3 Issues

 

3 Social / Political Issues That Face Government in Australia Today

The ageing population is a problem faced throughout the world.The population in Australia is ageing because of the decreasing birth rate and the increase in life expectancy. While in some countries the population of young people increases, in most others, the elderly and retired live longer. New technology will result in less and less opportunities in the work force. New jobs will exist in the future but require new university graduates. Older people may no longer be able to find a new placement that suits them. Japan’s major solution to the crisis was ‘introducing policies to assist new parents bringing up children’. However, jobs are becoming harder to find, and workers from overseas countries are entering Japan. It is true that increasing the children again is not the only solution.

Australia’s population will become close to 38 million by 2060 which is15 million more than the population in 2012. More government money will be spent on health and aged care. (Productivity Commission 2013 p.2) Years spent outside the labour force are predicted to increase. Therefore in the future, older workers will need to be assisted in finding suitable positions for their age. The government would want people to stay in the workforce longer. (Productivity Commission 2013 p.14) This issue is relevant for our generation as we will be living in the future. The recent new policies are still only very basic in addressing this issue.

The Australian Greens believe thatpopulation policy should not be primarily driven by economic goals or to counter the effects of an ageing population.The Coalition places importance on the aged pension, the compulsorysystem of retirement saving through superannuation, andincentives for voluntary saving.They will not make anyunexpected detrimental changes tosuperannuation.In the area of aged care, investment in dementia research is on their policy. Labor’s Fairer Super Plan will put the retirement income system on a sustainable footing by targeting superannuation tax concessions to those that need them the most.As Australia’s workforce ages, a growing number of Australians will retire and start accessing their superannuation.The tax-free status of all superannuation earnings is too beneficial to high income earners and is unsustainable.This measure will affect account holders with superannuation balances in excess of $1.5 million.

Renewable energyis important. Current energy production will not last long. Developments must be continued in order to ensure a smooth transition to renewable energies. Old-type cars must be phased out. The costs and technologies associated with the production and use must be improved. New jobs will be created which actually employ researchers to find even more efficient ways of producing energy.Current research areas which show a lot of promise are: Bioenergy, Geothermal energy, Ocean energy and solar energy.Megawatt-scale solar electricity generation systems are very promising in Australia. The commercialisation of large-scale solar energy technologies will take some time.Both coal and renewables will power Australia efficiently.I believe that renewable energy will be supported by most parts of the world. It is always better to have a calculator with a solar panel. Products that charge batteries with solar panels are awarded the ‘Good Design Award’. Both nuclear power and solar panels benefit businesses with no other products.

With governments all around the world setting goals for renewable energy, Australia, with its enormous capacity for electricity generation is said to be lagging behind. The Labor party has a policy that aims for 50% renewable energy by 2030 across Australia. Although renewable energy adoption will happen when the right time comes, beginning it earlier will limit global temperature rise to below 2°C. Faster improvements in technology require ongoing pressure from policies. The Greens’ plan to Renew Australia is even more ambitious, with energy generation at least 90% renewable by 2030 and our energy efficiency doubled. New standards, funds and authorities will be created to achieve this.They want to power South Australia with 100% clean energy by 2030 using wind, solar thermal and solar PV. The Greens will have a fund that is spent to ensure coal mine workers can continue to work in the renewable energy industry.The Palmer United Partysays it will pursue a target of 25 per cent of all vehicles to be running ethanol-based fuel by2020. The Shooters and Fishers Party opposes the continued subsidisation of these alternative energy sources while there is an abundance of cheaper energy sources available.I find that NSW electricity and gas bills in the past were very much lower than those in SA now. Renewable energies vary in price depending on the company that supplies the equipment. It does seem unfair that ‘clean energy’ is more expensive than other types. The Liberal National Party has a White Paper that will investigate the role of alternative transport fuel sourcesincluding but not limited to biofuels, LNG, CNG and LPG.Their Policyfor Resources andEnergy is from 2013 and does not cover renewable energy investment.

Unemploymentwill affect our generation in a different way to the types seen until now. Students must choose the right career that leads to stable jobs. If they do not, then long-term unemployment will result. People nowadays have many more skills that can be used to promote themselves. Added to this, the competitors for jobs are now from the whole world. Luck and connections will play a much larger part to getting employed than before. Those who are unlucky will perhaps require support.There is no easy solution to the problem.We will be facing this uncertain future. Unemployment may be a very important issue for us.

