Years ago I read a pamphlet authorized by Lee Rhiannon from the NSW Upper House which said Australia spends $89 million dollars a day on defense/war.
I understand that under Malcolm Turnbull, the amount increased to $100 million a day! So currently Australia spends money on weapons of war and training for US-led wars. I object to this kind of expenditure and its use. I want Australia to be a neutral country. I do not support the US alliance. But unlike Malcolm Frazer, I want to drastically slash military spending and instead have a Peace Corps to deal with The Climate Emergency that is impacting Australia in the form of bushfires, floods, droughts, and more emergencies.
I was at The Harold Park Hotel, the night Frazer launched his book, and I was horrified when he answered my question about military spending as he believed in massive increases in spending.
I’m an advocate for peace and building Common Weal or CommonWealth in Australia and internationally. I do not want our public monies to fund drone attacks or bombing attacks.
I want an end to handing corporations bundles of our cash i.e. outsourcing, privatization, embedded corporates in government. Importantly I want the public service to grow not disappear. I want more teachers, firefighters and social workers to be employed. We have to nationalize a bank and begin rebuilding this nation.
End superprofits. Tax the wealthy at higher rates. And increase welfare generally to above the poverty line. Many economists know that increasing Jobseeker is in the nation’s best interests. Allowing the wealth divide to keep growing with corrupt public policy is not contributing to a peaceful world. It is increasing mental health issues, poverty, and alienation.
$100 million a day is a scandal when civil society needs housing, public services, public transportation, new public education, and health services as well as national repair to our degraded environment and solving the many issues that confront Australia and the world.
Our total aid budget needs to be increased to a level accepted by the UN.
We know that the next wave of Climate refugees is going to dwarf the number of refugees from war and those economic refugees seeking personal riches that are on the move globally.
I want an equitable society. No more funding of private schools or private health.
I want a peaceful society where war is not prioritized over building healthy peaceful secular societies. I want all church and mosque businesses to be taxed. A peaceful civil society must be secular. Our first nation’s people have been living in a war zone for decades. Our daughter spent 4 years at Tenant Creek High and it is a crime that fickle funding models are used instead of real funding of long-term equity in health, education, and skills. The money is being directed to missiles, aircraft, and submarines. This is immoral.
These are political decisions. Neither the Government nor the Opposition represents my views. I do not support spending on war. I do not support the war culture. My father and grandfather spent too much time in the military in WW1 and WW2 and therefore taught me the value of peace. I want peace to be valued. Whilst whenever we accept bombing a city, we accept violence to people and to the environment. Instead, I want a Ministry for Peace that promotes international, national, and local peace between groups and the planet. This means that housing is built to last because it is guided by sustainability principles. War is about death. Tackling the Climate Emergency and increasing poverty is about building a peaceful living world.
Equality is not about women joining the armed forces to kill and brutalize, but all people living harmoniously and peacefully.
