Reform Australia they cry! But will the Big 4 let them?
They cry that it is time to rebuild our great nation. So has plutocracy already won? Michael West Reports of reform stagnation.
“We’ve wasted 20 years. It’s time to rebuild our great nation,” Peter Costello declared in The Australian today.
“Our country is still better than most countries,” the former Liberal treasurer said, “But it could be so much better. We need to understand what happened before we can fix it.”
We know what happened. You ruined it. Here is the chart.
You waived the CGT relief, which reinforced negative gear, and – combined with the foreign capital boom in Australia’s residential property market – blew up Australia’s homeownership dream. That’s what happened.
Nearly 17 years of dithering on money laundering reform has not worked. You have roped the rich into this mansion madness game while the huge revenues from the Chinese boom are carelessly squandered. You listened to the lobbyists.
But to be fair, Labor has also joined the journey. You in the coalition were in government most of the time. And it wasn’t just the magnificent properties hidden away that were blowing up equity in Australia. It was your tax deductions in retirement that turned ‘retirement income’ into a huge tax shelter.
Not to mention The infamous bipartisan failure on gas and resource taxes that has Australia still plundered by multinationals.
High-level secrecy and money laundering push real estate market higher
So now, with all this aid, the voters who kept you in power are dying and Australia is about to go through a massive wealth transfer. Probate courts are full of contested wills and inheritance cases. The greatest wealth in this history is the one you created,
for some.
Still, we shouldn’t complain. Now is the time for reform! And now that Chancellor of the Exchequer Jim Chalmers has put CGT relief on the table for discussion – just one of the many disguises of the Boomers’ Boom, you – Rupert Murdoch et al – are now issuing this “dire warning” to young Australians about tax hikes for “Labour’s unsustainable largesse”.
Even plutocrats
Yes, things are so bad, so urgent, that even the pro-plutocratic AFR is now campaigning. “Bill Kelty is right. It’s time for CGT and intergenerational reform.”
The problem you all have created is so great that Pauline Hanson’s protest vote has skyrocketed and the future of the Liberal Party hangs by a thread.
But is the answer so difficult?
So this is reform! Reform in every aspect! We know the answer. This is a reform. But every time the effort to reform is thwarted by lobbyists and vested interests. By the people who pay for your political party donations.
Chalmers’ last reform move; A move to lift some froth off the top of a hugely generous super scheme for the rich has delivered a virtual nothingness .. after all the howling, blood-curdling crocodile tears.
“Attack” on retirement is just big cat crocodile tears
It was the same deal when Bill Shorten took credit reform to the ‘can’t lose’ election against Scomo. He was shot by Murdoch and the Nine during a scare campaign.
The sad truth is that politicians cannot stand up to corporate lobbyists; worse, corporate lobbyists have taken over.
Negative gearing that strengthens the economy in favor of banks and the wealthy is not on the table, let alone meaningful resources or a wealth tax.
The answer is blindingly clear:
Tax wealth, not income
Not ordinary working Australians, but multinational tax corporations plundering Australia. But the political will is lacking.
Monique Ryan hit the nail on the head. “Politicians outnumber lobbyists in Parliament House by 15 to one; on session days, hundreds of lobbyists roam the halls of Canberra, meeting with Ministers to influence government policy.” 15 to 1.
government of advisors
Former KPMG partner Brendan Lyon said:CAANZ scam“The Big Four said Lyon basically wrote the laws of the country. Government policy was handed over to consultants, primarily PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY.”
The paradox here is that these Big 4 don’t even consider themselves lobbyists. But they still inserted themselves into the government. The problem here, as Lyons points out, is that the Big 4’s allegiance is to their large multinational clients, tax and audit clients whose interests are exactly the opposite of those of ordinary Australians.
Their interests are not equality, justice or reform for average Australians, or small businesses or housing. Their interest is to maximize the profits of foreign companies. Their interest is to maintain the regime that enriches their partners: neoliberalism, privatization, corporate tax avoidance, high immigration to feed labor demand.
Moreover, the CAANZ scam shows that there is no accountability in government as the Big 4 consultants make huge profits regardless of the results. Nor are any public officials responsible for the actions of the government because they have privatized their responsibilities.
No accountability means no performance.
Thus the corporatocracy has become entrenched, just as we feared ten years ago when we began this independent media rip-off with the Oligarchs in the Treasure Islands story.
Treasure Islands Oligarchs
By then it had already started. Two years ago, during Tony Abbott’s term as prime minister, consultancy fees for Big 4 governments began to double. Figures for federal consulting fees alone now approach $7 billion a year.
And we have since seen the PwC scandal prove exactly this point. Although the Big 4 firms were working on ‘tax reform’ for the government, they were selling their tax secrets to foreign multinational clients whose interests were the exact opposite of those of ordinary Australians.
And after a slap on the wrist they’re back to ‘government’ in full swing
Pundits often invoke the Hawke Keating reform years as if we could usher in another era of great reform. The problem is the system.
The problem with PWC and the Big 4 is that betrayal is their business model
Michael West was founded Michael West Media Focusing on public interest journalism in 2016, particularly the increasing power of corporations over democracy. West was previously a journalist and editor for Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and was even once a stockbroker.
