Policies of The Seniors Party Of Australia – Seniors United Party Of Australia

Policies of The Seniors United Party Of Australia

Aging, Retirement and Seniors Matters

Globally, as medical science develops, and service provision advances overall health and lifespans will increase as a matter of course. As this process continues an increase in health, well-being and longevity will naturally result in a gradually ageing population. This will not necessarily lead to either lower workforce participation or higher welfare burdens. We as a nation simply need to adapt to these changing circumstances. National strategies need to evolve to maximise the benefits we can gain from this increased wealth of knowledge and experience.

Core Principle 1 – Care for Seniors and the Elderly

We contend it is the absolute responsibility of government to ensure people aged or retired from the work force are able to live a comfortable and secure lifestyle. The government must ensure every citizen is fully prepared for this later time of their lives or bear the cost of this if they are not.

Key Policy objectives:

Implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care (RCAC).
Implement sustainable funding and resourcing for the successful implementation of all the recommendations of the RCAC
Support a strong National Palliative Care Scheme.
Support a strong National Dementia Strategy
Oppose unnecessary privatisation in the aged car health sector.
Strongly oppose “Age” discrimination in any form
Stable and simple Eligibility Rules for Aged Care and Home Care services
Stable, simple and more flexible Superannuation rules, and lower fees.
Implement the recommendations of the Banking Royal Commission.
Fight age discrimination in employment through taxation means.
Pensions to keep pace with building insurance.
Ensure trained, knowledgeable and empathetic avocates and Advocacy services are available for Seniors across the country. These services must not rely on modern communications as many seniors may be unfamiliar with the use of modern technology.
Strongly support Carers who fill a great need in our society and are grossly unappreciated and often serve to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing.
Place an emphasis on additional rural and regional services for the elderly
Introduce and support classes in basic information technology for Seniors and supply available technical and repair services
To supply a public television channel for seniors with suitable programs and news service.
Have an ongoing public campaign to remind the public, government services and corporations that seniors communicate better face to face and person to person.
Lobby for a fairer deeming rate for part pensioners
To withdraw from, or change those international free trade deals which negatively affect Aged and Aged Care staffing
Implement a strong public Aged Care and Home Care industry to compete with the private sector.
All veterans to be issued with the Gold Card
Oppose the privatisation of Social Security and the Cashless Debit Card
Support superannuates rights to determine financial amounts of withdrawal as life expectancy and needs vary between individuals on retirement.
Hold a Senate inquiry into a universal aged pension.
The Seniors United Party of Australia opposes the discrimination of Australian pensioners in Section 44 of the Constitution by disqualifying them from standing for election and being elected as an Australian Federal politician.

Residential Aged Care

Staffing – establish and maintain appropriate levels and capabilities of staff in all Nursing Homes

All services must have appropriately trained staff in the correct proportions. All people deserve quality services. (Currently staff are trained for 4-6 weeks on the job. The outcome of this is ill prepared staff and results in poor quality service, especially in nursing homes). Nursing homes must be appropriately staffed to maintain peoples’ physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Staff should include – nurses, paramedics, personal care attendants, occupational therapists, counsellors, dietitians, speech therapists and other staff as required – in appropriate numbers, at appropriate times (in nursing homes that would mean nurses 24x7x365).

All staff should have an appropriate workload. This must be well monitored and managed by appropriately educated and skilled management staff working within carefully established and enforced federal government guidelines.

Families should be encouraged to actively participate in the care of their elders.

Mandatory minimum staff to resident ratios in nursing homes

People in nursing homes are at their most vulnerable time in their lives. Pre-school children are also at a very vulnerable time in their lives but, pre-schools have mandatory minimum staff to pupil ratios. The same logic is valid for nursing homes. The Seniors United Party calls on all parties to implement suitable mandatory minimum staff to client ratios in nursing homes.

Restore the Massive Budget Cuts to Aged Care Facilities

The Seniors United Party of Australia strongly opposed the 2016 budget cuts of $1.2b in subsidies and the $0.6b announced in the 2016 mid-year economic statement to Aged Care facilities (Nursing Homes) for patients with complex needs and calls upon the Government to reverse these changes. Additionally create and impower an independent “oversight body” to ensure funds are applied appropriately in line with government mandated guidelines.

SUPA will work to build a strong public Aged Care and Home Care system across the country.

The Covid pandemic highlighted how better public aged care systems looked after their residents as they had lower deaths and better resources. This would also reduce profiteering by the private sector.

A recent review of the New Zealand privatised system revealed that providers seek out more lenient accreditors that accept lesser standards, and as a result care, standards have decreased. We advocate to make it illegal to do this and also to warn providers of upcoming inspections. Inspection capacity must be increased as well as the frequency of inspections.

Penalties for breaches of standard should be increased and made a real deterrent. Serious continuous breaches should result in the installation of government management until improvements are made or deregistration occurs.

We must revise funding models for private nursing homes. Privatisation of nursing homes with funding based on special allowances has led to many older people being used fundamentally as a profit source by these organisations. Funding should be based on the outcomes for the client not some arbitrary funding model.

Income in Retirement

SUPA will revise rules regarding retirement income with a focus on the adequacy of the age pension and superannuation. We believe that both streams should complement each other, and that the main principle of superannuation should be a secure and adequate income stream in retirement.

SUPA will guarantee all pensioners a living income in addition to the other services now provided such as concessions for travel, energy etc. Housing and nursing homes should be a right and not a lottery. Where pensioners receive other incomes, pensions should be adjusted to maintain their living standards.

All medications to pensioners should be free to retirees.

Armed Service Veterans - Key Policy objectives:

Anyone who joins our defence forces to serve their country deserve our utmost respect, gratitude and recognition. As part of the public’s “contract” with veterans is the recognition that when they are injured while in the service of their country, whether that is on home soil or overseas. Australia will look after them with adequate medical and financial support.

Rationale: Veterans deserve to be treated with respect and taken care of when they return from providing service to the nation. The mental, physical and emotional issues that they face are indescribable. They need to be eligible for services that dignify their contributions – be it housing, financial maintenance or standard of living. Veterans should be the ones who decide these things not bureaucrats.

All armed service personnel, once enlisted, are to be entitled to the Gold Card. This entitlement is to be retrospectively applied to all living former service personnel.

Those to be medically discharged are to have a choice of systems by which they can be discharged. The present system, or one where only independent civilian personnel decide the outcome.

When discharged veterans are to have full access to well-resourced advocates, support personal and flexible job training to ensure reintegration into mainstream society is successful. Monitoring of their progress and situation is critical to substantially reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans.

Age Pension

Criteria – the Seniors United Party of Australia calls upon the Federal Government to desist from changing the criteria for the aged pension. This causes confusion amongst seniors and causes disruption to those planning for their retirement. We call upon the Government to streamline the criteria in order to make it easier for seniors to understand their entitlements.

Pension Age – the Seniors United Party of Australia calls upon the Federal Government to return the retirement age to 65 years of age for both genders. SUPA believes it is unfair to increase the retirement age when people getting close to their retirement have been planning this for some time and find these changes disruptive and upsetting. We are also concerned for people who work in physically demanding occupations whose body may start to break down well before 65 years e.g., in building trades, mining, nursing, cleaning, labouring etc.

SUPA believes we cannot make adjustments or “tweaks” to the ongoing erosion of quality of life for the older generation – it does not work. We need to ensure we have a simple system of once retired s/he gets the pension and all other rights that currently flows to them including concessions for energy, medication, communication, car registrations, travel etc. Retirement should be possible at predetermined age. For pension purposes let us say 65 unless exceptions apply like illness, or a person voluntarily wishes to work beyond that age.

Superannuation

SUPA contends all people with an income should to be required to contribute a percentage of their income to a set minimum (individuals can contribute more if they wish) into an approved super fund. The government. is to make a suitable contribution (the amount of which is yet to be determined but should be based on an income index of some kind) to that superannuation fund as well. The governments contribution is in addition to the “Super Guarantee” contribution paid into the same fund by their employer. The money in super (government managed or guaranteed private) funds should be almost impossible to withdraw from until retirement. (The allowable amount in the fund should not be caped)

Rationale: This Superannuation from all sources is to be owned by the person concerned whether sourced from a deduction from their wages, government co-contribution or employer co-contribution it is an amount to be held towards retirement. These funds must be deposited with the nominated approved fund at the same time the wage or salary is paid. Employer owned trust funds are not to be permitted.

