This web page is to list policies of the proposed Liberal Social Democratic Party.
This web page is a work in progress.
The proposed Liberal Social Democratic Party is primarily about the following principles:
1. Reducing socio-economic inequality
2. Improving social justice
3. Protecting, as much as possible, the environment
4. Implementing Participatory Democracy
5. Implementing secular government - separating religion from government
6. Otherwise improving quality of life, for all people
The national government should, through a Clean Energy Finance Corporation, provide interest-free loans to households, for the purposes of installing rooftop photovoltaic systems and solar water heating systems, and flued domestic gas heaters, where they are each practical. Electricity consumption as charged to consumers, should be for the net quantity of the amount of total energy consumed from the grid, less the amount of energy put into the grid by the consumer.
Each level of legislature should consist of a unicameral legislature, and the members of each legislature, should be selected by first past the post voting, and electorates for each level of legislature, should each be no more than 10% more in numbers of voters, than any other electorate at the same level of legislature.
Any person who is eligible to vote, and who is required to vote in the elections, should be able to nominate themselves as a candidate, without having to get 100 people to endorse their nomination, and, the nomination deposit that a candidate is required to pay, in order to nominate as a candidate in a parliamentary election, should be no more than two hours pay, for the median adult wage. These two changes, would help parliamentary elections become more democratic, and, would guide the Australian federal parliament more to the USA ideal of "government of the people, by the people, for the people", instead of the "government by the rich and powerful, for the rich and powerful", as exists in the Australian federal parliament.
The federal parliament should put to the Australian voters, by way of a constitutional referendum, the question:
"Should section 44(i) of the Australian Constitution, be changed from
"Is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power: or"
to
"Applies for and/or obtains citizenship of any foreign power after nominating as a candidate in the election in which the person seeks office as a member of the parliament, or who otherwise pledges allegiance to any foreign power after nominating as a candidate in the election in which the person seeks office as a member of the parliament, or otherwise applies for or holds any citizenship that is not declared on the person's nomination as a candidate in the election in which the person seeks office as a member of the parliament, or who has an undetermined application for citizenship of any foreign power as at the time of nominating as a candidate in the election in which the person seeks office as a member of the parliament, or"
thus allowing people who have dual citizenship, providing all citizenships held, are declared at the the time of nominating as a candidate in a federal election, to nominate as candidates in federal elections, and to hold office as members of the parliament, if elected, but, prohibiting applying for or taking on, any additional citizenships, after nominating as a candidate, and, if elected, while holding office as a member of the federal parliament.
At
http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/public_funding/index.htm
as viewed on 12 June 2016, was
"
A candidate or Senate group is eligible for election funding if they obtain at least 4% of the first preference vote in the division or the state or territory they contested. The amount to be paid is calculated by multiplying the number of votes obtained by the current election funding rate. This rate is indexed every six months to increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Amount paid
The amount of election funding payable is calculated by multiplying the number of first preference votes received by the rate of payment applicable at the time. The rate is indexed every six months in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Current public funding rate
"
At
http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/public_funding/Current_Funding_Rate.htm
as viewed on 12 June 2016, was
"
Current funding rate
Updated: 19 May 2016
The amount of election funding payable is calculated by multiplying the number of formal first preference votes received by the rate of payment applicable at the time. This rate is indexed every six months in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index.
The election funding rate from 1 July 2016 to 31 December 2016 is 262.784 cents per eligible vote. This is the election funding rate that will apply to the 2 July 2016 federal election.
"
So, $2.62 of taxpayers' money, will be paid to each candidate in the lower house election, for each vote that that candidate receives, where that candidate receives at least 4% of valid first preference votes, and, where a group or party, in the senate election for each state and territory, receives at least 4% of valid first preference votes, that group or party gets paid the money, of taxpayers' money.
Thus, are federal elections and the parliamentary system, an even greater rort, for the rich and powerful in Australia.
The rich get richer, paid by the taxpayers, and, the poor get poorer, being forced to pay money to the rich.
This is one of the parliamentary rorts of the rich and powerful, that should end.
