New Ways to Measure Our Wellbeing: Fiona Stanley at Progress 2017

Fiona Stanley, Child Health Research professor at the University of Western Australia, addressed the Progress 2017 gathering in Melbourne on 7 June. She explores the ANDI project (Australian National Development Index) a holistic measure of national progress and wellbeing.

Fiona argues that GDP (Gross Domestic Product - the usual indicator of economic growth) is a "very flawed measure" that takes no account of the impact on our wellbeing. She instances the 2009 bushfires as "a great contributor to GDP".



"It is time to end this mis-measure of human progress by economic growth alone."

The ANDI index will measure:

Children and young people’s wellbeing

Community and regional life

Culture, recreation and leisure

Governance and democracy

Economic life and prosperity

Education, knowledge and creativity ​

Environment and sustainability

Justice, fairness and human rights

Health

Indigenous wellbeing

Work and work-life balance

Subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction ​

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Fight Inequality: Sally McManus' Rally Cry at Progress 2017

Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, addresses the Progress 2017 gathering in Melbourne on 7 June:

If you want to fight inequality, join us! If you think all workers, no matter who they are, deserve the right to paid sick days or paid annual leave, when they're sick or at the end of the year, join us! If you believe there should be limits on corporate greed, then join us!

The two-day event was organised by the Centre for Australian Progress. Digital Storytellers shared some highlights:



More video coming.

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Good News about Oz Economy- Believe It or Not

Some tweets to brighten up your day if Joe Hockey's economic voodoo is worrying you:

Australia’s GDP per capita 2012 was US$67,442 per person, cf $51,749 for USA . In Howard's 2005 Aus GDP per capita =$32,526, US=$44,314.

— Rod_Hagen (@Rod_Hagen) May 4, 2014

Did you know the size of govt was 1.8% of GDP lower under Rudd/Gillard than under Howard? http://t.co/AINhzYUFDY #insiders
— Stephen Koukoulas (@TheKouk) May 3, 2014

Some crisis @johndory49 Oz 1 of only 6 countries with AAA credit rating from all 3 major agencies & lowest debt-to-GDP of 17 major economies
— Good Sir Knight (@BrigadierSlog) May 4, 2014

IMF says as things stand Australia is forecast to have second lowest debt in 2018 #debtmythbusting #auspol
— Brendan O'Connor (@BOConnorMP) May 4, 2014

OPINION: If Australia's economy is in crisis,the rest of the world is doomed http://t.co/8CquJniju5 #auspol #qldpol pic.twitter.com/63wqb2VcVU
— The Courier-Mail (@couriermail) May 3, 2014

Even the guy that wrote the #CommisionOfAudit ADMITS there IS NO BUDGET EMERGENCY! #AusPol pic.twitter.com/2s5dQnwU0X
— Kiera (@KieraGorden) May 2, 2014

The last time Aust had a real economic emergency Abbott got drunk and went and slept in his office #auspol http://t.co/bxyzoks6nF
— Quiet_Please (@Quiet__Please) May 4, 2014

'As if the authors watched The Wire and thought, if only': @GrogsGamut on the Commission of Audit: http://t.co/fZQ8isSS2e

— Katharine Viner (@KathViner) May 5, 2014

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The Budget: What's in it for...

Labor's 2013-14 Federal budget deserves a close look.

First, an ALP video for the true believers: The Federal Budget in 3 minutes

Next is the usual calm economic analysis from Greg Jericho (Grogs Gamut). For fans of Greg's graphs, this post has six:

The coverage of budgets is invariably an attempt to find the narrative - some overreaching story which apparently explains what has happened and what is coming in the next year or more.

Some stories can be written without even paying heed to the innards of the budget papers. Take the Treasurer's speech which began:

Tonight this Labor Government makes the choice to keep our economy strong and invest in our future. To support jobs and growth in an uncertain world.

This could be cut and pasted and used in any future (or past) budget speech regardless of party, year or state of the economy.

For the most part the political narrative has been written as well. This is the final Swan budget, the Swan song, the attempt to lock in Labor's legacy. No budget is ever really a political game changer, and for the Government this budget comes very much in the shadow of last year's.

A year ago the narrative was about a surplus - the path to surplus was clear and it was also writ in stone as a holy good.

