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Coooo-ee!
Introduction
To compete internationally a country must have a way to encourage high levels of 'cooperation' in every aspect of its society. That is, a national system that discourages 'cheating' and corruption through peer group pressure. And encourages people to demonstrate change. That the record shows they are as imperfect as the rest of us, but are now getting posts to show they are having a go at being fair dinkum Australians.
Keywords: evolution dynamics, reciprocal altruism.
Premise: The country with the lower percentage of dysfunctional families will be more prosperous in the long-term.
What would be the dysfunctional % in Australia? Stop and think about it, probably over 50% (including the author's). Families that contribute nothing to our country, always in turmoil, huge chunk of the day devoted to some kind of internecine - mutually ruinous behaviour. Us v Them syndrome. Couch Potatos. A nation of watchers of Mobile downloads, Cable TV, DVDs, computer games. Heavy drawers of social welfare and health care. Majority of the nations GDP and tax revenues generated by the minority. A vicious cirlce - indoctrination of the next generation.
In contrast in competitor countries like Japan it would probably be as low as 10%. A much more 'for the good of the group' society leading to one of the most powerful economies.
It's not just the lower classes. It's not much use having high flying affluent Australians who make all their money by ripping off other Australians, e.g. 'The Big 4 Bank CEOs' and their high interest rates for credit cards and loans, when they are reporting billion dollar profits, or fancy-dressed high powered businessmen like you see in the City CBD that accumulate millions in offshore tax havens, and when they go bust get the government to bail out their companies, e.g. the sub prime U.S. exposure fiasco. The people who create nothing - money from paper shuffling - computer trading - arbitrage - their beloved 'service industry'.
No were are talking about a system that encourages Australians to make something, manufacturing - high value-added products - even a system that encourages our children to grow up to produce films and not downloading and watching them with Prime Minister Rudd's free laptops and broadband.
So what we really need is Fair Dinkum Australians Ratings.
When you deal with someone, e.g. a new employee reference check, doctor, lawyer, plumber, politician, newspaper, journalist, salesman, real estate agent, teacher, boss, family member - what we need is to be able to go to our national database, with a probable domain name like
www.fairdinkumratings.org.au
and look 'em up, and even add our own rating, especially if we feel we have been ripped off:
- FDR: 1 Star - means they are not fair dinkum Australians - low trust level, bad reputation.
- Rating up to FDR: 5 Stars - high trust level, excellent reputation.
To get the drift check out eBay - where before you buy you can check out the seller's rating.
Every Australian, right from birth / citizenship, would have their own FDR number in our national database with their details - including demographic information, which they could update anytime.
Some examples. You need a lawyer, you see a big full page ad in the yellow pages for, let's call them, "DND Law Firm" - you then go on the Net and look up our database. You might also get a breakdown, how many voted, perhaps even demographics, age, political persuasion, type of customer, example stories of their experience with DND, news reports, etc.
Likewise, sellers / service providers could get a rating on the buyer / user.
Employment Applications 2 Referees / Character References Joke
We have this joke with job applications to supply 2 referees. High flying, well connected self-centered executives and politicians have no problem supplying these, how incredily honest they are. Trouble is, their the ones we see on the news 'resigning' with a golden handshake million dollar payout, often for corruption and blowing public / shareholder funds. Yet they originally supplied 2 wonderful referee reports. As they will with their next position. All facilitated by some headhunter agency that take up the first 4 pages of the Sydney Morning Herald or HR manager, who are really just part of the ratpack. What should happen is, you want to check out a prospective new employee - from cleaner to CEO, enter their name into the FDR database.
We're talking about building up trust in the marketplace and society generally, even within the microcosm of local community, even family / clan.
Evolutionary Psychology studies clearly show that humans have a natural tendency to compete - to lie and cheat. But to have a country (let alone a civilization) that is making net gains, moving forward - we need to be civil - to minimize cheating and encourage cooperation / reciprocal altruism.
The threat of shame forces people to lift their game - then we all benefit. As a country if we increase our total cooperation we can better compete with other countries - better international trade numbers - a more healthier, prosperous economy - improved quality of life for all Australians.
That's the everyday practical process intro. Next a bit about the the big picture concept and then into the detail.
We stand for every Australian, of all classes, having a "fair dinkum" go - for the good of the country.
Ask not what your country can do for you,
ask what you can do for your country.
The type our education system should be putting forward as fair dinkum Australians, is encapsulated in the spirit of the displaced Billjim. (Why weren't they on John Howard's must know list of Australian History?)
For a modern day examples of the Billjim look no further than Kimberly Sculli and Cassy Brown, see below.
(You don't have to be an adult to be a fair dinkum Australian.)
- Why is morality / fair dinkumness an issue?
Morality, ethics, honesty, integrity, etiquette, 'rules governing socially acceptable behaviour' - being a fair dinkum Australian.
Note a very important distinction: we're talking about being 'fair dinkum', not 'religious hypocrisy'.
Actually we are essentially looking to 'take back' the connotation of the word 'morality' from misuse by religion, and remind ourselves that being a fair dinkum moral Australian shoud be kept separate from religion - just like the principle of separation of church and state.
Our society operates on the mushroom syndrome:
"Feed 'em on shit and keep them in the dark."
Yes we're talking about the BULLSHIT: the cheating, shams, myths, deception, deceit, falsehoods, misrepresentations, propaganda, jingoism, myths, impostors, charlatans, chameleons, spin masters / meisters / lawyers, bloodsuckers, hypocrisy and fanaticism - our society is full of it.
What kind of foundation is that?
We would be a much stronger country if we start cutting the bullshit and operate from reality. Put in a fair dinkum performance. Tell people the truth (see "What is truth?" below), what has actually happened, what is happening, and what is expected to happen.
A community that is grounded in reality will have an evolutionary competitive advantage over the long-term. It respects the contribution of those that have gone before. It pushes the envelope further, in harmony with the environment - adding to 12,000 years of Civilization since the end of the last Ice Age.
Conversely, countries that have a large percentage of the population mired in myth, must be constantly battling collective schizophrenia. They have no idea where anything really came from. Dysfunctionality, blowback, hollow wealth...
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion ...
- More on FDR
First up, emphasizing the important distinction: our fair dinkum ratings have nothing to do with spurious morality in religion, our ratings are determined directly by the people of Australia, when they decide whether or not someone or some issue is fair dinkum, they go online and add their input into the FDR database, anytime they feel so inclined.
In the database you will be able to rate everyone and everything:
rate your lawyer, doctor, boss / executives, politician, ex-husband / wife, parents, religion, forced out-of-touch customs, etc. etc.
You can bet in many of these 'professions', most are fair dinkum Australians and they would like to have the bad apples exposed and forced to shape up.
An important foundation step is to begin the process of making fair dinkum legal representation affordable for all Australians.
