Isocracy and the Federal Election
May. 21st, 2016 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipSo the the years have passed and Australia is in the midst of a Federal election again. Rather surprisingly, the opposition Labor Party actually looks like it has a chance of winning. This is partially by putting out policies that are so middling that its hard to find people that actually disagree with them, but also because of an surprisingly terrible Coalition campaign. In a week of utterly dunderhead moves, they Prime Minister started off by claiming that Labor's negative gearing policy would result in house prices collapsing and rents going up. I could not help but pen a few words on that subject on the Isocracy website, as it does touch on one my favourite issues in political economy - the public subsidies paid to the landlord class, and the relative impoverishment of those who are not part of it.
However the quest for panic-button responses did not stop there. A day later, the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton created a new multipart paradox that asylum seekers would be simultaneously innumerate illiterate and illiterate in the own language, take the jobs of locals, and join unemployment queues - all of which also required a 'blog post. Then, later in the week, the election took a very surprising turn with the Australian Federal Police raiding a Labor Senator's office, staffer homes, and a newspaper in search of documents that had been leaked "commercial in confidence" from the National Broadband Network. Of course this has led to the campaign spotlight being turned on the trainwreck that is National Broadband Network and the questions of the government's prior knowledge.
All this aside, this coming Saturday the Isocracy Network will be hosting a meeting with Bruce Poon, the state convenor of the Animal Justice Party to discuss animal welfare issues in the Federal election (the Greens have a comprehensive policy, Labor has a few important remarks, and surprisingly, the Liberals have nothing at all). It is, of course, not a subject that will attract too much attention, human beings being what they are, but nevertheless important for Isocracy as we made freedom from suffrance as a central policy regardless of species. Hopefully Bruce will be able to provide a well-grounded theoretical framework for this issue as well as the practical implementations in public policy.
However the quest for panic-button responses did not stop there. A day later, the Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton created a new multipart paradox that asylum seekers would be simultaneously innumerate illiterate and illiterate in the own language, take the jobs of locals, and join unemployment queues - all of which also required a 'blog post. Then, later in the week, the election took a very surprising turn with the Australian Federal Police raiding a Labor Senator's office, staffer homes, and a newspaper in search of documents that had been leaked "commercial in confidence" from the National Broadband Network. Of course this has led to the campaign spotlight being turned on the trainwreck that is National Broadband Network and the questions of the government's prior knowledge.
All this aside, this coming Saturday the Isocracy Network will be hosting a meeting with Bruce Poon, the state convenor of the Animal Justice Party to discuss animal welfare issues in the Federal election (the Greens have a comprehensive policy, Labor has a few important remarks, and surprisingly, the Liberals have nothing at all). It is, of course, not a subject that will attract too much attention, human beings being what they are, but nevertheless important for Isocracy as we made freedom from suffrance as a central policy regardless of species. Hopefully Bruce will be able to provide a well-grounded theoretical framework for this issue as well as the practical implementations in public policy.
