The Sensible Centre | Political party
The Sensible Centre
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25.01.2022 Only 3 nations in the world prohibit their citizens from leaving the country: North Korea Cuba Australia... This is the kind of company we are now in, folks. And this from a Liberal National Coalition Government. Something is going very wrong with the leadership of this country. Will we accept it or change course? Sign the petition. http://www.sensiblecentre.org.au/petition/
25.01.2022 What is our biggest problem in Australian politics? It's the deep polarisation in the community, the lack of consensus about anything, and the poisonous exchanges between Left and Right which drive a deep wedge between us. Aus politics is broken, torn between left and right, progressives and conservatives, career politicians and outsiders. Nothing is being fixed. We have reform-free governments, conviction-free politicians, distrust of our institutions, paralysis in public de...bate, and widespread frustration amongst ordinary people. Nothing can be fixed unless we re-establish some kind of consensus in the centre. We can't rebuild our devastated economy without a shared agreement on reform. We can't protect the country from security threats if we are at each other's political throats. We can't fix public services, we can't reform the ABC, we can't wind back the power of Big Business and revive Small Business, we can't sort out our universities, we can't fix public schools ... on and on it goes. We need to bring people together across the traditional political spectrum. Most of us value collaboration and problem-solving ahead of partisanship and division. We think both right and left have failed to empower ordinary citizens and instead created a political and managerial class that puts its own interests before the community and national interest. The 80% of us in the sensible centre of Australian life can no longer sit by and watch the mess. We have to find a way to reclaim our democracy and take charge of our country’s affairs. http://www.sensiblecentre.org.au We formed The Sensible Centre to bring people together and revive democracy. We don’t mind if you are a member of a political party all we ask is that you tell us about it when you join up. Become involved in a new kind of politics, bringing people together at the grassroots. Register your interest through this form: www.sensiblecentre.org.au/recovery/
23.01.2022 Perhaps the best article on COVID written by an Australian in 2020. Steve Waterson on the social and economic catastrophe inflicted on Australia by our idiotic politicians. "How could anyone who had wreaked damage on this cataclysmic scale ever admit to themselves, let alone to the nation, that it was all for nothing? Instead, like the pokie addict, they have doubled down to unleash a runaway epidemic of stupidity" PAYING FOR AN EPIDEMIC OF STUPIDITY...Continue reading
22.01.2022 We support a big sector of employee-owned firms, from listed companies with employee share plans to worker-owned co-operatives. This is the only way for Australia to rebuild a manufacturing industry, and the only alternative to division and stagnation in industry. The cost of labour makes it difficult for Australian industry to compete with manufacturing in Asia. Only with employee equity in firms, and employee participation in governance, can we get to a position where we ca...n compete on quality instead of price. The two-party system in Australia - built around Labor and non-Labor for 100 years - is based on a separation of ownership and labour. This prevents co-operation in the workplace and prevents capital ownership by workers. This segregation is outmoded. In the years immediately following World War One, a significant centrist movement emerged in Australia seeking co-operation and shared ownership in the workplace. It was led by the Workers' Educational Association in NSW and Qld, the Industrial Christian Fellowship in NSW, the Catholic Federation of Australia and especially the Jesuits in Victoria, the authors Vance Palmer, Louis Esson and Frederick Sinclaire. That movement lost its way in the 1920s. Now, almost a century later, their work is being revived as we confront new economic challenges. WEBINAR Using Employee Equity during the COVID-19 Pandemic Building a big sector of employee-owned firms. Webinar Thursday 6 August 9am (member only event) www.employeeownership.com.au OUR AGENDA www.sensiblecentre.org.au/economicownership/