We have to ensure acceptable living standard (as stated above in the previous section) for all. Taxes should be used to maintain retired people’s standard of living and care. I would go so far as saying that superannuation is an outsourcing of our retirement management.

Housing – Retirement Living Communities (Retirement Villages)

National Model Legislation

The Seniors United Party of Australia will advocate and push for national model legislation to encourage and assist operators and residents to live harmoniously in communities which ideally will encompass aged care access and other identified services.

National Ombudsman

The Seniors United Party of Australia will advocate and push for the establishment of a National Ombudsman to arbitrate conflicts or differences of opinion between management and residents should they arise to assist the present state-based Tribunal decision process.

National Inquiry into Other Residential Establishments

The Seniors United Party of Australia will advocate and push for a national inquiry into of other types of retirement living facilities such as Over 55’s Estates, Residential Villages (Caravan Parks) to specifically look into the security of tenure and a more efficient complaints mechanism for residents.

Social & Community Housing

The Seniors United Party of Australia will lobby for the provision of more social and community housing, with an emphasis on mature single people (both men and women) to ensure an adequate supply of housing for seniors and that waiting lists for placements are reduced.

Education for Seniors

The Seniors United Party of Australia will lobby for more funding for on-going education. We strongly believe in lifetime learning in order to promote an active life and mind.

Organisations like University for the 3rd Age (U3A) provide great opportunities for learning but are basically run by volunteers. Small cash injections would help groups like this to expand and provide more learning opportunities for seniors.

Assets Test

The Seniors United Party believes this whole process engenders huge complexity to the process and a better simpler means test practice needs to be found and implemented as a matter of urgency.

We oppose the most recent changes to the assets test threshold that was announced in the 2016 budget that affected 326,000 retirees, especially those on a part Age Pension.

We believe that this is a retrospective change to the Age Pension rules which adversely effects retirees receiving a part Age Pension the hardest. In most cases, these retirees were not in a position to return to work to replace the income they lost from 1 January 2017.

The Seniors United Party is totally opposed to any future move to include the family home in the assets test.

We consider assets should exclude the family property and the remaining assets should be assessed according to the income derived from it.

Mature Age Employment

Employment should be a right for all people and the government has an obligation to arrange or prepare for employment for those who especially are made redundant by societal changes. Government policies should reflect the advancement of technology – such as where some countries are implementing a four-day working week (with no loss in pay or conditions). All industries should be obliged to ensure that workers are prepared for technological advances and that their strategies do not leave people unemployed. Work from home should become the rule not the exception supported by government at all levels.

The Seniors United Party of Australia calls for the adoption of policies that will see a real uptake of mature age employment and condemns successive Governments for their previously poor policy design and implementation of schemes that would have seen the employment of more mature aged workers.

We also call upon Federal and State Governments to do more to negate age discrimination in employment and to implement a national education program for employers about the advantages of employing older workers.

We also call upon the Government to introduce concessional income tax rates for mature age employees over 60 years old.

Diplomacy and Defence

Core Principles 13-17 - Defence and Foreign policy

Our nation has a constructive role to play in maintaining world peace and democracy through alliance and cooperation with all other nations.

Our need to create and maintain a strong national defence capability through strong National Defence Forces, international relationships and alliances

Actively and honestly participating in international organisations such as the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Providing international aid and assistance, including a safe haven for refugees, within the limits of our national resources.

Working with non-government agencies to advance less developed nations and promote human rights. In so doing, we aim to enhance security and stability in the world as a whole and in our region especially.

Diplomacy

The Seniors United Party of Australia is committed to the undertaking by our nation to play a constructive role in maintaining world peace and genuinely friendly international relationships through constructive cooperation with all other nations to further world peace and international well-being. To do this we need to adopt a foreign policy that leads us in that direction. Our national security depends largely on good will and maintaining respectful relationships.

Foreign Policy

We need to focus on finding solutions to problems and building better working relationships with all others as our first and overarching priority. Part of this policy should be providing international aid and assistance to those nations in need within the limits of our national resources. Along with providing a safe haven for refugees to the extent our resources will allow us to do so.

Strategic Defence Imperatives

The Seniors United Party of Australia” recognises our need to create and maintain a strong national defence capability through National Defence Forces, international relationships and alliances. We need to focus our defence capabilities on technologically advanced options that maximise our defence capabilities, including air, sea and land-based forces. All designed to maximise the effectiveness of the population and resources we have.

As part of our national strategic defence plan, we should consider resuming a form of “National” Service for school leavers possibility using the concept below:

National service should include service in the following areas: Ambulance service, Fire service, Emergency services, Forestry services, Policing, International aid, some nominated national projects and National intelligence services in addition to the defence forces.

SUPA believes it’s a minimal price to pay – giving a brief period of service to the Nation that supports its citizens for a lifetime. For most it can be a useful gap year and sometimes helps young people find a career and fosters a community spirit. One other outcome is it provides a partly trained reserve to call on in a time of need.

Sometimes especially talented youths or those who can demonstrate an acceptable reason to do so can be channelled directly into an approved university course instead.

SUPA acknowledges military service needs to be made more attractive and, like any other employer, the Department of Defence needs to be strictly held accountable for human rights abuses.

In addition, basic military training should be made available to all adult Australians. In addition to regulation, government support and incentives should make it attractive to undertake such training. For example, HECS could be reduced or waived for those who undertake reserve training.

Defence Procurement

Defence procurement is a huge area of Government spending in the order of $billions per year. The announcement in 2016 by the Government of an additional $50b and the now failed French submarine project is just one example. This project had blown out its initial cost estimate by a huge amount, would not have employed any significant numbers of Australians and was not going to be delivered until the 2030’s (more than 10 years behind schedule) and by that time would have been obsolete. There were also critics who claimed the submarine design was not “fit for purpose”. This clearly points to there being a strong need for more governance and oversight of major defence procurement projects like this.

In our view there needs to be exceptionally outstanding and pressing reasons to go offshore for us to even consider doing so in the first place.

Establish a Parliamentary Defence Procurement Oversight Committee

The Seniors United Party of Australia urges our current national government to immediately establish a multi-party parliamentary defence procurement oversight committee which is to monitor all major defence procurement activities on a regular basis and report directly to parliament quarterly. In addition, ban lobbing of military, defence ministers and staff.

Veterans

Refer to prior section: “Titled Armed Forces Veterans”

Economy and Taxation

Core Principles 9-11: - Economy

Wherever possible, government should not compete with an efficient private sector, nor should government delegate it’s authority to the private sector without clear and pressing need to do so.

The critical need to further develop the capacity of an internationally competitive Australian economy to benefit from the globalisation of trade and investment flows – without leaving our economy vulnerable to manipulation by any outside force.

Maximising the economic and strategic opportunities offered by closer engagement with all potential trading partners, especially the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

Economic diversity is strength and moves us closer to our goal of attaining a vital, strong, robust and flexible economy. The forward thinking but prudent management of our economy is critical to the success of our nation and consequently, the well-being of us all.

The current legislation in place designed to safeguard against the manipulation of our economy by corporate monopolies needs to be critically reviewed and strengthened. The legislation currently in place is rarely used and lacks the sufficient teeth to be effective. SUPA encourages government to use these powers more effectively and widely.

To reverse the trend of de-industrialisation Australia has experienced over the last 50 years or so we need to carefully husband our economic capital (bank lending, superannuation fund investment, personal savings, etc). Capital should be moved away from our overinvestment in relatively unproductive land, housing and property speculation - and back into our factories, farms and small businesses, to re-diversify our economy and increase domestic manufacturing capability.

Where Australia’s domestic market is seen to be too small to make desirable start-up enterprises viable the government should be empowered to do what is necessary to ensure the success of such endeavours. Even to the extent of government undertaking the start-up development itself.

The rapidly growing ability of people to work from wherever they happen to be at the time will fuel massive growth outside of cities and drive continuing decentralisation. The “tree-change” and “sea-change” phenomenon of the recent past – where people are moving to regional areas for a better lifestyle – will become a more substantial movement and investment will need to follow.

There will continue to be a substantial trend of diminishing reliance on major cities to conduct business. Regional Australia will consequently become a more attractive and practical place to live. Consequently, the regions will provide a greater contribution to the nation’s GDP. As a result, its population will continue to grow, contributing more to the emergence of a broader based economy.

In a resource-hungry world, regional Australia will also play an increasingly critical role in our national security.

