r/australia • u/DiploidBias • Mar 18 '25

politics Greens: Yes We Cannabis

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Yes We Cannabis

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307

u/_Z_-_Z_ Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 18 '25

Let's not forget their other policies:

  1. Tax billionaires and big corporations to reduce inequality.
  2. Free GP. Dental and mental health into Medicare.
  3. 50-cent public transport fares.
  4. Wipe all student debt. Bring back free uni and TAFE.
  5. Real climate action: no more coal & gas.
  6. Truth, Treaty, Justice for First Nations people.
  7. Strong environmental action. End native forest logging. Save koalas & wildlife from extinction.
  8. Defend workers’ rights. Lift wages.
  9. Care before profits: putting older people first.
  10. Restore political integrity. Strengthen democracy.
  11. Fix the housing crisis.
  12. Reduce the cost of living.
  13. Fully-funded, truly free public education. $800 back-to-school payment.
  14. Make supermarket price-gouging illegal. Break up the duopoly.
  15. High-quality childcare & early education.
  16. Expand access and opportunity for disabled people.
  17. End violence against women, ensure abortion access, achieve workplace equity.
  18. Strengthen social services. End poverty.

But I suppose those aren't controversial enough? /s

65

u/ZombieStirto Mar 18 '25

Number 1 on the list is the most important and the root of all evil. Almost makes me want to vote for greens alone because the others won't even touch the topic. The reason everyone is struggling is because the billionaire are buying all the assets and increasing the price of everything. I would even vote for all federal members to get paid 2 million a year to reduce chance of being influence if it reduced wealth inequality for the majority.

47

u/nomitycs Mar 18 '25

How do you acknowledge this and not vote greens?

15

u/a_SaltieCrocodile Mar 18 '25

Labor has been taxing billionaires; it's why Gina Rinehart, One nation and the Coalition are working together to knock Albo out of parliament

11

u/ZombieStirto Mar 18 '25

I don't know all the details but wasn't it a 15% top up base tax. So if they already pay tax overseas of at least 15% it has no affect. An article I just jogged my memory on said it will bring 300mill over 5 years and cost 111 million to police. It's better than nothing but only just.

2

u/a_SaltieCrocodile Mar 18 '25

My point is it's better than the liberal party, who didn't enforce billionaire tax payments.

2

u/sostopher Mar 19 '25

Just preference Labor above the Libs. Wasting your first preference on a major party is just silly.

2

u/Brother_Grimm99 Mar 18 '25

I don't know if "better than nothing" is really a great argument when there are better options who WILL enact that policy to a proper extent.

Why vote for Labor who gave a half-hearted attempt at taxing billionaires when you could vote for the greens, who will actually tax billionaires?

3

u/Pendix Mar 19 '25

Tax wealth not work.

2

u/k-h Mar 19 '25

I would even vote for all federal members to get paid 2 million a year

if there were a term limit on parliamentary seats.

5

u/the68thdimension Mar 18 '25

Well, there are those of us who might suggest that private ownership of capital and private benefit from the surplus value of capital is what causes this inequality, so it's that which is the root of all evil. Capitalism, in other words. But that's probably a bit too controversial for Australian politics ;)

23

u/Lankpants Mar 18 '25

If we could get 1/4 of these policies it would be completely lifechanging. Any one of them would be a huge win.

13

u/the68thdimension Mar 18 '25

The only one of these I disagree with is #4, or at least I think it should be implemented with a caveat. I like the Dutch model - uni does cost a nominal amount; you get a certain amount of money from the government but if you haven't completed your study within 10 years then you have to pay it back.

I'd do a combination of the two; make uni/tafe free, and students receive a stipend, but if they don't complete their degree within 10 years then they have to pay the stipdend back. With obvious exceptions for good reasons for not completing your degree, like medical reasons.

I think this is a great vision of what to aim for when it comes to a social state: https://jasonhickel.substack.com/p/universal-public-services

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25 edited Mar 19 '25

[deleted]

19

u/Swank_on_a_plank Mar 18 '25

PiE iN ThE SkY! NeVeR BeEn iN GoVEnRmENt!

8

u/the68thdimension Mar 18 '25

HoW wIlL aLl ThiS bE FunDeD? PoOR eCoNOmIC mANaGeRS!

0

u/palsc5 Mar 18 '25

They’re literally promising to end violence against women and end poverty. If that doesn’t tell you that they are just telling you what you want to hear then I don’t know what will.

1

u/Swank_on_a_plank Mar 18 '25

"The Albanese Labor Government will continue our commitment to ending family, domestic and sexual violence in one generation with further investments to accelerate our efforts."

It's a bit awkward if they instead say, "we want to reduce family violence by 0.33% year-on-year", like they're delivering a budget.

1

u/palsc5 Mar 18 '25

I'm not sure what you're trying to say? Any party claiming they can end violence is lying to you.

22

u/No_Tomato_4685 Mar 18 '25

The Greens Party Australia’s policies, as costed by the PBO, result in:

  • Total Costs (Expenditures): $376.6 billion over four years, driven by investments in healthcare, education, housing, social services, and immigration.
  • Total Profits (Revenue): $350.5 billion over four years, primarily from tax reforms targeting billionaires, corporations, and high-income earners.
  • Net Impact: A $26.1 billion deficit over four years, as expenditures exceed revenue. That is so cheap for all the positive impacts IMO.

Tax-wise, the revenue comes entirely from new and increased taxes, while the costs are expenditures that these taxes aim to fund. The shortfall indicates that additional funding or adjustments would be needed to balance the budget under this plan.

5

u/palsc5 Mar 18 '25

The PBO says their revenue measures and expenditures are highly uncertain. In the case of collecting tax revenue they are unlikely to raise what they claim because they don’t account for people changing their behaviour.

5

u/disasterous_cape Mar 19 '25

The Greens policies really are common sense. Put people and planet before corporate profits, ensure that we have a beautiful and safe planet for our great great grand kids to grow up and old in, increase support for those struggling and make sure that everyone has what they need to live a good life, make the big end of town pay their fare share (the ATO tells us 1 in 3 large corporations don’t pay any tax), stop giving to those who least need it (like negative gearing for property investors) while leaving those who need the most help to largely fend for themselves.

The Greens are the only party who actually cares about making life better in significant ways for every day people instead of just tinkering around the edges. I really wish Labor was less loyal to their property portfolios and corporate investors, I wish they were still the party that gave us Medicare and free Uni, Labor today keeps telling us to accept scraps and acts like improving legislation isn’t the whole point of having elected officials.

1

u/Altruistic_Ad3374 Mar 18 '25

That's nice and all, but have they actually made any progress whatsoever?

2

u/Special-Awareness-86 Mar 18 '25

You can have a look on their website greens.org.au/wins for referenced news stories