This is THE issue of the day. The left and right don’t get it, and the sensible centre is empty.
Let’s play a game.
I’ll give you a policy and you tell me whether it goes better with Pauline Hanson or Sarah Hanson-Young (The Greens).
Ok.
1: Reduce immigration into Australia by 70%.
Hanson or Hanson Young?
Too easy?
Ok, what about
2. Increase corporate taxes to 45%?
Or
3. Limit CEO wages to a certain multiple of average employee wages?
Or
4. A Buffet Rule – where the richest one percent pay a fixed share of their income, no matter how creative they get with their tax minimisation strategies.
What do you think? Hanson or Hanson-Young?
Now if you’re like most people you think this game is pretty easy. Pauline Hanson is all about lower immigration. The Greens are all about taxing the be-jeezus out of the filthy rich.
You don’t even have to think about it.
And the reason why we don’t have to think about it is because we’ve been thoroughly conditioned to associate these things with these entities. The hard right are anti-immigration. The hard left are tax and spend and identity politics.
But now what if I told you that there was someone who held all of these views. Where would you place them on the political spectrum?
They’re ‘anti-immigration’ so they belong over with Pauline right? But then they want to tax the rich so they belong over with Hanson-Young right?
Oh dear. It gets very confusing.
This is the Jedi mind trick that Dick Smith is pulling on the nation right now, and I haven’t seen anyone get a proper handle on it.
Last week Dick Smith launched the Dick Smith Fair Go Campaign. This is a broad agenda to make Australia a fairer place, but its centrepiece is reducing Australia’s best-in-world immigration intake back to long run averages – back from around 230K a year, to 70K.
There’s also a bunch of porn for pinko lefties – including increasing corporate tax rates, the Buffet Rule and banning corporate political donations.
(I don’t agree with all of Dick’s ideas, but I do agree with a lot.)
On the face of it, you’d be thinking the Greens would be jumping all over this. Of all the millionaire manifestos out there, this is far and away the most progressive I’ve seen.
But no. Dick’s talking about immigration. That means he’s probably a racist. We’re not touching that one.
Likewise, Dick’s long-standing commitment to the environment probably doesn’t make Pauline Hanson a natural ally. But no, since Dick’s position on immigration is about putting the standard of living of existing Australians ahead of a mindless need to grow the economy and grow the population at all costs, Dick and Pauline are jumping into bed together.
And Alan Jones is cheering them on from the closet.
And while Dick’s getting traction on shock-jock radio shows, the progressive media – they’re not touching Dick with a barge pole. When they do, it’s only to take vague swipes at him.
Take this little gem from the SBS:
Dr Emma Campbell, the director of the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia (FECCA), said she had not seen Dick Smith’s campaign, which goes to air Tuesday, but was disappointed by the premise.
“I think it is sad someone would draw on an argument of fear and hatred when overwhelmingly we are a country that celebrates migration,” she said.
In other words, I haven’t seen the ad, I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I’m happy to say that Dick Smith is a racist fear-monger.
“News”.
I think this is a huge weakness in the left. No matter how good your policies are. No matter how sensible or thoroughly researched – if there’s even a hint that you’re talking about immigration, then you’re obviously a racist.
And Dick Smith is a case in point. Most of his policies would give Karl Marx a boner, but the best the Left can offer is grumbles about, “you should be more tolerant, Dick.”
The ABC didn’t even bother showing up to his campaign launch.
I mean, that’s bizarre, isn’t it? One of Australia’s most famous and celebrated identities launches a million dollar ad campaign around one of the hottest of hot-button topics, and you don’t think it’s worth sending a junior journalist along to see how it goes?
Really?
Steve Bannon (Chump’s Tief of Staff, now packing his bags) recognised the weakness for what it was.
“The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”
What he’s saying is that if you can’t even ask the question about whether we want 100K immigrants a year or 200K, even though that will have an affect on house prices and wages (maybe large, maybe small, but definitely it will have some affect), then you are effectively sidelining yourself from the debate.
You’re effectively handing that entire terrain over to the right. Saying go for it. We’ll be over in the corner sulking about racists while you speak directly to people’s needs.
For cynical political operators like Bannon, it’s like taking candy from a baby.
And sadly the political centre, which is where Dick Smith is and where I like to think I am (because I am the centre of the universe) is surprisingly empty.
And for a nation crying out for people-centred policy making – policy that isn’t driven by corporate lobbying on the right or ineffectual posturing on the left – that’s a tragedy.
So up you go Dick Smith. I don’t think most people understand what you’re doing.
But like many great minds, you’re just ahead of your time.
I know your pain.
Is Dick Smith a racist?
Michael Franco says
Dick Smith is a realist. Not a racist !
Stuart Hamilton says
Exactly. It is ridiculous that any politician who goes near immigration, etc is labelled a racist but that is the reality. Dick Smith has made it clear that he doesn’t care where migrants come from, it is about reducing the intake to a manageable level – which would appear to knock the “racist” argument on the head. Both he and also Bob Carr recently have identified that high immigration has contributed to lower standards of living, in particular in Sydney and Melbourne (which is where most migrants head to).
Giuseppe cuzzilla says
dick smith is not a racist, that’s what the 1% and the others who rule this country would like you to think. look deeper at what he’s saying he is right the 1% control us and the world, let’s take off them and spread it out so all can enjoy the fruits of our labour.