Bad lawyers are the root of all evil - if there was a better, more affordable, simple, expedient way to resolve disputes - that ineluctably lead to out of control religion / fanatics, in turn leading to wars / conflicts - we could eradicate these deabeat lawyers. Instead we would make better use of tribunals (e.g. Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) and "Shame the Bastards" websites.
At the very least we need legislation to force rich law firms to take on all cases under a fair dinkum "Free First Consultation" (FFC) and "No Win - No Fee" basis. No more false Yellow Pages advertising - we caught tacky law firms red-handed doing that, have proof, but they just go to 'bully and intimidation' methods - you can't touch lawyers, they are above our laws under the current so-called 'justice' system...
A keypoint is that our FDR system will force people to do the right thing in the end, thereby resolving disputes, and so less need for lawyers and no need at all for hypocritical religious fanatics / bigots / fat hierarchy / evangelists.
When it comes to maintaining morality we are replacing ineffective religion with our name and shame system - listing people and organizations, includimg employers, who bloodsuck and abuse their fellow citizens.
Previously many of these deadbeats could get away with it because their misdeeds could be kept out of the public domain - remembering few of us can get our story picked up shame TV programs like Today Tonight or A Current Affair - but now for the rest of us there is the Internet and people walking around with 'connected' mobile phones that can record and upload video.
Current Name and Shame Websites
It is ineluctable Name and Shame Websites are already popping up everywhere because our legal system is unaffordable and ineffective. But why not have the simplicity of just one national FDR website that covers everything.
A recent one is about the damage done to your health by buying bad food from certain unhygenic shady fast food shops and restaurants. Previously you would just end up in hospital and several days off work and there was nothing you could do. Finding an affordable fair dinkum lawyer to sue the perpetrators was just not an option.
Now, following pressure from fedup Australians like us, the NSW Government has been forced to actually setup (in June '08) a a name and shame website for this problem area: foodauthority.nsw.gov.au
Holla Back re street sexual harassment;
The Form Guide (Wednesdays after 2:00pm) - A lighthearted, but in some ways deadly serious view - ABC 702 James Valentine's 'Afternoons' talkback radio show - in which callers toss around etiquette issues - what is 'good form', what is socially acceptable behaviour;
Parent's Jury - includes the "Thumbs Up" award for responsible advertising that targets children - keeping a particular eye on companies like McDonalds and breakfast cereal manufacturers;
Rate My Teacher;
Other websites that expose deadbeats:
Child Support Dodgers - delinquent parents that avoid paying their share of child support - not only expose them but lobby to have more effective laws, in particular, immediately cancel their drivers licence; etc.
The government was looking to implement performance or merit based pay for teachers, which is apparently to include a factor for 'praise', i.e. really based on 'moral ratings' - aptly a spokesperson said it would be "demoralizing" for teachers. It's all in line with our shame system, but why stop at teachers? The obvious hypocrisy starts with why not have merit based pay for 'Pollies' especially when they walk away with huge superannuation golden handshake deals after serving only 2 terms and may still only be in their 30s - and they vote for their own pay rises.
And compare them with the huge salaries and bonus corporate executive vote for themselves, and were sending workers wages backwards.
We need to legislate for 'merit / morality rated' based pay systems for all professions.
The next step is to set up is a proper government (that's the people) run Shame the Bastards websites e.g. rating lawyers, doctors, corporate executives, journalists, politicians - Kevin Rudds, etc.
Pin them down and record for posterity when we think they are lying, ripping off the country and setting a bad example for our children.
Just recently on ABC radio they were talking about the yearly
USA Today / Gallup Poll: The Most Honest and Ethical Professions. Essentially it ranks the morality of professions by the public. Nurses came out on top. Newspaper people were ranked well down with advertising people.
Most of the profession mentioned above were rated at the bottom.
Now of course many of the people in these professions are fair dinkum Australians, but surely they too must be embarrassed by the behaviour of the bad apples, and would like to see a system that forces the deadbeats to lift their game.
The design would probably be similar to the maximum 5 star rating system, e.g. that used by Amazon to rate book reviews and and eBay to rate sellers; and/or a simple score from 0 to 5. The database would also contain stats e.g. for lawyers and doctors - average cost per hour - ave billing per client - breakdowns of demographic - client / service type - success / failure stats.
Yes lots of stats on each individual.
In working out the morality rating the calculation really comes down to how fair dinkum the subject is. In some cases, especially with politicians, we need a detailed breakdown of their arguments and policies and see if they are really for the good of the country, or they have an ulterior motive e.g. invading Iraq.
Continuing with the Politician example - the morality rating would be reviewed constantly - underpinned by a database of all their major statements and actions. For instance, we might find some MPs seem to do very little - in terms of words actually spoken in Parliament, new ideas, drafting bills to improve our society, representation of their electorate's concerns - yet they get the same generous salary, super and perks as the more fair dinkum pollies.
Inaugural Deadbeats
Apart from the everyday bad experiences of us little people that can't get our story in the mainstream media, there are lots of examples in the daily news of people that are perfect candidates to be the first ones to go into our FDAP database:
- Politicians, especially senior ministers, who do not declare investments and conflicts of interest. Not to mention the Brian Burke affair.
- The management of Tri-Star who gutted that factory, outsourced it to Asia and tried to avoid giving that guy who died in hospital his due redundancy package.
- The failed FinCorp CEO - who lost the superannuation investments of so many retirees - as usual, Alan Bondesque, has his house in wife's name. And the building companies that keep working on his mansion - the new swimming pool, tennis court - just as much shame on those who turn a blind eye to someone who is clearly ripping off fellow Australians.
- And here's an institution that is supposed to be one of our society's guardians, sticking up for the litte people. Instead, Fairfax / Syndey Morning Herald are no better than many other big callous corporations. This appalling story has its own webpage already: Sun Herald Bones 4 Year Old Girl.
Bloody Un-Australian Bank CEOs
The "big 4 banks" - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB National Australia Bank, ANZ - it's often lost on us when they get referred in the news as just the banks, e.g. the banks are making over $4 billion dollars from price gouging bank fees and charges often on late payment of ridiculously high interest credit cards, i.e. debt, they're other big money maker.
But what we are really talking about here is not just inanimate bunch of bricks, a head office in the city CBD. No, we are talking about humans, un-Australian bank CEOs and senior executives, deliberately ripping off fellow Australians, especially the Aussie Battler, so that they can have bigger bonuses - Macquarie Bank executives exposed here too.
It's time we identified them on a regular basis - get thier names out there, shame the bastards.
Shame - Sanctions - Lift Game - Ostracism
A proper and effective shaming system simply becomes a means to sanction people that refuse to be fair dinkum Australians. They have the choice to lift their game or risk being ostracized.
