By Andrew Mackinnon
Last updated: 14th April, 2023
The number of federal electorates and federal elected representatives in the House of Representatives in the Australian Federal Parliament should be increased from the current 151 to more that 500, so that there is one elected representative for every local government area in Australia, whose vote in the House of Representatives is weighted according to the size of the population of the local government area that he or she represents.
This significant change would result in a considerable strengthening of democracy in the House of Representatives in the Australian Federal Parliament, so that it would be much more difficult for the House of Representatives to subversively produce anti-democratic outcomes by approving federal policies and laws for Australia which do not represent the majority will of Australian citizens.
The ultimate objective is to enable every Australian citizen aged eighteen years and over to vote voluntarily via the internet or via telephone on every issue that our elected representatives currently decide on our behalf, so that the majority will of Australian citizens is reflected in every issue decided in the House of Representatives.
The Senate in the Australian Federal Parliament should be abolished on account of its anti-democratic nature and history of voting down federal policies and laws which a majority of elected representatives in the House of Representatives have approved.
State and territorial governments in Australia should be abolished so that only the federal government and local governments remain.
I believe that the existence of state and territorial governments in Australia is an obstacle that has been deliberately established in order to prevent the federal government and local governments in Australia from operating effectively in the best interests of Australian citizens.
For example, it would be preferable if there was only one property titles system covering the entire country, administered by the federal government, instead of a separate property titles system for each state and territory in Australia. This is only one of a multitude of examples that could be cited.
It is also much easier for citizens to oppose and change the policies and laws of the federal government that they don’t like, than it is for citizens to oppose and change the policies and laws of the federal government and eight state and territorial governments that they don’t like.
States and territories should be retained as geographic entities in order to minimise the disruption resulting from the abolishment of state and territorial governments and to facilitate federal governmental administration. The federal government should use buildings previously used by state and territorial governments in order to administer federal policies and laws throughout Australia.
All Australian citizens should be issued with a federal identity card which shows their photograph, full name, date of birth, address and identification number, but which contains no electronically-stored data, no biometric data and no other data of any type.
A flat rate of income tax of a maximum of 20% on all income should be implemented. All other taxes should be abolished, including all taxes on business profits, all taxes on capital gains and the Goods & Services Tax (GST).
All public schools (i.e. public primary schools and public secondary schools), TAFE (Technical And Further Education) colleges and universities in Australia should be owned and controlled by the federal government and should be funded by income tax. The parents of the students of public schools should not pay for the students’ use of public schools. The students of TAFE colleges and the students of universities should not pay for their use of TAFE colleges and universities, unless the students of TAFE colleges or the students of universities are repeating units of study at TAFE colleges or universities due to failure in those units of study or pursuing postgraduate qualifications at universities, in which case they should pay half of the cost of their use of TAFE colleges or universities in relation to those units of study at TAFE colleges or universities that they are repeating or those postgraduate qualifications at universities that they are pursuing.
All public hospitals in Australia should be owned and controlled by the federal government and should be funded by income tax. The patients of public hospitals should not pay for their use of public hospitals.
All property rates charged by local governments should be kept to fair and reasonable levels.
Following is a non-exhaustive list of thirty (30) federal government services and four (4) local government services, together with their sources of funding:
Federal government…
> Australian Parliament – Income tax
> Australian Treasury – Income tax
> Australian Bank (currently privatised) – User pays – Account-keeping fees and transaction fees
> Australian Water & Sewerage – User pays – Water bill
> Australian Electricity (currently privatised) – User pays – Electricity bill
> Australian Gas (currently privatised) – User pays – Gas bill
> Australian Telecommunications (currently privatised) – User pays – Telecommunications bill
> Australian Post – User pays – Postage cost
> Australian Buses – User pays – Ticket cost
> Australian Railways – User pays – Ticket cost
> Australian Ports (currently privatised) – User pays – ?
> Australian Airports (currently privatised) – User pays – ?
> Australian Customs – Income tax
> Australian Roads – Income tax
> Australian Fire – Income tax
> Australian Hospitals – Income tax
> Australian Schools – Income tax
> Australian TAFE (Technical And Further Education) – Income tax
> Australian Universities – Income tax
> Australian Welfare (pensions, unemployment benefits) – Income tax
> Australian National Parks – User pays – Entry cost
> Australian Courts – Income tax
> Australian Police – Income tax
> Australian Prisons – Income tax
> Australian Defence (including border patrol) – Income tax
> Australian State (i.e. external relations) – Income tax
> Australian Trade – Income tax
> Australian Immigration – Income tax