This year, if there is any real narrative beyond the usual humdrum, it is that we might finally be facing up to the reality of the post-GFC world.
Budget faces up to Australia's economic reality

Religious-based Overseas Aid NGO Micah Challenge expressed concerns that the foreign aid target of 0.5% of Gross National Income has been delayed a year and funds diverted to asylum seeker programs within Australia. However, its response contained a strong plus side:

The aid budget will grow by $518 million from last year, reaching almost $5.7 billion dollars, or 0.37% of Gross National Income (GNI).

...the Foreign Minister went out of his way to note the strength of the community campaigning, and Parliamentary lobbying, that led to foreign aid being increased, when many other Government programs are being cut.

...Second, there was a bigger than expected increase in funding to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) programs – a 70% increase from $164 million last year to $279 million in this budget.

...The Government also announced a commitment to invest $391 million over the next for years to accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific – targeting, particularly, MDG 1 on hunger, MDG 2 on education and MDG 5 on maternal mortality.
AUSTRALIA'S AID BUDGET 2013-14: DELAYED, DIVERTED BUT STILL DOING GOOD

Finance commentator Michael Pascoe has had this to say to the scaremongers:

After all the rather mindless carry on about having a surplus or not having a surplus and then just how big a deficit it might be, we can at last breathe easy with the knowledge that the federal government will finish this financial year with a deficit of about $19 billion. And that’s actually a fine thing.

And so is a deficit of about $18 billion for the next financial year. Substantially smaller deficits this year or next really wouldn’t be worth the economic cost.
Thanks for the deficit, really

Finally, the expenditure about which Julia Gillard's government, indeed all Australians, should be justly proud - the National Disability Insurance Scheme (DisabilityCare). From Julia's speech to parliament:

Much of the mainstream media have chorused that none of this matters because the election result is in the bag for Abbott's austerity Coalition. They seem to acknowledge that the Liberal National razor will cut most worthwhile initiatives if they win. For the rest of us, there are votes to cast in four months time - a chance to vote for meaningful progressive programs.

A chance to vote against the cynicism and negativity bred of self-interest and greed.

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Julia's Community Cabinet: Policy Sounding Without Fury

There were quite a few surprises at Julia Gillard's Community Cabinet on 17 April 2013, hosted by Norwood Secondary College in Melbourne's eastern suburb of Ringwood.

Cabinet members held one-on-one interviews before a public forum that lasted over an hour. The government school is in the Federal seat of Deakin held by Labor's Mike Symons. Deakin only needs a swing of 2.41% to change hands but Mike certainly is not conceding anything.

First surprise was that the protesters outside came from only one interest group: the Animal Justice party had mustered over 100 supporters. There were no climate sceptics, no refugee advocates, no University students highlighting funding cuts, no representatives of the monied classes protesting class warfare. This was despite the school being well served by public transport and freeways.

Secondly, the usual suspects did not appear to be inside the event either. Registration was open to all-comers, taking three days to fill apparently. Questions were taken at random. If they were rigged then the PM's slip, in nominating a woman incorrectly as a man, belied that notion.

Someone was handing out the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia newspaper. It is a very reality-challenged organisation - see footnote*** for a taste of their parallel universe.

Somewhat upexpected was the very warm and loud reception Julia Gillard received from the standing-room only crowd. At times it felt more like one of Gough Whitlam's public meetings, with plenty of true believers in attendance. In addition, the government's DisabilityCare program seemed to have attracted a significant number of the participants.

The level of civility was also surprising given the depths of public abuse and denigration our political discord has reached recently. Exchanges were good-humoured and without interjections. Great to see that democracy can flourish without descending to some parody of a survivor reality TV program. No testosterone, and no belittling!

In fact, there was very little spin. Don't take my partisan word for it. Watch the video. It isn't very entertaining unless you're a political junkie. (I met one of those at Ringwood station afterwards, a young man complete with suit, who was bitterly disappointed that he had not managed to have his photo taken with Julia. I had to settle for a brief encounter with our outstanding Health Minister Tanya Pliberek.)

Issues raised by the participants included: climate change, legal aid, same sex marriage, the Royal Commission into child abuse in religious institutions, gay rights in aged care facilities, school education funding, industrial relations, pensioners.

