Published 15/04/2025, Edited 19/04/2025
I came to Australia not by choice - my mother fell in love with my stepfather, and I was excited to experience a sense of adventure.
My first years here were marred with a combination of people telling me that I came from the Soviet Union, laughing at my British accent and cursive writing (both of which I picked up in Russia and intentfully changed after realising their drawbacks here) and later, describing whichever views I expressed as "Communist". This was balanced with many people who were genuinely interested to learn about people with a background different to theirs and bounce ideas.
Having listened for a few years to "go back to where you came from if you don't like it here", I decided to make it my life goal until I started falling in love with Australia after I entered uni. I eventually got to travel to every state and its capital city, and with the generous help of the Australian taxpayer - to Europe and overseas on two exchange programs - to Malaysia, Europe, Russia and Cambodia to realise that everyone everywhere has so much more in common than anyone gives each other credit for.
Having barely read the local news until getting jobs in the private sector and then the Victorian Public Service, I decided to immerse myself in Melbournian and Victorian news, eventually pivoting to immersing myself in trying to understand Federal politics while also keeping tabs on international politics on and off since arriving in Australia.
And so, what I've come to is that we need to elevate the level of political discussion in this country, because political parties have become like hive minds and its unhealthy for democracy, but not quite as much as political donations. There's also a view that once an election is over, you can disregard public opinion or govern for the fraction that swung your way. In my view democracy is best implemented if the feedback cycles are iterative and if public awareness pierces through the hive minds, aiming for a win-win mindset which fosters cooperation, rather than a win-lose one which fosters adversarialism. I didn't always used to believe this, but internal divisions within the Greens changed my mind. It has actually gotten a lot better just over the last couple of years. I remember the 2022 Victorian Election debate - can't even find it on the internet anymore. After high school, wherever I've travelled across Australia or overseas (except for when election campaigns happen) Australians are consistently kind across the country, but for a place with such a diverse population there's something I've found in common with and appreciate about everyone, and while I've had a bit of experience in building consensus its a quite scary with the state of the world right now, but I'm going to try anyway and even if it doesn't work, hopefully it'll help someone advance the essence of these ideas towards something better, and eventually an overlapping consensus for the direction of our nation.
Housing
Having traveled throughout Europe and Asia I've had the privilege to see what housing looks like around the world. Considering how hot of a topic it is in Australia, its important to highlight some facts and directions which I think this debate should take.
For many years I've been debating with myself about whether its appropriate for people to wear jackets indoors in winter because the heating is too expensive. This seems to be a normal experience for many Australians even though it increases excess mortality, but for people from Europe who enjoy toasty room temperatures in European winter it is remarkable that this is acceptable in a "developed" country.
The plasterboard (I call it cardboard) houses also evidently are struggling to withstand the weather and climatic extremes that we are experiencing. Insurance companies are more and more keen to find any way possible to make sure that you don't actually get your payout even if it is specified in the terms and conditions. Like most Australians, I've never had a good experience with the insurance industry.
Having seen how new houses are sometimes built, it is clear that some contractors cut corners. The whole mode of doing it predominantly privately by many "housing providers" flushing money from god knows where through a series of shell companies, real estate agents, lawyers and conveyancers only to have the housing stock be bought up by AirBnB and associated multinational consortia or people who are just keeping the houses and apartments as a pristine appreciating asset just doesn't seem to be a good business model.
It is one factor however which stabilises the value of the Australian dollar, along with a couple of other industries (immigration, education, mining), which is a serious problem which throughout the housing debate I haven't yet heard mentioned. If the Australian dollar falls, our exports will become more attractive at the expense of reduced purchasing power in a country which relies on imports and has one of the lowest economic complexity scores in the world. This means that if housing prices fall, while housing should in theory become more affordable and cheaper to rent, it also means Australians will collectively be able to buy less.
