Contrary to what we are told by politicians and the media, the cost of welfare is not a major element among the issues that we face in achieving and sustaining the financial viability of Australia.
Currently, the crippling costs to the economy are –
Corporate handouts and concessions.
Tax Avoidance, particularly by multi-national corporations.
Negative Gearing.
The costs of Direct Action on the environment which should be paid by a tax on polluters.
Gross waste and inefficiency with Defence.
Superannuation tax havens.
A hugely bloated Public Service.
Enormous duplication costs between Federal, State and Local Governments.
The totally unnecessary costs of perpetuating racism at Nauru, Manus and Christmas Island
Added to these will be the proposed tax cuts which are based on the blatant lie that the benefits will trickle down from the rich to the poor. It never has and it never will.
Nevertheless, too many politicians have always believed that there are lots of votes to be won by belting citizens who are old, handicapped, unemployed or homeless. So, they commit perjury every day as they blatantly dig deep to reach the darkest elements of the voting public.
Yet, the facts of the matter are quite simple.
There is no such thing as a perfect world, nor are there many people who do ‘the right thing’ for society, mainly because there are a hundred definitions of what ‘the right thing’ actually is.
There will always be a shortage of jobs and too many people who can’t or won’t work.
An ever expanding ageing population will perpetually be with us and most of them won’t have adequate financial resources to meet the fundamental necessities of life.
Even if Australia survives for a thousand years, there will never be a time when there a no people who are handicapped or homeless and there will forever be children who are deserted by parents as well as there being too many people in prisons.
And we are light years away from integrating indigenous Australians into a society of equality.
So, we must accept the blatantly obvious. There is an inevitable expenditure involved in maintaining a civilised nation and this must be peacefully and wisely accepted as a fundamental cost of a mature society.
No amount of pious political hand wringing will ever remove any of these obligations from our national scene, so we must stop wailing about it like spoilt children.
This expenditure must be, and ever will be, the first item recorded in every Federal Budget of Australia every year, ahead of all other items. It is as inevitable as the sun coming up tomorrow morning.
This means that we must stop calling this societal cost by the demeaning title of WELFARE which far too many hope will suitably hurt and humiliate those who receive it because a wholly unfounded belief prevails that they really do need to be punished.
Instead, let us give it the honest title of BASIC INCOME because, in every enlightened nation, this is a fundamental right of all citizens.
This being so, a smart nation will take the very logical step of giving a basic income to every citizen no matter how wealthy some may be. There will be no such thing as welfare any more as every person will get the basic income in their bank account automatically every month and it will become part of their taxable income.
The huge bureaucracy which handles Centrelink and other similar agencies will simply disappear from government payrolls. They will be superfluous to need.
Australia can finance basic income by scrapping Income Tax totally along with all its corrupt deductions and replacing it with a Revenue Tax which everyone will pay on all their earnings above the basic income even if they are operating at a loss. This will catch all the multi nationals before they syphon taxable funds offshore.
All of this will cause a huge revolution, but its time we had one. Like Donald Trump so vividly said, ‘It is time to drain the swamp.’ However, the concept of basic income is not really original. Finland is giving it a trial run in one of its regions and Scotland will do so this year in two of its counties. The pioneer of this fascinating concept here in Australia is my friend Mark Carnegie. Type his name into Google and read all about it.
Can I say in closing that its time for all the ‘holier than thou’ people to shut up and stop denigrating those who struggle to handle the enormous pressures of life.
Australia is a far finer nation than the vindictive image those guys so persistently strive to create.
As Adam Lindsay Gordon once wrote, ‘Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own’.
Yours at Large
Everald Compton
If you would like to buy my book ‘The Man on the Twenty Dollar Notes’, please go to my website everaldcompton.com and click on the book title.
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Hear! Hear!
Everald Bang on needed to be said Brian
Sent from my iPhone
Oh Dear Everald , Spot on as usual..BUT apart from those of us who Tut Tut AND Agree..WHAT IS BEING Done? SENIOR NUMBERS ARE HUGE as WE know LETS UNITE..Tell US please..I will do what I can..But.HOW ? Does the COMBO of Reinhart and Bernadi..deserve Support.? It smells of Success to me BUT , are they only concerned with Themselves? Have to admit, I like the Team the Trump is gathering..what think You. Come on Mark Carnegie..DO More, please. I am hogtied You would appear Not. sincerely to ALL. I want to PUSH Training at HIGH School Level , before ANY / ALL possible INFLUENCE is nil. Talk to me IF YOU CAN HELP…please I’m ageing by the minute! “MI mini Mansions Australia” and “MI MOBILE mini Mansions Australia”
Others have covered it in the above responses, but thank you Everald for covering this matter in such a humane and productive way, unlike this Miserable Government spewing their demand letters out of a badly programed computer in Canberra. I never thought I’d see a Fascist Government in Australia but we had it in spades with Abbott and now Turnbull has carried on with exactly the same policies. A disgusting Government!
Thankyou Everald for another thought provoking article that certainly has all the ingredients to allow workable and fairer tax and budget reforms in Australia. I wish more of your wisdom and practical reforms were taking up by our governments at all levels instead of the mostly vacuumous ideas presented to us as reforms but mostly to bolster their re-election incentives.