We all have skeletons in the closet and the evolutionary inclination to be bad, and good - if there is something in it for us.
It's very much a case, though slightly modified of "People who live in glass houses shouldn't keep throwing stones". If you were a stone thrower, have stopped being a hypocrite, and started making a significant contribution to society, that's OK.
So it's not time to suicide if you get exposed, you have the option to change, atone for the wrong-doing and get your score up.
Game Theory
To increase objectivity in determining the rating, we can quantify or weight a persons morality score - cold hard numbers not just spin - that are always being updated, like a meter. Specifically, we can now take advantage of major advances in the last few decades of aspects of game theory by evolutionary psychologists, behavioural ecologists, cognitive anthropologists, and brain / neuroscience, particularly the inter-related concepts of optimality, cooperation, reciprocal altruism (Tit-for-Tat), and nonzero sumness - this is not bullshit, refer Nonzero - The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright leading sapiens to higher levels of cooperation (Fortune Magazine 21iii05 named Nonzero one of the "Fortune 75": The 75 smartest [business-related] books of all time). You may have heard of Prisoner's Dilemma - it all might seem laughable but it's the foundation of Rupert Murdoch's success in running a global business.
Moral Codes
We would layout a Moral Codes Constitution - based on commonsense, secular, codes of conduct, recorded in our constitution's Articles, that will have future Amendments. They would set out behaviour that adds points and behaviour that loses points.
The simple definition of a non-religion, fair dinkum Australian moral code is: Any behaviour that significantly harms others or the environment, and therefore our society, is a violation of Australia's moral code.
Remembering that moral codes change with the times, and that will be reflected in our constantly changing ratings on everyone and everything, from lawyers to car salesmen to religion and indoctrinated out-of-touch customs.
So, for example, homosexuality does not harm others and therefore does not violate a commonsense fair dinkum Australian Morality Code, it would have no effect on an Australian's Morality Rating.
On the other hand, some examples have been mentioned above that would break our moral code, like pathological 'stone throwers' / hypocrites, Evolutionary Psychology and Game Theory has the rest laid out - cheaters, defectors, free-riders, etc.
A more specific example - any leaders of a group, including a religion, that force children to follow rules which cause them harm or discrimination violate commonsense fair dinkum Australian Morality Code, it would mean such leaders would lose significant points in our Australians Morality Rating. They would be shamed and ostracized quick smart.
Taking the safe middle-road, sitting on the fence, position would lose points.
Robert Wright's Moral Animal (highlighted below) p.357 quotes Robert Axelrod,"he finds that robust moral codes rest not just on norms but "metanorms: society disapproves not only of the codes violations but also of those tolerate violators by failing to disapprove."
So all this would result in our special online system for Australians to vote / contribute at anytime on any issue, the website, www.fairdinkumratings.gov.au would contain fair dinkum ratings data from every perspective - with further breakdowns of the voters demographic (political persuasion, socio-economic category, etc.)
And for the perverse who take pride in what they are being shamed for - with a detailed case study linking to the rating, lots of long lost people from their past kicking in with some interesting tidbits - there's going to be something that causes extreme embarrassment among their peer group - something in their biography that they don't want anyone to know about it, that when exposed forces them to 'atone' for past misdeeds and/or force their ostracism. As evolutionary pyscholgy shows even gossip forces cooperation for the longterm good of society.
Such a system will underpin our society with a sound system of morality - in a better way than the traditional use of religions - which are not transparent and are largley corrupt - especially in areas of extortion of money / whole estates from poor families by selling tickets to heaven under false pretenses - where there is no validity to the scheme - anyone else putting over such a scam would be a convicted criminal - but religion has a free reign.
Some would see it as some kind of defamation of character or a disincentive to do more in society. Quite the opposite, it would encourage fair dinkum Australians brickwalled by the current corrupt system.
And we all have skeletons in the closet. The key point is that it's not your past indiscretions but your current and future performance, if you can show you are having a fair dinkum go, you will still get a high rating - scoring even more points for bringing yourself back.
Verification of Evolutionary Psychological Morality
The critical importance - if we want a cohesive dynamic society - of 'evolutionary psychological morality' (i.e. non-religious morality) and the natural progressions of: public opinion, shame / praise, status, sanctions, ostracism, etc.; has long been recognized, brought to the public consciousness by Charles Darwin, and carried on by highly effective facilitators like The Moral Animal - Robert Wright and The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
What is truth?
As part of the process we need an official record (more or less an encyclopaedia) with its own website, all archived in the National Library that records what we as a people deem to be concrete historical facts, with a domain name like www.authenticatedhistory.gov.au.
And we need an objective rating, something like: "Truth Authentication Rating" - its TAR - 0 to 5
Zero is bullshit, 5 is quite believable.
The database would contain what is generally agreed to be the closest we can get to what actually happened for any important event in history.
Each fact would be supported by a certified facsimile / scan and translation of the oldest extant hard copy, document or clay tablet.
It's amazing when you see very old accounts of some historical event - very simple almost childlike sentences and short - and yet later historians stretch, embroider and spin the account into an entire book or worse, a religion - see if you can find where they get the 25th of December from.
Even in the modern day, we the people, never really get a definitive account of what's really happening. Take for example, the different versions we get on Iraq - epecially if 70% of our news media is owned by one man, Rupert Murdoch.
What will end up going into the history books. We still can't pick up a history book and get a definitive account of what really lead to World War I - in our own country what the Australian Light Horse Billjims really did '1916-18 in the Middle East. All just spin and manipulation of the plebs - the mushroom syndrome again.
Morality Police in Canberra
Can you imagine if through you, yes you infront of that computer in a rut, saying "I've had a gut full of this!" and 1 or 2 of us actually won a seat in Canberra - not only would we represent the concerns of our particular electorates and party platform, but also we would 'keep tabs' on these guys - we would be Russel Crowe 'Insiders' - keeping a daily blog of just what politicians get up to - who is fair dinkum, who is full of shit, and answer all the questions you've been dying to ask about Canberra.
More on the law reform
We need better more effective ways to resolve disputes than having to use a lawyer
It's no secret, the perception of the general public is pretty well known: lawyers have a bad reputation
How can we call it a "justice" system when we all know whoever can afford the most expensive lawyers wins.
What chance has the pleb got against big business.
Look at the Tristar example, if you can't afford a lawyer, the government only does something if it gets picked up by the media.
And it costs the Austalian taxpayer tens of millions of dollars in lawyers fees pursuing James Hardie executives for negligence through ASIC - there should be a simple tribunal and fine system - just like when we have to pay traffic fines.
And how about this Marcus Einfeld guy is he typical of lawyers walking around thinking they are above the laws of our land or what.
If the legal profession refuses to do anything about improving the situation, then we have to ask the quintessential question:
How much can we do ourselves to force change?
