Yes vern, but what should we call this party? The the Australian Egalitarian small L libs? And stand on a platform of truth, justice and the Australian way.

With every aspiring candidate able to swear on a bible while wired to a polygraph and again as their policy platform agenda is rolled out? Want real people, who say what they mean and mean what they say!

Big ideas. how we are going to fund them, cooperative endevour and projects earning enough income not to need indefinite support.

We need ideas that resuscitate manufacturing and once again make basic housing cost just 3-4 years of an average adult male income. And against a howling gale of entrenched opposition!

Mostly by working on the supply side/removing all the front end fees, charges and tax to force down prices. Assisting that outcome by requiring a minimum 25% deposit and by getting the government back in the banking, energy and assured water supply business!

Even where that required embracing weapons free nuclear power!? Getting people back to work, with retraining and mentored cadetships useful. And with conscription for dole bludging by the able bodied!

Until and unless we embrace fair dinkum egalitarian equality, end endemic tax avoidance, what we confront is a future where flipping burgers etc/etc, will be done by university graduates.

People mustn't be penalized for being poor, but helped climb out of the holes, post code poverty traps, what have you! And as the first consequence, enrich us all!

We need decentralisation, rapid rail and a modern NBN. And people willing to put their own careers on the line; and control in both houses, to ensure we get them!

Enough with the endless prevarication, the blame shifting finger pointing and divide and rule tactics, that do little more than divide one people against themselves! Think, a divided house cannot stand!

Moreover, entrenched endemic poverty has nothing whatsoever going for it, us or the nation! Even so, expect class and race warfare/power struggle, by folks and pretenders, with a vested interest in anything else!
Alan B.

socialism has always led to poverty and more well paid Government employees.

As 1 of 6 kids who were raised by their mother under constant threat of being taken away from their mother by the Child Welfare Department because she "had no visible means of support," I completely identify with the author.

I have worked since I was 15-16 years old and spent the best years of my live working in iron more mines and I now have my own home. However, I now cannot get work due to the fact that I have turned that magical age of 60+ years that exiles one out of the labour market.

We have enough super to last 3-4 years thereafter I am on the slippery slope of returning to my child hood situation.

I have a morbid and consuming fear of being poor because I cannot forget my childhood.

I have PTS due to poverty induced events that occurred when I was a child.

Despite the simplistic claims made, that the poor deserve their poverty and the rich deserve their wealth, one day people will realise, that we are all controlled by the elite who make laws that are intended to redirect the Common Wealth of Australia to themselves.

Remember, we are many they are few.

David Leyonhjelm, champion of the little poor battlers.

Christ, what an effing joke.

Whatever you do, try not to be a cock.

Jardine,

Your accusations about me are a pack of lies. No doubt you believe them to be true, though, because you have trouble comprehending stuff that contradicts your assumptions. How many years did it take before you finally understood that I oppose rape in all circumstances (including in prison)?

You seem particularly addicted to the fallacy fallacy: as soon as you spot an apparent flaw in your opponent's argument, you wrongly assume that proves you to be right. Worse still, many of what appear to be flaws or contradictions are nothing of the sort.

Regarding aggressive force, I (like almost all the population) believe the state should be able to enforce its laws, so of course it should have the power of arrest. However I believe the police (and indeed the rest of the government) should not resort to actual violence (action that is intended or likely to cause injury) except in self defence or the defence of others. It may seem like complete gibberish to you, but any thinking person should be able to comprehend it easily.

I have previously defended my beliefs, yet you ignore what I say when I do, as you're such a bigoted ignoramus that you assume anyone you disagree with must be resorting to superstition or assumptions of "magical power".

If you'd actually bothered to understand my position, you'd know that printing money is never an alternative to work, but it can make society richer by enabling more work to get done. And that money is a good incentive to work, but society is better off when we're not so dependent on it for everything, especially when we're affected by circumstances beyond our control. And of course the same amount of money has a much greater effect on the standard of living of the poor than that of the rich.

(tbc)