Funeral for a fair Australia : Melbourne Indymedia

Most people passed in silence, but some gave words of encouragement for the protest. Rather than have one small group, people spread around the four corners of the intersection provided a greater visual impact for the protest.

The Howard Government has increased its numbers in the Senate, and if it does not have an absolute majority, will likely have the assistance of one or two Family First Senators to enact their economic rationalist program. Family First will be elected on liberal preferences, as well as pragmatic preference deals done with Labor and the Democrats.

Two tiered health system

Under Howard, Medicare bulk-billing will continue to decline. Under the safety net, those able to pay will be reimbursed 80% of fees after they exceed the limit, while the poor will avoid medical care to avoid the expense. Medical treatment for the rich will be effectively subsidised while the health of those on lower incomes will suffer. Increasing the rebate to 100% of the scheduled fee will result in a pay rise for doctors with no structural encouragement to enhance bulk-billing.

This does not bode well for the prevention of disease and immunisation programs. These programs rely on a high degree of voluntary cooperation and participation for their effectiveness.

State hospital systems are under pressure with increased attendance at Emergency Departments with cases that could have been effectively treated at an earlier stage by a General Practitioner. Funding for State Hospitals is done through Federal Government agreements with the State Governments. Last year State Premiers objected to the squeeze on funds for hospitals provided by the Howard Government.

Logging of old growth forests

The slash and burn of old growth logging will continue in Tasmania and the mainland. The rate of logging is not sustainable and eventually the forestry industry will fall in a tremendous heap. In the meantime, lumber companies like Gunns continue to squeeze profits from an industry facing a big crunch.

Discrimination against minorities

The possible election of two Family first senators (Victoria, South Australia) highlights a growing intolerance to minorities from the Howard Government spurred by christian fundamentalism. Howard promised to prepare "family impact" statements for all cabinet submissions as part of a pre-election voting deal with Family First.

The government made a pre-election offering to the Christian right in August when it amended the marriage act to insist that a marriage could only take place between a man and a woman. This Government is vehmently anti lesbian and gay in denying homosexuals the same rights as heterosexuals in marriage, superannuation and other areas of law.

The Howard Government has reversed the wheels of reconciliation with Australian aborigine peoples. It has dissolved ATSIC, an elected aboriginal advisory body. It grossly underfunds aboriginal health according to the conservative AMA. If Andrea Mason is elected as a Family First Senator for SA, she will be the only aborigine in Federal parliament, replacing Aden Ridgeway from the Democrats in NSW. It will be interesting how she reconciles fundamentalist family values with the Howard Government's rejection of Aboriginal people.

Two tiered Education system

The Howard government will continue subsidising the elite private schools at the expense of schools in need, whether they be public or private.

Universities will continue to charge substantial HECS fees for a university education that will saddle graduates with a substantial debt as they enter the workforce. Universities will be encouraged in more self funding through overseas student places, and partnerships with business.

Increasingly, tertiary education will become the province of those who have the money to pay for it, effectively locking out the working class youth who may have had pretentions to an education.

Exempt small business from Unfair dismissal laws

The Nationals Senate leader Ron Boswell said changing the unfair dismissal laws would be top of the list. "I want to do the things that people actually want done urgently and the unfair dismissal law, it would just be such a wonderful thing for Australia's small business community and they would be would just be ecstatic about it."
( Sydney Morning Herald )

"I'm certain that the prime minister will now see an opportunity to push through the unfair dismissal legislation amongst other fairly draconian measures that shift the balance of power totally towards the employer," Ms Burrow told ABC Radio.

tighten eligibility for disability pensions

In a leaked cabinet submission from Community Services Minister Kay Patterson and Employment Minister Kevin Andrew it was recommended reducing the indexation of working-age pensions by increasing them in line with prices, not wages. It warned that the current system was heading for a cost blow-out, with massive disincentives for work.

The Prime Minister said he was "absolutely not" planning to reduce the growth rate of pensions, which are linked to fast-growing male average weekly earnings. He said "I have made it perfectly clear all along that in any of our welfare reforms, we are not going to cut benefits," "I have made that clear in a speech to ACOSS (Australian Council of Social Service) some years ago."
( The Age )

Will this be a non-core promise? Or will it just be made next to impossible to get a disability pension? The Australian editorial (11/10/04) said: "By tightening the criteria for disability pensions, the Government will be able to wean hundreds of thousands of Australians off what is effectively long-term unemployment, so they can exploit the new opportunities available."

Reducing top rate tax

Lawyer and Liberal party member, Alan Anderson, writes in the Sydney Morning Herald: "At the top end of the scale, this should involve lowering the top marginal rate to the company tax rate of 30 per cent. At the bottom end, the interaction between the tax and welfare systems needs to be comprehensively reworked, including a large increase in the tax-free threshold to eliminate the absurd system of taxing low-income earners and returning their money as welfare, a practice which fosters a debilitating sense of dependency."