22.01.2022 REFORMING THE ABC Few issues are as divisive in Australian politics as the ABC. Ideologues on Right and Left are very clear what they think of it the Left thinks it’s a national treasure that is doing a great job, while the Right thinks it’s an instrument of the political left to transform the Australian way of life, and therefore should be privatised. Both are wrong. Privatisation of the ABC would be disastrous. It would mean even more inane reality TV shows and even more ...football in winter. We don’t need either of these. We need a much better ABC, with higher quality programming and more impartiality in its facilitation of public debate. The calls to ‘Defund the ABC’ are unwise. So are calls to insulate the ABC from the job losses that are occurring across the country. The ABC needs major structural and cultural reform to bring its content and culture into line with its Charter. Only then can we seriously consider whether the ABC needs more or less public funding. Policy Agenda: 1. The Commonwealth Parliament should reconstitute the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a new entity with a revised Charter to represent diverse Australian voices and opinions, and to build national social and cultural cohesion. 2. A new board and management should be appointed, drawn from civil society, not from corporate sector guns for hire. The new board and management should be selected to comprise expertise in building social and cultural cohesion technical competence in broadcasting and competence in governance can be accessed easily, the more important expertise needed in ABC governance and management is in building a consensual and inclusive approach to enabling the nation to speak for itself, about itself. 3. The Commission should offer a mix of free and subscription services, comprising existing and new services. Radio stations Classic and Triple J might become subscription services. Sporting broadcasts might become subscription services. New services might be introduced in areas subject to appalling recent neglect, such as Australian history and culture. A designated civil defence channel might be considered to serve natural disaster prevention and response, infectious diseases prevention and response, climate change mitigation and adaption, and national security preparedness. 4. A permanent Citizens Jury should be established, chosen annually by random selection by the Australian Electoral Commission, to adjudicate on bias and breaches of the Charter. Two strikes (two findings of bias or breaches of the Charter) would mean mandatory dismissal for management and staff. 5. Limits on tenure of staff and management (10 years) would be introduced to prevent the problem of staff capture of culture.
18.01.2022 "We're all in this together" We're all making sacrifices, except the high-paid CEOs & bureaucrats. The burden should be shared. 1 Cap CEO salaries at 44 times the lowest pay in the company as a condition of licencing, based on the Israeli model for banks and finance companies... 2 Cap public sector salaries at the current pay of the PM ($549,000) inc department heads (now $700-800,00), uni Vice Chancellors (now $900,00-$1,500,000) and police chiefs (now $600-700,000) 3 Link politicians and public servants salaries to upwards & downwards movement in the median Australian income ($55,432). Liberal and ALP politicians are too afraid to check the phenomenal growth in salaries at the top end of town. We need politicians with a spine to take their place.
14.01.2022 The failure to protect the elderly in nursing homes while needlessly crushing the economy, closing state borders, imposing unprecedent police crackdowns on lawful activity and forcing home-schooling on stressed and unprepared parents is just disgraceful. Have we ever seen such wreckless actions from governments and public policy madness? In years to come, this period in 2020 will be regarded as a time of insanity from our governments in deliberately inflicting social and eco...nomic damage on the country in a foolish attempt to "eliminate a virus" that the science tells us cannot be eliminated. We must keep speaking up to stop the madness. Sign the petition. http://www.sensiblecentre.org.au/petition/
13.01.2022 End the Civil War on Race and Culture Seven things we need to do. Australia needs a national settlement of our civil war on race and culture - our deep divisions on indigenous occupancy of land and cultural continuity, British annexation of land and colonisation, and the rapid growth of a hybrid culturally-mixed but not yet cohesive population....Continue reading
11.01.2022 Federal politicians, public servants, academics, NDIS bureaucrats, ABC staff & NGO executives get 15.4% super. They've had it for years. Ordinary people get 9.5%. This should be lowered to the punter rate of 9.5%. When the country can afford a higher super rate for everyone, it should be considered. But a higher rate for some and a lower rate for others is not on. There are two sets of rules in Australian life - one for the political class and one for the rest of us. http://sensiblecentre.org.au/super/
09.01.2022 There are only two political choices on COVID. We either lockdown indefinitely in a bid to eradicate the virus. Or we live with the virus, carefully managing the risk while resuming social and economic life. The scientific consensus is clear cut. The virus cannot be eradicated. It can't be eliminated. It will remain in the community and reappear as restrictions are lifted. The problem with the lockdown strategy from the start was that it simply delays the spread of the virus.... As restrictions are lifted, the virus reappears. The lockdown has to be reimposed. The whole process starts again. Our Governments made the fatal mistake of imposing lockdowns without giving a minute's thought to how it might end. In their panic to be seen to be 'doing something', they imposed it without thinking it through. The same thing will happen when our national borders are re-opened. The virus will re-enter the country. Start again. We cannot go on like this indefinitely. It is madness to think this is a viable strategy for managing the virus. Our Governments still haven't started thinking seriously about how we live with the virus. They are still in panic mode. Meanwhile our economy is being reduced to rubble. Australians are much smarter than our Governments. We need to speak up to bring them into line with common sense. Make your voice heard. http://sensiblecentre.org.au/petition/