As part of the huge challenge of trying to force change through gaining a seat in a parliament that is supposed to represent the major interests and concerns of we, the people...
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." William Shakespeare (aka Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford), Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene ii.
Apparently Victoria has developed a very encouraging "Tribunal" system that shits on the useless NSW Fair Trading Office - the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) homepage even specifically adds a section for consumer disputes about "legal profession services"; in times gone by and still in some cultures, even for the late Kerry Packer - the handshake was good enough, maybe that could be strengthened with the Memorandum of Understanding tool; head of a community / godfather input; DIY kits, e.g. conveyancing kits re sale of property, Wills - you should be able to use your State (NB: but not in NSW - Mr Whitehead runs an operation with a Fair Dinkum Rating of '0 out of 5'!) Public Trustee for free we pay for it in our taxes anyway, why pay triple for a lawyer who doesn't offer near as much as the Public Trustee, they are also supposed to do Trusts which every family should have including the plebeians ;
Family Relationship Centres (and
Relationships Australia) - coincidentally these centres for couples experiencing the tragedy of marriage / relationship breakdown, especially the effect on children, were launched by the Federal Government - purely and simply as a way for couples to avoid having to resort to looking for a lawyer - because the public perception is that when lawyers get involved things get a whole lot worse, because lawyers go for the money, win or lose, lawyers don't care about the damage of the petrol they throw on the fire...
Do we really have to keep copping these bills for $500 per hour, times an infinite number of hours, that include research of case law precedents and acts of parliament when law firms no longer have to send off the office boy to some law library to sift through mountains of law books - now they, and we the client, can just look up Internet Law Databases
We need proper legislation to ensure law firms accounting systems are very carefully audited to ensure they are not 'padding' those charged hours.
etc. etc.
We have been calling for support in the media, and though it may be Jungian Synchronicity, ABC's highly respected Phillip Adams Late Night Live (Radio National 576 Mon-Thur 10pm repeated 4pm the following day) ran this piece on his program on 31 August '06:
The Immoral Court: What's wrong with the legal system
No profession inspires more jokes than law. The stereotypical lawyer's mendacity, greed, and flippancy with the truth provides an inexhaustible source of bitter mirth. Indeed, the range and the virulence of lawyer jokes suggests that many of us would agree with Dick the Butcher in King Henry VI Part II: "The first thing we do" - he advised - "let's kill all the lawyers" .
But do the jokes we make about the legal fraternity and the contempt in which the profession is widely held, mask a tragedy? Has the law has lost its covenant with morality?
Guest:
Thane Rosenbaum
Novelist, essayist and Law Professor at Fordham Law School.
Author of The Myth of Moral Justice - Why Our Legal System Fails to Do What's Right
Click here to go to the story at LNL webpage archive and listen or download the podcast. (It's part of the Writers Festival program, the law piece starts 13 minutes in.)
Some Related Issues
Editorial Note: Below we lay out some more details on our platform (some parts are left over from the original draft going back to '04 and need to be updated). Eventually it would be great to have a system like Wikipedia where any fair dinkum member can login and edit our policies.
Contents
- A Safer Australia
Making Australians safer, whether we are talking about wars, conflicts, bombings, abuse by selfish unAustralian employers / politicians. And properly addressing Climate Change and alternative energy and cleaner, safer fuel production.
Also Australia must have a high security national airport. The ideal way to achieve this is a new airport linked to Sydney by high speed rail access. Sydney must have a new airport anyway, located safely away from densely populated metropolitan areas.
It should be called "Keith Murdoch National Airport" in honour of Keith's Gallipoli deed and to help garner support.
Sydney's 4 million residents should not have huge planes flying over them. The Establishment don't care about Sydney-siders - Howard privatized the Airport with some shady deal headed up by his former adviser Max Moore-Wilton. Clearly with an understanding not to worry about competition from a second airport - he even goes around saying the old airport has enough capacity for 20 years, and that with new technology we will have bigger planes = less need for capacity, nevermind that equals even bigger disaster if one crashes over Sydney.
Greedy corporate America has made the world unsafe. They are civilization's nightmare. A monster that has to dominate to globe, they've got their grubby little fingers in the pie everywhere. Like spoilt, selfish children, everything is mine, mine, mine. If you don't let the bully have their way they will beat you up good.
They have no respect for the rich history and culture of their victims. Indeed many of these cultures are thousands of years older and invented much of the core technology the US now uses against them.
Does any grassroots Australian doubt that the real reason for the Iraq invasion was oil and a vendetta against Saddam Hussein because he stopped following the script. Even though Saddam was originally armed by the West, including chemical weapons from the good old U.S. of A. In those days he even had chummy visits from Donald Rumsfeld.
If it was WMD why didn't they invade North Korea - they don't even hide the fact that they have, and will use them.
And if it's a case of removing a ruthless tyrant, that abuses, misinforms and ignores the majority of the people, then what about all the other tyrants around the world, including Mr Bush.
They don't like Mugabe, so why no regime change and invasion of Zimbabwe. And what about Burma.
And in Afganistan if it's such a key area for keeping the world safe from terrorism - where are all the other countries, why don't they think it's a good idea to be there too, why is it just a hand full of Bush sychophants, including one not even in the region, on the otheside of the globe.
All the money poured into that quagmire you could just build a bloody big fence around the whole of Afganistan and see what happens if the occupants have absolutely no interference from the rest of the world for a few years. And in any event if our Prime Minister still has such strong convictions it should be an Australian Law that they should have to train up and send at least one of their own children for a minimun 1 year tour of duty up on the front line. Don't just send the loved ones the families of the Billjims.
One writer for the Guardian, when George Bush declared war on terrorist countries, the U.S. became the first country in the history of the world to declare war on itself - the CIA has been involved in the same kind of terrorist tactics for decades. And look at the hypocrisy of the US terrorizing detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
Throw in the ever lenghtening list of deception with the children overboard affair, now confirmed by former senior public servant and ministerial adviser Mike Scrafton as a lie, and it's all bad karma for Australia's future, what goes around comes around - more blowback.
War is never the answer. Look at the causes of the major conflicts of the last 100 years. The true causes not the propaganda. WWI is now thought by many historians to have it's roots in the imperial powers' land grab in Africa.
Remember too, Australia's involvement stemmed from England's declaration of war. But essentially you had England's upper classes against Germany's upper classes. England takes it's name from a German tribe, the Angles - English is a germanic language. The epitome of English upper classes is the royal family. They have strong German links, their surname was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. So during the war they made eveything alright by changing it to "Windsor".
And the cultures of the lower class soldiers was (and is always) so similar that there was at least one instance of a ceasefire on christmas day, leaving trenches, meeting in the middle, exchanging cigarettes, seeing that the foe, was just like you, maybe even a farmer too, they went back to the trenches, and refused to start shooting again.
