Not good enough
The ALP's persistent refusal to repeal the GST when it next forms federal government is not good enough.
There is already abundant evidence that the GST, even accompanied by income tax cuts, will make most people worse off. For the ALP to rule out ever abolishing it indicates that the "fair go" party does not represent those people who will suffer most — workers, unemployed, pensioners and students.
In fact, the ALP's support for the Coalition government's massive cuts in company tax and capital gains tax, combined with its refusal to consider abolishing the GST, is clear evidence that a federal ALP government will not be inclined to reverse many of the current government's pro-rich and anti-worker policies.
Even the "left" of the ALP is refusing to defend people on low incomes by demanding that a future ALP government abolish the GST. The Labor left's factional leaders, parliamentarians and trade union leaders have been deathly silent on this issue; they agree with the ALP's right wing that the GST should be retained.
This lack of opposition is yet more evidence that Labor's left faction exists solely to improve some party careerists' chances of preselection for a seat in parliament, rather than to fight for left-wing policies.
The ALP's arguments for why it "can't" abolish the GST are exceedingly flimsy. Shadow treasurer Simon Crean says repeatedly that the GST is like a scrambled egg: "The egg will be so scrambled, it will be impossible to unscramble it. It's not that we wouldn't repeal it [the GST], we wouldn't be able to repeal it ... Once a GST is introduced, it's effectively there forever."
This pathetic argument has barely been challenged, yet the truth is that if a GST can be implemented by a government, it can be just as easily be removed.
The other argument used by Labor to justify its position is that a future ALP government won't have enough revenue to abolish the GST. This too is a furphy.
If the ALP was serious about shifting the tax burden from the poor to the rich (which it is not), it could easily sort out the question of revenue. For a start, it could reverse the company tax cuts and increase company tax to 46%, the level it was in the early 1980s. Then it could remove the GST, make a serious effort to close corporate tax avoidance schemes and adjust income tax brackets to ensure that workers on average wages aren't pushed into the top income tax brackets.
The role of the Australian Democrats in assisting the Coalition to introduce the GST shouldn't be forgotten either. Even the "leftists" in the Democrats, including Natasha Stott Despoja, voted for the bulk of the GST.
One thing that we can be sure of after July 1 is that hostility towards the Howard government, combined with a sense of betrayal at the ALP and Democrats' political manoeuvring, will reinforce and increase popular disenchantment with official politics.
Blame where it's due
Hypocrisy, it seems, has no natural limit, if the reaction of British politicians to the June 19 deaths of 58 people seeking to enter that country "illegally" is anything to go by.
British PM Tony Blair, home secretary Jack Straw and their assorted lower-level trolls all claimed to be outraged by how much the 58 refugees, nearly all from China, would have suffered as they suffocated inside a trailer container on the hottest day of the summer. The politicians promised to bring those responsible to justice.
But the subject of their indictment should be themselves, not the "people smugglers" they blame. The only reason the 54 men and four women died was because of the harsh laws Britain (and other Western countries, including Australia) has introduced to restrict people coming into the country to those who are wealthy and white. For those others who are desperate enough, who are fleeing persecution or dire poverty, "people smugglers" are the only option they have.
To make the spectacle even more hideous, Straw will likely use this tragedy to justify building the fortress walls even higher: making the tragedies worse but not so upsetting for those watching the nightly news while sitting down to tea.