Agriculture

Agriculture is fundamental to Australia’s prosperity – we have been thought of as the food bowl of the planet. Drought, climate variability, biosecurity, global competition and consumer preferences are some of the greatest threats to our continued success in the field of Agriculture.

The potential impact of this competition threatens Australia’s position among the most efficient primary producing nations of the world We need to stay ahead of the competition. To do so we can only compete with the ready availability of cheap labour (because we don’t have an abundance thereof) if we embrace the most advanced technology.

New technologies can bring about both incremental and transformational changes to increase the profitability, sustainability and productivity of Australia’s agriculture industry and the farmers therein face a number of challenges and assist farmers to meet the challenges they face. Some concerns: We need to be careful to maintain a suitable balance between full employment and the use of automation technologies. Debt management and the danger it represents for Farmers if not prudently controlled.

SUPA will advocate for improving the management of water supplies.

Opportunities:

There are growing global demands for food and biofuel products – we need to vigorously pursue these opportunities.
Global markets are constantly changing thus, our Agriculture sector must be sensitive to these demand changes, and we need to be more flexible than our competition in order to be able to take advantage of these new opportunities in a timely manner.
Many of the potential solutions to Australia’s carbon emissions challenges lie in the agricultural sector or are, at least, to be found regionally based.

Threats:

Regional water supplies around the nation are being increasingly relied on to supply our cities.
Extreme threats from natural disasters still exist. It is time to review disaster handling, management and prevention strategies. Seniors United Party advocates we need to instigate a government investigation and planning examination into putting in place measures to prevent, mitigate and manage these threats.

Banking

The banking sector is a critical element of the economy of this nation. One essential to our future success as a nation. SUPA intends to impose a code of practice on the banking sector in addition to strengthening current regulatory practices, constraints and associated penalties.

The Seniors United Party of Australia strongly advocates that government implement the recommendations of the Banking Royal Commission in full as a matter of urgency and, in addition, setup a further enquiry to revise and expand that review. We believe the terms of reference for the Banking Royal Commission were far too restricted in the first place.

Manufacturing

The Seniors United Party believes we, as a nation, need to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector of our economy. As we mentioned earlier Australia has experienced a trend of de-industrialisation over the last 50 years to the detriment of our long-term prospects. SUPA acknowledges we have a limited domestic market and government incentives, and on-going support may be required to establish and maintain viable industry from time to time.

We support and encourage the development and employment of Technology (especially AI solutions) to give us a competitive edge. We need to use technology to enable us to be cost effective and thereby competitive in world markets.

Mining

The mining industry has grown massively and will continue to do so while demand remains greater than our ability to supply. Consequently, the mining sector of our economy is vital to the success of our nation. This industry must be encouraged, supported where needed and valued as a fundamental part of Australia’s economy. The industry must pay suitable royalties and returns - the government must ensure this occurs.

Nevertheless, careful husbanding of these limited resources must be an important part of our industry management policy.

Retail

The retail sector is an important element of our economy, but it needs to move with the times. Bricks and mortar are no longer paramount. To compete successfully with on-line giants overseas requires a vital and well organised operation. Locally based retailers must be supported by government in a number of ways such as: reducing red tape, provision of suitable infrastructure. At the same time, we must prevent products produced in in-humane conditions from entering our market.

Technology

As a small population nation technology is one very important success factor for us. Communications and technology advancements that are making it possible for people to be hugely more productive than ever before.

As a by-product, these advances also make it possible for businesses to either work with much reduced infrastructure costs or to even relocate to regional communities.

Technology advances offer enormous potential to fuel the further national growth in all sectors of our economy. (Especially our primary producers).

Emerging Technologies

Emerging technologies present a whole range of new opportunities. We, a nation with a small population, need to be leaders in this field of endeavour. If we are not on top of this and, indeed, leaders in this, we risk getting left behind. Just one example is the emerging demand for “green” industries and energy supplies.

Government must partner with Australian inventions and technological advances assisting development and marketing through financial investment.

SUPA will ensure all Australians have access to the same level of technological services regardless of their geographical location within our continent.

Tourism

Tourism was a huge growth sector prior to the current Covid 19 pandemic and may very well be again afterwards. The potential of regional tourism to contribute to our national revenue to date has been significant and its future potential is even greater. Research is needed now to seek direction for the industry post pandemic.

Infrastructure

Building our economy successfully relies heavily on providing suitable infrastructure for it to happen. SUPA believes we need to take a more bold and forward thinking view than is currently evident in our planning and infrastructure provision and practices.

SUPA is also of the view that Australia cannot always rely on the private sector to provide the necessary infrastructure. Reliance on the private sector has been a growing trend over the last few decades. That approach is not always the way to go. Government should sometimes take control.

SUPA believes it is more productive to conduct one larger project that will service our needs for decades to come than it is to undertake several smaller ones whereby we are constantly playing catch and the infrastructure never really meets our needs.

Some examples: We have ample opportunity to green our vast interior through diverting water from areas such as Lake Argyle, Queensland flood water, dam multiple rivers to provide irrigation. Another example, the Murchison River in WA when in full flood discharges more water into the ocean in one hour than the whole of Perth’s needs for a month. Re-Forrest every available area bringing natural rain fall to much drought-stricken land.

Taxation

The Taxation system is very complex and the Tax burden, in our view, is inappropriately spread in Australia. We propose to undertake a fundamental revision of our Taxation system. We believe there is a better way. For instance, income tax costs the Australian economy a huge proportion of what is raised to administrate it. Seniors United Party of Australia undertakes to work towards our goal to fundamentally change taxation conceptually. We plan to substantially reform tax processes by:

Eliminating Income Tax and all other forms of taxation entirely and, – apply GST to ALL purchases and transactions across the board, in place of all other taxes. (Ensure appropriate safeguards are implemented at the same time)

Rationale: The rich (who buy/spend much more) will pay a fairer proportion of Tax for once and the less well-off will benefit from the reduced tax burden. To quote Matias Corman from Thursday the 16^th of September 2021 – Australia needs to broaden it GST base significantly.

We can ether replace our costly, ailing and fragmented taxation system with something like the one suggested above or we can continue to patch our leaky sieve of a Tax system – some examples follow:

Prohibit corporations from claiming tax deductions for any interest paid to related entities based overseas.

Introduce a “Diverted Profits Tax” (or ‘Google Tax’) on profits sent overseas for corporations deemed to have arranged their business structure to avoid tax.

Offer residential property buyers the option of paying current stamp duties or an annual land tax (also see Housing Policy). (5)

Higher housing taxes on foreign buyers (also see Housing policy).

Remove the 50 per cent discount of capital gains tax on taxable Australian property (non-principal place of residence) (also see Housing Policy).

Abolish negative gearing on taxable Australian property (also see Housing Policy).

Reduce the company tax rate for local manufacturing from 30% to 25%.

Adopt a Resource Super Profit Tax for iron ore and coal, the details of which would be determined following the implementation of a full resource audit and depletion protocol policy.

Tax incentives (including lower payroll tax, land tax and rates) for businesses that transfer their capital investment into prioritised productive (particularly value-added manufacturing) industries and/or regional centres with declining populations.

Introduce the personal income tax "Buffett Rule" meaning that high income earners (over $1 million per year) pay more than 30% personal income tax (as of 2019/20 normal taxpayers pay 32.5c for each $1 earnt over $37,000, plus Medicare levy).

Recognise and resolve the massive increase in taxes, charges and infrastructure productivity costs caused by rapid population growth.

Trade and globalisation

The big question here is “Free Trade” or “Fair Trade”? In the trade ocean Australia is but a small fish so, we are hardly likely to have huge influence in this arena. Our obvious goal here is to work in our own interests at almost all times.

We need to have an ongoing Senate oversite committee to monitor and investigate our international Free Trade Agreements to determine if they are in Australia's best interest. This review is particularly important where they contain Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clauses which can be used to rule over governments."

In this endeavour balance is even more crucial than most others as a small difference in approach can make a big difference in result. Through all this our national values and principals must take a prominent place in our trade practices.

Education

Seniors United Party will actively work towards providing a world class education system that gives all Australians both the best possible start in life and also provides the skills and attributes they need to secure jobs and flourish in our society. Any such system must continue to adapt and provide for everyone’s on going education and training needs.

In our view the current education system lacks due discipline and diligence in achieving curriculum goals – we will work together with educators to put in place a continuous improvement process to evolve our education and training systems.

One immediate challenge is to evolve education towards including a significant remote learning component. For this to work a new specialist curriculum development group will most likely be required. Note: Curriculum developers require a different set of skills than teachers.

