Posters of party campaigns decorate the entire country. Lines shuffle along as people pile into voting booths and tick boxes on obnoxiously long slips of paper with party flyers stashed loosely in bags, eagerly awaiting a piping hot sausage sizzle afterward. Yet, do people really know who they’re voting for?
Australia’s default two-party system is obvious, with the Labor Party and Coalition (Liberal Party and Nationals) dominating the political scene. Common stereotypes attribute the former to the working class and the latter to the middle to upper classes. Furthermore, the public tends to have no clue what the minor parties promote, besides the Greens being eco-friendly and One Nation being ultra-conservative. Let’s take a look.
Australian Agenda 2022:
• Cost of living
• Housing
• Health Care
• Aged Care
• Taxes
• Climate Change
• Migrants and Refugees
The Australia Labor Party
The following major party policies attempt to address these issues: Australian Labor Party
• The housing equity “shared equity” scheme will contribute up to 40% of a new home and 30% to an existing home for 10000 people
• $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund with the returns on investment to build 30000 new social and affordable houses
• Price of medicines was cut to $12.50 to a maximum cost of $30
• 50 “urgent care clinics” to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments will be funded
• Aged care staff to spend at least 3 hours and 35 minutes with each resident as recommended by the Aged Care Royal Commission
• More aged care staff to sector and increased wages
• Will continue with the final stage of tax cuts so everyone earning $45000-$200000 will pay 30% tax from 2024
• Investment in electric vehicle chargers, hydrogen and biofuel refueling infrastructure, and an electric car discount
• Reform partner and parent visa subclasses and crack down on labor exploitation of people under a short-term visa
• Remove temporary protection visas for refugees that keep refugees in a state of limbo
• Open more places for refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Syria
Coalition
• Expansion of first home buyers and Family Home Guarantee schemes
• Introduction of regional housing scheme
• Rise inprice caps for properties by between $50000 and $250000, subject to state/territory and being in a city/regional area
• The price of medicines will be cut by $10 so the maximum cost will be $32.50
• Subsidized access to continuous glucose monitoring devices for people with type 1 diabetes
• Tens of thousands of additional home-aged care packages
• Aged care staff to spend a minimum of 3 hours and 20 minutes a day with each aged care resident, with 40 minutes of the time with a registered nurse
• From 2023, at least one nurse on shift in aged care facilities across a minimum of 16 hours a day
• Will continue with the final stage of tax cuts so everyone earning $45000-$200000 will pay 30% tax from 2024
• Low emissions technology: Carbon capture and storage, low-emission steel production, hydrogen as fuel
• Additional 16500 humanitarian visas over the next 4 years for people fleeing Afghanistan Furthermore, here are some policies of a few minor parties relevant to current affairs:
Greens
• Build 1 million affordable public and community houses over the next 20 years
• Dental and mental care included in Medicare
• No tax cuts as will “line the pockets of the wealthiest Australians”
• Impose an additional 6% tax on Australian billionaires
• Net zero emissions by 2035 by switching to 100% renewable energy achieved by developing more batteries, upgrading, the electricity grid, and reducing the cost of electric cars, as funded by taxing big corporations
• Permanent migration program for refugees
• Refugees to have work rights, access to Medicare, and other social security and education while their cases are assessed
One Nation
• Ban foreign ownership of properties in Australia
• Limit unemployment benefits to 3 years in any given 5-year period for people under 50
• Build new coal-fired power stations (they believe man-made climate change is false)
• Reduce Australia’s refugee intake for 5 years
• Stricter immigration policies that only allow “highly skilled migrants from culturally cohesive countries” who can speak English to a “sound level”
• Net-zero immigration policy so the same number of migrants equates to the number of people leaving the country
What policies do you think will aid Australia’s issues? What parties will follow through? The future is in our hands…quite literally…
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