Below is a list of all of the Senate Candidates for the
Australian Capital Territory; unfortunately, I have not had time to look into
the independents this year. I have tried for each to list three policies or
positions, though this was not always possible. I’ve done my best to make these
the three most important issues to the party, so you can expect there will be
little room for compromise if elected. This often involves a lot of guesswork.
Where it was particularly speculative, I have explained why I have chosen these
three policy areas. Links are provided to the source of the three policy headings,
not necessarily the policy detail which may come from multiple sources.
A Liberal Party of Australia (LIB)
As one of the major parties the Liberals have a very wide-ranging
policy platform. To isolate three talking points, I have referred to their
"our plan" which after championing several past achievements
identified four key areas: tax relief, infrastructure, family services and
border security. Of these, family services was omitted from my summary due to
its broad and loosely defined scope which includes childcare, education, health
and numerous other distinct policy areas that cannot be summarised concisely.
Tax Relief
Ignoring the large portions of the Liberal policy pages
dedicated to establishing Labor as a tax bogeyman, the main points are that the
party will reduce personal income tax, reduce the company tax rate from 30% to
27.5% and eventually to 25%, and they will expand the availability and size of
the instant asset write-off which allows the full deduction of business assets
individually worth under $30,000.
Infrastructure
The list of infrastructure projects on the Liberal website is
too long to effectively summarise, but includes $100 billion in transport and
congestion solutions including road upgrade and expansion, rail expansion and
electrification, public transport and car parking projects, bridge
construction, heavy vehicle accommodation and new airports/airport access.
Border Security
The essential planks of Liberal border protection policy
are: assessing refugee status in offshore centres rather than in Australian
borders, granting temporary protection visas to ensure refugees cannot become
permanent citizens, turning back boats where it is deemed safe to do so,
cancelling visas for criminals and most controversially revoking citizenship of
dual nationals involved in terrorism.
B The Greens (GRN)
According to their policy page, the Greens "champion
big, evidence-driven solutions to the major problems we’re facing now: economic
inequality, increasing cost of living, environmental destruction and climate
change." I think it's fair to say the party's stance on environmental
destruction and climate change are well known, so I have merged them to give a
broad environmental policy here.
Economic inequality
The party supports public ownership and opposed
privatisation, including reversing past privatisations, creating a
non-for-profit bank and not-for-profit renewable energy company, capping power
prices and opposing selling the NBN. The Greens' plans also include increased
funding for temporary and emergency accommodation to combat sleeping on the
streets along with more long-term allocation of money for more rental
properties and tenancy advocacy services as well as phasing out tax incentives
that favour investors over home buyers. Greens policies for economic equality
extend more obliquely to include "closing the gap" with Indigenous
people through treaties, ensuring equality for women in the workplace,
increasing accessibility for disabled people and fully finding the NDIS
Increasing cost of living
The party's not-for-profit companies and caps on power prices
are factors here too, along with rewriting workplace laws and increasing wages,
investment in science and research in preparation for future industries and
support for more than 2 million small businesses.
Environment
The Greens aren't just known for their environmental
policies, they're named for them: opposition to coal seam gas and fracking,
deforestation, gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight; legislation to
protect marine parks, the Barrier Reef, the Murray-Darling; support for
electric vehicles, 100% renewable energy, and coal workers during the phase out
of fossil fuels.
C - (IND)
D Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party (FACN)
Fraser Anning shot from relative obscurity among elected
politicians due to his highly controversial and conservative views. His party's
policy page has only one policy link (Veterans' Policy) but also lists 21
numbered items, topmost on that list being (1) that Australia was founded as a
"as an English speaking, predominantly European Christian Commonwealth",
(2) that immigration needs to prioritise "those best able to integrate and
assimilate" (i.e., presumably, English speaking, predominantly European
Christians) and (3) opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. So do not
assume this party is a single-issue one simply because there is only a single
policy to expand upon.
Veterans
The party supports marking the drivers' licenses of veterans
or issuing veterans ID cards, military appointments to veterans affairs, military
membership on tribunals for all claims on the department of veterans' affairs,
re-establishment of a defined benefit superannuation scheme for ADF members,
the right of any former serviceperson to demand accommodation at military
facilities and a retirement village for veterans in Townsville.