"To secure Family First support, the package should implement a policy which Howard has talked about for years and which is a core part of that party's platform: income splitting."
( Sydney Morning Herald )

Industrial relations. Award system to go

Lawyer and Liberal party member, Alan Anderson, writes in the Sydney Morning Herald: "A second crucial reform area is industrial relations. This is no time for half-measures. It is a once in a generation opportunity to reshape the nation's legislative framework. A truly courageous Howard Government would abolish the antiquated award system and replace it with a simple minimum wage. What business is it of government to assess the economic value of different skills and trades? It would be consistent with Coalition principles - and Family First principles - to leave that decision to the market while maintaining a safety net based on people's needs, not on an arbitrary government assessment of the "value" of their labour."
( Sydney Morning Herald )

Lift restrictions on Media ownership

Cross and foreign ownership rules may be lifted. Shadow Minister for Finance and Corporate Governance, Stephen Conroy, is troubled by the fact that the Senate could be controlled by the Coalition with the help of Family First, which is likely to allow cross media ownership laws to be relaxed. (Channel 9 Business Sunday) Helen Coonan, Comms Minister, is confident the changes in the Senate will allow the coalition to push through changes to the media ownership rules. Packer and Murdoch’s involvement with Telstra through their stakes in Foxtel has added another dimension to their opportunities. Telstra’s recent aggressive purchasing of The Trading Post positions it as a media wildcard as new and traditional media converge. (AFR)

Sale of Telstra

John Howard will use his election win to push through the sale of Telstra. The Govt is at most one vote short of being able to push through legislation for the Telstra sale. A National Party official said the party does not believe telecoms standards in the bush are adequate but they might be in the second half of next year. (AFR) The new senate comes into effect on July 1, 2005. Comms Minister, Helen Coonan, has confirmed she is in open discussions with Democrat Senator Andrew Murray - or other senators - over support for the Telstra sale. (Australian)

Family First’s Steve Fielding campaign included the statement that the full sale of Telstra would hurt families. Fielding is likely to be elected, at the expense of the Greens, to the senate from Victoria based upon Labor Party and Democrats preferences. Family First party leader, Andrea Mason, is in a close preference contest for a Senate position in SA. She says if she is elected she will oppose the sale of Telstra due to the impact on regional Aus. (SMH)

Telstra will be fully privatised in a $30b float as early as the end of next year if the Coalition secures control of the Senate. Investment bankers will be preparing, hoping to grab a slice of more than $100m in fees associated with the sale. (Australian) Telstra board was represented amoung corporate chieftains attending the celebrations of a Liberal victory. The PM’s longstanding friend, Tony Clark, now on the Telstra board, was there, as well as former Telstra chairman, Bob Mansfield. (AFR)

Bob Brown, said "Australians voted for it. They will now see Telstra sold." (Herald Sun) Successfully re-elected independent MP, Bob Katter, who says the bush faces new threats with the sale of Telstra. (Courier Mail)

Censorship

Almost certainly the Howard government will be prepared to toughen censorship restrictions as concessions to Family First to get the major elements of its conservative economic rationalist program through the Senate.

Climate Change

The Howard Government refuses to ratify the Kyoto protocol, despite Russia's decision last week to ratify and bring the protocol into legal effect. The Federal Government and fossil-fuel industry executives are also in collusion to stifle growing investment in renewable energy projects.
(The Age )

Labor and Democrats Pragmatism hands senate control to Family First

In Victoria, Labor Party and Democrats preferences look like electing Michael Fielding for the christian conservative Family First Party, instead of the Greens candidate. Labor party tactics to harvest preferences from Family First to elect their 3rd senator has turned sour. The Labour party sold their soul for power, and now must accept the consequences of a Senate sympathetic to the Coalition and socially conservative rather than progressive. They focussed on the tactics for bolstering their own power at the expense of a progressive strategy in the Senate involving progressive Senators. The same can be said of the Democrats.
( The Age )

Family First may also win a senate seat in South Australia, with the party's leader, Andrea Mason.

The Family First is a christian fundamentalist party with many members coming from the pentecostal Assemblies of God Church. During the election campaign, a Family First worker in the seat of Dickson in Brisbane was asked for their opinion on lesbians. They said that all lesbians are witches and should be burnt at the stake.
( The Age, The Greens )

Danny Nalliah, a Pastor with Catch the Fire Ministries and a Family First candidate on the party's Victorian senate ticket, has been accused of vilifying Muslims by the Islamic Council of Victoria. He put out a pre-election leaflet in which he urged followers to "pull down Satan's strongholds":

This gives you an idea of their rabid fundamentalism. Even the Nationals Queensland Senate candidate, Barnaby Joyce described the Family First party as "the lunatic Right" and refused to preference them saying "These are not the sort of people you do preference deals with." Queensland Greens Senate candidate, Drew Hutton, described them as "These really are thuggish, intolerant people,".

Howard promised to prepare "family impact" statements for all cabinet submissions as part of a pre-election voting deal with Family First. The government made a pre-election offering to the Christian right in August when it amended the marriage act to insist that a marriage could only take place between a man and a woman.