Anyways, Germany lost, her economy was strangled by the requirements of the victors, thus making it possible for Hitler's fanatics to take seed. On it goes up to the Middle East conflicts which are about big oil companies ensuring there's no serious programs for alternative energy sources.
How does big business, including weapons manufacturers, keep the wars going? The old faithful "Us v Them" motif, stir up the religious fanatics on both sides, up the ante. But now with the widening gap between rich and poor countries, the "Them" have nothing to lose, they already have nothing, have been dispossessed of their lands, lost loved ones, now only motivated by revenge - ideal recruits as suicide bombers for fanatical religious groups on the "Them" side.
The result is what is called Blowback. Refer the book Blowback - The Costs and Consequences of American Empire by Chalmers Johnson.
Where's it all going to end? Do you feel Australia is a safer place than say 3 years ago. Or do you feel things will just get worse with the current policies.
The ultimate test of whether or not our PM is fair dinkum
There have been rumblings about the return of the Draft in the U.S., Australia has been faithfully following suit on everything they do.
If we don't start doing something now is it really out of the question to imagine in a few years, yourself or a loved one, seriously injured by a bomb, or conscripted into a war over oil dependency.
Here's where FDR make a big difference to you and your children?
By relentlessly putting the pressure on for a change to our constitution - that says:
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"If Australia's Prime Minister ever has such 'strong convictions' (like good vs. evil) that he orders the sending of Australians into a war zone, then his children go too - as in frontlines, infantry, combat."
(i.e. not "REMFs". Search that one!).
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Particularly the former Prime Minister who put fellow Australians and their families at risk - John Howard (b. '39, the lawyer with the hearing aid, married Janette Parker, '44, in '70) has 3 eligible children: Melanie (b. '75), Tim (b. '78) and Richard (b. '81). They all enjoy the carefully camouflaged benefits of nepotism. His daughter, who in '03 married an exact replica of her father, Rowan McDonald (b. '67), for instance, apparently got a cushy position at a law firm which rated Kerry Packer as its best client. Tim Howard's company Net Harbour at his father's request used a convenient loophole in the law, that excepts politicians, to spam voters during the '04 Election. What a great example for a Prime Minister to set for children on how to use the Web. And apparently Richard was in the U.S. - in tight with guess who?
During the '07 Election campaign John Howard was basking in taking photo ops with his first grandson, Angus, a very happy family with lots of good times to come, with all their 'connections'. Compare them with the families of the soldiers recently killed in Iraq and Afganistan, how are they going, what's the outlook for them, will we even remember their names in a few months.
Would Howard ever have considered letting any of his children work in the Baghdad office of the United Nations, where they could have been blown up or taken hostage, let alone have them trained up for combat?
Oh no, he looks after his kids with cotton gloves, he'd never allow them to be put in harm's way. But sending a loved one of a lower class Australian family (like the Billjim)? In a flash. You see, we must show backbone, that we won't back down, that in his deluded schizophrenic Winston Churchill way (John "Winston" Howard - just to what extent did that middle name effect the rashness of his prime ministership), he will fight them on the beaches, in the deserts, until the last drop of peasant Australian blood.
The same old story, the ruling / upper classes* start wars that are always fought with the blood of the lower classes.
And now if new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won't send his own son or daughter to fight in Afganistan?
Then why send someone else's kid?
That's the ultimate test of whether or not our Prime Minister is fair dinkum.
*Clarifying an important distinction - the grassroots Australian has no beef with the grassroots American or Israeli or most other earthlings. It's the deluded - who are not grounded in grassroots reality - that make the world unsafe.
And don't fall for the fallacy that we owe American upper classes for saving Australia in the WWII Pacific theatre. Japan was a closed society until American big business forced them to open up in '1853 - Just Google Admiral Perry's Black Ships Pacific War Japan. They wanted to exploit them for trade purposes. Japan duly acquiesced and started copying the colonial powers to catch up, especially as they were all entrenched in her backyard. When Japan invaded China in '1905 the first battle was against the Russian section. And the famous Japanese "kami-kaze"(divine wind) suicide pilot comes from the huge armada that left China to conquer Japan but got swamped by a cyclone, earlier in history. The British had already annexed Hong Kong after the Opium Wars. You know, the one where "Her Majesty's Drug Traffickers", as they've been called, were forcing China to accept their opium exports. The Japan upstart got too big for it's britches, America started cutting oil supply routes. Japan retaliates with Pearl Harbour...
Cutting the BS: America made Australia a target in the first place.
And not to mention Britain pressured for most of our military to be sent to the European Front leaving Australia even more of a sitting duck - our resources for Japan, our women for the American GIs (hence Kings Cross went from a quiet hamlet to a something more busy) while our Diggers were far away.
- Climate Change
First up, alternative / renewable energy sources. Let's get off the oil dependency. Just legislate deadlines and stop.
More programs and better public transport systems so that we don't even need cars.
What's wrong with walking. Apart from oil, there's road rage and the worsening obesity problems for our children.
So do what Pete did make a statement. Sell the car. Smell the flowers.
And be proud to say, "We don't have a car, our family walks."
And on water, if the government has a spare $10 billion without a lot of of study behind it (he didn't just put it out there in an election year did he to divert attention...) for one river system - why not put some money into funding proper reseach into the water problem to help the whole country.
Even for a pleb, what about the obvious from our school days - the nearer the coast you are the more rainfall you get - the more lush the vegetation - because of the huge ocean next door - evaporation of the seas - rain clouds blowing towards shore...
With a bit of study there must be some feasable way to pump some ocean water way inland create huge lakes with palm trees, some system to avoid salt buildup - evaporation - rain clouds and...
Apparently through some kind of genetic engineering there are now turf grasses specially developed to grow with salt or grey water (refer news report 28iii07 - a smart Australian, Greg Miller, Windsor operation).
We've received some more feedback here, seems another Great Australian is thinking outside the box on getting water inland - refer the ABCs Australia Story (21v07) - Max Whisson.
- Industrial Relations (IR)
The IR issue more than others brought together the whole mess we have with endemic cheating in our society, and the bad role models set by our leaders.
Getting down to the basics on this issue, sure we need to be always improving employee - employer (or more aptly worker - executive) systems, but we the voter are big enough to go about it properly and openly. Set up a commission first and it's terms of reference should include not just worker wages but also executive payouts, especially when they run poorly performing public companies and still get huge golden handshakes, and of course the pay and superannuation system for politicians - big super payouts for a couple of terms and still in thier 30s - that's a joke.
Merit-based remuneration, if it's good enough for one powerless gander it's good enough for the goose too.
- Health
Support for more public awareness of serious health issues which are inexplicably ignored.