So can the housing crisis be solved quickly? Yes - through a redistributive policy that will require government intervention into the housing market to turn a portion of it into a stock reserved for our neediest citizens (whether to purchase or to buy) on the basis of human rights. This could involve;
developing a plan to
properly tax our billionaires, big domestic businesses and multinational corporations which operate here and pay no tax, and any companies affiliated with mega corp
nationalising smaller dwellings if they are not being lived in or being used for commercial non-continuous purposes by companies such as AirBnB
commencing a nationwide housing quality review to assess housing stock lifespan and develop estimates for 1) maintenance 2) refurbishment (including of formerly industrial sites) 3) demolition 4) nationalisation
working with the People's Republic of China and other countries with an advantage in the construction sector to import prefabricated modular dwellings or invite skilled labour to assist with the rapid construction modular dwellings with citizenship pathways
following the hopeful end of the war in Ukraine, to recommence the imports of Russian construction timber and commencing nationwide rewilding projects which should include a rolling stock of construction timber for Australia's future construction needs
tailoring immigration policy to further target areas outside of Melbourne and Sydney in zones prospective for future industrial development
tailoring immigration policy to provide housing and employment packages matching for skills shortages and excess housing as was discussed at length in some Parliamentary committees in relation to some regional areas
building more high quality 1 and 2 bedroom dwellings, as well as higher density dwellings in the vicinity of Australian Universities
utilising artificial intelligence to
review legislation to streamline regulations to improve their consistency and speed up the approval process across jurisdictions
input existing legislation and site survey data and output basic designs with a couple of levels of customisation based on surveyed individual needs and preferences
this can be utilised for ad-hoc construction as well as medium and large scale developments, and should require the quality control of professional architects
this should be a government service, and the Australian people should be the custodians and beneficiaries of any intellectual property this system produces, and with a comprehensive materials database it could essentially produce every conceivable dwelling design for every utilisable land plot, dynamically identify sites suitable for construction with remote sensing as well as optimise procurement channels, workflow plans and iterative improvements
this can and should be used in other industries (except for military purposes of any kind) and in all cases optimised for net employment gains (and no net job losses in the private or public sector). Any and all profit generated should be distributed in accordance with the principle of providing the greatest difference to the least advantaged people in Australia
Other considerations relating to housing in Australia could include;
Feasibility analysis for the domestic manufacturing of Hydronic Split System technology, or procurement of such technologies
Enabling cooling with refrigerants and heating with water in pipes under the floor of a home (as is commonplace in Finland)
Improving insulation and passive cooling design standards
Ensuring that all new dwellings are built to facilitate access for people with mobility limitations and ideally placed in sufficient proximity to public transport
Ensuring that new dwelling procurement is optimised for a combination of cost effectiveness and domestic sourcing of solar panels, solar roofs and home battery systems and other value-adding industries which increase Australia's economic complexity
Ensuring that dwelling design and placement are optimised for extreme weather events and climate disasters and durability
Consider the housing market in Vienna; yes it is very complicated, and they don't advise to purchase or rent without hiring a lawyer first (to understand all the complexities of their system), but Vienna also has some of the best outcomes of any housing system in the world. If Australia wants to reinvent the wheel, it may just take longer.
Many people across the political spectrum seem to wish to see a more hands on approach in our housing system and the economy as a whole and to see it deliver for the average person who seeks their human right to housing be fulfilled, as well as small and medium sized businesses, farmers, public servants and armed forces without marginalising minorities of any kind or tyrannizing the majority while maintaining robust public discourse which strives to reach an overlapping consensus within a set of boundaries of reasonable disagreement.
Reinventing the wheel (a longer term plan);
There should be a public, social and community housing scheme which allows
Citizens to sign up via mygov or other accessible means
Input and update their needs and preferences for their ideal dwelling designs
With capability to align with educational and/or employment pathways
With options including high density developments, low density developments, 15 minute cities, urban, suburban and regional developments accommodating options for shared accommodation and individual residence, local permaculture, etc
Consolidating several or all super funds into a sovereign wealth fund which the people can use to contribute to and/or accelerate the construction of their public, social and community housing or their own private dwelling. The government could also use this as a central planning mechanism, but if it does it should be a considerably small proportion for limited projects until there is a track record of success (Remember the housing insulation scheme? We could've done it then!)
This can also be done for literally any Australian good or service should Australians wish to invest into their own jobs and/or manufacturing Australian made goods for Australians with locally sourced materials with their own pensions and have a real grassroots democratic say in the visioning, development, governance and management of their ideal communities across the country.
