When Elected Representatives Are Deaf To Their Constituents
We need an Inquiry into why LPG gas deals have been so financially bad for the nation as a whole. Why do the gas companies pay so little tax and royalties on the huge amounts of gas they export for enormous profits? When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, you know something is wrong with our democracy. Polling has indicated that 75% of Australians support a 25% export tax on LPG gas. Yet, this federal Labor government has knocked back proposed legislation to make this happen.
“Five news polls conducted for The Australia Institute reveal an overwhelming majority of Australians want a gas export tax to fund improvements in services like health and aged care.”
Australian Politicians Not Listening To The People
It is no secret to some that big companies pay large donations to political party election funds. In addition, there has been a steady revolving door of resource ministers and senior civil servants taking up well paid jobs in the mining sector post-political careers. This is, in effect, corruption hiding in plain sight. These are the individuals supposed to be making deals with these companies on our behalf. The proof is in the fact that these deals are financially underwhelming for Australia, especially when compared with what happens in other western countries like Norway. Either these resource ministers are idiots or they are corrupt and possibly a mix of both. We need hard nosed professionals, who are quarantined from the largesse of these multinational corporations, negotiating these deals. Too often short term political considerations like the jobs these projects generate influence these state and federal resource ministers into signing crap deals for Australia. In realty, the mechanisation of the mining sector means the actual number of jobs are not that great these days. Bunnings employs more workers than Big Gas in Australia.
“In 2023–24, Australian governments provided $14.5 billion in subsidies to coal mines, oil and gas operations and major fossil fuel users. This is equal to $27,581 for every minute of every day of the year, more than is spent on the army or the air force.
Economists and scientists have long called for fossil fuel subsidies to be stopped, as have international forums like the International Energy Agency, the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).”
Governments Deaf To All But The Big End Of Town
When elected representatives are deaf to their constituents, and only listening to the big end of town, we the people have a problem. The rise of One Nation, as much as I abhor their racist ideology, is a reaction to governments not listening to their voters. If the Albanese government goes on ignoring the profiteering of the gas sector, especially during this Donald Trump inflicted energy crisis, it will be the beginning of the end for them down the track. It is time to act decisively against the long pandered to interests of this multinational owned sector. Politicians are not up to the job of doing billion dollar deals, as shown by the crap results in negotiating these gas contracts. The GDP might look good on the national spreadsheet but ordinary Aussies get bugger all from them. It might be good for the few actually working directly in the industry, but it is ripping off our resource wealth for the rest of us. Bad deals over many years are deserving of an Inquiry into all the details surrounding them, including who got what job in the wash up. It is time for a comprehensive Inquiry. Time to root out the corruption at the heart of our political democracy.
The AI Betrayal Of Us All
“AI digital technology is coming for your job. AI heresy a betrayal of humanity. Big Tech is being run by oligarchs hell bent on profitability at all costs. Ruthless American capitalism has no interest in you or your family. This is a betrayal of us all and not merely a fight between doomers and boomers. Read all about it, if you dare. Of course, you might not be smart enough? Your brain may have already begun to atrophy? Is AI thinking for you and making decisions for you in your life? Robert Sudha Hamilton has written The AI Heresy: A Betrayal of Humanity as a warning to us all. A clarion call to wake up before it is too late. Do you have the symptoms? “
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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