How a long Sunday lunch shows how important politics is!
A couple of our members recently hosted a long, lazy Sunday afternoon lunch at home for a large group of friends. During the afternoon, the conversation led to a discussion on the recent National Press Club address delivered by Allegra Spender (Independent MP for Wentworth) and Dr Richard Denniss (Executive Director, The Australia Institute), entitled “Australia’s Tax Dilemma: The Case for Real Reform”. The shocking revelation that the Commonwealth collects more revenue from HECS fees than it gets from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax really resonated; in fact most of the group had no idea of the burden imposed on Aussie youth in their pursuit of qualifications! As it turns out, there were two very clear outcomes from this casual conversation:
- The number of iView hits on https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2411C001S00 increased as those friends who hadn’t previously seen the Spender/Denniss presentation took the opportunity to check it out. Some even referred it to other mates and family members!
- Lunch goers got onboard with the recently launched Australia Institute petition to Federal Parliament which is seeking an increase in the PRRT. Research already conducted shows that strengthening this tax will raise billions of dollars for essential public services. It will also provide support to assist Australia deal with the increasing impacts of the climate crisis. You can find it online at https://nb.australiainstitute.org.au/increase_the_prrt
Other Voicers have been discussing the newly introduced Fair Work Amendment (Right to Disconnect) Bill. The new laws, which will come into effect within 6 months (15 months for small business) will empower employees to ignore unreasonable communication from their employer outside of work hours if they choose to – and not face penalties for it. The changes, proposed by the Greens and supported by Labor and Independent Senators, aim to restore work-life balance for millions of Australians and follows a global trend that enables employees to switch off outside their regular working hours. Did you know that currently, Australia ranks 32 out of 41 OECD countries in terms of work-life balance?