We consider our education system has reached a waypoint in time where it has lost confidence in its direction and is floundering. It is consequently in need of a major review, repurpose and refurbish.

Objectives

Some tactical objectives required to enable us to achieve our goal of a world class education system are:

First and foremost, no significant improvement can happen without the appropriate level and method of funding for both the development phase of the upgrade and the ongoing implementation of the revamped education system thereafter. (It may be necessary to regulate and vet fee structures of education and training institutes)

Ongoing funding needs to be based on the specific requirements of the system that is developed from the resulting system review above. The philosophy of needs-based education funding appears to be an excellent model but, it is often misused in our current education environment. The current funding models may require a significant revamp as well. One very important constraint in any funding model is the cost factor to the participant.

Create a number of streams within the education system: one for those who have an identified education objective (eg: a specific career goal), another for those who have a less specific higher educational ambition and yet another who don’t really know what they want to do. This approach should better link education outcomes to contemporary job streams or work opportunities and employer needs.

Provide access to affordable and reliable childcare and early childhood education facilities in order to allow people to avail themselves of ongoing education, training and development.

Prioritise needs-based education funding as well as teacher and principal quality across the primary, secondary and tertiary education systems. Teacher, Principal and Staff quality and ongoing development across the education system is one critical success factor for it all.

SUPA holds that schools are there to educate students. A teacher’s purpose is to educate students not to become social workers, psychologists or health care workers - teachers are not trained to fill those roles they are trained to teach. Building the students’ self-esteem is not a teacher’s responsibility the outcome of their attempts in this process often results in false beliefs and expectations. A renewed emphasis needs to be placed on the parents’ role in the education of their children.

The education system at large needs to be subjected to a strict accreditation processes and ongoing review of the school’s performance in order for it to retain approval to continue to operate. This can be seen as a modernised version of the school inspector process of the past.

Points of issue:

We encourage much more individual attention in teaching as a priority. This may call for small class sizes which should provide the time for teachers to help more students towards achieving their optimum potential.

Maintain and enhance sustainability and environmental education programs in school curricula, include “Learning how to learn” a fundamental skill needed and return to teaching “Clear thinking and the application of logic”.

That being said, we need to be mindful of time limitations within the curriculum. Priorities must go to core learning we cannot continue to take time from these fundamentals without harming the critical outcome from the learning process. There is balance that must be struck, or the time allowed must be increased. We should investigate the possibility of gaining greater time availability by employing out of class time learning activities. This could be facilitated through a national initiative of extremely well-prepared on-line learning.

Job related education and training should not the province of universities. It may be wise to consider returning the responsibility for this to a partner ship between a technical training institute and on the job learning, a process previously referred to as “Traineeships”

At a tertiary level, we need to work towards reducing all current and future educational debts (HECS etc) as a matter of priority. Possibility by a stream of opportunities such as ($2 credit for every $1 voluntarily repaid) payment offers and so forth.

Government and Politics

Core Principles 2-4: - Government

Government of the people, by the people – for the people. The core principle of “servant leadership – we lead to serve” is our overarching philosophy in order to achieve a state of participatory democracy.

A strictly enforced code of conduct for all parliamentarians and their staff based largely on the “Fitzgerald Principals”.

Government which nurtures and encourages all its citizens through positive incentives rather than imposing limits and restrictions on them. For instance, through disincentives of burdensome taxes and the stifling structures of bureaucratic red tape.

Establish a Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has served the State of NSW well in recent years similar to other State jurisdictions such as the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) WA, investigating and uncovering corruption by public officials, politicians and Ministers.

The Seniors United Party believes there is a very strong case for a Federal ICAC to do the same good work of uncovering corruption at the Federal level.

Transparency International’s ranking for corruption, Australia has fallen in recent years from 6th to 13^th (https://transparency.org.au/) Professor A.J.Brown of Transparency International recently said: The big gap is in the lack of a federal anti-corruption agency to really cover the gaps that we know exist in terms of public officials and parliamentarians being covered by the right sort of oversight “

To believe that corruption by public officials does not take place at a federal level is both naive and irresponsible. Tony Fitzgerald QC, the former judge who headed up the Fitzgerald Enquiry into corruption in Queensland developed a questionnaire to test MPs about their attitudes towards accountability, integrity, nepotism, deception and the spending of public money. But the response from MPs was underwhelming, with just 53 of the 226 signing up to the so-called “Fitzgerald Principles”.

“The refusal of a majority of politicians to commit publicly to normal standards of behaviour puts the need for an effective anti-corruption commission beyond doubt,” Mr Fitzgerald said. No Coalition MP – who are often instructed not to take part in surveys – signed up.

Seniors United strongly believes that a federal ICAC would help restore the public’s eroding faith in federal politicians and institutions and that all MPs should sign up to the Fitzgerald Principles.

The Fitzgerald Principles

To act honourably and fairly and solely in the public interest
To treat all citizens equally
To tell the truth
Not to mislead or deceive
Not to withhold or obfuscate information to which voters are entitled
Not to spend public money except for public benefit
Not to use your position or information gained from your position for your benefit or the benefit of a family member, friend, political party or other related entity

After so many instances of corruption by public officials at the State and local levels over the past 20 years, the Seniors United Party of Australia expects and demands that all federal parliamentarians commit to the Fitzgerald Principles, take the “Oath of Office” below and agree to and establish a Federal ICAC.

Code of conduct and obligations of political workers

The code of conduct is to be strictly enforced in line with the Fitzgerald Principals above and the terms of the oath required to be sworn by a representative of the people.

The Oath of Office:

As a servant of the people, I will:

Act in good conscience at all times.
Enable informed decision-making by my fellow citizens.
Respect the intrinsic dignity of all.
Refrain from exploiting my rivals' private failings for political gain; and
Act so as to merit the trust and respect of the community.

In the exercise of power vested in me by the people, I will:

Give effect to the ideals of democratic government and represent the interests of my electorate as a whole.
Abide by the letter and spirit of the Constitution and uphold the rule of law.
Advance the public interest before any personal, sectional or partisan interest.
Hold myself accountable for conduct for which I am responsible; and
Exercise the privileges and discharge the duties of public office with dignity, care and honour and unwaveringly abide by the Fitzgerald principles. As published here in.

A breach of any part of this oath may result in the expulsion of the member and their replacement through the lawful processes of parliament.

Electoral reform

Effective governance of the “Servant Leadership” style can only be practical if there is a right to recall politicians who do not perform as required. This is no different from any other employee, if they do not perform as required (or as they promise to do on election) the people should have the right to “sack” them at any time. Provided the electorate can gather sufficient support from the constituents who elected them in the first place. As a guideline let us say a significant majority of the people of that constituency (for example it may need a 60% vote).

Government Structural reform

We see no reason to maintain the complex governmental structure we currently have in a nation of around 25 million people. Two levels of government should be sufficient to manage/govern a nation of our size. Whilst it may be an almost impossible task to effect a fundamental change of this magnitude but, it is time to give it some real thought. (for instance: it could be argued Federal and Local governments are necessary, on the other hand States are not!)

SUPA believes we should conduct further research into the following assertion about equable representation in parliament to find a credible alternative form of government structure we currently have.

ASSERTION: “Governing structure should also reflect the society as it is and be dynamic enough to change where it occurs (e.g., women 50%, reflect the mix of migrants, all genders, physically challenged people etc.) Our current electoral structure, where the house of representatives is geographically and numerically based and the senate numerically grouped with in states, may not result in a demographically representative parliament.”

SUPA believes it is necessary to continually monitor that demographic representation remains appropriate and entertain electoral reform if this doesn’t occur.

Reform of Parliamentary Practice

Over the last 20 years there has been a propensity for Prime Ministers and Premiers to create are too many Ministers, Assistant Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Committees and other positions in order to reward allies and placate factional groupings. This situation has got so ridiculous now that there are only 5 real backbenchers in the Federal Parliament on the Government side. This means that a backbencher’s salary is bumped up every time they sit on a committee, become a committee chairperson, a parliamentary secretary, assistant minister and then a Minister. Their expenses and superannuation are also increased as well.

The Seniors United Party believe that this is a huge disincentive for M - Ps to remain ethical and work on behalf of their constituents. The huge salaries and multiple layers of perks such as business-class airfares, 4–5-star accommodation, motor vehicle allowances and over generous superannuation, that can be taken immediately on leaving parliament, and other allowances do not provide an environment for MPs to adhere to the principle of” servant leadership and work solely for their constituents.