For example Pelvic Floor Care, and what awesome people like Sue-Anne Sanig, little girls like Kimberly Sculli and Cassy Brown are doing. See their story at the excellent 60 Minutes report, The Stump Club 17 Sept '06, here, including the transcript and video. Also check out and support The Stephen Sanig Foundation here. It's about the deadly meningococcal disease, and is another alarming reminder of the fatal dangers of parents just going along with the way our society is currently setup.
We also need to take a better look at screening and monitoring procedures of people coming or returning to Australia from high risk countries.
A lot of parents are pressured into dumping toddlers and preschoolers into daycare centres, thinking that if everyone has their immunization up-to-date our children are safe. What people don't realize is that only some diseases / strains have a vaccine, many don't. And where drugs are available - longterm course of a cocktail of drugss for a toddler coming into contact with someone with Tuberculosis isn't going to do them much good either.
Cut the BS: alcohol and nicotine cigarettes are dangerous drugs. More dangerous than marijuana. Legalise marijuana. Ban addictive cigarettes completely.
And then there are other dangerous products which end up costing our country billions of dollars. Like teeth-rotting sugar drinks e.g. Coca Cola (originally developed as a cocaine hit).
Why damage Australians while making big profits for American multi-nationals.
And surely there must be a way to provide Australian companies with an incentive to outdo McDonalds with a healthier product.
Pelvic Floor Care
A major area of neglect, so important that it has its own section here.
- Child Raising & Development
As a stay-at-home-Dad, in addition to all my other hats, who went through the whole thing with my toddler's mother, all the way to cutting the cord - every mother should be entitled to at least 3 months paid maternity leave. And every father should be entitled to at least 1 months paid paternity leave, to ensure that the latest additon to the Australian family gets off to a good start. A Government contribution should be provided for certain small businesses.
Recognizing the contribution to our economy of stay-at-home parents
This is a classic paradox - half our economy's GDP is not quantified and valued. For too long we have been deluded by the bread winner / wage earner fallacy, i.e. highlighting the parent that leaves the house to go to an office and discriminating against the parent that runs the 'operation' from home. Where would the "escape-the-home-parent" be without the other half. If all "stay-at-home-parents" drop dead things are going turn upside down for the other halves and the economy.
Child Care
The government should encourage a culture in this country where employers want to provide childcare facilites in the workplace.
- Separation of Church and State
Best explained by another of Pete's pet projects:
2008AD v 12008CT - Christian Religion Plagiarized Time v Civilization Time.
The commonsense in modern times of using a dating system that reminds us all that we are on the same road in the history of the rise of civilization. And not a system that prolongs an "Us v Them" mentality and the endless conflict that goes with it.
Why not be the first country to say "Hey this an emblem, a declaration, civilization means all of us earthlings. In no way will we align our nation with one religious group. We must be seen to have total separation of church and state in every way."
And John Howard had no idea what that means when he appoints a church guy, Peter Hollingworth, as Governor-General . (Also staggering that he allows Hollingworth to later resign over the child abuse scandal but still collect a huge pension, even though he did not fulfil his job.)
- We need a Republic
Howard aligned himself witht someone like Bush, a head of state, who is forever trumpeting the agenda of fanatical christian religion groups. Not only is Bush discriminating against other religions and the non-religious, he shouldn't even be mentioning religion.
We need to be able to directly vote for our head of state to ensure that we get a President of Australia who reflects the views of the majority of Australians.
Not someone who is stuck in a timewarp in the '1940s and models himself on "Pig-Iron" Bob Menzies*, and worse, Winston Churchill (he planned the Gallipoli fiasco) and guess what Johnny's middle name is, John Winston Howard.
Cut the BS. Australians are not as religious as Americans. And we don't have the same need to rush to war.
Australia is now a proud multi-cultural society not a British colony. And we are located in Asia not Europe.
And we either need to get the British flag off our flag or come up with a whole new design.
*Look at how stupid the Menzies founded party really is.
Most democratic systems have 2 prominent parties:
a) one that's "liberal", progressive, labour
b) the other that's conservative, maintain the status quo, big business
So what have we got in Australia - the classic liberal Labor Party, and the classic conservative party that calls itself the Liberal Pary, that obviously isn't liberal at all, except when they pretend to be at election time.
- The DAP Score
A cute little formula for weeding out impostors in our society. Einstein would be impressed. Seriously, we need leaders who didn't get there through the side door.
Grassroots Australians know that the policies of the current leadership / impostors , is just making Australia a target for retaliation.
We need leaders who can make Australia a place where our children are safe and can be equipped with a Progressive Education - skills to compete on the world stage.
Just like the Billjim did almost a 100 years ago.
But this time, we want a cut of the pie!
The DAP score is about trying to do something important for society without much help, but plenty of sneering. An apt example is Pete's attempt to run for the Senate and setup the FDP. You'd think he'd be getting some support from his partner. Nope, doesn't get it, absolutely no interest - too pre-occupied with her blood-sucking family. The bunch of 'em couldn't give a flying you-know-what about Australia and being a target. It can't happen to them. Getting bombed happens to other families. Instead they run around frantically worrying about the absurd.
Well, as in John Lennon's Imagine - they may say you are a dreamer for trying to do something for your country, but you're not the only one.
- Asia
If we are going to be bribed / bullied by the U.S. into contributing troops to their wars by always holding us over the trade barrel, all the more reason to remember that we are located in Asia. Japan has one of the richest economies in the world. Many experts think China will soon have the largest economy.
Then there are all the other emerging tigers, Taiwan, Sth Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even India's rattling economy is not that far away.
China is not a "Johnny- come-lately" (excuse the timely relevance of the pun!) - China invented paper, printing, modern warfare with gunpowder, ice cream even. It's very convenient for the Americans to always complain about Chinese and Indian pirating and infringement of international copyright / patent law which only reaches back decades. Imagine the royalty on paper if the laws extended back centuries. And where would the West be without Indo-Arabic numerals. Computers are nothing but 1s and 0s. It wasn't like they were going to invent them eventually anyway, they were centuries behind.
Howard was on record as being racist and anti-Asian, and continues to align himself with WASPs. The reality is these countries are our neighbours, we should be showing them more respect and developing closer ties. We have a lot to learn from them.
Pete's seen the huge potential of exporting new products specially tailored to these markets. He identified these products through having lived in Japan for several years, and still nobody has seen the opportunities.
It's should also be noted that when moving aroun Asia, it's not your star sign / day and month of birth that's important, but rather which of the 12 rotating Chinese years you are born in.
So it's a good omen that Pete's born in the "Year of the Monkey" ('1956) and because he is 48, it's come around again, so he is running for the Senate in his Chinese year.