The Labor party has several policies to counter the problems of unemployment. They will boost investment in infrastructure, introduce coding and computational thinking in Australian primary schools andsecondaryschools, increase teachersin the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, support publicly funded vocational education and increase university graduates. Investment in human capital will allow the workforce to thrive.The Liberal National Party will introduce a Job Commitment Bonus payment to encourage young Australians to find a permanent job. Palmer Unitedwants a 50 per cent reduction in income tax on second jobs.The Greens NSW attempted to tackle the issue with a fully-funded $2.75 billion local infrastructure program to create up to 15,000 new high quality jobs and training opportunities, many of them targeted at the long-term and young unemployed.Renewable energy, transport and social and affordable housing are other areas of opportunity.A recent plan by the Greens is to have a $15 billion investment in clean energy in South Australia, which would create between 800 and 1,000 full-time design and construction jobs during the next 15 years. SA will run on 100% renewable energy under the Greens. The Australian Greens wantto provide direct industry assistance towards the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, in order to spur research and development, overcome market inertia, create new long-term employment and rapidly decarbonise the economy.Unfortunately, the Family First party is only just beginning to recognize that not all people can have a ‘traditional employment’.No solutions were given. Other parties didn’t have any reference. The HEMP party would allow businessmen to earn profits from cannabis and hemp, but that is not a solution at all.

Most policies put forward by political parties are believable since they are based upon their beliefs. There probably is no assurance that any plan will be carried out. The Greens’ policies were rather extreme. The percentages were extremely high. However, the problem with this is that nothing can be brought against the policies. No one can tell what will happen in the future. How fast the prices drop and new technology is developed cannot be predicted. The majority of the population of Australia would probably not spend many hours going over policy descriptions on the Internet.Proving these statements (including those that accuse other parties) and visiting referenced pages would be even less likely.We can only believe what seems to be believable to us.Gaining information from family and friends is also important. Discussing politics with certain people will also help. Media such as the television and radio regularly provide many perspectives and provide logical explanations and predictions. These shape our beliefs and provide easy material for us consider which party would best run the country.Having an antenna that collects information is important.

The parties’ views on these issues are all logical and based upon their beliefs.Minor parties don’t have many policies that are in-depth and achievable. Their primary focus is on single issues. Of these parties, the purposeful spirit of the Family First party is concerning.Having them holding the balance of power would not be enjoyable. The Greens have policies on a wide range of issues, with an impressive focus on the ecological aspects of them. The Palmer United Party retains some of its Liberal background, with other policies that focus solely on the mining/energy/resources sector. It is not difficult to manage the country without having any policies before an election, but the chances of developing into a bigger party are reduced. The policies of the Liberal Party are in PDF form and therefore cannot be regularly updated as the Labor Party’s website is. Many of the policies of the Labor party look achievable and will most likely have results.However I am unable to choose which party to vote for as I have been unable to see any important policies that relate to us on their websites. Creating jobs does not directly mean that we will get employed. Renewable energy development and investment does not directly mean that I will be able to be employed in the renewable energy research department of some company. However, any party that wants to increase the birth rate will not gain a vote from me. There are many bettersolutionsto the ageing population. Labor and the Greens may be starting to campaign about renewable energy just a little bit too early. But the timing is hard to grasp and Australia does not want to lag behind. It wants to lead the world. I will probably consider these things with more interest five years later.

References

ABC, April 11, 2016,Greens' 100 per cent clean energy plan 'jobs rich' for South Australia, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/greens-100-per-cent-clean-energy-plan-jobs-rich/7315440(accessed Tuesday, 12 April 2016)

Australian Greens, 2016, Population, http://greens.org.au/policies/population(accessed Monday, 11 April 2016)

Australian Greens, 2016, Renew Australia, http://greens.org.au/renew (accessed Monday, 11 April 2016)

Australian Greens, 2016, Economics, http://greens.org.au/policies/economics(accessed Monday, 11 April 2016)

Australian Labor Party, 2016, 50% Renewable Energy By 2030, http://www.alp.org.au/renewableenergy(accessed Tuesday, 12 April 2016)

Australian Labor Party, 2016, Labor's Fairer Super Plan, http://www.alp.org.au/fairer_super_plan(accessed Tuesday, 12 April 2016)

Family First 2016, Employment Policies PDF, p.2

Liberal National Party, 2016, 3-08-27 The Coalition’s Policy to Increase Employment Participation - policy document.pdf, p.2

Productivity Commission 2013, An Ageing Australia: Preparing for the Future,Commission Research Paper Overview, Canberra.

Noah Nishihara Homegroup T09

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