The Seniors United Party will restructure parliament by rationalising the number of Ministries, abolishing Assistant Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, abolishing dodgy positions such as ‘Special Envoys’ and reducing the number of Committees. We see that this will streamline the way parliament works and make it more efficient.

We don’t propose random cuts to staffing levels it isn’t a workable solution but, we fully agree with restructuring to eliminate redundant roles. Further we propose to eliminate the concept of lobbying from our parliamentary processes – if an individual has an issue to raise they should address it with their local member or senator.

Parliamentary Remuneration and Benefit Practices

SUPA believes salaries for parliamentary members should be in line with their responsibilities and comparative to private sector equivalents.

Superannuation and other benefits should also be comparative and in-line with the private sector. Superannuation should consist of employer contribution, member contribution and government contribution exactly as all other employees nationwide enjoy. In short Politian’s remuneration and conditions should parallel their industry equivalents.

Health

Key Policy objectives:

Protect Medicare and Bulk Billing.
No co-payment for pathology
Increase Mental Health Services
Implement and strengthen a National Strategy on Elder Abuse.
Add dental care to bulk billing
Private health insurance to be made affordable for seniors.
Oppose privatisation where appropriate.

Health Services

We SUPA undertake to work towards continuously improving the provision of medical services and the health care system in general. To those ends we would establish and appropriately empower a Health Care Services Oversight Committee tasked to monitor and continuously improve this important element of our lives.

Reversing the trend to privatising health services is expected to produce better outcomes. A return to having our hospitals run by qualified Doctors and wards run by “matrons” is an alluring model. Private health cover must be government regulated and controlled. Some believe this would “put current profits back into the system not into the pockets of multinationals”. We at SUPA agree in principle and strongly believe there is room for improvement.

Management and control of medical facilities should be by those best suited to do so. Whilst we would like to believe Doctors should be in control or these facilities, we are not so sure Medical Professionals in general are suited to the task. Management is a whole skill set which needs to be learnt. It is common that by selecting your best practitioner to manage the unit you are both losing your best practitioner and gaining an inferior manager. On the other hand, having administrators at the head of such originations is an even worse option.

In UK hospital infection rates are on a sharp increase mainly due to contract cleaning. In general contract staffing solutions rarely work anywhere near as well as full time employees do. We at SUPA hold this view across the board but consider it no more important than in the health service and aged care sectors.

Private Health Insurance

Seniors United Party of Australia undertake to investigate and implement ways to make private health cover more affordable for all but, especially aged pensioners or retirees. To these ends we will move to conduct a detailed government lead enquiry and investigation aimed at developing a workable national strategy.

Clearly the more people engaged in private health cover the better and more affordable it will be for all – economies of scale. Balance of policies in this regard are to be announced once the outcome of the foregoing enquiry has been published.

Medical Services for Retirees

All medical needs of pensioners should be free of cost to them. To keep cost to a manageable level an income cut-off point should be employed.

The Seniors United Party of Australia opposes the freeze on the Medicare rebate for GP’s and calls on the Government to reverse it. Medicare Rebates for General Dental and bulk billing should be facilitated also.

No Co-payments for GP and Pathology Services

The Seniors United Party of Australia opposes the introduction of any co-payments for GP and pathology services.

National Dementia Strategy

The introduction of a national dementia strategy so that people sufferers and their carers can get a consistent and more focussed level of care.

National Strategy to Identify and Address Elder Abuse

Research suggests that over 50,000 people in NSW may have suffered some form of elder abuse be it physical, neglect, psychological, sexual or financial.

It is estimated that only 1 in 5 cases of elder abuse is reported. The alleged abusers are normally trusted family members.

The Seniors United Party of Australia will implement a national strategy to identify and address this.

Public Hospital System

The Public Hospital system is seriously underfunded under resourced and in need of a major restructure. (Covid 19 is not the cause of this it has just brought it to the fore) As a result, waiting lists (especially for elective surgery) are too long and surgical restrictions are in even worse than before – all of this is unacceptable. This, also, places a heavier burden on seniors more than any other section of society due to age-related health conditions. Having to wait for more than 12 months for some procedures is just unacceptable in this day and age.

Seniors United calls for an immediate injection of funds and resources in order to improve the hospital system in general and to reduce hospital waiting lists specifically.

Rationale: All patients but, especially older people, suffer the consequences of medical staff having to choose who to treat and not to treat when medical services are stretched beyond capacity. The massive cuts made to Medicare over the past decades has to be reversed to prevent such occurrences.

Human Rights

Seniors United Party of Australia are staunch supporters and advocates for human rights, and we will not tolerate discrimination in any form. We firmly support people’s right to live how they chose to, so long as it doesn’t impinge on the rights of others to do the same.

Some relevant core principles and values (repeated below) highlight our insistence on the observance of all people’s equality and human rights:

Core Principles 5-8 – Human Rights

The most fundamental basic freedoms of a parliamentary democracy – such as the freedom of thought, speech and association.

The uncompromising equality of ALL People. We will not tolerate discrimination in any shape or form.

Equal opportunity for all Australians. The encouragement and facilitation of all people through equable distribution of wealth so that all may enjoy the highest possible standards of living, health, education and social justice.

The inalienable rights and freedoms of all people to seek their lawful goals.

A just and humane society in which the importance of the individual, the family and the role of law and justice are paramount.

NOTE:

Gender bias in some cases is not discrimination. For example: Men cannot give birth, women in the main are not designed for extreme heavy physical labour and a number of other actual differences which need to be applauded and valued, not glossed over. Discrimination may be seen as one person or group actively attacking the rights of another or attempting to gain an advantage due to their group interests. This can equally apply to people, ideals, gender, sport and even politicians. SUPA will steadfastly resist any form of abuse of these principles.

Children’s rights

Children’s rights should be the primary concern when considering any dispute involving children but, not the only consideration – please refer to the relevant policy in the “Family Law” section of this document.

Disability

SUPA seeks to provide for the needs of everyone in our society. We understand each individual may have different wants and needs. We undertake to endeavour to meet all such needs to the best of the nation’s ability to do so.

Dying with dignity

SUPA are firmly committed, under strictly controlled conditions, to supporting people’s right to choose to die with dignity. There is still a myriad of issues to sort out to protect against abuse of this process.

Indigenous peoples

We need to be certain we treasure our indigenous people and the heritage they hold. In our view it is our sacred obligation to do so. Further, we must also ensure they have every opportunity to seek their goals in life.

Some other policy initiatives include:

Build a greater understanding of, and thereby protect and recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture.
Properly resource our national 'Closing the Gap' targets program in order to solve the problems which lead to low life expectancy, higher infant mortality, more early childhood development problems and education and employment issues than the national average.
SUPA supports the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ and the laws and policies of government that have a positive impact on indigenous peoples.

Marriage equality

Gender bias, like all other forms of discrimination, is absolutely unacceptable to us and we believe marriage is a union that is not dependent upon any particular gender or mix of genders.

Racism

As we see it, racism, like all other forms of discrimination, as absolutely unacceptable and SUPA undertakes to work diligently to ensure all forms of racism are eliminated from our society.

Immigration

Seniors United Party of Australia does not support the idea of a “big Australia”. We believe that the current immigration system is flawed and needs a complete overhaul. We plan to:

Establish a National Commission of Inquiry into Australia’s Future Population

A national co-ordinated approach is required in order to establish a benchmark for sustainable population taking into account food security, water security, economic security and national defence capability.

Implement an immediate reduction in the Immigration Intake

Over recent years the immigration levels have been so high that infrastructure and services have not kept up with the growth of our cities. Sydney and Melbourne have taken the majority of the burden of the huge influx of new migrants which has led to road congestion, bad planning decisions, overcrowded schools, a high demand on health services and in part has contributed to higher house prices. In order for a “breather” and a catch-up to take place immigration levels need to be reduced immediately from the current 190,000 per annum down to 2004/05 levels of 120,000 per annum. This should be maintained for at least the next term of parliament or until the outcome of the National Inquiry into our Future Population.

Reduce the Skilled Migration Intake – Australians in jobs first.

The skilled migration program over the last 6 years has been a failure. Employers have exploited loopholes in the visa system and brought in cheap overseas labour to the detriment of local workers. The 457-visa system was a prime example where employers ignored the “market test” and the Government turned a blind eye. Criticism of this program forced the Government to abolish this visa type but they immediately introduced another category, 482, which was basically the same.