A Human Rights Act should be implemented, with all legislation subject to the Human Rights Act, or this should otherwise be embedded in the constitution, with all legislation, including the constitution, subject to this, and, the constitution and the including of this in the constitution, should be able to be amended, only by a constitutional referendum.
The constitution should provide for direct Citizen Initiatives, also known as binding Citizen Initiated Referenda, and the constitution should also include provision for Recall Elections, whereby a petition signed by 5% of an electorate, or, 5% of a jurisdiction, can force a new election for the member of a legislature, or, a general election for the legislature as a whole, respectively.
The national government and each state and territory government, should, as soon as possible after the end of each quarter, publish economic indicators for that quarter, that include:
1. The median gross income for all people of at least 18 years of age, who are resident in the jurisdiction.
2. The quartile and decile amounts of gross weekly income for all people of at least 18 years of age, who are resident in the jurisdiction.
3. The median hourly wage and the median weekly wage for all wage and salary earners of at least 18 years of age who are resident in the jurisdiction.
4. The minimum hourly wage and the minimum weekly wage for all wage and salary earners of at least 18 years of age who are resident in the jurisdiction.
5. The weekly living wage for the jurisdiction, for each of a single adult living alone, an adult couple with no children, an adult couple with two children, and a single parent with two children.
6. The percentage of all people of at least 18 years of age, and less than 60 years old, who are resident in the jurisdiction, who are employed in paid employment for more than 30 hours per week.
7. The percentage of all people of at least 18 years of age, and less than 60 years old, who are resident in the jurisdiction, who are in full time education.
8. The percentage of all people of at least 18 years of age, and less than 60 years old, who are resident in the jurisdiction, who are in receipt of social welfare as their income, such as unemployment benefits or invalid or solo parents pensions.
9. The percentage of all people of at least 18 years of age, who are resident in the jurisdiction, who are in receipt of age pensions.
10. The percentage of residents that are in each decade of age (e.g., the percentage of residents that are in the 0-9 years of age, 10-19 years of age, etc)
Personal income, and company and business profits, should be taxed at the same, single, flat tax rate, and, the tax free threshold for personal income tax, should be the lowest quartile of gross income for all people of at least 18 years of age, who are resident in the country, or, 1.1 times the "poverty level" single income, as suggested above by Ted Roach, whichever is the greater of the "lowest quartile of gross income", and the "1.1 times the "poverty level" single income", and (I believe that this is not suggested by Ted Roach, in the above cited publication), all personal income for partners in married or de-facto relationships, who are living together, should be shared/split, for taxation purposes, both in terms of PAYE/PAYG personal income tax deductions made at the time of income payment, and, for annual personal income tax assessments.
The "poverty level" and the "living wage", should each be determined and the amounts published in quarterly or monthly economic indicators, along with such economic indicators as the consumer price index, and the proportions of all adults of employable age, who are
(1) in full-time study
(2) in full-time employment
(3) in receipt of invalid pensions
(4) in receipt of full-time study allowances
(5) in receipt of solo parent pensions
(6) in receipt of unemployment allowances
and, for other economic indicators that should also be determined and published, at the same time, and with the same regularity, the median and decile full time wages for all individuals of employable age who are employed, and, the median and decile declared incomes for all persons of employable age.
The "employable age", here, means being of at least 18 years of age and less than the retirement age, the retirement age, being when the statutory social security aged pension eligibility according to age, commences.
No tax concessions for being wealthy, should apply, such as negative gearing for real estate investments, or offsetting expenses as tax deductions against a different source of income (whether it be expenses for one investment property, being offset against income from another investment property, or, expenses for an investment property, being offset against personal taxable income from wages or salary, or, loss on one stock/shares trading transaction, being offset against profit from another stock/shares trading transaction).
Where a Goods and Services Tax, or Value Added Tax, or other similar tax, exists, and changes are to be made, to increase the revenue from such a tax, the rate(s) of personal income tax should be decreased, correspondingly. If the particular rate of the sales tax, for example, is to increase by 5%, then the rate(s) of personal income tax, should correspondingly decrease by 5%, so that a 35% personal income tax rate would be decreased to 30%. If the sales tax is to be charged on items upon which it is not already charged, then the personal income tax rate(s) should be decreased correspondingly, so that the populace do not face extra charges.
