One Nation policies fall short of its promised future

A new policy analysis finds One Nation’s platform falls well short of the future Australians say they want, raising questions about the party’s promise of hope and national renewal, writes Dr Bronwyn Kelly. Bronwyn Kelly.

IT’S HARD to know whether One Nation’s recent rise in the polls will be anything more than temporary.

But now that Senator Pauline Hanson like that rate yourself As a capable candidate for the post of Australian prime minister and One Nation as a viable “party of government”, it is worth pausing to ask whether he and his party can lead us to a better Australia.

As Hanson did in question:

“I want people to feel like they have some hope for the future.”

So what kind of future will his party offer? Will we get what we hope for? Maybe. But given the policies that One Nation currently publishes on its website, it seems very likely that we will have a future that most – or even all – of us cannot hope for.

At least that’s the conclusion from a detailed analysis recently published by Australian Commonwealth Future Planning (ACFP).

ACFPs ‘Evaluation of Main Party Policies‘ It is a report examining whether the policies offered by Labour, the Liberals, the Greens and One Nation have the potential to lead to the future Australians say they want.

To measure this potential, it uses a metric called: ‘Vision for Australia Together‘. This is a one-page vision statement consisting of 17 elements (see below) outlining the preferences for a better society, natural environment, economy and democracy that Australians mention in surveys, other research and community engagement programs when asked what they want for their future in the 21st century.

The report looks first at what Australians say they want for themselves and their country in the long term, and secondly at what politicians are proposing in terms of policies. And then it looks at whether the second, if any, will lead to the first.

What about the results? In short, it is not clear from the analysis that the policies of the Liberal or One Nation parties will help Australians travel towards the future they say they would prefer. Neither do Labour’s policies, although they may help us get closer to the ideals expressed in the vision than the policies of the Liberals and One Nation.

This does not mean that every policy offered to us by these three parties will take us away from the better future we imagine and express. But it does mean that when each party’s total policy proposals are considered together and the pros and cons of the policies – relative to the aims of the Vision – are added up, the cons outweigh the pros across the Liberal and One Nation, and to a lesser degree Labor, platforms.

In other words, there are more policies that move us away from the better future we say we want than policies that will push us toward that future. Combining the policies of both parties on their respective platforms does not create a path to a better future; It’s definitely not a safer way.

Undoubtedly, it will upset many members of One Nation, Liberal and Labor that the Greens’ policies are so largely counterproductive. It would be doubly boring to realize that the Greens’ policies are strongly directed towards the sustainable future of safety, security, prosperity and justice implied in the Convention. Vision for Australia TogetherLiberals and One Nation strongly stay away from this.

This may lead to some complaints that the ACFP has chosen the wrong criteria or has not accurately summarized what Australians want. In addition, this complaint implies that if analysis shows that Labour, Liberal and One Nation policies are unlikely to get us where we want to go, it must be the fault of our desires; It is a conclusion that suggests that it is our cheek to want to be safe, secure, healthy and live a dignified life, and that we should just keep quiet and be content with as much as they are willing to allow us rather than what we need.

So Labour, the Liberals and One Nation may say the findings are unfair. But what is actually happening is that while the Greens are choosing policies that are in line with the Australia Together Vision and will move the country towards it, Labor, the Liberals and One Nation are choosing policies that will move us away from making that vision a reality.

The policies of the Liberal and One Nation Parties will take us so far away from this that we cannot reasonably expect to achieve any of the 17 elements of the Vision.

This conclusion follows from the way the criterion is expressed in the Vision’s 17 one-line statements; Statements indicate that we aspire to live fulfilling lives by 2050 (or sooner):

we are all safe;
Based on our shared values of justice and self-determination, we have achieved a lasting reconciliation between First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous Australians;
everyone can participate positively in community life;
we are inspired and able to renew our physical and spiritual health;
We act together as a compassionate society;
Equality is valued as enriching human community, cultural harmony and social progress;
diversity is positively celebrated as the foundation of a successful Australian society;
Everyone, as an individual, family member and citizen, can realize their full potential in life through unlimited education and employment options;
vital services are fully accessible to all;
scarce resources are protected and shared fairly;
national wealth is justly increased and justly shared;
our economy is sustainable and supports rewarding opportunities and continuous improvements in living standards, well-being and security for all;
As a nation, we have the courage to take a leading role in achieving the environmental goals of a global society;
affirming that management of ecology is fundamental to the survival of the planet and humanity;
democracy is achieved by a community of well-informed and participatory political equals;
We can safely rely on our parliaments, governments and courts to act fairly and fairly in the interests and interests of the people and future generations; And
We are proud of Australia as a responsible international citizen active in building a safe, peaceful and united world.

These desires may seem unrealizable, but they are nothing more than what we can express about our hopes. And they’re not unreasonable at all. They are an expression of what we instinctively understand to be necessary for survival and a decent life, and so there can be no argument that we should settle for less. These boil down to a simple picture of our fundamental desire for safety, security, prosperity, dignity, justice and political equality, freedom from fear and poverty, and greater control over our own future.

ACFPs research Although some voters may not be all that keen on justice and political equality, it shows that these desires are generally common to all voters.

Of course, we can choose a different criterion. But the reality is that for the Liberal Party and One Nation to score well, we will essentially have to reject the entire Vision. We would have to choose the exact opposite of the future he describes.

There is no evidence that Australians want a future that is exactly the opposite of the Australia Together Vision. But report He shows that this will happen with his liberal and One Nation policies.

Yet the report itself also offers Australians the hope that Pauline Hanson claims she wants us to have. It shows that policies can be designed to move us away from dystopia. If the Greens have mastered this in policy design, other parties can too.

In this respect, Labor may pause to consider whether its policies need revamping. Labor could do itself and everyone else a favor by redesigning its policies and pushing us towards the kind of future described above. ‘Vision for Australia Together‘.

Dr Bronwyn Kelly is the Founder of Australian Community Future Planning (ACFP). He specializes in long-term integrated planning for Australia’s society, environment, economy and democracy, and governance systems for nation states.

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