Seniors United will reduce the skilled work visa numbers and enforce a “market test” on employers so that they at least try to recruit locals first. This method of filling skill shortages should only be used temporarily and as a last resort.

Immigration policy review/reform

All migration strategies and immigration practices will be subjected to critical review. The system at large is to be significantly improved as a result of this and kept under constant oversight to ensure continuous improvement of this very important responsibility of government

In Canada there is a system where the “Provinces” (somewhere between our States and large LGA’s) discuss with the Federal Government what their needs are in terms of economic migrants (skilled) for the following 12 months. In this way there is a much more orderly immigration system that also concentrates on settlement in rural areas where there are identified skill shortages.

Giving the provinces a greater immigration policy role has helped to dramatically shift the settlement of immigrants beyond Canada’s biggest cities. According to immigration statistics, 34% of economic migrants in 2017 landed in destinations outside Canada’s three most populous provinces, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia – compared to just 10% in 1997.

After immigrants arrive, the key issue for the provinces is retention, since immigrants can leave at any time. The provinces put a strong emphasis on ensuring that economic migrants receive a strong welcome on arrival and are provided with support programs, including education, access to local migrant community networks and assistance finding a job for those who are not sponsored by employers.

The Seniors United Party of Australia strongly recommends this nation needs to revise our immigration processes substantially in order to gain a much better outcome from immigration than we are currently experiencing.

Refugees

Australia should provide safe haven to allow legitimate asylum seekers and refugees to the extent our resources allow. We recognise this is a difficult problem to solve on the one hand you have those who work within the system – on the other, those don’t. Whilst we would like to take everyone in clearly, we can’t. A more detailed policy statement will be formulated and published in due course.

Infrastructure Building

Our national infrastructure is at the heart of our success as a nation. Investment in infrastructure building is one of Australia’s most important critical success factors if not the most important.

Infrastructure Australia is the nation’s independent infrastructure advisor as such it provides research and advice to governments, industry and the community on the infrastructure investments and reforms that will benefit all Australians. It is good to see an active and centralised advice service such as this. SUPA believes more services like this need to be created and / or revised. Whilst we recognise this is a great service, we still believe it can be improved.

Communications

Building and improving communication infrastructure is one of our most important priorities as a nation. This issue is addressed elsewhere in this document.

Housing

Providing suitable and sustainable housing for all Australians is a very important priority in our view.

Some of our key policy objectives in this regard are to fund:

the provision of home care services as a priority.
affordable Aged Care accommodation.
affordable subsidised or public housing as required.
All public housing is to includes solar power.
Introduce an ombudsman for Retirement Village Residents.
Increase rate rebates for Pensioners.

Logistics (including resourcing, transport and much more)

Logistics is the integration a number of activities for the purpose of achieving effective planning, implementation and control of the efficient, uninterrupted flow of resources from the point of conception, through the point of origin to the point of consumption (or need fulfilment).

In our national setting that involves a whole range of activities, such as:

Strategic and long-term planning.
Long-term practical planning, coordination and facilitation.
Co-ordinated practical delivery of facilities required. This includes a desire to return the rail logistics to facilitate inexpensive movement of bulk product.

This, as we have mentioned before, is a key success activity for a small nation such as ours. The better we perform at forecasting our future needs and effectively facilitating the fulfilment of those needs the greater success we will have as a nation. Do it right once rather than half-pie several times – this is a much better strategy. (e.g., spoiling the ship for a hapeth of tar)

Law

Core Principles 7&8 – Legal Rights

The inalienable rights and freedoms of all people to seek their lawful goals.

A just and humane society in which the importance of the individual, the family and the role of law and justice are paramount.

In the view of SUPA, Law and Order is the corner stone of our society. Without which no one can feel safe and free to pursue their goals and dreams. The essence of our quality of life is fundamentally altered by our level of success or otherwise in this endeavour.

Courts and Penalties imposed

A significant proportion of the population of Australia express a strong opinion that courts and the penalties imposed on perpetrators of criminal acts do not serve as an effective deterrent. We in SUPA are inclined to agree with this view. The question is how we solve this problem.

We believe there needs to be a federal parliamentary enquiry into this issue. One that would produce some suitable recommendations for ways to effectively deal with this problem. The resulting plan could be presented to voters to vote on in the form of either a plebiscite or a referendum.

Point for discussion:

This is a global problem and there are as many attempts to solve it as there are nations on the planet. For example: One way is to deal with minor crime is either by public corporal punishment (as in Singapore, the birch) or have a method of identification to the public either by the wearing of an object or some other means to identify their transgression. These offenders would be allowed to remain in society, attend their place of work to support their families but will be excluded from other venues such as pubs, sport and entertainment areas. In addition, everyone would know what crime they have committed. Let embarrassment be the punishment.

We should research, analyse and chose the best of all these solutions tailored to suite our own unique set of circumstances.

Family Law Act

Providing Parents with Individual Rights

The word “paramount” is to be replaced with the word “primary” in the Family Law Act 1975. This change is with regard to the “best interests” principle or the paramountcy principle (as it is often called) in Part VII of the Family Law Act 1975.

As a result, the replacement of the words “the paramount” with “a primary” would mean that parents, grandparents and other relatives would now at least have had some rights in family law proceedings involving children. "Grandparents, particularly the parents of the fathers often lose complete contact with their grandchildren as a result of rulings of the Family Court using the present wording. They should maintain contact when they are no threat to the child.

By changing of the words "the paramount" with "a primary" would bring us inline with the wording of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. Australia was one of 160 countries that signed that convention. in 1989.

Law Reform

As we observed before the legal system is currently seen by most of our constituents as way too weak and inadequate when it comes to punishments and correction strategies. Further, it is unnecessarily complex, and self-consumed. We believe it is overdue for a massive overhaul and to that end we will establish a national enquiry into our legal system and, of course, undertake to implement its recommendations.

Youth Imprisonment

The practice of youth imprisonment is a contentious issue. One would automatically think youth imprisonment should be avoided wherever possible - but not at all costs. SUPA would include this issue in the terms of reference of the above-mentioned national enquiry into “Law Reform”.

Sustainability and Conservation

Core Principle 12: – Sustainability and Conservation

Responsible environmental policies and practices. Actively working to preserve the world and Australia's natural beauty and improving the environment for future generations. We need to work actively and cooperatively with all humanity in improving planet wide environmental health.

Plant trees don’t cut them down – they are both a carbon store and a source of oxygen – and don’t pollute the atmosphere by releasing Carbon Dioxide into it. Time for a tree change.

SUPA strongly advocates that we, as a nation, prioritise ecological sustainability above almost everything else. We need to work diligently to protect, manage and restore (where necessary) Australia's fragile and unique natural environment. We need to do this not only for the health and wellbeing of the humans who inhabit it but for the health and wellbeing of the ecology in general.

Unlimited growth in both resource consumption and human population are the most serious threats to life on this planet. A solution to this problem is of paramount importance. This is foremost among many growing problems we as species need to face.

The need for relentless growth and overdevelopment to fuel ever an ever-increasingly demanding global economies is a serious issue. Based on well documented research we (SUPA) strongly advocate for lower population growth globally and most importantly for us, in Australia.

We need to reverse the trend of rampant suburban sprawl and high population density, resulting in the destruction of Australia's environment and quality of life. This is clear mismanagement of our arid and ecologically fragile continent - both for us in the immediate future and for all future generations of Australians.

SUPA believes that any serious plan for a sustainable Australia must include a meaningful and sustainable population policy. In terms of numbers, current rapid population growth policies of our current national government have us on a crash course with serious problems in the future.

Some solutions

Some other key policy initiatives/objectives include:

Urgently advance scientific developments that significantly increases our food production efficiency and reduces our need for land (and other scarce resources) for cultivation purposes. Obviously, if we can generate better quality produce at a significantly lower cost by scientifically superior means the demands of the marketplace will ensure its ultimate success.
Put an end to land clearing and initiate ecological restoration programs to rehabilitate degraded lands. We can control this process nationally and we believe we must. Globally, on the other hand, we will take an active role to influence the adoption of this kind of initiative worldwide.
Provide increased employment, training and volunteer opportunities in conservation management and scientific research in horticulture. This initiative is to include all national park services. We advocate for the creation (and appropriate funding) of a national sustainability action group for the broader environment. This would particularly help revitalise regional, rural, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (also see Regional & Rural Australia policy).
Further develop “land stewardship” funds to help support farmers and rural landowners to manage biodiversity values on their properties, including areas that are either high conservation value and/or unsuitable or marginal for agricultural use (also see our Regional & Rural Australia policies).
Adopt a meaningful population policy to lower population growth (also see Sustainable Population & Immigration initiatives mentioned earlier)
Invest more in environmental education and the protection, maintenance and ecological restoration of the natural environment.