The Australian Compulsory Superannuation Levy is the biggest fraud in the history of Australia, and, is harmful to the working class, and should be immediately abolished, and the balance of the account of each person, should be immediately paid to the person, exempt from any taxation, and, exempt from any fees for the withdrawal and payment of the money. And, the money that has been being paid to the superannuation funds, in the name of each employee; both the "Employee Contribution", and the "Employer Contribution", should be instead, paid to the employee, as part of the wages or salary of the employee, so becoming part of the employee's disposable income.
"Negative gearing" needs to be eliminated; losses on any investment, should only be allowed to be offset against income from that exact investment; only against the investment property that incurred the loss, and, only for the financial year of the loss.
And, no capital gains tax concessions, should exist, and capital gains tax should apply to all profits on capital gains, other than on the family home, which should be owned and lived in for at least a year, to qualify for the exemption from capital gains tax.
Each of
(1) invalid pensions
(2) full-time study allowances
(3) solo parent pensions
(4) unemployment allowances
should be paid at a rate of 1.1 times the assessed poverty level of income for an individual person of employable age, in the particluar circumstances, and, all of these and
(5) age pensions
which should be paid at a rate of 1.1% of the assessed poverty level of income for an individual person of age greater than the retirement age,
should be paid at the full single rate, to each member of a married/de-facto partnership, living together in the same household.
A primary objective of social security benefits, should be to keep and maintain marital/de-facto residential partnerships, not strain and destroy them and make separation more economically feasible.
Education should be provided free of charge to citizens of the country, at each of the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, and not include religious education. Public funding for education should be made available to only government owned and operated educational institutions, and not to private and/or otherwise religious institutions.
Publicly funded healthcare for all residents should be provided, and, where other countries agree to reciprocate, for international visitors who are citizens of those countries.
A special tax should be implemented, whereby a standard dose of alcohol (a "standard drink") and a standard dose of tobacco (a "standard cigarette") equivalent of each, is determined, in terms of grams of the substance, and the tax per standard dose of each, should be equivalent to the median hourly wage for all wage and salary earners, the tax collectable at point of sale of the substance, with the funds raised by this tax, to be used for, and, only for, boosting public healthcare funding.
No religious or political institution or organisation should be classified as a charity for taxation purposes, or otherwise receive any special assistance from the government.
Within the military, a Defence Force should be established, including but not limited to a Wing of the Air Force, consisting of squadrons of Emergency Services aircraft, including large fixed wing water bombers, such as the CL415 water bombers for fire fighting, and other search and rescue aircraft.
In industrial relations, all employees should be covered by common rule awards, to be regulated by a so-named Industrial Relations Commission, and every six months, pay rates should be revised by the Industrial Relations Commission, to make General Wage Orders to cover cost of living increases, with such cost of living increases, to be in terms of absolute amounts, so that, should the living wage be determined to have increased by $10 per week over the previous six months, then the General Wage Order made, would be for all employees to receive an award pay rate increase of $10 per week for full time employment. Employers should not be excluded from providing their employees with better than award conditions, including higher than award wages and allowances.
All ex-officio titles should refer to the office held, and not to any virtue that the officer may be expected to hold. For example, a judge of a law court, should be referred to as Judge ____ and not to any concept or virtue that may be expected of the judge, and a government minister should be referred to as Minister ________ and not to any virtue expected of the minister.
Where a country is subject to a monarchy, the citizens of the country, should be provided with a constitutional referendum to determine whether the country should become a republic, or whether the country should remain as a constitutional monarchy. Then, if the voters of the country, should determine that the country should become a republic, the voters of the country, should decide by constitutional referendum, which model of republic, the country should become. Where the country is a member of a group of associated countries, such as the countries that are members of the British Commonwealth, then the voters should be provided with a constitutional referendum to determine whether the country should become independent and autonomous, or, whether the country should remain a member of the group of associated countries. These are things that should be decided by the voters of the country, by constitutional referenda, and, the choices should be offered to the voters of the country.