One question that brought agreement from much of the audience was a non-policy one: "The Labor Party has been making a difference for the whole of Australia. Why on earth doesn't the general public know?". Might sound like a Dorothy-Dixer but it wasn't: "Labor's promotion and publicity is absolutely woeful."

The Community cabinet was sound rather than sensational. Julia Gillard certainly hasn't given up and her focus was on what distinguishes her government from Abbott's austere opposition: good policy. Substance over noise!


[*** From the CECA's The New Citizen: "Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II have openly, repeatedly proclaimed their intent to kill some six billion human beings, in order to consolidate permanent, worldwide British imperial rule." Won't waste your time by including a weblink.]

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Australian Media Fuelling Doubt with Speculation Specfest

It hasn't taken ABC Radio National's Breakfast program long to get back to normal. Its bleak view of the world in general and Australia in particular was in full swing this morning.

Presenter Fran Kelly and Michelle Grattan, daily guest from Fairfax's newspaper The Age, shared their usual specfest about the national political scene. They hit a new low, discussing the speculation that there may be further ministerial resignations from the Gillard government before the 14 September election.

The analysis: "it is fuelling doubt". It's all about perceptions: "impressions of chaos", "perceptions have taken over". As Kelly noted, Grattan's article on Saturday argued that "JULIA Gillard's problems with her reshuffle will be how it is perceived".

By whom, the press gallery? I'm sure they're not using terms such as "sinking ship" or "spinning out of control". On ABC Tv news, Greg Jennett offered this gem when introducing Gillard's press conference with the two retiring ministers: "These are the melancholy days of governing". An "emotional" event in the PM's words, a sad day. Why the hyperbole, with an emotive, negative and inaccurate word like "melancholy"?

Just who is fuelling doubt?  What was the origin of this speculation? Michelle's take on more resignations: there are "none known about. The government probably doesn't expect anymore". BUT "you never know what happens".

There aren't even the usual anonymous party sources or leaks used as justification for this kind of beat-up.

You can listen to their segment here.

This kind of negativity goes hand-in-hand with the constant talking-down of the Australian economy. If you believed the gloom on Breakfast and other ABC programs, you'd have sold all your shares months ago and slashed your financial wrists.

Another Fairfax journalist is grappling with this problem. Economics editor Ross Gittins wonders:

It's long been clear from polling that the electorate doesn't regard the government as good at managing the economy. 

Why this should be so is a puzzle.

At least Ross usually tries to counter this perception. The headline might well be a factor: Why voters believe the economy is in trouble

Another Fairfax publication, the Australian Financial Review, joined in the specfest in
Gillard feared leadership tilt. According to Phillip Coorey and Laura Tingle:

Fear of sparking a leadership ballot at the end of last year was a key ­reason Julia Gillard delayed until last week the decision to reshuffle her cabinet.

Or did she? Later the article gives the game away. It clearly contradicts itself under the sub-heading MEDIA SPECULATION:

While the Prime Minister did not think there was a likelihood of an actual challenge, media speculation at the time was stoking unrest.

Perhaps Phillip and Laura took turns to write paragraphs.

Apparently, the Insiders managed to get to policy matters 47 minutes into the hour long TV show. I'll rely on twitter as the source. It's as reliable as "you never know what happens"!

Anyway the current specfest is a substitute for the usual mindless speculation about the date of the election or the Kevin Rudd challenge meme. When there is no challenge or likelihood of one, the journos have to dance around it, creating their own smoke.

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Andrew Robb Takes Credit for School Halls

You can't underestimate Coalition Shadow Finance spokesperson Andrew Robb’s cunning. Our Goldstein Federal member stopped mentioning school projects for fear of endorsing stimulus funding under the Building Education Revolution (BER). For some time they had disappeared from his website.

But being a politician, he just can't help trying to take some of the credit. His latest ploy is to 'congratulate' recipients:

Federal Government funding highlights since 2004

I would like to congratulate everyone who has approached both the Coalition Government and the Labor Government over the last six years to secure this funding.

He lists BER projects by sub-program only e.g. National School Pride. So he is taking some credit for the “waste” he’s always harping about.

Incidentally, of the 35 NSP projects, only one mentions a school hall and it was an extension to create a gymnasium. So much for the so-called 'school halls' program!

