tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post2430284361969197167..comments2024-03-02T11:36:17.816-08:00Comments on ALP Socialist Left Forum: Can Labor accommodate an inclusive and open internal debate on Tax and the Social Wage?Vaughann722http://www.blogger.com/profile/11604027151490275320noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-71893544941893351562019-08-04T20:57:57.529-07:002019-08-04T20:57:57.529-07:00"...it is they who are waging class warfare....."...it is they who are waging class warfare..." A lot of the 1.2 million who voted for the conservative micro parties e.g. PHON and Palmer's sect, would swing towards Labor if it took class warfare by the upper 10% seriously instead of running for for the cover of national unity and other perceived as shifty moves by voters.<br /><br />How about a cut in regressive taxation maybe combined with progressive taxation of the upper 10% and the companies they own, while closing the loopholes which allow companies to shift their taxable profits to places like Singapore?Mike Ballardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05410520975856239745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-12064025649099862372019-07-21T06:13:32.865-07:002019-07-21T06:13:32.865-07:00There is a significant review of election results ...There is a significant review of election results due in November which will show who won and who lost and where those losses and gains occurred. I think it is best to wait for that review and the ALP election review being conducted now before we get ahead of ourselves. I think we should be talking about increases to newstart, pensions, health and education. A summit early in the next term of ALP Government could be used to develop options to fund in the long term. Richard Bentleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05027050193140805598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-9062307881858580592019-07-18T19:28:08.418-07:002019-07-18T19:28:08.418-07:00Hi Rei ; actually the quote was 'So long and t...Hi Rei ; actually the quote was 'So long and thanks for all the fish' ; It was in the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams. :-) I understand how you feel ; but the Greens don't seem able to break out of their core base of about 10% of the vote. Objectively we still need progressives in Labor. The Greens can't achieve anything re: legislation unless they have people in Labor they can work with. Vaughann722https://www.blogger.com/profile/11604027151490275320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-50978803897834506922019-07-15T04:26:09.473-07:002019-07-15T04:26:09.473-07:00Thanks Tristan. I've been a Labor voter since ...Thanks Tristan. I've been a Labor voter since the late 60s but bipartisanship support for the LNP stage 3 tax cuts was a red line. <br /><br />I've been watching with increasing concern over the decades as Labor either shifted or capitulated completely to the Right. Labor's obsession to small-target strategy is a cowardly and lazy capitulation in place of tough policy development and concerted argument. The rot went up a quantum with the Hawke/Keating embrace of neo-liberalism and the Accords. So too they began mandatory detention, moving on to bipartisanship on foreign affairs and all-things national security, to name just a few. And the constant appeasement and accommodations to the ALP Right and the LNP with the ready caveat that 'once we're in power, we'll rescind the worst bits'. Yeah, right, like the ALP rescinded the NT Intervention and cashless welfare card, or raising the age pension or Newstart. I call it BS. The light on the hill went out long ago and many like me have been deluding ourselves. This is not the workers' party that I grew up with of Caldwell and Whitlam.<br /><br />I've resigned my Labor membership and joined the Greens. I will not be secondary preferencing the ALP any longer. They are dead to me. Australia has become a fascist, US vassal state, with the most draconian security legislation in the world, aided and abetted by the ALP. Policy wise there's very little difference to me at this end of life. At least I'll head into the sunset voting for a party that better reflects my values. Good luck and thanks for all the fish.rei57https://www.blogger.com/profile/07012760444830049118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-9515303295841279402019-07-09T22:42:05.298-07:002019-07-09T22:42:05.298-07:00I hold some hope Fabianism may have a positive inf...I hold some hope Fabianism may have a positive influence. :)Vaughann722https://www.blogger.com/profile/11604027151490275320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5952277586613848648.post-81221615104537281282019-07-09T22:37:36.225-07:002019-07-09T22:37:36.225-07:00Thanks Dr Tristan Ewins, for incisive, positive in...Thanks Dr Tristan Ewins, for incisive, positive insights. ALP members should engage more voters by engaging communities.Through deceit the Conservatives control everything in our lives, from the media to what we have to eat. Under Capitalism, the abstract profit sheet drives goals more than the economics of the real world. The whole system needs to change because cap in hand Fabianism is a failure. Vilification of the Greens is a puerile reaction to the situation where Labor fails, AGAIN, under the undemocratic Capitalist system. Hallelujah, more people voted Labor-Green in the last election than voted for the LNP. What a miracle!<br />Australia needs the sort of leadership Ghandi gave to India, along with persistent demand for democracy; rather than vested Capitalist interests controlling everything, including how we think. In this light, Gough Whitlam was probably the greatest moderate reformer Australia has ever had. Ironically, Whitlam's call upon dismissal was to maintain rage, which Bob Hawke's call for moderation, stymied! Hawke is remembered, along with Thatcher and Reagan, as a notable neo-liberal. <br />Enough of the Labor Party being corporate shrills! <br />We need better educated ordinary people demanding grass roots representation of needs, through community government. <br />The Paris Commune was about local government: <br />"The Commune was formed of the municipal councillors, chosen by universal suffrage in the various wards of the town, responsible and revocable at short terms. The majority of its members were naturally working men, or acknowledged representatives of the working class. The Commune was to be a working, not a parliamentary body, executive and legislative at the same time." <br />Karl Marx, The Civil War in FranceAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06006833098863414154noreply@blogger.com