The author of this document, and thence, this document, proposes and supports a republic model similar to the model as implemented in South Africa, as described on the web page at
http://www.armadale-wa.net/politics/RepublicModels.html
which includes, in the description,
"
South Africa's post-apartheid constitution of 1996 blends the Westminster Parliamentary system with the Washington Presidential model. The President of South Africa is basically like our Prime Minister - they're a member of South Africa's parliament - but is the head of state as well as head of government, like the President of the United States. The South African Constitutional Court has many over-arching powers to restrain the President.
Some argue that this is a "cleaner" way of setting out the powers of the head of state, while also having the added accountability.
"
where the head of state is a president, and the president is elected by the parliament, and is the same person as the prime minister, but, different to the Republic of South Africa, the author of this document, and thence, this document, supports each country being independently governed, and, not being part of an empire that is headed by a single other country, such as Australia and New Zealand being members of the British Empire/Commonwealth.
The use of sworn oaths, is a religious thing, and some say, in terms of religion, that sworn oaths are sacrilege and blasphemy. Sworn oaths in law courts and in government, should be abolished. Where sworn oaths are now used in the giving of evidence, they should be eliminated completely, and, replaced with the already used, affirmations. Where oaths of office are now used, they should be replaced with pledges of office; instead of "I swear by
Disabled people are part of society, and provision should be made for them, to provide sufficient quality of life for them.
To help people with disabilities, by finding what disabilities people may have, publicly funded, regular testing of sight and hearing, needs to be made available for all people with permanent resident or citizenship status, and, should probably be included in publicly funded annual full medical checks that should be made available for all people with permanent resident or citizenship status.
For people with impaired hearing, all broadcast television programmes should be required to include captioning, so that television programmes can be watched, with the sound turned off, without missing the programmes content, so that people who have hearing impairment, can know what is being said and what is happening, within television programmes.
Provision should be made for people with impaired mobility, so that all rental accommodation, and, all commercial accommodation, such as hotels and motels, and, all new residential buildings, should include provision including ease of access, for people using mobility scooters, wheelchairs, walking frames, and crutches, and all bathroom, shower, and toilet facilities in these buildings, should include aids such as the wall mounted pipe handles for assisting disabled people to get in and out of baths, and on and off toilets, and so on.
These are not the only provisions that should be made, to provide disabled people with quality of life - these are only some of the provisions that should be made, to increase the quality of life for disabled people.
To increase the safety of road transport, all motor vehicles should be required to be licensed for six-monthly periods, with the motor vehicle licensing being subject to each motor vehicle being required to pass six monthly, roadworthiness testing, so that each motor vehicle would be required to be licensed for six months at a time, with that licensing requiring as a precondition, the motor vehicle passing a roadworthiness test at the time of licensing and re-licensing. Also, motor vehicle drivers licences should be for a duration of five years, for each class, and should require full testing for each component of assessment, for each class of motor vehicle licence held by a driver, both at the time of initially obtaining, and, of renewing, each class of motor vehicle drivers licence. Where a driver is found to be driving with an alcohol or other recreational drug, or, prescription drug, content in the driver's blood, over the allowable limit, or to have been exceeding a speed limit by more than 30km/hr, or, any other similarly serious traffic offence, all classes of the person's driver's licence, should be mandatorily cancelled, and the person required to go through the whole procedure of a person who has not had a driver's licence, obtaining each class of licence, "from scratch", no sooner than one year after the cancellation of the person's driver's licence, for each time that the person has committed the offence. All deaths and injury due to culpable driving, should be treated as criminal offences, so that a death caused by culpable driving, should be treated as the criminal offence of manslaughter. And, all property damage caused by culpable driving, should be treated as property damage in the criminal sense.
All custodial sentences should be served cumulatively, and no custodial sentences should be served concurrently. The primary objective of custodial sentences, should be the protection of society, and, where a person being released at the conclusion of a prison sentence, is regarded as a risk to society, and otherwise, where a repeat offender is judged a risk to society, such as a serial drink-driver, or a serial reckless or dangerous driver, provision should be made for preventative detention, whereby the offender is imprisoned indefinitely, and has to satisfy a judge that the offender no longer poses a threat to society, before that person can be released from prison.
This web page is authorised and published by Bret Busby, 2 Pelham Street, Armadale.
I can be contacted by email by clicking on the link at Bret
This web page was last updated on 12 June 2016.