Oz Plutocrat's Gala Dinner with Puppet Canberra Politicians
by staff report via finga - getup.org.au Thursday, Apr 11 2013, 8:15pm
international / prose / post

Yes, bluey, Australia is a PLUTOCRACY!

Restore Australian D-E-M-O-C-R-A-C-Y, return the Common-Wealth to the common People -- boycott all major puppet parties and VOTE for REPRESENTATIVE INDEPENDENTS at EVERY LEVEL of GOVERNMENT in every election.

It was the most exclusive of events: a glittering $500 minimum per head gala fundraising dinner last week for a right-wing think tank. Tony Abbott, Gina Rinehart and Rupert Mudoch took turns sharing the stage. Andrew Bolt was MC. Tony praised his fellow key-note speakers, especially Rupert, and promised the crowd a "big yes" to many of the think tank's list of 75 policies to radically transform Australia.

So what, exactly, is on this think tank's wish list?

* Public broadcasting - gone. The ABC to be broken up and sold off, SBS to be fully privatised.

* Corporations to be allowed to make secret payments to political parties.

* Medicare gone for most Australians.

* A return to WorkChoices, just by another name.

* The clean energy fund and the renewable energy target - scrapped.

* Funding for sport and arts - including the Australian Institute of Sport - axed. Same for science, with the CSIRO to be privatised.

It goes on. Never before has the extreme conservative agenda been laid out so clearly, but as they get more arrogant and brazen, our movement has the opportunity to do something we can't count on any of the parties to do alone: fight back, effectively.

Their campaign is funded by exclusive dinners with Australia's richest people. Our campaign is funded by you; and GetUp members who chip in what they can and together add up to a powerful force. Click here to become a core supporter of GetUp's people-powered election campaign, and help stop this radical conservative vision of Australia in its tracks.

www.getup.org.au/help-fight-the-good-fight

GetUp members can change elections. We've done it before, twice in fact. We know how to do it on tight budgets, with a small team of staff and an amazing community of volunteers. And we know how to do it without compromising our independence and our focus on the issues -- because our passion for a progressive, fair and sustainable Australia is what defines us, not any political party. The more core supporters we can count on to fund our election efforts now and into the incredibly important months ahead the more empowered we'll be to go big.

Big like in 2010 when we overturned the Orwellian 'Electoral Integrity Act' in the High Court, and allowed 169,000 young Australians the chance to vote.

Through it all, the fundamental truths haven't changed: GetUp is not affiliated with any political party. And GetUp members don't have to have Rupert or Gina's wallet to take coordinated, strategic and effective action. When we all get together and give what we can, it adds up to something more valuable than a few rich donors at a gala dinner.

Together, we can target ads that cut through, expose the truth, mobilise a grassroots network that spans every electorate in the country and reclaim our public debate from the extreme minority of voices pushing narrow self-interest at the expense of our country. We know that most Australians, including conservative-leaning voters, don't want to see Medicare wound back, the ABC abolished, help for families scrapped and our environment handed over to Big Mining and run away climate change. Most of us take tremendous pride in Australia's ethos of equality and a fair go -- and believe that fair taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilised, prosperous nation, instead of a third-world Banana Republic.

Fortunately, right-wing think tanks aren't the only ones with an agenda for our future. While their big money donors were busy bidding on the chance to visit Fox news headquarters in America or go behind the scenes of Andrew Bolt's show, ordinary Australians have been gathering in living rooms, cafes, libraries and pubs around the country to talk about what matters to us this election. GetUp members' top priorities are taking shape, and the two visions for our nation couldn't be more different:

1. Climate change: expand renewable energy, keep a price on carbon and cut massive public subsidies to fossil fuels.

2. A humane policy on refugees and asylum seekers.

3. More funding for education and a high quality education system.

4.A progressive tax system and effective mining tax.

5. Stopping the expansion of the coal seam gas industry.

Our vision is worth fighting for. We can change this election, and the platforms all parties stand on, if we try. The last thing we want is to look back and think, 'we could have done more.' Become a core supporter, and join thousands of other Australians refusing to give up, and deciding to GetUp.

