Around 50% of Australia’s workforce (appx. 6 million people) are currently without full-time employment. When changes to Jobkeeper and Jobseeker are adjusted in September, around 40% of Australians will find themselves in exceptionally difficult economic and personal circumstances. We are currently in what could be described as a COVID holiday, due to government economic supports. Once this ends, the situation will deteriorate. How is the state going to manage this?
Will the government respond by creating fear in the community about job losses, the military, the police, the state? What about divide and rule, an ‘us and them’ narrative? Look at the treatment received by those in Melbourne’s public housing towers recently in response to a COVID-19 outbreak. A lockdown with no notice. Will the state introduce more legislation to curtail the ability for people to come together and organise? Perhaps a rise in nationalist sentiment? The rising tides of nationalism are used by governments to control people. It doesn’t matter who the ‘enemy’ is.
Do we need to go down any of these paths? Are there other solutions? We could nationalise the mineral resources that lie underneath our feet, right across the continent, to set up two future funds. One for indigenous Australians and one for the rest of the population. We could raise billions of dollars every year if our resources were not privatised. We could implement a 1% stockmarket turnover tax. Every time a stock, bond or share is sold, 1% would go straight into the Treasury. We could raise anywhere between $40-$60 billion every year. If we implemented these measures, we could have a Universal Basic Income (UBI). The 21st-century has many issues that require there to be a basic income for everyone. Overpopulation and fewer resources. The threat of pandemics. Increasing CO2 emissions.
Is it going to be business as usual or are we going to look at alternatives? The measures we have just mentioned require great change. Changes to the way people think. That’s what Public Interests Before Corporate Interests - PIBCI is here for. We encourage you to join us. Become part of a wide social movement. It’s easy to join. Very easy. You can download an application form from our website www.pibci. net.
You can leave a message on 0439 395 489
You can email PIBCI at - pibci.info@gmail.com
You can also write to PO BOX 20, Parkville, 3052.
We currently have 430 members on the electoral roll. We need another 120 members to register as a federal political party.
Things can change if we are willing to make the effort to change the reality we currently face.