So we go to the polls in 5 short weeks. I’m not the oldest follower of politics out there, but I’ve always had an interest in politics, and that’s something that has only grown as I’ve got older, to the point that I’m reasonably active these days. The reason I mention this is because this election suddenly seems -to me, at least – to be very important. I don’t think I’m the only one that feels this way; I don’t recall the intense level of media speculation about the calling of the election in previous years. It seems – and I might be a little over the top here – that this is a really important point for Australia – almost a turning point between two very different ideologies.

That might sound strange, I know. A lot of people I talk to are really struggling to choose between JG and Tony Abbott, and a lot of others are saying they’ll vote informally, or for the greens or something similar. That kind of talk isn’t particularly unusual – however, usually this is because there seems to be little difference between the two main candidates. Certainly in the Howard/ Keating years, it often seemed to be a choice between two quite similar approaches, especially to economic policy. I know there were differences, but I don’t think people were actually capable of seeing those differences in any real sense.

This time, though, it’s different. There are major points of departure between the Labor party and the Liberals, although one could argue that since JG came to power, the differences have narrowed. Still, there are major differences in most of the policy areas – education (for example, the trade training centres), health (public vs private health care), industrial relations (work choices vs not) – and that makes this election vitally important.

I’m firmly committed to the labor movement – and always have been – but even I can admit that the government has made a lot of mistakes over the past 3 years. The education revolution money, the mining tax, the about-face on climate change have all contributed to a feeling that the labour government is struggling; but- and I reckon it’s a big but – how much of that is just the media apportioning blame? What about all the other things that the labour government has done – and sucessfully, too? Things like reconciliation with indigenous Australians, the national curriculum, increased health care funding, tax reform, industrial relations changes and – most of all – successfully navigating us through the GFC.

So, I guess I’m saying that it’s going to be a hectic 5 weeks or so. There’s going to be a lot of talking about Gillard and Abbott. I’m calling on everybody to just take a moment and remind themselves that a federal election is not a popularity contest. Instead, it’s an opportunity for us to enact our democratic rights by choosing the government that we think will do the best for Australia-  not the best for our back pocket. Although there’s a right in action here, there’s also a responsibility for us to consider the future, and how to best safeguard Australia for successive generations.

I’ve been watching with great interest the recent debate about the correctness of the Resources Super Profits Tax here in Australia. Although I’m by no means knowledgeable about taxation or taxation law, I do think that there are certain conclusions that can be drawn from the course of the debate that illustrate the ideology behind many of the corporate decisions that take place in Australia.
Firstly, though, a little background. Recently, the Federal Government of Australia (at that time, a slightly left of centre labor party) received the findings of the Henry Review. This review looked at Australia’s archaic tax system and made a number of recommendations about improving the system, in the interests of making it more equitable. Some of these recommendations specifically related to replacing the old system of royalty-based mining tax (where all mining companies had to pay a certain fee for using the land and taking minerals from it) with a system that charges a tax once the profits of a mining company exceeds a certain point. It is, to be fair, a tax that is placed upon all the other kinds of taxes, like company tax and so on.

Economists and academics around Australia agreed that this was a way forward for Australia; it made the system fairer and, by not taxing companies until they were making  a profit it would actually encourage investment, rather than hindering it. Here’s a link to an article about that: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Economists-back-RSPT-pd20100526-5SU45?OpenDocument&src=tnb

So far, so good, right? Well, that’s where it all seemed to go wrong. As soon as the tax was announced, the owners of the mining companies immediately used every resource (hah, hah) at their disposal to convince the public that this tax was an outrage, and it would damage the ‘little people’. Basically, you, your job, your house and everything about you was at risk because of this tax. What was particularly interesting was they way that some of the richest people in Australia, like ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, managed to make it look like he and the mining companies were on the side of the average ‘joe’ working hard for a dollar.

Seriously, the whole thing is ridiculous; what isn’t made clear is that this isn’t a new tax at all, but a reform of old ones. In all likelihood, it will make mining in Australia stronger, rather than weaker, and that will provide employment for more Australians. However, what it will do is charge those people who are taking vast sums of money in profits from mining companies more of their earnings. Naturally, this doesn’t make these shareholders happy and thus the stream of invective directed at the Federal Government.

So what is my particular interest in this? Well, I see it as another very clear example of the lack of critical consciousness present amongst the general populace, as well as an example of the ideology of the dominant capitalist hegemony in Australia. Let’s examine the ideology part of this first; one of the principles of ideology requires it to be presented as ‘common sense’. This has been done by the mining companies through their overwhelming use of the media and the tagline ‘If mining’s strong, Australia’s strong.’ However, at no point do they actually explain this tax; instead, they repeat things about people losing jobs and how it will affect all of us. And, here’s the clincher: because they have the power to influence the media, and purchase advertising space, this becomes the message that people hear more often, and therefore come to believe. It’s a short step, then, to adopt it as common sense.

However, if people had learnt to challenge this ideology, and resist the power of the mainstream media; that is, if people were becoming critically conscious, then I believe (and I hope) that this would be a different story; ideally, we might be able to see the vested interests and conflicts that lie behind both the mining companies arguments and the way the media has presented the opposing views to us. Until that point, are we to remain slaves to the capitalist hegemony?