The activity of decoding is to take a complex and hidden message, and make it clear and understandable – sort of the opposite of a spin-doctor.
To illustrate, I’d like to explore what’s happening with Australian governments by using logic i.e. a connected series of propositions that demonstrate some point.
As a starting point, let’s assume that the governments of Australia are there to help all of the people of Australia to benefit in some way (after all, why belong to country otherwise).
Logically then we could say
IF
the governments of Australia are there to help all the people of Australia
THEN
1. Governments would plan effectively for our future
2. Government services would be of high quality and care for the people
3. Australia would develop as an independent country
4. Institutions that protect our democracy would be protected and cherished
5. Our tax and legal systems would be fair and unbiased.
Now we would ask whether our numbered assumptions did in fact demonstrate the original proposition as true.
We’d note that:
1) It has taken the Business Council of Australia to point out substantial deficiencies in our infrastructure (roads, bridges, rail, water, power) and that the Prime Minister recently told the Productivity Commission to figure out how many medical staff we’d need in the future. In other words, these essential planning activities are not being conducted by our governments routinely, so point 1) appears to be false.
2) Tens of thousands of Australians die unnecessarily each year in our hospitals and tens of thousands are crippled by accident. Disabled people are left without care, aged care is frequently inadequate, Centrelink makes millions of errors in a year. Almost no government services have any of the aspects of quality that taxpayers are entitled to expect. In fact, despite the billions of our dollars spent, there are no service standards for the public at all, our governments can treat us like crap and spend the money on whatever they like. So point 2) also looks false.
3) Australia’s balance of trade shows that we import much more than we export, our manufacturing base is weak and we are becoming increasingly dependent on imports (computers, cars etc) putting us further into debt and pushing more and more jobs overseas. We are becoming more dependent.
4) Institutions that protect our democracy include freedom of speech and a free press. Australia’s media is owned by 3 or 4 people, with virtually no diversity whatever. Australians have no rights (except those in specific bodies of legislation) neither are there forums for people to engage in democratic debate, in fact the federal government is cutting what few rights we do have in legislation. In Tasmania the press is almost entirely pro-business with little attention paid to the needs of communities or the environment when any large piece of business is in prospect. Democracy appears to have been reduced to voting once every few years, hardly citizen involvement in the political process.
5) Our Tax System has been called a ‘national disgrace’ by judges; it is over 10,000 pages long and puts the onus on taxpayers to work out their taxes. While this may work for simple cases, it’s mission impossible for businesses and ventures who can never really know what taxes they could be assessed. Tax administration is absurdly expensive for everyone and tax rates are both too high, and cut in at too low an income (bracket creep).
Informed observers say that the system normally would take 10 years to change…10 years! In a world that itself is changing at an unprecedented rate! And the costs of making those changes in a period of 10 years will run into hundreds of millions of dollars, and during that period huge damage will still be done by our disgraceful tax system. Our legal system has moved out of reach of many people due to costs moving out of the range of possibility for anyone except the wealthy or government. In all this barristers have voted themselves as not being able to be sued for negligence…a particular exclusion for a group with a clear conflict of interest.
Clearly governments favour the wealthy
From 5 possible proofs that government is working in the interests of all Australians, none of them proves the point, in fact the evidence appears to disprove it. What might this mean?
The most likely conclusion is that government is not working in the interests of all Australians at all; it is focussing on the needs of a few, apparently at the expense of the majority of people. And it can get away with this because we don’t have any rights.
There are other indicators to demonstrate this such as the the fact that Australia has been told by the OECD that the number of poor people in Australia is growing too rapidly. Clearly governments favour the wealthy.
A glance at the way the Tasmanian government is rushing to help Gunns to establish a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley and throwing taxpayers money at a travelling road show to promote the mill demonstrates the point.
Or the huge giveaway of poker licences and land at Coles Bay to Federal Hotels apparently worth $130 million in total, money that could save our collapsed public dental service.
