Election 2022: the IEU view!
While the election campaign has not been marked by bold ideas and visionary commitments (aside from the buckets of money promised for projects in marginal electorates), there are stark differences between parties and candidates, as well as a lot that can be gleaned with a look at track records.
The past performance of the Morrison government is not pretty. Between the mismanagement of natural disasters, the shameful failures to procure adequate COVID tests and vaccinations when we most needed them, attacks on conditions for vulnerable workers, the rorting of federal grants, the broken promise to establish an effective anti-corruption commission, (fortunately) failed attempts to entrench discrimination in faith-based schools, an incoherent approach to dealing with climate change, sexual assault cover-ups and the completely tone-deaf response to the call to improve women’s safety, endless infighting and sordid ministerial scandals, it’s fair to say that Australia has been seriously let down.
On the other side of the ledger, it’s worth remembering that the government did (briefly) show effective leadership early in the pandemic – though far from perfect, programs like JobKeeper and the significant increases to unemployment benefits did a huge amount to minimise social and economic damage. For a while, we saw what government is capable of when there is a genuine focus policy over politics – which made it all the more disappointing when the wheels fell off.
Here’s the IEU take on a few crucial battleground areas:
Workers: rights, entitlements and conditions
The current government has a shocking record in this area. Federal government submissions to wage cases have played a significant role in the stagnation of wages over recent years, while attacks on the union movement have undermined the ability of workers to collectively negotiate. Penalty rates have been reduced, and the rights of casual workers have been stripped, while the definition of ‘casual work’ has been broadened, forcing many thousands of workers into precarious employment – not only widening economic inequality but, as we saw during the pandemic, also generating a public health threat.
Active campaigning by the union movement averted the worst of the threats presented by the Morrison government’s Industrial Relations Omnibus Bill 2021, which would have allowed employers to undercut minimum pay and conditions standards – a Bill which Morrison has stated will remain government policy should he be re-elected.
IEU members should also never forget the government’s recent failed attempt to strip away hard-won protections against discrimination for employees in faith-based employment.
While the ALP’s industrial relations policies are more modest than we would like, it has made a number of important commitments. These include working to close the gender pay gap, to tackle precarious work by limiting the use of fixed term and casual contracts, to introduce paid family and domestic violence leave and to criminalise wage theft.
Honourable mention: the Greens have a clear, thorough and comprehensive industrial relations policy, which notably includes significant improvements to the rights of workers to collectively organise and bargain for better workplace outcomes.
Dishonourable mention: while the United Australia Party is making some big promises about sticking up for workers, let us not forget that party chairman Clive Palmer sued his own workers at Queensland Nickel in an attempt to avoid paying them their legitimate entitlements….
Education policy and funding
The Coalition government’s ditching of the Gonsky reforms and of needs-based funding has seen increasing inequity in the provision of education. Too many schools are drastically under-funded – in many cases these are schools in areas of existing disadvantage, where extra resourcing is clearly needed.
The ALP has pledged to ensure that all schools are funded at 100% of the Schooling Resource Standard – a crucial step towards improving the overall quality of Australian education. Labour has also committed to over half a billion dollars of additional funding for important capital works and ventilation improvements, school mental health programs and respectful relationships education.
Climate change
Both major parties have the same longer-term greenhouse gas emissions target (50% reduction by 2050), yet there are stark differences in approach and in the apparent level of conviction around this issue. The Coalition has been torn apart by this issue, with the Nationals in particular appearing to take every opportunity to undermine their own policy. The government’s short-term emissions targets are simply embarrassing by international standards, and the longer-term goal seems based on magical thinking about imaginary future technologies – almost the definition of ‘kicking the can down the road’...
Labor’s climate change policies are modest, but at least have broad internal support and involve meaningful short-term targets which see us keeping pace with many comparable countries. Importantly, Labor is committed to fair transitions for fossil-fuel workers and to grasping the opportunity to generate jobs and investment as part of the transition to a clean future.
