Senate Preselection Candidature prepared speech

We are living in a world of economic insanity.

A world that believes we can live a life of unlimited growth on a planet of limited resources. A world that believes self actualisation comes from materialistic acquisition. A world that believes short term, self centered, financial greed will fix long term, global, societal and environmental problems. It is a world that simply has to change.

As Greens, it is now time for us to drive a fundamental change to our economic model. But to do so we need to change behaviours that have been reinforced for decades by marketing messages, media hype, and the self serving nature of so many of our politicians, regulators and commentators.

But that change can – and must - be made. To do so, people must start to understand where unlimited growth in GDP will lead. Let me quote you some numbers.

Global GDP in 2007 was 65 Trillion USD. That figure is double what it was a mere 12 years earlier. Is it surprising that oil is running out, water wars are forecast, fish stocks are dwindling and waste mountains piling up? And all this is starting to happen before global warming makes a serious impact on our planet.

And only last month, the International Monetary Fund forecast the continuation of this growth pattern within 3 years. That will result in a global GDP of 150 Trillion USD by 2020, 1,000 Trillion by 2050 and – would you believe - 26,000 Trillion USD for the last year of this century.

Clearly a global economy 400 times larger than the one today will not happen. So when will it change and how?

If it is left to the major political parties and the profit motive then growth will simply run out of resources. Recession, depression, deflation will kick in. We have seen how close we came to that from a fall out in the ‘make-believe’ financial economy. A crash in the real economy driven by booming population and resource scarcity will have an impact far more disastrous than we have seen over the last 12 months.

As Greens we must point out the insanity of this model and aggressively promote the solution.

And there is a solution to this problem. A solution that does not mean we have to live in caves and eat moss. Nor does it mean economic growth must stop. And it is a solution that is already embedded in existing Greens’ policies.

I am talking about the three Rs. Repair Recycle Restore. The very core of Greens’ values are the solution to our problem. Changing our economic model from one of dig up, ship out, ship back and throw away to one which promotes local repair, local re cycling and local restoration and upgrading of existing products will stop both the drain on the world’s resources and the insane increase in waste. It will enable economic growth to be sustainable, will promote employment here in Australia and it will help protect us from any ill winds that globalisation blows our way in future.

But how do we drive the change in behaviour that is required? That is also embedded in existing Greens’ policies.

Taxation is one of the most powerful tools available to a government to change behaviour. From bricking up windows in 18th century London to avoid the window tax to popping out babies in Australia to cash in on the baby bonus, taxation changes behaviour.

By imposing taxes on pollution, natural resources and waste production we will instantly drive behavioural change to the direct benefit of the planet. By imposing import taxes on those countries that continue to pursue an unsustainable economic model, we will start to influence their behaviour and protect our local businesses from unfair competition.

But our economic model is also unsustainable from a societal viewpoint. It is a model that focuses on transforming resources of the many into profit for the few. It is a model that thrives on envy, greed, gluttony and pride. A model that actually takes pride in widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Once again, taxation is the key. Wealth taxes in the UK in the middle of the last century were highly effective at breaking up the obscene fortunes that the aristocracy had built up over centuries. This money was then used to build up their education, social security and health systems to being the some of the best in the world.

We now have obscene wealth in this country. Much of this wealth has come from monopolies, questionable corporate practices, criminal activity and all of those unjustified financial bonuses we have recently witnessed.

The state must take control of all natural monopolies and key infrastructure and we must introduce wealth taxes to raise additional funds to dramatically improve our education, our health, our social security and our public transport.

As Greens we have built an enviable reputation in promoting environmental protection, social justice, principled democracy and peace and non violence. Our elected representatives at all levels of government do a superb job in these areas.

But this is not enough if we want to truly change our society and it is not enough if we want to expand our support base to give us the power to make those changes.

We now have to promote our economic credentials. That is why I am standing for senate.

I have spent over 30 years as a socialist in the capitalist world of business, finance and economics. My experience, knowledge and understanding of this world will give The Greens credibility to broaden its support base and be listened to by the media, to be listened to by commentators and to be listened to by the main political parties.

I look forward to receiving your vote. Thank you.