A HUGE THANK YOU, EVERALD—I COULD NOT HAVE WISHED FOR A BETTER NEW YEAR GIFT IN COMPASSIONATE, POLITICAL THINKING !
Loved your alliteration.
You covered so much ground in your ‘dissertation’ that I intend to redraft its content, in mind- mapping format, and as the right brain ‘kicks in,’ see what develops around the ‘circumference’ of the diagram.
Is there anyone ‘out there’ who would care to do the same and also publish their thoughts ?
My immediate gut reaction is that of near-despair at the realisation of the fractures in our society—seemingly because of the self interest and greed of some individuals and groups.
If only the CHILD HONORING principles espoused by Canadian Raffi Cavoukian (please Google), were employed, our planet and children would become such focii that a totally new emphasis in caring by government, at all levels, would turn the present attitudes around—forever !
IN my ‘neck of the woods’, here in Southern Queensland, such ideals are rarely accepted, as the region implodes under so many pressures, including health issues, now reaching catastrophic proportions.
What will it take to get our people to feel,. think and work for the common good ?
with best wishes to all, for a far better year.
Kevin KIngswell
People such as You and I need TO DO sir.
Happy New Year Everald to you and Helen â and may it be yet again another where you posit ideas for others of us and even the establishment to ponder on. Hopefully too some of those ideas can influence change! However I am disappointed that your first post of the year includes a few items that -being a cantankerous fellow â I cannot let pass to the keeper. Incidentally I was a keeper once!
Totally agree with the swollen public service at all levels. Moreover they neither serve the public nor their masters. I suggest focus on that subject alone would save at least $1billion pa and probably considerably more.
Of course who could argue that any civilised society also has to care for those who broadly are disadvantaged. However, the growth in that number year by year at faster than natural rates by far is inexcusable. From a psychological explanation alone it is clear that many are learning to be listed from those already plying the system and further itâs a case of once receiving it becomes a right. There are far too many receiving than deserve it and whatâs more the number of us paying full taxes is diminishing. So who pays?
Sadly I no longer share your sunny view of Australia Everald. We have become lazy, dependent and at times arrogant (eg our cricketers). We have also become increasingly unaware of how our actions adversely affect others. I know you will castigate me for those remarks but that is increasingly how more and more people I meet are feeling. The welfare issue is not Australiaâs alone! It probably started when the Welfare State got up in UK post WW 2. Hayek described the failings then but no one listened.
Then lastly â on the subject of our indigenous people — I would suggest the issues holding them back are now largely of their own making. Firstly â they see themselves as aboriginal first and Australian second. Next so few of them have pride in themselves and their families. They also have so few role models or examples of how things could be different. Like most welfare recipients it becomes a right rather than a leg up for a start in life. We have thrown so much money at this subject that every aboriginal should have been set for life. But they squander it; the administration mishandles it and so on. Of course there are aspects above that like their art, a few education examples but not much more. They are more concerned with their Constitutional rights and their land than they are with being Australian and getting on their own two feet. They were not invaded like the Normans did to England for instance. History is full of nations being âtaken overâ by others but in the fullness of time those experiencing that get over it and make their own way in life â usually the better for that adverse experience.
I am no racist Everald â far from it but Iâm also no lover of those who donât get up off the ground or the past and integrate for the future without losing their self respect and history. Perhaps our history teaching should use a bloke lie Windschuttle to review what really happened. WE only hear how bad the Stolen Generation was for some. By far the majority examples were positive. And besides the Administration of those times actually thought they were doing the best
for their charges in the standards of those times.
Everald â I hope you know I mean no disrespect because apart from anything else I respect you and your achievements much too much for that. But Iâve always been a person who revels in discussion and conversation â especially on subjects that are not âtruthsâ even though they may be held to be so by many. I suppose I might these days be labelled politically incorrect â as you are on many subjects. Regards carlo
Carlo Bongarzoni
Carlo Bongarzoni Associates P/L
9 Russell Street
Clontarf NSW 2093
T/F 9948 8975; 0410 335 523
bongarzoni@optusnet.com.au
As usual Everald………….practical suggestions based on years of experience out there with the people…………….listening and helping. It’s time for more of us to speak up more frequently and louder. We must demand from our politicians the type of leadership we expect from them.
Thank you again- and again and again Everald for your fearless critiques of all levels of Government and your powerful defence of those of us unable to defend ourselves. The cuts to age pensions will resonate all the way to the ballot box as even those who are not affected by the current cuts will fear for their future the next time the Federal government tightens our collective belts. Rosemary Munroe
Not sure if this basic income proposal will increase incentive for young and old to work innovate and progress
Hello. How right you are again sir. I have done some research and i would say that billions are wasted on Govt costs including admin. You would be amazed at the absolute waste. Look at Minister of Health rorting. PM Office is the most costly ever.
The obvious thing is production. Look at the Asian countries how they can produce anything from their land and what do we do with our land – NOTHING and what do we do with the excess water from the Wet Seasons – NOTHING
WE have a long way to go in this country and I could go on forever.
WE thats YOU and I, need to take action and SHOW the YOUTH…Ther IS hope and WE have FAITH…How can WE HELP? IT’s called COMMUNICATION…