10 Funky Ideas To Move the Overton Window

It feels like we liberals are always on the back-foot.

Here’s just a sample of what we face:

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• 45% of GDP being government expenditure. Is 51% socialism?
• Voice To Parliament. How will a parliamentary ethno-chamber build cohesion?
• Payroll taxes. Who thought a tax on jobs was a good idea?
• Indigenous Treaty. Aren’t treaties between countries?
• Elimination of cash. Now every bank statement is a government audit-trail.
• Republic. Who votes Marcia Langton for Elder General?
• Director ID. As if an ABN, ACN, TFN, ASIC Register of Directors weren’t enough!
• National Curriculum. When did it become appropriate to have 14 year old boys lectured by sexologists?

I could go on and on.

You and I are always RESPONDING to nonsense.

It’s about time we got on the front-foot and wedged the foes of freedom.

Here are some ideas:

1. REPEAL-TO-PROPOSE
   Slowly reduce the legislative footprint. If an MP wants to propose legislation, he must first successfully repeal two statutes. Force the parties to negotiate on what can be rescinded. If both sides can’t agree what’s ripe for repeal, it gridlocks parliament. No new legislation. Perfect!
2. CORPORATE TAX DISCOUNT
   Incentivise business to focus on what’s important and remove the shareholder activists. 5% corporate tax discount for any listed Australian company which eliminates reporting extraneous to shareholder value. Reporting on ESG, diversity and inclusion, affirmative action, environmental concerns disqualifies a company for the discount.
3. PUBLIC SERVICE BOND
   Make it slightly harder to recruit public servants to cause the size of government to shrink. All applicants for departmental public service jobs (not operational agencies) shall pay a bond on accepting a role. The security deposit will be set at a % of the salary being offered sufficient to decrease applications overall by 10%. Make the bond scale according to the salary. Bond returned on resignation. Bond forfeited if terminated, if they run as a candidate for parliament or if they stay in the public service longer than 3 years.
4. GOVERNMENT-TO-ENTERPRISE INCENTIVEMake it attractive for public servants to leave the public pursue and start a business. Any public servant who resigns and launches a small business employing at least 5 staff and that business is unrelated to their public service job, the individual will gain a 50% discount on his PAYG Withholding Tax for 2 years from commencement.
5. SUPERANNUATIONReverse financial services domination and return more control to individuals. Superannuation can be accessed for buying a property to occupy, formal educational and vocational qualifications, the superannuant’s healthcare and for launching a business with at least 5 staff. Self-managed superannuation fund compliance requirements to be simplified.
6. LAISSEZ FAIRE CITY-STATESet-aside Australian desert land the size of a city like Hong-Kong or Singapore. Create it as a Special Local Government Area. Draft and pass a constitution which includes:
   • a bill of rights
   • democratic franchise
     • Australian citizens
     • Who’ve been continuously resident for 3 years
     • Who’ve paid their 5% tax for those 3 years
     • 3 years reduced to 1 year if they employ 5 or more people in the SLGA
   • within Australia, free movement in and out of the SLGA
   • a democratic parliament
     • One MP per 10,000 residents. If there are only 10,000 residents, there’s only one MP. If 1 million residents, 100 MPs
   • no constitutional amendments allowed until 21 MPs reached, thereafter 90% majority required
   • majority form government
   • personal income tax enshrined at 5%, no deductions or offsets
   • domiciled company tax rate of 5%
   • capital gains tax set at 5%
   • gst set at 5%
   • no other taxes or government levies. Government agency fees for services not permitted or other revenue raising methods
   • government must report how much personal income tax, company tax, CGT and GST they collected in the previous year (Total Taxes Collected)
   • the government must not spend more than Total Taxes Collected, or they are dissolved by a Constitutional Court. So government can only ever be tiny part of the economy
   • SLGA has a sunset clause of 99 years
   Then, announce to the world that the SLGA is open for business on this basis.
7. CLOSE FAIR WORK AUSTRALIA
   Liberalise the labor markets. Yes I know. Shades of WorkChoices.
8. INCENTIVISE MIGRATION FROM NDIS
   This is far too big. Encourage people off it.
9. REDUCE NON-PRODUCTIVE UNIVERSITY FUNDING
   Universities may be free to offer course material on critical race theory, gender studies, colonial oppression studies, sexual studies and the like. However, these subjects shall be regarded as counter-productive to helping students make their way in the world and will result in reduced funding for the university.
10. QUALIFIED TAX FREE THRESHOLD INCREASE
    Increase the tax free threshold from $18,200 to $36,200 for married couples with 4 or more children.

What ideas do you have to push the Overton Window in our favour?

Leave them in the comment below.