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Cartoonists Capture Oz Politics

A couple of cartoons reflecting on Oz party politics this week: The first is from Laberal: Coalition plan to slash $70bn from budget

The second, from Fiona Katauskas, is posted at Eureka Street: A Lack of Opposition

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Tony Abbott: Populism's Stunted Master

Let's get Australia back from Tony Abbott's claptrap.

Enter the trihardothon budgie/bumper sticker competition at  Café Whispers.

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Joe Hockey feeding both sides of the spending fence

Joe Hockey is not intersted in consistency when he's spinning the daily chook droppings. From ABC Radio AM this morning:

JOE HOCKEY: Well we committed to welfare reform, but we also recognise that if you are going to move people from welfare into work you have to spend money on training, on job support. Most importantly you need to, especially in the case of disability pensioners, upgrade facilities at employers' premises.
Hockey: budget not credible without carbon tax numbers

On Sunday he rolled his hollow barrel about government expenditure:

THE Federal Government says it will deliver a tough budget, but all it has done during the past week is spend money, Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey says.

Mr Hockey says if the Government wants to take upward pressure off interest rates it has to get the budget back to surplus, and the starting point is to stop spending money.
Want to budget? Just stop spending, says Joe Hockey

Neither are the media, going by the lack of rigour in testing Joe's contradcitory nonsense with the odd pertinent question.

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It's THE ECONOMY Mr. Abbott!

Trade surplus surges on resource boom

Rio's billion-dollar expansion plans

Big new prosperity and big new profits.

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Abbott's Strong Pain for the Economy

Just been watching Coalition Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb on ABC24 try to maintain he is pleased by the Reserve Bank decision to keep interest rates on hold. He obviously lives in a different economy from the rest of us.

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Get the Billionaires Off the Barricades

Fortescue Metals Group's Andrew Forrest is leading the "small" miners against the labor government's proposed Rent Resource Tax. According to their own website Fortescue's Market Capitalisation was approximately $13.67 billion as at 03 May 2010. Small beer! Twiggy's own wealth has been estimated at $4 billion.

Join the Fair Go For Billionaires Campaign!

Let's get the billionaires off the barricades.

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Abbott's Opposition Under Great, Big Cloud

Our local member, Andrew Robb, excelled himself yesterday. It must be difficult competing with Christopher Pyne and Joe Hockey for the crudest catchphrase or meaningless mantra. Joe has taken to adding "and stop the boats" to the end of his pronouncements no matter what the context. Andrew had the country under a "great big cloud" yesterday on Radio National's Breakfast program. It's times like these when it's a pity to have given up sarcasm.

It is the opposition that is under a cloud, especially when it comes to economic policy. Anyway, you have to love the ockerisms that flow no-stop. It's fair-dinkum, dodgy authenticity.

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Warren Truss for Deputy Prime Minister. Not!

The ALP is leading the coalition for the fourth poll in a row. Perhaps we can get back to some real political debate now. Most of the opposition spin is about Rudd doing nothing. It is Nationals leader Warren Truss's (who?) only line. And in a week that gave us Paid Parental Leave and the Broadband deal with Telstra.

Barnaby Joyce should be figuratively horsewhipped by the media for his attack on Rudd's whoring with pimp pollsters. Is that the only way he can keep himself in the spotlight?

Lenore Taylor's remarks on ABC Breakfast this morning, that as Rudd and Swan were planning their economic stimulus package, the media were consumed with Costello's leadership ambitions, were very revealing. It is hard to take the mainstream media seriously, given their lack of depth or understanding.

Today's headlines should be about the split in the coaltion over parental leave, given their decision to oppose Tony Abbott's proposed scheme.

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India Proposes Resources Windfall Tax

Thanks to Tom R at Cafe Whispers for this link:

NEW DELHI -- India's Mines Ministry has proposed a windfall tax on non-fuel minerals such as iron ore to claim part of what the government considers high profits earned by the mining sector.

"Our proposal is to levy a windfall tax on domestic sales as well as exports of minerals when their (prices) are substantially higher than the cost of production," Mines Minister B.K. Handique said in an interview.

On the lines of a similar proposal in Australia, the new tax is also meant to raise additional revenue for the government. But unlike in the former, India has a predominantly captive production model where mining leases are mostly given out to producers with their own plants to make finished products such as steel.
India Proposes Windfall Tax on Non-Fuel Minerals

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Mining Windfalls A Taxing Problem

Crosspost from Th!nk3: Developing World 'Mining Windfalls A Taxing Problem'

Two of Australia's richest people, Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart, led a protest demonstration on Wednesday against Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The big end of town took to the streets in Perth.