Limiting negative gearing to several properties, as the dwelling stock grows
With the free prior and informed consent of local Traditional Owners and other members of the local community
And aligned with the emissions targets necessary to reach net zero emissions as determined by scientific consensus
Health and Welfare
Reforming and streamlining Centrelink, particularly Jobseeker, from being a bureaucratic torture device and into a system which acts as a pathway to obtain government support and via work-for-the-dole eventually part or full-time employment
Reducing the length of the application forms and the list of conditions required to apply for welfare
Reducing the number of staff allocated to administer Centrelink
Bi-annual checkpoints via local GP visits while an individual is receiving government support
A foreign policy that as much of the country as possible can be proud of, which doesn't alienate any diaspora groups
Universal childcare
Universal healthcare, which includes dental and mental health
Greater research and development of non pharmaceutical treatment options
Education
History and historiography in high school
With a focus on
The historiographies, mythologies and innovations of different local Indigenous groups
The interactions and intersections with the multicultural colonial heritage brought upon by great power competition between the British Empire and other European powers, China and our Pacific and South East Asian neighbours resulting in the eventual colonisation, settlement and establishment of what we call Australia today, which is still seen as an occupation by many Indigenous and non Indigenous people of Australia
The ethical, moral and historical context of the times which along with the development of Washminster institutions occurred concurrently with a cultural genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people of Australia. The ideas of assimilation and forced assimilation in Australia were based on the myth of Terra Nullius and the common European supremacist idea on the need to civilize and Christianise non-European peoples as announced by the since repudiated Doctrine of Discovery. This process is concurrent with the development of Australia onto the world stage from being a racialised penal colony to a multiethnic, multicultural and polyfaith society - one of, if not the most successful of its kind in the world, exemplifying the course of planetary history just within its own shores, with comparatively minimal political violence and no revolutions - which is a really good and rare thing.
The subsequent evolution of the moral course of history across the world and in Australia in the pursuit of civil liberties and freedoms, workers rights, women's rights, the White Australia Policy, Stolen Generations and the subsequent pursuit of Aboriginal rights and redress for intergenerational harm acknowledged in a bipartisan way by many Prime Ministers as well as developments relating to the assault weapons ban, the republic referendum, equal marriage rights plebiscite and the Voice to Parliament referendum
Local economic history such as the history of Indigenous innovation, establishment of penal colonies, the effects of the industrial age, the Victorian gold rush and the excesses that come with being a lucky country as memorialised by the Mt Buffalo Chalet and the placement of Canberra, its relationship to the Californian gold rush and, after the dissolution of the USSR, the neoliberal sell-off of Australian manufacturing, industry and tax revenues
Relationship of the above to key historical documents and periods such as the Magna Carta, Dark Ages in Europe and the Islamic Golden Age, the Dum Diversas, the Industrial Revolution and its causes, the French Revolution, the American Revolution, the American Bill of Rights, the Australian Constitution, the Russian Revolution, The Chinese Revolution, WWI, WWII, the Cold War, the dissolution of the USSR and the post Cold War period and our current election, in which Australia sadly and remarkably finds itself in a similar position to which Ukraine was in 2014.
Historiographical interpretations of each of the above, with particular attention to Socialist, Liberalist, Libertarian, Conservative, Capitalist, Regionalist as well as Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander perspectives - that about captures most of the political spectrum in Australia, also worth throwing in Humanism, Transhumanism, Veganism and Environmentalism
Options between several compulsory entry level university or TAFE courses in school (akin to Enhancement/Extension programs - this is something I did and it was an excellent way to smooth out the high-school to uni transition, I'm not familiar with educational curricula these days but this is what I and many millennials I know wish we had or in some lucky private schooler cases actually did have);
Civics and law (year 9-12)
Accounting, finance, home economics (year 5-12)
Electronics and coding (year 4-12)
Mechanics and trades (year 4-12)
Outdoor Education (year 7-12)
Permaculture (year 4-12)
Psychology (year 10-12)
Politics and Philosophy (year 11-12)
An opportunity to study foreign languages and your own mother tongue if you are an immigrant
An opportunity to study a local indigenous language and culture
Greater emphasis for domestic university students on the available exchange and study abroad opportunities (the latter could also alleviate housing shortages)
Compulsory industry placements at TAFE and in undergraduate University courses
Productivity
a "mybiz" portal in "mygov" which enables nested and streamlined business development options which integrates
all training and license applications and other requirements (in alignment with all Local, State and Federal laws) initially for
a small pilot set of business types such as food van/hospitality venue, tour bus, freight truck, repair shop etc
and eventually includes all major small business types
contains an in-house data management portal for each kind of business and integrates
sustainable procurement tools and integration with digital marketplaces
expense tracking tools with ATO plug-ins for tax returns
data management and auditing tools
efficiency and productivity gain suggestions custom to each business type
IoT technology plug-ins
AI integration options
Scalability and new opportunity recommendations
the option to use this system should not be compulsory
Referendum, plebiscite and major reform suggestions
A constitutional convention to reform our Federal system, seeking to make it more efficient for the 21st century.