Sustainable Living

As we have discussed before and based on an extensive scientific analysis of our environment it is clear that population growth is the most significant contributor to Australia's growing environmental crises.

Consequently, we strongly advocate for policies that significantly slow Australia's rapid population growth. Our lifestyle choices, consumption patterns and the technologies we employ (or fail to employ) are significant contributors too.

We need to embrace ecological sustainability and work to find more effective ways overcome the challenges we face. We need to better protect, manage and restore Australia's fragile and unique natural environment for the health and wellbeing of the humans and biodiversity within it.

Climate change

Many of the world’s leading climate scientists have warned that the prospect of limiting global warming to 1.5C will be out of reach within 12 years at current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, in a report that finds it is now unequivocal human activity is heating the planet.

If we fail to address this problem and find ways to reverse the process commenced many decades ago the consequences for the planet and us will be quite dire.

Electric Cars

Governments around the world, have introduced incentives and policies to help electric cars compete with older technology by enabling lower upfront costs. Passenger cars make up almost 10 per cent of Australia’s total CO2 emissions. It’s imperative we begin to change that as a matter of urgency.

Consequently, SUPA undertake to introduce Subsidies to make the purchase price attractive to all new car buyers Australia wide and introduce increased taxation on high carbon emitting vehicles. Additionally, we will require businesses to justify any purchase of internal combustion engine powered vehicles and impose additional taxation on carbon emissions.

One thought is to provide substantially reduced import costs for electric vehicles which do not fall into the “Luxury Car” category. In addition, we will pay a rebate directly to the purchaser of the vehicle.

The amount of the rebate will include a fixed amount of $2k plus an extra amount based on the actual purchase price of the vehicle. The extra amount percentage rebate will be a sliding scale of 35% for vehicles $20k and under, 30% for $25k and under, 25% for those $30K and under, 20% for $35k and under, 15% for $40k and under, 10% for $45k and under or 5% for vehicles over $45k.

One thought is to start a government run industry even under license and provide employment for a multitude Australians. Training is not so difficult and could be undertaken mostly on the job. Provide a cheap basic model or three perhaps a sedan, Ute and medium truck. We would not need to change the rebate scheme proposed as it would work in tandem.

For the time being we will refrain from instigating road tax on electric powered vehicles and will seek alternative sources of funds to provide for these infrastructure needs.

Conservation of resources

All resources on this planet are finite and until we can cost effectively traverse the cosmos in search of off world sources of the resources we seek we will have to carefully husband what we have. Please see the following section of our policies addressing this issue in a little more detail.

Resources

Energy

SUPA Policy – Energy – Current Situation

All energy sources should be considered on their relative merits. The ban on even considering nuclear power generation must go when planning for the future of the nation.

Climate policy driving Energy Policy

Australia once had cheap, reliable electricity, and to attract industry states competed to provide inexpensive, long-term, reliable energy.

Over the past decade misguided climate policies that have had zero effect on the environment, have driven energy policy up and have massively increased energy costs, damaged or destroyed Australian industry and businesses, damaged the Australian economy, and delivered fear and uncertainty to more than a quarter of a million households across the country. For example: South Australia now has the most unreliable grid in the world outside Africa, and the most expensive electricity.

Importantly, we must reduce our reliance on fossil fuels as a matter of urgency.

Doubled prices and unreliability

The undeniable facts are that Australians face power prices that have more than doubled over a decade, and an energy supply that is suffering an increasing reliability crisis. The recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report on electricity affordability made a sweeping assault on past policy and judged the current situation as “unacceptable and unsustainable”.

Government intervention, interference and bias

There has been so much government intervention, interference and technology bias in the energy sector that the government needs to intervene again - this time sensibly - to underwrite investment in new reliable, dispatchable power.

Under such circumstances it is hard to argue against the federal government underwriting investments in reliable and cheap new coal, gas-fired or nuclear generation. A new 1000MW high-efficiency, low-emissions, coal-fired power station is estimated to cost $2.2 billion. Such a plant would deliver the cheapest and most reliable electricity on the market. It would take five years to build. Over the same five-year period the long-suffering Australian taxpayer and electricity consumer will be subsidising renewables (also yet to be constructed and brought into operation) at a cost of more than $15 billion.

New power generation should also include nuclear power stations. Australia sells and exports uranium but, is the only G20 country to have banned nuclear power. Because the energy market has been so mutilated by government interference that private investors will now not invest in coal-fired or nuclear power stations, new power stations must be funded and developed by the federal government.

Prime Minister Menzies’ development of Australia - including the iconic Snowy Hydro-electricity Scheme - was state led. His vision and his government's oversight need to be revisited.

Inexpensive, reliable and affordable energy is essential for industry, businesses, services and the economy - and for households. It is an essential service. In a developed, first world country like Australia, with its unparalleled reserves of energy resources, such energy supply is a duty of government to deliver and an absolute, irrefutable right of citizens to enjoy.

General Energy Policy Outline

Withdrawal from meaningless, ineffective and costly carbon emissions' targets set by supra-national bodies.
Cessation of renewable energy subsidies. If these industries are so efficient and desirable, let the free-market speak and let them stand or fall on the respective merits of their to-date taxpayer subsidised development.
Construction of new, government funded, and government majority owned clean, coal-fired power stations but, only as a last resort.
Commencement of a logical, rational and unemotional debate on nuclear power and its benefits for Australia.

Key Commitments

SUPA parliamentary representatives will:

Fight for cheap, reliable, affordable and practical energy for every citizen, every industry, every business and every service across Australia.
Demand that the federal government put the welfare and prosperity of Australia and its economy, its industries and businesses, its trade and its citizens before all other considerations.

SUPA will demand that:

The federal government consider withdrawing from the meaningless, tokenistic Paris agreement or strongly move to influence significant change in it.
The renewable energy target be axed immediately.
No compensation be paid - whether demanded or currently legislated - to the major energy providers that have benefited financially for so long at consumers and tax-payers' expense.
Snowy 2.0 be axed immediately.
Feed-in tariffs for roof-top solar installations be axed immediately.
All but one of the multitudes of government funded energy boards, energy commissions and energy agencies that have proliferated over the past decade be axed.
The federal government fund and build, across the country, as many new coal-fired power stations as are required to provide cheap, affordable and reliable electricity Australia-wide.
The federal government fund and build, where appropriate, hydro-electric power stations - see SUPA policy: Water Resources.
Ownership of no more than 49% of these power stations be offered after one year of operation to any interested private or public investor / investors.
The federal government, via irrevocable legislation, to retain majority ownership and management, in perpetuity, of these new power stations when they come into operation.

Source of funding

Funds for renewable energy subsidies that have been earmarked out to 2030 - approximately $35 billion if axed now.

The $4.5 billion earmarked for Snowy 2.0.

The $11.5 billion proposed for the clean energy target out to 2030.

Natural Resources (land, forests, minerals, metals, gas etc)

As we have pointed out and discussed more than once in this document, we live on a planet that has limited resources – so until we can find other unlimited sources of the resources we need, we will have to conserve the supplies we have. Additionally, we need to reduce the growing demand for resources by lowering (or even reversing) population growth.

Forestry

We SUPA, believe our reliance on forestry products in general must be reduced dramatically. A few initiatives come to mind such as: Making it more attractive to use other less invasive means and less attractive to overuse this important resource. Some initiatives to be considered include:

Legislate trees harvested must be suitably replaced.
Ending old growth forest logging.
Subject all State and Regional Forest Agreements to the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (Commonwealth) to ensure all forestry is subject to the usual environmental and planning approval requirements.
Not accredit Australian native forests or its waste to be burnt for biomass power as a “renewable energy” source under the Renewable Energy Target or related schemes.
Support a diverse range of plantation products
Restore failed plantations back to native forest
Minimise the scale and improve the practices of native forest logging. This should include:
Avoiding the habitats of threatened, vulnerable or endangered native species
Increasing the forest reserve system
Maximising the Australian economic value-add for timber products, including banning the export of raw materials such as woodchips.

