Some thoughts I’ve been having about the state of Australia. Here’s a short, incomplete list of things we need:
1) We need a broad-based commitment, from all levels of government and industry, to decarbonise our economy. As quickly as we can.
2) We need a treaty with our indigenous peoples and a true path to reconciliation.
2) We need a treaty with our indigenous peoples and a true path to reconciliation.
3) We need to address the gaps in our taxation system that allow large corporations and rich individuals to receive subsidies for their profit-making ventures, and avoid paying a fair share of tax;
4) We need to shift the balance of our industrial relations so that workers gain access to a greater share of the prosperity they create, through wages growth, bonuses, and employee ownership;
5) We need to seriously confront the issue of domestic violence and ensure that the women in our community aren’t continually at threat of harm - financial, emotional, mental and physical.
6) We need to ensure that all Australians have access to free healthcare, the education *they* want (including tertiary), housing, and a living wage;
7) We need to address consumerism and the damage done to our environment from land clearing, irrigation farming, the use of chemicals, the use of plastics. We need to aspire to a zero-waste economy...
8) We need to address the structural issues of gender inequality - in the workplace and in the home - so that everyone has equal access to opportunity. That means addressing the gender pay gap, emotional labour, unpaid domestic labour, and other issues impacting minority groups.
9) We need to change our stance to asylum seekers and cease our aggressive anti-immigrant tactics. We are a rich country and we need to account for that in how we treat those displaced by war, famine and climate change.
10) We need to accept people for who they are. Embrace their differences and uniqueness, rather than vilifying and discriminating.
11) We need to hold our politicians accountable for their lies and misinformation. We need our leaders to hold office with honesty and integrity.
We’re accepting far less than we need or deserve, and it is time that changed.