Our country has 27 million people, could facilitate more, but never at the expense of social harmony and cohesion, which is why integration and an enduring but flexible immigration policy setting is important (watch this space).
We also have an incredibly vertical political system which is not "3 levels of government", and while comprehensible at a different time for context it was designed in, is also incredibly hard for newcomers and apolitical people to understand and express their perspective in.
Our country is also for the most part extremely urbanised and has considerable opportunity for streamlining the public service and making our politicians more directly accountable to the voices of the people at the grassroots level and in regional areas.
1: Abolition of all State and Territory Governments (and therefore GST and all the accounting related to it)
reallocation of smaller State Government assets and responsibilities to Local Councils and Local Government Associations
reallocation of larger State Government assets and responsibilities to the Federal Government
Utilisation of State Parliament buildings for Local Government Association meetings
Redesigning Local Government Areas to align with the aspirations of Indigenous Australians' for "Land Back" and following the precedent of the Voice to Parliament referendum not being race-based, enabling considerably greater autonomy, effective self-rule with progressive devolution of power and local taxation responsibilities within areas under Native Title or otherwise defined by each local group. This should coincide with an audit of the Indigenous services industry by the Australian National Audit Office the auditors of which should involve and be led by indigenous auditors. This should also coincide with infrastructure, industry and residential programs to be negotiated by Indigenous Australians with local Traditional Owners to share their unceded land with new Australians and existing citizens who wish to share the land with them and have received the free prior and informed consent from local Traditional Owners within the redesigned Local Government Areas. A reciprocal offer may be made by residents of Local Government Areas which do not currently have a presence of Indigenous people.
Retention of the existing Federal Electorate system
Reducing red tape, private consultant and legal fees as well as the time required to interpret and align legislation, and the defacto size of the government (State Parliamentarians and their staff) without cutting the deliverables or effectiveness of the public service. I'm sure this has many unintended consequences I haven't yet considered, but worth throwing the idea out there.
As a resident of Victoria, I do want to say that I came up with this before I realised what the debt of the State of Victoria is, so its important to note that State debt can still be distributed between the members of a Local Government Association or consolidated into the national debt
2: Establishing a Pacific Federation with New Zealand, redrawing State and Territory boundaries in Australia so that they overlap territories which are both predominantly inhabited by Indigenous people and territories which are not predominantly inhabited by Indigenous people to preserve the desire not to divide the country on a racial basis as one of the outcomes of the Voice to Parliament referendum. The constituent parts should be constitutionally obligated to remain in the Pacific Federation.
3: Determination of a process to design a new flag which enshrines a sense of pride for the entire country.
4: Establishment of live reporting on the performance of all bureaucratic bodies and elected officials, as well as a consolidated gifts, benefits and donations register for each elected and bureaucratic official, as well as a dispensation dashboard which tracks the spending of taxpayer funds against each project it is tied to in real-time, as well as a consolidated catalogue of the real-time dispensation of untied funding.
5: Bi-annual reporting from a representative of the Australian National Audit Office, National Anti Corruption Commission and other bodies (like ASIO does now) on the performance of the Australian Government and its Departments via the National Press Club to the Australian people.
6: Removal of all political donations from the political system and publicly funding it instead, or designing an alternative funding mechanism.
7: Reforming the system in a way that would enable our Prime Minister or the Parliament to tax billionaires and mega corporations and tell them what to do instead of the other way around.
8: Construction of agricultural levees in areas prone to extreme flooding with the free prior and informed consent of local Traditional Owners
9: Establishment of a "Mydemocracy" portal in mygov which integrates
Local, State, Federal government information and consultations as relevant to each citizen
A political party/candidate portal which contains links to, plans, perspectives and costings of each political party on listed issues
No chat or comment functions should be included in this portal
Links relating to current and major issues as well as issues which interest the user from various national media outlets as well as independent journalists via a portal such a Ground News or AllSides