- Multi-culturalism
Cut the BS: Everybody walking around on this planet is a "ring-in", at some point their ancestors came from over the hill, or across the water. The first sapiens to walk on this land we now call Australia (apparently only named that in the '1830s and some say the name doesn't come from Latin for 'south land', but somehow an Austrian connection) did so, from latest estimates, some 40,000 plus years ago, maybe a lot earlier. The timing may be influenced by whether they walked, when Australia was joined to East Africa and northern continents, before continental drifting, or they came by boat, after.
What is now referred to as indigenous peoples is a group of over 200 distinct ethnic groups - completely different languages, etc. - who arrived over that thousands of years period. Probably ranging from and African recent genes (west), arcing all the way around to Indian genes (north), and them Pacific Islander genes (north-east). And over that time they did what all creatures do on earth - lots of invading, raping and killing. And then there was even more of it when the latest group of invaders came.
Not so long ago, the education sysmtem pretty much indoctrinated you with "Captain Cook from the Mother Country discovered Australia in '1770 ".
There was some obscure refence to some guy called Dirt Harthog in '1616, but that did't count for some reason.
There was also no mention that England had no idea where the great south land was, and Cook first had to buy maps from the Portuguese.
And really no attribution to what was called 'Aborigines', it was assumed they all spoke the same funny language. And they were not really 'people' anyway, because they were 'black'.
Ironically with all that, you were, and still are, totally oblivious to the fact that there was at one time, groups even lower than indigenous peoples - Irish Catholics!
["NINA" - No Irish Need Apply".]
There was also little mention of the "White Australia Policy". Or that Billy Hughes once got up at the League of Nations and made a quaint little speech about some animal group called the Japanese. Years later (apart from the Admiral Perry story) we wonder why they bombed Darwin in WWII. They still haven't forgotten. Pete learnt first hand, of all passport holders in the world, Australians are at the bottom of the list for ease of getting a long-term visa to stay in Japan. Even New Zealanders rate near the top with Americans.
So after the 'easing' of the WAP, the Irish could move up a rung on the class ladder.
First came the Day-gos / Wogs. They didn't seem black, but were certainly more acceptable than the slant-eyed Asians, who are still unacceptable to our current anachronistic racist prime minister. So in some suburbs, say in Sydney, you had the 'Australians' (they move up the coast) pushed out by the Wogs. But then to their dismay the Wogs were pushed out by the Chings, who were supposed to over-run the country, there were so many of them. But then came something even more evil, Muslims.
Where does all that leave our proud Multi-cultural society? Well, first thankfully Australia's fantastic climate and beaches help people to slow down and get back ot the basics.
Second, with a flip in Canberra who everyday wishes, and probably will soon ram legislation through, to move the Prime Minister of Australia's official residence to either London or Texas.
Australia will continue to be unsafe if a large segment of our population is rascist and anti-multiculturalism, but if the rascist example is being set by our head of state around the world, then we and our children are very, very unsafe.
Third, Senator Peter Hogan would lobby for an education curriculum that reflects our true history as a people, as summarized above - that none of us has any greater right to this country than anbody else. For more programs to promote harmony and M-C.
But also programs and legislation that reminds all newcomers that you are not here to rip off this country that our ancestors have made, e.g. qualifying for a pension without ever having paid taxes here and then going back to the old country. That if you want to be an Australian your No. 1 loyalty is to Australia and helping us to compete internationally so that we can improve the quality of life for all our citizens.
- Religious Discrimination - Children
Under current anti-discrimination laws, all forms of discrimination are illegal except the one that perpetuates hatred from generation to generation - the vicious cycle of "Us v. Them" conflict.
Specifically parents, elders and the local establishment are aloud to indoctrinate children with their brand of religion, even if it is of the extremist variety.
If a child, especially an adolescent, for whatever reason - friends in the "Them" section that don't seem so evil, a more eclectic education, or even plain commonsense - does not wish to continue to practice the local religion, then they shouldn't have to.
No parent or group should be allowed to abuse, harass, ostricize, or force from the family home, such a victimized and traumatized child.
Progressive Education
- Botany Bay Primary School of Creative Arts
Talk about "Education Revolution" - see its own webpage here
- Free Education - from Daycare Centre to University
The only way to narrow the gap between rich and poor, to compete in world markets, is better education for all Australians. And that means free and 'career useful' education curriculum all the way from preschool to university. It's an investment in our future not an expense. More university places and more expertly tutored graduates, will more than pay for themselves with the increases in GDP that they generate down the road.
We need an education system and foreign policy grounded in reality that inspires Australians to be equals on the world stage, not kow-towing to the Americans.
The keypoint is learning the lesson of the Billjim - being shafted by the Establishment. For the modern-day Aussie Battler and his children we need to pave a clear cut path to a better quality of life.
- Education Curriculum Reform
More subjects that help our children find creative, well-paying careers when they graduate.
- Creative and Visual Arts
We need a rethink to much of our curriculum.
The Zeitgeist Mantra:
"We don't want to grow up watching DVDs, we want to produce them."
These critical changes will have the aim of encouraging 'ongoing' creativity right from Kindergarten by ensuring at least 2 hours a week of filmmaking / theatre activities with the appropriate equipment.
The Establishment and Government are doing nothing in this critically important area of our society. Why have Rupert Murdoch's Fox Studios in the middle of Sydney with all these tax breaks if it is not utilized by our education system. There should a clear path encouraged and nurtured leading straight to Fox Studios right from pre-school age. More here
- Origin / Aetiology Studies
We need an education system that emphasizes the importance of "casus belli" - aetiology - studying origins of conflict, the roots of war, first. What are the causes - what part did the imperial powers play in creating the Middle East mess. What part are they now playing in assisting Al Qaida's recruitment program - helping to change moderates into fundamentalist fanatics.
Changing Iraq from the only secular power in the Middle East attracting few terrorists, into sectarian cesspool attracting fanatics from everywhere.
Constant harping on the importance of the US alliance because they saved us from the Japanese in WWII, but we are have never been taught about Admiral Perry and his USS Blackships of '1853 prying open a Japan that had been closed for 300 years.
Ironically, Israel owes it's existence not to the British or Americans or some divine miracle, but to the uncouth Australian Billjim.
We are indoctrinated with how the world is indebted to the good guys of the West, especially through technology. But the West would be nowhere without writing and the wheel from Sumer / Iraq, Indo-Arabic numbers (cf. cumbersome Roman numerals, not to mention no zero), paper and gunpowder from the Chinese, and even our christian religion calendar system is plagiarized from the Egyptians.
- Restructuring our Economy
There are other ways to grow our economy without selling out our honour as a nation.
Get off the oil dependency, developing a safer and sensible energy policy.
Develop relations with other countries that have not been cowered into submission by right-wing America.
Identify our strengths where we have a competitive advantage.
Some examples: more focus on the Tourist and Entertainment industries starting from education reform mentioned above.
