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Independent MP Zoe Daniel says anger over Australia's growing wealth gap is justified as fossil fuel, gambling and tech companies reap massive profits while families struggle. She calls for a windfall tax on gas exports and tougher enforcement.
Independent MP Zoe Daniel says Australia's wealth gap is growing and so is the anger over it, especially among younger generations. She argues the anger is justified and calls the situation an absolutely hopeless state of affairs.
Going to the supermarket and petrol station was already stressful. Now interest rates have gone up, with another increase predicted, and Christmas is coming. The cost of insurance is already horrendous. El Nino is looming, making what should be carefree summer holidays an exercise in risk management for many Australians.
Losing Control of Daily Life
Prices, inflation, climate change, big tech, crime and the government itself all feel beyond people's control. The tech bros already had too much power. Now AI is threatening jobs, and potentially our very existence, while the information ecosystem is rife with AI slop that is manipulating people into hating one another. People are getting mugged in public or find intruders in their home.
Migrants who work their guts out to underpin the economy in everything from transport to childcare and beyond are unfairly getting the blame. The geopolitical environment is terrifying. The domestic political environment is uninspiring and as a result is leaning Trumpian. State governments cannot even fix the potholes.
Hands up who has blown a tyre? Mental health issues are escalating. These problems are chronically under-prioritised in both prevention and response. It is all connected.
People have lost control of everything, and that is why they are furious. So how do we fix it?
Prioritising People's Lives Over Politics
First, stop treating it as a political problem. Stop worrying about optics and think about what will make a difference to people's lives. There is not much point in holding on to government just for the sake of it. Remember, if you can, what it is like to feel physically sick when interest rates go up, when your credit cards are already maxed, your car is on empty and so is the fridge.
Emma Dawson, who leads Labor's Chifley Research Centre, has pointed out that relatively well-off economists and policy wonks are generally not the people who have lost out from decades of deregulation. That is why some are drifting to One Nation. Similarly, the drift to Donald Trump in the US was rooted in communities whacked by globalisation, deregulation and the resulting job losses, worsening prospects and loss of both control and hope.
Fairness, Security and Corporate Accountability
We need wellbeing, safety and security, good health, education and an economy in which everyone can thrive. We must protect our sovereignty, including from nefarious actors manipulating public sentiment. A corporate tax transparency report shows that some of the largest companies operating in Australia, including gas exporters Petronas and Kogas, are paying little or no corporate income tax on billions in revenue.
Santos, which has made almost 50 billion dollars over the last decade, has paid no corporate income tax over that time. So we allow largely multinational and blatantly extractive fossil fuel, gambling and tech companies to reap massive profits for minimal return or accountability, while families struggle. Australia has done precious little to prepare for the dangers of AI. Where is brilliant leadership when you need it?
We live in a nation of extraordinary beauty with a unique brand of resilience and optimism, yet we fail to enable everyone to enjoy it, and we are allowing it to erode. This is not an argument about the Reserve Bank, which has one key job and limited levers to do it with. It is a bigger question about how we look after our own.
Rebuilding Agency Against Corporate Power
Dawson has written about an environment in which monopolies and duopolies are free to set their own terms, even if that means more and more people feel they cannot afford to live. These participants, she says, feel robbed of agency: crushed at home by the cost of living, and by powers both distant and at home whose interests simply do not align with theirs. Show, do not tell.
Aside from addressing the thorny issue of government spending, reset the power imbalance between community and big corporations which is at the core of the dissatisfaction. Start by implementing a windfall tax on export gas. Properly tax and enforce regulation on big fossil fuels, big gambling and big tech.
Reducing Cost of Living Pressures
Then use the proceeds to reduce the cost of childcare, tertiary education, medicines and rent via commonwealth rent assistance. All these measures would both reduce cost-of-living pressure and inflation. And, please, fix the potholes.
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