There is a major political battle raging between the government and the Mining companies over a proposed Resources Rent Tax, popularly known as the Resources Super Profits Tax.

Meanwhile in Mongolia:

The decision by the government of Mongolia to allow Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd to develop the Oyu Tolgoi mine has caused civil unrest in the country because of a number of claimed legal irregularities in the agreement (not least the lack of a full Environmental Impact Assessment and a detailed water study).
Update on Rio Tinto at Oyu Tolgoi

Rio Tino issued a response to criticism:

Similarly at Oyu Tolgoi there has been a high level of consistent, genuine engagement with local communities, herders and the government. Projects of this nature will attract objections, and we expect them as a sign of a healthy civil society.

The full text is available here. Their promotional video from 2009 shows what's at stake.

Locals were concerned not only about environmental issues. They also claim that the agreement between their government and Rio Tinto/Ivanhoe Mines will not provide a fair return to the Mongolian people:

On 4 April 2010 NGOs and 200 representatives from 18 'aimags' (provinces) gathered in Sukhbaatar Square, the main square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, calling on the Government to respect its election promises and accusing it of selling out the country to foreign mining interests.

... The NGOs are also asking Professor Ruggie to review the fairness of the benefit sharing arrangements of the Investment Agreement so as to ensure that the project helps eradicate poverty in Mongolia.
Mongolian NGOs appeal to UN over Oyu Tolgoi

It seems that a windfall tax was sticking point last year:

An investment agreement for the first major mining project in the country is expected to act as a blueprint for billions of dollars worth of future investments in other resources projects.

... the parliament agreed to scrap the windfall profits tax on copper and gold, setting the stage for an agreement, miners Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe said in separate statements.

The windfall tax, introduced in 2006, and a demand for greater government ownership in strategic projects, have been key sticking points between the government and investors, delaying the progress of several investment proposals despite a mining boom in recent years.
Mongolia clears way for Oyu Tolgoi mine

These days everything seems connected. Must be galloping globalisation. There has been a lot of talk about resource taxes creating a sovereign risk. That's the risk that government actions pose for mining ventures. The real risk may well be to sovereign States and their ability to stand up for their long-term national interests.

Full post

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RSP Tax: It's Going To Ruin Us - Not!

A video gem about the Resources Super Profits Tax (thanks to tigtog at Hoyden via Larvatus Prodeo for the link) from the CFMEU:



Pass it on.

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Malcolm Turnbull Spells Out the Climate Challenge

A cross post from Global Voices: Australia: Climate Change Election a Step Closer

Even before the Copenhagen Climate Change conference the Australian Opposition parties had dumped their support for a Cap and Trade scheme and their leader Malcolm Turnbull. Last week new Liberal party leader and global warming sceptic Tony Abbott released an alternative carbon emissions plan.

Meanwhile Kevin Rudd’s government has reintroduced its Emissions Trading Scheme to the House of Representatives where Turnbull crossed the floor to vote against his own party. Last year the ETS was blocked twice by the Senate after the Opposition dumped a negotiated deal.

Turnbull's full speech to parliament is a must read. There's a link in the GV post.

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Avatar Stirs Conservative Ire

It seems that Andrew Bolt et al are not the only conservatives to have problems with Avatar's political message:

James Cameron's "Avatar" may have smashed box-office records, but it's receiving less-than-stellar reviews from some conservative writers who have panned the movie's blunt political messaging.
James Cameron's gamble pays off as his "Avatar" passes the billion-dollar mark.
The Politics of 'Avatar:' Conservatives Attack Film's Political Message

Thanks to Current for the link.

My view from Cinema Takes:

Those looking for a message will probably find it, but be warned it’s not much of an allegory. It may have upset some conservative commentators, but not all tree-huggers, gaia greenies or animal libbers will embrace it either. The indigenous people are full-on meat eaters.

Ultimately god/gaia is an anti-colonial, anti-globalisation, save-the-planet, peace warrior. She’s called Eyra on Pandora. The 'mother" doesn’t take sides, she just gets even.
Avatar: One, Two, Three Dimensional

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