Here’s a handy analysis and comparison of the respective climate goals of the parties and independents - complete with alarming infographics showing the level of global heating each policy corresponds with.
Honourable mentions: the ‘teal’ independents, the Greens, even some major business lobby groups – in fact everyone who recognises that climate change is a real issue and that there are crucial economic opportunities and social and health benefits to taking genuine action quickly.
Gender equity and women’s safety
2021 was a watershed year for the public debate over women’s safety. Between the scandals over sexual assault in Parliament house, the extraordinary advocacy of Grace Tame, and rise of movements such as March4Justice and Safety, Respect, Equity, the urgent need for reform to tackle gendered violence and ensure the safety of girls and women at home, in public and at work was highlighted like never before. These movements also brought home the need to address economic inequity – Australia’s gender pay gap continues to stubbornly hover around the 14% mark, compounded by the cost of childcare as well as the impact of family-related time out of the workforce, which results in a truly shocking superannuation gender gap of 30%.
Unfortunately, our government failed to rise to the occasion (one particular lowlight being Morrison’s suggestion that March4Justice protesters were lucky not to be ‘met with bullets’). Some commitments have been made in response to the Jenkins Review, and money was set aside in this year’s budget to tackle women’s safety, but the broad consensus is that this is too little, too late.
The Labor party (like the Greens and many independent candidates) has committed to all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report. It has also committed to a national drive to reduce the gender pay gap through measures including introducing a statutory Equal Remuneration Principle, which will encourage the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases in low-paid female-dominated industries.
Acknowledging that ballooning child-care costs are a key issue for women’s income and workplace participation, both major parties are offering significant increases to subsidies. In most cases, the Labor policy is significantly more substantial, but this varies significantly depending on income band and number of children in care.
The economy
Here’s an important myth to bust: the Liberals are NOT more competent economic managers! In almost every economic metric, we have slipped down international league tables since the Coalition government came to power in 2013. Coalition governments of recent decades have taxed more, and spent more than Labour governments. We’re not passing judgement on this (taxing and spending is after all a central role of government), but it’s a reminder that the more important question to ask is: who is being taxed, and how is that money is being spent?
Reconciliation
The IEU is proud to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart. While the major parties have all expressed various degrees of support for the process outlined in the Uluru Statement, unfortunately the Coalition, Labor and Greens all propose to change the order in which the process is undertaken – these may seem like minor details, but they are potentially important.
The track record of the current government in this area is not impressive, and has been characterised by misrepresentation and lip-service over action. In contrast, Labor has committed to a referendum within a year of the election to constitutionally entrench an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
It’s worth noting also that both Labor and the Greens have committed to ditching the punitive Cashless Welfare Card currently imposed on a number of indigenous communities.
Political Integrity
In the wake of a depressing series of scandals and rorts (car-parks and sports-grants being the most prominent), this has become a hot topic: the need for greatly increased accountability of federal politicians and agencies has never been clearer.
While the current government promised an integrity commission back in 2018, the proposed model has been widely regarded as toothless and inadequate – and legislation to establish it has still not been introduced.
Both the ALP and the Greens have committed to the establishment of a stronger anti-corruption commission as key election pledges, backed by the raft of so-called ‘teal’ independent candidates who may hold significant sway if the election outcome is close.
Political donations as well as political advertising practices are also key issues which need addressing if we are to clean up our democratic processes. Currently, donations of up to $14,300 can be made to political parties or candidates without public declaration of the name of the donor. Sums this large come with strings attached – and for them to be made with no public record of their source seriously undermines the democratic process. Both the ALP and the Greens currently voluntarily declare any donations of over $1000, and both have committed to legislation which would apply this limit to all parties and candidates.
We will update this page as new policies and commitments are announced over the course of the election campaign. Comments and feedback welcome: info@ieuvictas.org.au