This is what I want by Christmas 2020. It won’t cost you a cent and I’m willing to pay my share.
I want the economy to be the servant not the master of society. Market forces are not a law of physics.
Christian religions to practise Jesus’s teachings about wealth and poverty. It’s easier to be virtuous if your basic needs are being met.
More respect for evidence-based science, less faith in superstition
Free and fair speech. At present the more wealth you have the more speech you get.
Less crime, mental illness and suicide, less drug and alcohol abuse, less anger and violence
More respect for teachers, police and health workers at the front line of our social problems
Rampant consumerism (affluenza) to ease off and for people to give thanks instead of things.
More neighbourhood watching
Cleaner creeks and rivers
Less deceptive pricing and market manipulation, less monopoly power over employees and farmers
Fewer materialistic, selfish and short-sighted CEOs
Abolition of tax havens. Use the money to pay unemployed and under-employed people to do socially useful work.
A fair democratic system. The National Party has 4 per cent of the vote and 16 seats in Federal Parliament The Greens have 10 per cent of the vote and one seat.
Less corporate influence over attitudes, values and policy direction
A process that allows an electorate to sack their MP if he or she votes in a way that doesn’t reflect their pre-election agreements
Less work-induced stress and burnout, Parents should get home from work with enough energy and patience left to be effective parents
A free dental scheme funded by a tax on sugar
Abolition of negative gearing because it gives an unfair advantage to the haves over the have nots
A carbon tax to discourage unnecessary use of vehicles. The proceeds to fund better public transport
A 10 cent container deposit scheme to reduce plastic in the environment
A financial transaction tax on all transfers
More effective banking, superannuation and insurance regulations
Fewer jails, more equality
And a fair go for all the peoples of the world.
Thanks
Frank Coldebella, Wonthaggi