Domestic policies here refer to governmental regulations and oversight. Foreign policies refer to Australia's diplomatic activities in the global arena. Click here for more details on these as they are quite comprehensive.
Continue the good work of ASIC, APRA, etc to monitor all Aussie institutions to ensure that they are following the rules (which must be clear and easy to understand and follow. We want all Aussies to have faith in our wonderful super system and be confident that government will not interfere in the running of super. Regular reviews (once every 5 years) will ensure that we don't fall behind in good social and financial governance.
Firstly, we honour the first nations people. As a measure of respect for their first nations status, we suggest that once we become a republic, we change the name and date of Australia Day to (say) "Australian Republic Day" on the 8th of May. This will become a public holiday where all Australians can enjoy our common progress.
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We also welcome honest peoples from all cultures and beliefs. We hope for an Australia where tolerance and open mindedness are worn as badges of honour. Peaceful protests (with no hating) are allowed (with no disruptions to normal living conditions). Damage to people or property will incur fines. If fines are not paid, then welfare payments and/or tax refunds will be docked in order to pay for the fine. Repeat offenders will face extra consequences.We aim for a fully renewable energy powered Australia but we will not turn off the fossil fuel sources until we are sure that the renewable infrastructure works.
We hope to strike a fair but workable balance among all stake holders in order to help our wonderful country progress. We do not want anyone to be burdened by complex regulations and compliance overload. Similarly, we don't want one group in society to lord it over other groups and stifle our progress. Corporate executive teams could cap their payment packages to under $1 million p.a. The money saved could go into a fund for all employees. Trade unions will hopefully not have to strike as often. Union demands tend to raise wages which increases inflation. Unions then demand more raises to counter the recent inflationary problems. It is a cyclical problem. Perhaps, unions might accept shares as payment for members. These could be sold once inflation is back within the RBA band of acceptable inflation. Nor paying cash might keep a lid on inflation quicker. We believe that corporate executive management teams and trade unions should honestly cooperate. Hopefully, we can then all enjoy our wonderful country.
We need a set of laws that apply universally across the country, regionally within each state and specifically within each council. We want these 3 sets of laws to complement each other and not overlap. Judicial interpretation must follow commonsense in order to avoid terrible problems like the release of criminal elements into society. Traffic laws will also be enforced and fines will be issued as usual for infringements. If fines are not paid, then welfare payments and/or tax refunds will be docked in order to pay for the fine. We can, and must, do better.
We will try to implement workable systems in health, education and aged care that we can be proud of for years to come. This is a difficult area to manage because it consumes so much money. The federal and state governments need to be fair about this and not bicker over responsibilities, costs and funding. More on this topic later.
Fair go ! ... We Aussies like to think ourselves as fair minded. Treat other people (countries) on a case by case basis. If they play fair ball, we will too. This will apply to trade and/or other bilateral or multinational deals. We will not surrender our soverign decision making ability to other nations and Australia must continue to be respected at all levels.
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To be taken seriously as an independent, multicultural nation, we think that it is time to reconsider the republic debate. We believe that we replace the governer general with a parliamentary-chosen winner of the "Australian of the Year awards". This person will perform the same constitutional duties as the governor general does now. Everything else will remain the same (The House of Representatives will suggest new laws, the Senate will vote on them and either pass them or require ammendements. The judicial system will remain the same). We believe that if we keep everything basically the same but only change the name of the governer general, the public will understand the slight change and will vote for it. We can debate new constitutional changes but only with the peoples' consent via referendums. Since referendums are expensive, we suggest that a future referendum topic be included at the end of the census form we all have to fill in every 5 years. When the conditions for a successful referendum are met in the census, we can then plan for a referendum which should succeed.
To send Australian service personnel to war requires wise and calculated judgement. For Australia to go to war overseas, a two thirds majority of both houses of Parliament should be required. It is much harder for foreign forces to persuade 150 MPs and 68 Senators to go to war than it is to cajole one person (the PM). This must be taken seriously as war is a very serious business.
As far as defence spending, a reasonable % of the budget must be allocated to this important job. That % is a number still to be debated and resolved.
We need to debate the need for so many embassies (and the associated costs). Perhaps a few regional embassies are all that are necessary. If consular offices need to be temporarily set up to handle emergencies for Australian travellers, then so be it. That consular office, having completed its temporary mission, could then be dismantled and re-dispatched to the nearest regional embassy. For non emergency times, perhaps a joint Australian-NZ-Indonesian consular office could be run in various strategic locations. We need to save important funds for missions which are more important to Australians.