Why I have Nominated

Until recently it was always the case that the living standards of each generation were better than those of the previous one. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Mass immigration puts enormous upwards pressure on house prices, to the detriment of renters and first-home buyers. Although overly generous negative gearing rules are also a problem, negative gearing is a symptom rather than a root cause. Investors are willing to make a loss on their investments in the short term because they expect a capital gain. And that gain is coming because of increased demand for housing due to population growth. No amount of tinkering around the edges is going to fix the housing affordability crisis. We need to go to the root cause and reduce immigration.
• Then there is the rise of the multinational company. Such companies routinely engage in various financial manipulations so that for tax purposes expenses are incurred and deducted in high-tax jurisdictions and profits are made in low cost jurisdictions. As a consequence, it is harder for local companies to compete and tax rates are higher for the rest of us than they need to be and should be.
• The welfare state is becoming unsustainable. The welfare state is not new but it has taken some time for multigenerational welfare dependency to take hold. The problem is not with the rates at which benefits are paid. The problem is that an unspoken and unchallenged assumption prevails that the government has to keep paying up when people who are already on welfare have child after child. Meanwhile, people who have to pay their own way need to carefully consider every child because housing near employment is so expensive.
• We are falling over ourselves to welcome foreign investments. That would not be such a problem if this investment resulted in employment opportunities. But in many cases, foreign investors just buy up existing assets. Meanwhile, Australians who put their money in the bank are lucky to break even after tax and inflation.

There are many other problems that need fixing. But the ones I mentioned above are those that neither Labor nor the Coalition is taking seriously.

I want the decline to stop and I want Australia to prosper. I want these issues debated, not just if I am elected but also during the campaign.