The environment in Canberra within the Liberal party is toxic. We have to change the way politics is done in Australia
“Why?” is the question I’ve had from friends and family when I’ve
told them I’m running for the seat of Kooyong in the next federal
election.
It’s a good question but perhaps not the right one. Politics in Australia, as it currently operates, isn’t something immediately appealing to anyone in their right mind. I’ve had a successful business career; my kids are all but grown-up.
But the time has come when I’m compelled to act as the situation we face is so dire, and the quality of the actors so poor, and the unwillingness of the Liberal party to reform is so evident that the right question is “how can you just sit there and not stand?”
We have to change the way politics is done in Australia so we can
address climate change, restore political integrity and ensure business
operates within society’s expectations and not as an entity unto itself.It’s a good question but perhaps not the right one. Politics in Australia, as it currently operates, isn’t something immediately appealing to anyone in their right mind. I’ve had a successful business career; my kids are all but grown-up.
But the time has come when I’m compelled to act as the situation we face is so dire, and the quality of the actors so poor, and the unwillingness of the Liberal party to reform is so evident that the right question is “how can you just sit there and not stand?”
Unfortunately, the current Liberal party has lost the plot. Its failure to deal with these issues threatens to sell out the future of all Australians. Without environmental and public assets and public confidence in our politics we’re unable to deal with a warming climate, a growing and ageing population and an unequal economy.
Growing up, I learned what it takes to be elected to parliament, door-knocking Doveton to Kooweerup for my father, the Liberal member for Holt, the late Bill Yates.
But despite being a member for most of my life, I am done with this form of the Liberal party. Seeing the now prime minister, Scott Morrison, wave around a lump of coal in parliament, and witnessing a follow-up act with brown coal at a Victorian fundraiser made me angry. Environmentally it’s like waving asbestos.
If this is the Liberal party, then it has no place for me. I can’t quite explain what has happened but the Liberal party’s culture is sick. Ten years of negative policy actions have created a black hole around the leadership, surrounding them in impenetrable darkness. They’ve ignored or denied claims of bullying, which is evident to all. Now there’s a flood of cabinet ministers rushing for the backdoor. Family reasons aside, the environment in Canberra within the Liberal party is toxic.
"We need real people with real experience to sit in Canberra"
Faced with this, and when it is made clear that the “broad church” in Kooyong won’t extend to other Liberals with environmental concerns, the time comes to offer an alternative way so that the people of Kooyong can have a voice and be represented in Canberra.
The majority of them want action on climate, fair treatment
for asylum seekers, businesses to consider people and the environment, and politicians to act with integrity. Currently they feel let down.
The Liberal government’s blindness to the dangers of climate change is sickening. It’s about 28 years since the first international report called on governments to act to reduce carbon emission as a known threat to the environment. Since then, global emissions have risen more than 60%. The current government is delaying action, and encouraging global inaction.
We can’t afford that. How can Liberals not see this?
The Liberal party put the interests of the coal and fossil fuel industry ahead of just about every other industry, and source of employment, in Australia.
Our beautiful reefs, right through to our southern wilderness, are being destroyed as you read this. Our rivers, and everything that relies on them are dying. Communities are facing crippling droughts and fires. Meanwhile, the government continue to peddle dangerous nonsense that we need new coal-fired power stations, or talking up Adani.
Having run the CEFC, and as an investor in renewable projects, I understand the jobs, economic benefits and new industries that can emerge, while we reduce pollution. I can’t understand why the Liberal party, which prides itself on its economic credentials, fails to see the economic opportunities.
The treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s recent speech to the Sydney Institute should mark another point of intense disappointment. It highlights how seriously the Liberal party has lost its way. Now its leadership can’t even make moral sense of its own values and belief.
If he seriously believes current Liberal policies reflect these two values, then he is totally deluded.
The government’s policies are preventing individuals having “equality of opportunity”. Inequality of wealth is growing. Wealth has a direct relationship with the opportunities an individual has from birth. The outcome will not be fair if government policies fail to address the massive financial inequality individuals face.
Policies that constantly increase the benefits of those who can afford to pay versus those less well off layer this government’s thinking. Poor suburbs have poor schools, hospitals and services in contrast to wealthy suburbs. I don’t want an American-style split society. Menzies did not suggest it, and it grinds against the identity I thought we shared as Australians, which had pride in egalitarianism and mateship.
Secondly, intergenerational equity applies to the climate and our natural resources not just the budget. Those retiring today are leaving oceans filled with plastic, mines that have not been rehabilitated, soil depleted, eco-systems destroyed and our climate in ruins. The tab is being left to the next generation without care or regard. How a Liberal government cannot see the scale of this is breathtaking.
We must return integrity to politics. We need real people with real experience to sit in Canberra. We can’t afford another generation of party hacks who believe politics is a game of numbers, slogans and spin.
The public have lost trust in their political leaders. We need an integrity commission, proper political donations reforms and a bill of rights that enshrines what it means to be Australian. And we need to stop ignoring the concerns of Australia’s first people before we can become a mature country.
We need a strong business sector that works with society. Currently there are deep cultural problems. Corporations and CEOs are there to act in the collective interests of people. They cannot continue to claim that their only job is to maximise profits. They need to understand that they must act in the same way we expect an individual to act as part of a heathy society that protects and cares for each other
Government and business love free trade. But it doesn’t always benefit the people. My first public run-in with the Howard government was over the US-Australian FTA. The PM’s office called my employer to suggest it was not in my employers’ best interest that I continue to point out the deficiencies of the agreement.
It triggered my disbelief in our politicians, and highlighted our lack of individual rights to speak and debate views, as all citizens must do, if they care about their country. Our trade agreements need to be carefully considered to ensure the benefit for our economy and society. We shouldn’t be signing up to deals that could harm Australia’s economic interests or impose major social costs. I will fight to bring greater transparency to the negotiation of international trade deals and to ensure that the economic and social merits of all future deals are independently assessed by the productivity commission before the parliament is asked to vote on them.
Having said all that, winning this seat will not be easy. But then again, you never know – moderate Liberal, Greens and Labor electors might welcome the chance to have a member in Canberra that reports to them rather than someone who represents a party most of us cannot understand.
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