08.01.2022 It's now dawning on most of us that our governments (Liberal + Labor) have catastrophically mishandled COVID. They have failed to exercise care & leadership, and imposed a wave of stupidity on the country with massive health, social and economic damage. It has been catastrophic political failure. Australians tolerated the early shutdowns, prepared to give governments the benefit of the doubt. But as governments have changed their explanation of what they are doing several tim...Continue reading
03.01.2022 Lockdowns are a failed strategy. As restrictions are lifted, the virus reappears. Start again. Repeat. The Vic Gov is locking down for a 3rd time. Why would it succeed in containing the virus the 3rd time when it failed the previous 2 times? The problem with the lockdown strategy from the start was that it simply delays the spread of the virus. The scientific consensus is clear cut. The virus cannot be eradicated. It can't be eliminated. It will remain in the community and re...appear as restrictions are lifted. Our Governments made the fatal mistake of imposing lockdowns without giving a minute's thought to how it might end. In their panic to be seen to be 'doing something', they imposed it without thinking it through. They could have put their efforts into protecting the high-risk niche areas where we know the virus has spread quickly - nursing homes, public housing towers, abattoirs, certain ethnic communities. But they didn't. They closed down the whole society and economy instead of targetting the at-risk groups. We cannot go on like this indefinitely. It is madness to think this is a viable strategy for managing the virus. Our Governments still haven't started thinking seriously about how we live with the virus. They are still in panic mode. Meanwhile our economy is being reduced to rubble. Australians are much smarter than our Governments. We need to speak up to bring them into line with common sense. Make your voice heard. http://sensiblecentre.org.au/corona/ Sign the petition. Make your voice heard. http://sensiblecentre.org.au/petition/
02.01.2022 Over the next two years, we will conduct Community Preselections in each of Australia’s 150 federal electorates and in the state electorates of New South Wales and Victoria. Town Hall meetings and community ballots will take place as follows: March 2021 House of Representatives (Federal)... April 2021 Senate (Federal) March 2022 Legislative Assembly (Victoria) April 2022 Legislative Council (Victoria) August 2022 Legislative Assembly (NSW) September 2022 Legislative Council (NSW) Nominations as Community Representatives (Candidates) and Registrations as Community Preselectors close on the last day of the month preceding the Town Hall meeting. That is, nominations for the House of Representatives close on the last day of February 2021. Further details on the Victorian Election are available at www.sensiblecentre.org.au/vic/ Further details on the NSW Election are available at www.sensiblecentre.org.au/nsw/ This is a big step in Australian democracy. But it is not new. It is a return to our roots. We have to return to our roots because Australian democracy is broken. Our parliaments and governments are now made up of the wrong sort of people. Instead of people with track records as problem solvers, innovators, community builders, entrepreneurs, thinkers and system designers, we have people who have mostly only ever done one thing play politics. So long as this continues, we have no hope of meeting the many challenges facing the country. We need a once-in-a-generation replacement of the current crop of politicians with a new batch of representatives who have proven track records in bringing people together, solving problems, and leading. To enable this change, we will conduct Community Preselections to allow community members to select a community leader to represent them in parliament. This process allows the community to bypass the party preselection processes of Liberal, National, Labor and Green parties which function as gatekeepers and protectors of our broken political system. www.sensiblecentre.org.au/communitypreselections/
01.01.2022 Luke Darcy for Victorian Premier. Luke Darcy challenges Daniel Andrews on TrimpleM Radio on why Vic has the most extreme lockdown in the world. Darcy, ex Western Bulldogs ruckman & gentleman, is vastly more informed about COVID than the Premier, & has actually done some reading on it. 17mins.... https://www.triplem.com.au//luke-darcy-challenges-daniel-a Sign our Petition to Stop the Madness on COVID. http://www.sensiblecentre.org.au/petition/
