THE AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT

It begins with acceptance of the greatest of all corruptions, the taxing of earned incomes instead of publicly-generated land values.

This ensures the protection of privilege and wealth, and the continuing existence of poverty and unemployment.

It might have been so different had the fundamental corruption been abolished. Too big a task? Capitalism did have a brief period redressing corruption. It became known as the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) and the ideas of Henry George loomed large.

However, in compliance with the demands of wealthy interests each political party eventually signed onto this perverse contract, taxing work instead of land values. In turn, this leads to obscenities such as the ever-moving non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU), instead of abolishing involuntary unemployment altogether.

Along we move, onto accepting all the ensuing corruption that stems from having accepted the fundamental corruption.

A ‘game of mates’ to which the criminal justice system has become inured ensues. We try in vain to ‘regulate’, to put an end to all the dishonest outcomes: we put an ill-equipped fleet of ambulances at the foot of the cliff instead of putting a preventative fence at the top.

Relentlessly, the malady lingers onward …….

And now, the Australian parliament descends to this.