And other industries where Australia could make a major kill. (Particularly with a new product idea Pete had while living in Japan - a potentially multi-billion dollar industry - and you know that's not hot air if you think some of the original ideas already tabled kick ass.)
- Rural Australia
The rural and agriculture sector is the backbone of Australia. Most of the Billjim were from the Outback, in an all volunteer force - they and their families made the biggest sacrifices for total strangers, far away, expecting (and getting) nothing in return. Farmers don't want charity and handouts, but they should be getting a better deal, and assistance based on commonsense. Farmers don't have the luxury of being able to work 9:00am to 5:00pm, with flexi days off, sickies and annual leave. It's a very big country, that means isolations for them and their families and substantial transport costs. They are subject to fluctuating markets and climatic conditions. Droughts that may go for years. It's time to commission a comprehensive study to make recommendations to put in place concrete steps to get them that better deal. One obvious area is low interest, long-term government loans, with no repayments required during drought years.
- Taxation Reform
Throw out the zillion page tax act and the subsequently bloated ATO.
And scrap GST - a drag on any chance small businesses have to survive, let alone grow against multinationals.
A simple flat tax on gross income. And that's it. No deductions, way to dodgy. (Pete was once a qualified accountant.)
Australia's richest citizen, Kerry Packer, pays no tax. That's how much he thinks of the country that made his family rich. He's right, a lot of taxpayer money gets squandered, but surely he has resources to support positive changes for better government.
No doubt many other rich Australians also pay little or no tax, and also base their companies in places like the Bahamas.
Cut the BS: why should the Australian middle class salary earner, the "PAYE" sap keep shouldering the tax burden in this country. If neither of the mainstream parties will legislate change, show your disgust and vote 1 for Peter Hogan on that Senate Ballot Paper. When Pete wins, on top of the agenda will be forcing tax reform - where all Australians pay tax - to be added to the eneluctable Republic referendum.
- Greater Tax Payer Funds Accountability
Pete may be a liberal / progressive, but he's still a realist - we shouldn't be wasting precious tax payer dollars.
Every entity that receives public funds should be thoroughly audited / inspected for waste and helped to improve efficiency. The main tool should be comparisons with similar entities in the country and overseas.
Some examples of areas of abuse include: over-servicing in our Medicare / health care system; bloated government and bureaucracies, duplication of public services; and a simple one - turn off the lights when everyone leaves and cut the electricity bill! Pete's seen this at universities like UTS - they scream for more public funding, but at the end of the day, lights and computers left on every where.
- Public Disclosure
Pete will put up a bill to publish the personal tax paid by the top 100 richest Australians both by gross income and market value of their homes. This information along with "other interesting data" is to be displayed on a screen connected to the relevant government department's webpage in a prominent place in every major town in Australia.
And where Pete can't get a bill through, or an issue added to the next referendum, his Senate website will have a facility for Australians to vote their opinion anyway.
- Gay Rights
Cut the BS: Gay Australians are just ordinary Australians. They should have the same rights as all Australians especially when it comes to laws regarding couples.
- Sport
More support for sports which could help our talented children make a better living when they finish their education. Particularly internationally lucrative sports like soccer, golf and tennis. Starting with school programs.
A Fair Dinkum Run at Canberra in 12010
When we reach the next threshold of support we will set up a formal structure - an association.
To be a political force we would need at least 500 members .
Then we can form a Party and run Candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives.
Now that Pete's daughter has started school, he is going to really have a serious run in Election '10.
Let's face it there is a dearth of people with both hindsight and vision in all the parties in Canberra. And that's what Pete has, as can be seen from some of the far-reaching issues he is pushing here.
And here's the big one..."Why don't YOU run in your electorate for a seat in Canberra with us?!"
You can do it. You are a fair dinkum Australian who cares. You are better than these phonies we see on TV.
Even if we lose against the big party machines, your family and friends will never look at you the same way ever again.
"...Unbelievable, he/she suddenly ran for a seat in Canberra, and gave it a good shake too - what will happen in the next election!"
Even if we don't have much funding this time round, we have a very good chance of getting a good 6-10% of the vote which would qualify us for government funding in the next election.
The key is you won't be alone, lots of likeminded fair dinkum Australians that are also fed up with the status quo are doing it with you - we have the makings of a solid foundation here.
A quite possible incentive for members is the ability to legitimately improve the family financial position. Specifically through tax deductions. This is more or less what the rich do - they have a high income, say from an executive salary and/or investments, then they have a side business that runs at a loss - expenses far outweighing revenues, which is then offset against their main income. Result they drive a BMW, live in a big house, but pay neglible income tax. GST doesn't effect these people either, because when they buy things, it's through the business. And often they have up trusts and tax havens overseas.
And of course they all have top tax lawyers / accountants whose exorbitant fees are also tax deductible.
For some reason Prime Ministers are not interested in tightening up the Australian Taxation Act. Couldn't be because these cheaters are his prime constituents and campaign funders, not to mention the nice directorships when he retires, could it...?
Take the example of the chief executive officer of the failed FinCorp - all those retirees have been conned, but they can't touch him - his assets aren't in his name. He's will be an 'FDR 1Star' in our database. And we should be shaming the building companies that continue to work on his mansion / estate.
In contrast to these deadbeats expenses related to FDP are legitimate. For members that are active in the development of what we are trying to do with FDP - i.e. they would have formal titled positions in the legally registered party e.g. "Coordinator for XYZ District" - your annual tax return could well have a lot of new deductions for education, car, home office, computer, mobile phone expenses, etc.
Think about it. We are basically highlighting fundamental problems in our society. So we organize a formal political voice in Australia. That was how the Labor Party started back in the '1890s - workers needed a voice in government. Now over 100 years later, it's fair dinkum Australians that need proper representation.
Another secret weapon us average Australians have is extended family - clans - think of your family tree, both sides of the family - relatives spread all over the country, but very few, if any, that have ever been in a national election campaigm. If we tap into clan power we would have an instant sizeable voting block.
Saddle Up!
Contribute
If you can't be an active member, but you think some of these ideas laid out here like shaking up the so-called 'Justice' system in Australia is a good idea, then make a donation to help us setup a formal organization.
Volunteers
Get on board. To start with, simply tell friends and acquaintances.
In this Internet age us little people are no longer powerless against the extremist establishment. Cooo-ee the Billjim!
How often do you get to be part of a campaign that has lasting value. It's a "Win - Win" situation: if we win that will really shake up our deluded leaders. If we lose, you can stay involved in the individual projects on which the campaign is based, all the way to making a major film. And / or we might try again in 3 years having learnt from the experience.
With your support who knows where we might be in 10 or 20 years.
You might find you have hidden talents and run for the Senate or House of Representatives.
That's it for now.
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