Water

Water is one our most important natural resources and, as such, it must be husbanded, managed and conserved as a highest priority. SUPA acknowledges nationally we have a serious water issue. We will put together a qualified working group comprised of scientists, engineers and project specialists (NOT companies) to look at all ideas (all past, present and future) and provide recommendations for remedies. The greatest issue is to lock any project into law so future governments cannot change or abandon the project without gaining an 80% approval to do so in both parliament and by referendum. Any undertaking of these proportions will most likely span 4 to 10 terms of government. SUPA contends projects of this nature must run by government not the corporate sector.

Current Situation

Australia suffers droughts and floods with recorded and monotonous regularity. The current 2018 drought is bringing the usual varying degrees of crop failures, livestock losses and financial disasters to farmers and primary producers in NSW and Queensland. Small business owners in drought-stricken areas are also adversely affected. Until recently, however, the federal government took little interest in the hardship faced by those who invest in and work on the land or live in rural towns - and who are at the continual and unforgiving mercy of both the banks and Mother Nature.

In the 2018 / 2019 federal budget, the federal government gave $210 million in foreign aid to foreign farmers in at least 26 countries. Indonesian farmers were given $45.4 million. In the same period, The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources provided Australian farmers being bankrupted because of the current (2018) drought with just $44 million in concessional loans - money that has to be repaid.

Prime Minister Turnbull was more interested in pledging an unasked and unexpected $444 million to the little-known Great Barrier Reef Foundation than in helping those farmers and primary producers who are part of the $155 billion Agricultural and Primary production sector, but are now facing ruin. The lazy half a billion dollars plucked out of the air by Turnbull was the virtue-signalling cost of keeping the reef's World Heritage listing. The plight of drought-stricken farming families has been a government afterthought.

Australia must and can be drought proofed. The harvesting of monsoon rains that currently run-off into the seas off Australia's northern coastlines and then bringing them to inland dams and rivers is an essential nation building infrastructure project that will more than repay its initial costs.

Policy Outline - Projects to comprise:

Implementation of the proposal of Dr John Bradfield, designer of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to divert water from the Burdekin, Tully and Herbert rivers to the Warrego and Thompson rivers, and into the Murray-Darling system. In 2010, chemical engineer Terry Bowring proposed that this be done by channelling the water, rather than piping it, at an estimated cost of $9 billion dollars - less than 20% of the estimated and relentlessly increasing costs of the flailing, failing and futile NBN.

Implementation of the proposal by Jack Beale, an engineer by training with a life-long interest in water resources and their conservation and use. Beale was NSW Minister for Conservation from 1965 and later NSW Minister for Environmental Control until 1973. His proposal was to build fourteen storage dams to divert two million megaliters from the Northern NSW Clarence River into the Murray-Darling Basin every year, increasing the flow in the Murray-Darling by an estimated 100 per cent.

Implementation of the proposal by Ernie Bridge, minister for Water Resources in the West Australian government from 1986 to 1988, then minister for Agriculture, Water and the North-West from 1989 until 1993. He proposed a water pipeline from the Fitzroy River to Perth, a distance of about 3,700 km. The infrastructure company Tenix proposed this be done via a seven-meter-wide canal costed then at $2 billion. Following Perth’s driest July on record in 2012 when environmentalists claimed Perth would run out of water and become a ghost city the then Western Australia Premier, Colin Barnett, announced his support for the canal.

Legislative and regulatory changes to comprise:

Reversal of a provision of the Murray-Darling Plan, inserted by the then Minister for Water, Malcolm Turnbull. The effect of this reversal would be to return water rights to the owners of agricultural and primary production land, rather having them be a target and investment tool for international speculators. SUPA strongly supports the need for a revised strategy in the conservation of our water ways.

Honouring of an improperly circumvented constitutional rule (Section 100 of the constitution). This has been done by activist High Court judges making laws to give effect to ratified UN environmental treaties that are not captured by Section 100. Section 100 was designed to prevent the federal government, via Commonwealth trade and commerce laws, from reducing the rights of farmers and primary producers to the reasonable use of river waters for conservation and irrigation purposes - and especially the waters of the Murray-Darling.

Changes to the Environmental Protection Act to deny environmental activists the opportunities to delay, block or prevent implementation of these essential projects via frivolous, mischievous, vexatious or malicious legal and other actions.

All corporate-owned farming and primary production enterprises to comply without legal or other attempts to circumvent the intent of the changes.

Key Commitments:

SUPA parliamentary representatives will:

Make this an immediate priority of Australia's federal parliament. Explain to the Australian people via their parliamentary voices the features, advantages and benefits of these projects for Australian farmers, commerce and industry, and society - in order to ensure their understanding and to obtain their consensus.

SUPA parliamentary representatives will demand that:

All parties in parliament agree a multi-partisan approach to these essential nation-building infrastructure projects.

Legislation for these projects, along the lines of that for the 1949 Snowy River hydro-electricity scheme, be prepared and introduced immediately as a first priority.

Initial funding be budgeted and provided, with provision for increases as required.

The projects be turned over to military engineers (Royal Australian Engineers) to plan, manage and oversee construction in the same manner in which the US Corps of Army Engineers planned and constructed the Panama Canal and other major US infrastructure projects.

Planning for the construction of hydro-electric power stations be considered at suitable locations along the routes of the channelled or piped water (see SUPA policy: Energy) - Planning be commenced immediately.

Welfare – human

Welfare Services in Australia in its broadest sense refers to the wellbeing of individuals, families and the community. The terms welfare and wellbeing are often used interchangeably. Positive wellbeing is associated with being comfortable, happy or healthy. We have addressed related topics throughout this document.

In Australia, welfare services broadly include:

employment services to help people secure and maintain stable employment
disability services to help people with disability and their carers participate in society
aged care services to help elderly people with their living arrangements
child protection services to assist vulnerable children
youth justice services to support young people to rehabilitate and reintegrate into the community
family support services to support with family, domestic and sexual violence circumstances

Just to mention a few.

The Seniors United Party of Australia strongly supports the provision of all such welfare systems to the extent our resources allow.

We believe the current system is too heavily constrained by “red-tape” and that the bureaucratic system is exceedingly complex and self-served. We plan to fix that problem.

We SUPA firmly believe there is an urgent need for an extensive enquiry of review called for to upgrade and streamline the processes involved. Once that review has arrived at its findings we undertake to fund and implement its recommendations effectively and in a timely fashion.

Welfare – non-human

Firstly, we believe human population growth should be listed as the key threatening process under Australia's environment laws. Widespread urban, rural and marine animal habitat erosion must be halted and reversed as a matter of importance and urgency.

Domestic animal welfare

Implement mandatory and independently regulated best practice animal welfare management in farming, agriculture, sporting and domestic environments.

Biodiversity and native animal welfare

SUPA strongly believes we need to better protect Australia's biodiversity by adopting a properly enforced national biodiversity and native species regulations. This program should employ a wide range of initiatives including:

Stronger laws (as we discussed earlier) to prevent inappropriate land and tree-clearing. There are always better ways.

Stronger laws are also required to prevent the depopulation and eventual extinction of threatened, vulnerable and endangered native species.

We advocate for the humane reduction and eradication programs for high-risk non-native feral species.

Minimise “factory” farming of live animals and impose regulations controlling the conditions of live animal exports.

Reduce human population growth pressures (as previously discussed) in order to help minimise incursion into animal habitat. We need to avoid tree and bushland destruction, urban and coastal sprawl, intensification of land use, factory farming demand, diversion of freshwater resources away from natural habitats, and highway traffic loads which form significant wildlife barriers and threats.

Workplace

Obligations of corporate executives and corporate boards

Seniors United Party of Australia undertakes to work towards the application of “Fitzgerald” like principles (mentioned many times in this document) to corporate governance practices. We also undertake to repeal many forms of legal protection available to responsible corporate executives when it is in our power to do so. Indeed, we fully intend to hold responsible executives accountable for their corporation’s behaviour.

Principles and laws governing the conduct of corporate governance

As mentioned above Seniors United Party of Australia will conduct an extensive review and restructure of laws governing the conduct of corporate governance in Australia. We fully intend to apply principles to all organisation who conduct business within Australia regardless of the location of their ownership and/or management.

Worker’s rights

The Occupational Health and Safety Act entitles all employees to three fundamental rights: The right to know about health and safety matters. The right to participate in decisions that could affect their health and safety. The right to refuse work that could affect their health and safety and that of others.

Workplace laws and regulations

SUPA firmly supports the implementation of legislation that works towards achieving the above worker’s rights and associated principles. In addition, we undertake to strengthen the potential penalties any breach of these laws may bring to those failing in their responsibilities under them.