E United Australia Party (UAP)
Despite Palmer's ubiquitous advertising campaign,
particularly online, the policy page is rather sparse. I quote it below:
"Party Officials should not be Lobbyists, thereby
taking a strong position on Paid Political Lobbyists, saving tax payers dollars
and introducing Fair Policies
Revising the current Australian Government’s Refugee Policy
to ensure Australia is protected and refugees are given opportunities for a
better future and lifestyle
Creating Mineral Wealth to continuously contribute to the
welfare of the Australian community. This will be achieved by utilising mineral
resources from Queensland and Western Australia, and incentives from the
Commonwealth of Australia to establish downstream processing in the States of
Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia; and exporting products at a
higher dollar value, thereby creating more revenue, jobs, tax and more
facilities.
Establishing a System where people create wealth in various
parts of the country and for that wealth to flow back to the Community that
generates the wealth. For example, if a particular region creates wealth, a
significant percentage of that wealth should go back to the region."
F Sustainable Australia (SA)
The policy page does my job for me. Which I guess is what a
good policy page should do? Priorities are identified as jobs, housing,
planning and environment, and the summaries are directly quoted:
Jobs
"Better invest in education and skills training for
local workers; Re-allocate our scarce economic capital (back into our
factories, farms and small businesses, to re-diversify our economy); A simpler,
fairer tax system; Re-invest in the regions; Fair trade with a level playing
field; Australian ownership and management of utilities, land and resources;
& more."
Housing and Planning
"Tax reform (end [capital gains tax/negative gearing]
concessions); Stop foreign purchases; Reduce population growth pressures;
Increase investment in public housing; Better bank lending practices; Greater
renters’ rights; & more... Give real power to local communities in planning
decisions; Increased developer charges for land value (rezoning) gains; Better
public transport; Preserve or plant corridors of biodiversity; Prioritise
ecological design in housing; Reduce population growth pressures; &
more."
Environment
"Transition to renewable energy; Moratorium on all
fracking; Better manage our water security; Increase conservation management
funding and employment; Enhance biodiversity and native species programs;
Protect animal habitats from housing and farming land clearing; End old growth
forest logging; Minimise factory farming; Reduce waste production; Reduce
population growth pressures (so all of the above isn't undermined); &
more."
G Australian Labor Party (ALP)
Labor's policy page is obviously comprehensive. So I didn't
look at that. I looked at their campaigns page, which allows you to search
specifically for two themes: education and health. To this I will add climate
change, as that has been a huge focus in the campaign.
Education
Labor will subsidise 700,000 preschool places,
"uncap" universities to provide funding for 200,000 more places, and
waive fees for 100,000 TAFE places including at least 50,000 female students,
20,000 students of disability and aged care and 10,000 students of early
education. They have also set the target of 3% of GDP to be spent on research
and development projects. Spending commitments also include $3.2 m to assist
rural students into tertiary education, $300 m for a University Future Fund and
an extra $14 b for public schools.
Health
One of Labor's earliest major commitments was around cancer
treatment: the party will spend $2.3 b on this, including $125 m in research,
$600 m to fund cancer scans and $433 m to cover consultation costs. Partially
overlapping with this Labor will invest $2.8 b in hospitals, $200 m in headspace
plus to combat mental health issues, develop a National Rural Health Strategy
and regulate drug and alcohol treatment.
Climate Change
The party's target is 50% renewable energy by 2030 and net
zero pollution by 2050. Specific programs include rebates to support 100,000
new solar/battery installations in homes, 10 community power hubs (including
wind farms) and $1 b in projects to support hydrogen power.
UG1 HOUSTON Nick (IND)
UG2 COWTON Gary (IND)
UG3 KIM David/Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group) (CDP)
The CDP is a conservative Christian party whose 'advocacy
will be based on the 3 forgotten pillars of society" (Family, Church and
Community) The policy page contains a wider scattering of policies from gender
politics to economics, but the extracts here are taken from the plans page as
an overview of their guiding ideals.
Family
"We believe that the institution of the family is the
most important pillar of society. We reject any attempt to redefine or the
nature of what is a family, and remain firm supporters of the needs of mothers,
fathers and children."
Church
"With the legal system beginning to reflect an
increasingly secular world, churches have a voice to protect their religious
freedoms and their ability to preach openly. Secular political parties cannot
make this guarantee, however the Christian Democratic Party can."
Community
"Increasingly our local community is coming under
pressure from Big Government and Big Business. The Christian Democratic Party
is the values-based party that will defend the interests of locals concerning
issues such as building over-development, coal seam gas mining and the building
of mosques. We believe that political decisions should be made on most local
level, so that the interests of the local community affected are properly
represented."
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