It has been a momentous year with the government continuing to pass important legislation on climate change, anti-dumping, and manufacturing support. We have ensured that those who least can afford it are not subsidising the health insurance payments of the wealthiest Australians. We have also abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission and despite hysterical opposition from the mining industry and the Coalition we introduced a Minerals Resources Rent Tax.
The government has an ambitious reform programme for 2013 including aged care, the national disability insurance scheme and the Gonski education reforms. These are initiatives designed to build a good society, a society where the strong help the weak and the rich help the poor. This broad based policy of reform will need to be articulated to the broader community and a fiscal program designed to make the programmes real.
I have been on the public record on many occasions opposing a budget surplus fetish and arguing against fiscal austerity which results in important programmes being "prioritised" in an effort to meet the political promise of a budget surplus. I am opposed to a surplus at the expense of the jobs of loyal public servants or decent conditions for new start recipients. I am opposed to our overseas aid budget being diminished on the altar of a budget surplus .We are one of the richest nations in the world with one of the highest standards of living. This fact stands in sharp contrast to the reality of Australians who rely on the Newstart allowance depending on charity to survive.
I have no problem with responsible economic management. Nevertheless, consigning our fellow Australians to poverty for the sake of a budget surplus and an unproven theory that imposing poverty will motivate people to work is inconsistent with the values that Labor has built itself upon.
Funding our ambitious social programme and ensuring fairness and equity from Newstart recipients requires a reassessment of the tax base. No government can meet the expectation by the Australian public of Scandinavian level social services while we continue to be the fifth lowest taxing country in the OECD.
I have argued for a widening and deepening of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, the implementation of a Financial Transaction Tax, checks and balances on the use of Super Trusts by the richest and most powerful people in the country, and modest increases in tax through hypothecated taxes where taxpayers contribute to the education Gonski reforms, the National Disability Insurance Scheme And Aged Care Reforms.
Modest Hypothecated taxes mean that taxpayers understand how much they are contributing to important social benefits relating to building a good society. These are debates that will not go away and I look forward to additional voices being raised on these issues in 2013. The continued clamour for reduced business tax, and an increase to the GST will not deliver a world class public education system, care for aged Australians, and support for those with disabilities.
In addition to the economic debate, the plight of asylum seekers must be addressed through humane policies and approaches. There must be recognition that unless living standards can be lifted around our region then there is inevitability that economic refugees will join asylum-seekers in an attempt to achieve a better life in Australia. The conditions in Australia’s detention centres are unacceptable. Our international reputation is being demeaned as a result of our treatment of refugees. The government must continue to strive for a regional framework, under the auspices of the UNHCR which give refugees hope for the future.
The government's decision to abstain from the United Nations vote on observer status for Palestine is a small step forward in recognizing the inviolable right of the Palestinian people to have their own state under a two state solution in the Middle East. I am extremely proud to have played a small role in moving the government from a 'No' vote to an abstention and look forward to the day when Palestine achieves full recognition in a peaceful Middle East with peaceful coexistence with Israel.
I would have many New Year wishes but one of my wishes would be to have genuine progress towards increased democracy within the ALP. The allegations being made against former New South Wales Labor ministers are extremely serious and a blight on the party.
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