Those Tasmanians on waiting lists and in pain (thanks to the State government putting too many health dollars into administration and cutting public medical and dental services) might take some comfort in knowing that the head of the Tasmania Together board, Bob Campbell, returned from a successful trip to Jamaica in December promoting the Tasmania Together process. Presumably we can expect a major jump in Jamaican tourism this year. Feel better now? In their most recent report the Tasmania Together board reported on the achievements of the Tasmanian people to the state Parliament…whose working for who here?
So the decoded conclusion is that our governments are not serving the people at all, they are serving selected groups to the detriment of everyone else. As one of the highest taxed nations, money isn’t in short supply…they’re just spending it on things that aren’t helping most people.
Think about it … if you agree you might want to take action to make the government serve everyone, it’s no good waiting for anyone else to do it.
It’s our country after all…or is it?
Deboxer
April 4, 2005 at 08:09
LOCALES TOGETHER
I reckon this fits as a piece in the Decoder puzzle.
A traditional healthy quality of local life can be best achieved without the stifling and siphonings of incorrect global trade. King Island as an example makes its effort. The home and hosed yuppy reflex scoffs; King Island! King Island is to Tasmania as Tasmania is to Australia and as Australia is to the West – a last vestige still to be assimilated and become reliant upon a fickle Global mega-monster. Without our local economies and the healthy colloquial cultures and strength of character they bring, we can be caught, without our own potatoes, as wage slaves to absent landlords and worse. Local people think about it. Please unite and consolidate with Tasmania’s other locales, buoyed by their own uniqueness ready to accept a pioneer’s adversity. And, extremely urgently, to create filters to control Global inflows and siphonings. (The only other comeback may well be ultimately terroristic.)
It’s hard in the face of the monster’s extant momentum here – fat kids, ghastly televisory imageries, machine poker and established deals. Whilst the State fights and seduces the monster to aid itself on one hand, it imposes similar and transfers global economic imperialising down-under to its own locales.
Tasmania has two heads. One is afflicted with gullibilities, short-sightedness, common greed, nervous desperation and centralised philistinian values. The other is meek, slow to speak, and awfully nice to have country scones with. They could both do with urgent counselling – but one has to come off.
There must be more local strength. There’s not much left down under Downunder and even less down under that. Please give King Island higher media celebration than wood-chipping and teach our country children more from the local creek than uncensored global television.
What is the name of the main Tasmanian island? Nameless! What is the name of the main Tasmanian government? Consolidated Locales of Tasmania – imagine. Will the vast silent majority of selective country-loving clots please speak up at every opportunity? Global (and Federal and State) is an answer if it is lorded by local community. Flex the local bicep and repioneer for the kids. The tourists will love it.
This note was inspired by something that happened in King Island in 2002.
Raspberry
April 6, 2005 at 20:24
Great piece, Decoder. What you say is so obvious but none of it ever makes the political agenda.
So governments are simply minding the shop for the big end of town–or these days, Global Money.
But how much does the average voter care? How much does Avvo really care for democracy and political freedom? She has been brainwashed from birth into accepting bread and circuses in exchange for acquiescence and apathy. When you’ve got The Weekend Australian’s Approved Lifestyle to enjoy, so what if 1984 is here already? Big Brother will protect us, right?
And anyway, what can Avvo achieve even if she does get fired up? How are you going to focus enough media attention for long enough to embarass backbenchers into taking their job seriously?
You’re going to need a grass-roots, non-political, national movement of Citizens for Better Government and who’s going to start it, lead it, resource it, run it etc?
I’m 62, and I’m not optimistic about your chances. But don’t give up, keep writing.
Deboxer
April 7, 2005 at 05:15
Assimilate and do
It’s easy Raspberry. It’s just that it’s slow (and maybe too late). One assimilates one’s knowledge with one’s values and lives accordingly with every breath. Incrementally and down the generations it happens. The social movements we note tend to fit the good and evil scenarios. We are all flawed to greed, arrogance and so on. these flaws are what create the problem. All the problem-makers can be enlightened somehow. Unfortunately for the living and for them very many don’t become enlightened until after they die.
Even though it’s slow, it’s the only option of sane doing. And it’s right. And by the fact of our amazing existence right is right and that is that. The order of the jungle wins over to the order of the garden, because people need people. You keep writing too.