Australia.
Just as well Adrian didn’t name our nearest neighbor, because from reading #54 one could be excused for thinking he meant Indonesia.
I’d say our nearest neighbour was PNG, but there you go …
So I’m geographically challenged….
I thought Australia’s nearest neighbour was somewhere near Perth, Fran.
dear terangeree
i don’t know about others here, but i don’t have to go as far as wa to get my passport stamped “foreign“.
yours sincerely
alfred venison
Mr Venison,
That’s an interesting concept: seceding from the Commonwealth because your investment property was repossessed.
I see that they’re an “empire”, with a colony near Gatton.
Bilb: I would like to see third party insurance (Property and personal) paid for by the fuel tax instead of separately. At the moment you have aproblem if an accident is caused by someone with no money driving an unregistered vehicle.
Better still we should get behind Shorten’s efforts to cover all accidents using taxes. (If I understand it properly.)