Thank you, always, for all that you do,
The GetUp team

PS: You can read the full text of the think tank's list of policies to "radically reform Australia", verbatim, on our webpage here: http://blog.getup.org.au/2013/04/09/campaign-update-a-sign-of-things-to-come/

GetUp is an independent, non-profit community campaigning group. We use new technology to empower Australians to have their say on important national issues. We receive no political party or government funding, and every campaign we run is entirely supported by voluntary donations. If you'd like to contribute to help fund GetUp's work, please donate now! If you have trouble with any links in this email, please go directly to Get-Up Authorised by Sam Mclean, Level 2, 104 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.

Here’s the full 75 point list:

Repeal the carbon tax, and don’t replace it. It will be one thing to remove the burden of the carbon tax from the Australian economy. But if it is just replaced by another costly scheme, most of the benefits will be undone.

Abolish the Department of Climate Change

Abolish the Clean Energy Fund

Repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act

Abandon Australia’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council

Repeal the renewable energy target

Return income taxing powers to the states

Abolish the Commonwealth Grants Commission

Abolish the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

Withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol

Introduce fee competition to Australian universities

Repeal the National Curriculum

Introduce competing private secondary school curriculums

Abolish the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

Eliminate laws that require radio and television broadcasters to be ‘balanced’

Abolish television spectrum licensing and devolve spectrum management to the common law

End local content requirements for Australian television stations

Eliminate family tax benefits

Abandon the paid parental leave scheme

Means-test Medicare

End all corporate welfare and subsidies by closing the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education

Introduce voluntary voting

End mandatory disclosures on political donations

End media blackout in final days of election campaigns

End public funding to political parties

Remove anti-dumping laws

Eliminate media ownership restrictions

Abolish the Foreign Investment Review Board

Eliminate the National Preventative Health Agency

Cease subsidising the car industry

Formalise a one-in, one-out approach to regulatory reduction

Rule out federal funding for 2018 Commonwealth Games

Deregulate the parallel importation of books

End preferences for Industry Super Funds in workplace relations laws

Legislate a cap on government spending and tax as a percentage of GDP

Legislate a balanced budget amendment which strictly limits the size of budget deficits and the period the federal government can be in deficit

Force government agencies to put all of their spending online in a searchable database

Repeal plain packaging for cigarettes and rule it out for all other products, including alcohol and fast food

Reintroduce voluntary student unionism at universities

Introduce a voucher scheme for secondary schools

Repeal the alcopops tax

Introduce a special economic zone in the north of Australia including:
a) Lower personal income tax for residents
b) Significantly expanded 457 Visa programs for workers
c) Encourage the construction of dams

Repeal the mining tax

Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states

Introduce a single rate of income tax with a generous tax-free threshold

Cut company tax to an internationally competitive rate of 25 per cent

Cease funding the Australia Network

Privatise Australia Post

Privatise Medibank

Break up the ABC and put out to tender each individual function

Privatise SBS

Reduce the size of the public service from current levels of more than 260,000 to at least the 2001 low of 212,784

Repeal the Fair Work Act

Allow individuals and employers to negotiate directly terms of employment that suit them

Encourage independent contracting by overturning new regulations designed to punish contractors

Abolish the Baby Bonus

Abolish the First Home Owners’ Grant

Allow the Northern Territory to become a state

Halve the size of the Coalition front bench from 32 to 16

Remove all remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade

Slash top public servant salaries to much lower international standards, like in the United States

End all public subsidies to sport and the arts

Privatise the Australian Institute of Sport

End all hidden protectionist measures, such as preferences for local manufacturers in government tendering

Abolish the Office for Film and Literature Classification

Rule out any government-supported or mandated internet censorship

Means test tertiary student loans

Allow people to opt out of superannuation in exchange for promising to forgo any government income support in retirement

Immediately halt construction of the National Broadband Network and privatise any sections that have already been built

End all government funded Nanny State advertising

Reject proposals for compulsory food and alcohol labelling

Privatise the CSIRO

Defund Harmony Day

Close the Office for Youth

Privatise the Snowy-Hydro Scheme