Minging says
Very well written and totally in line with where I (and many stand). Only thing I’ll call you up the term ‘centre’… you cannot be ‘centre’ unless you don’t have an opinion either way on an issue. Let’s face it as we stand today in the West with the seemingly upward curve of Socio-Marxist indoctrination at every level… the left has gone so far to the left that everyone from centre-left across to centre-right that does not idiotically follow their narrative… is deemed a ‘racist’ or a ‘nazi’ and that includes Jews, people of colour etc. A case in point are these SJW councillors banning Australia day despite their local Aboriginal elders best wishes and only consulting a minor group of like-minded activists. ‘A few making the decisions for the many’! I wish there were many more Dick Smith’s willing to come out of the wood-work… particularly at this very important cross-roads where the West is imploding and dissolving all the positives it has achieved in the modern world.
Macca says
“I think this is a huge weakness in the left. No matter how good your policies are. No matter how sensible or thoroughly researched – if there’s even a hint that you’re talking about immigration, then you’re obviously a racist”. Nailed it right there Jon.
Nowhere is this more in focus right now than in Europe, where anyone that calls out the free movement of labour as a ploy to drive down wages and conditions in the high wage economies is a racist. There has always been a completely legitimate centre-left anti-immigration view that isn’t about race, it’s about pay and conditions. But like Steve Bannon says, while we talk race, he’s got us where he wants us.
Dick Smith is onto something, but he’s already politically doomed. Sad state of affairs.
KatM says
I have been know to purchase his cereal and peanut paste in the past. I admire Dick Smith for his achievements & passion for trying to do what’s best for sustainable prosperity long into the future.
Watch some of the old propaganda films that promoted Australia to prospective immigrants over 50 years ago. Some old folk believe centrelink is now worse than Gestapo.
Australia has been too liberal in its trade practices. It exports dirt called “iron ore’ as fast as it can dig it up. It doesn’t give a toss about ethics, just mindless unsustainable growth. We import voluminous junk that’s mass produced in China while closing homegrown manufacturing and refining industry.
The villages of ‘greater Sydney’ having their rubbish smuggled to country NSW & Qld as exposed by the 4Corners the other week. CEOs are grossly overpaid while there are numerous under- & unemployed. Greens party is worse than the Chinese Communist party. Major political parties crippled by own leadership struggles. Pauline Hanson may be racist but not Dick! He’s Aussie and proud, I hope our indigenous brothers and sisters will join in his crusade. Roll out the reforms and revolution.
Michael Franco says
agree, if we are not careful we will have our own Trump, someone like Malcolm Roberts..SMFH or Even worse Paleo Pete Evans who will run for office based on his BS….White teeth and a fake tan gets you far these days
Don Gear says
Ok, in my humble opinion, a large part of what “Dick” has to say has merit, when you annalyse the “beneficiaries” of the high growth rate of population, using immigration as the process for how this is achieved you have a lot of areas many have not thought of, ie: Who supports this growth and who benefits, “Large corporates” who all stand to gain from it, such as “Westfield Group”, Lend Lease, and anyone in the housing and construction and or infrastructure building business. Whom we also see as those who make “Donations” to the Political party who will continue to sanction and support high immigration numbers. They don’t give a toss about the other views and ideas of the party they donate to, simply that they will keep the immigration policy at a record high level.
Has anyone done the analysis of the various government departments and agencies that are responsible for vetting, scrutinising and approving the “immigration process”, as in we lifted it from 70,000 to 230,000, did we also employee an additional 230% more people in the various government departments and agencies to process the additional immigrants?, I’d say we probably didn’t, we may have increased them by say half as many again. So here’s a mind F*** for you, lets say we typically used to process 1,346 applicants a week (269 a day), that gives you the 70,000 a year number, and each application required say 30 working hours of work across say 10 different people to verify check and approve the immigrants, to ensure we are allowing “suitable” immigrants into Australia. ie: some English speaking and writing would be good, some skills, trades or professions that we need and currently have deficiencies in right now, ie: Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, etc. Now we are processing 4,423 a week or 884 a day, so are we being as diligent, careful and mindful as to who we are allowing to migrate to Australia, are we still ensuring we spend say that theoretical 30 hours and checking backgrounds, and bringing skilled migrants in to help bolster those areas that we need them in. Or are we in fact bringing in “Non English” speaking and unskilled immigrants who instead of bringing in benefits to help the country, we are bringing people in who will be a burden on the country and every tax payer who is already here?. So we find that we will have to provide “Low cost” social housing, unemployment benefits, re training and reeducation on the basics just to get some of the immigrants into a basic job in the market. Have all of the collective political parties really thought this one through, it appears to be “growth at any cost”, we are creating a run away train, the more we keep it going the greater the momentum it gets and will become very hard to slow it down or even stop it.
Add even more fuel to the fire and it keeps burning, so we have a whole new group of immigrants in Australia, unskilled non english speaking and in some instances collecting social welfare benefits, social housing etc, we are breeding a problem that has a long term effect on all of us. Take some daily basics into consideration. Use our roads and public transport we have everything in English, so we let immigrants in who can not read and write english, apply for and get a license in their native language and start driving, they fail to STOP at a STOP sign intersection crash into someone or even kill someone and they plead ignorance, “I no understand”, I’ve experienced this one first hand. Top it off with no Insurance and we have an even bigger burden created from one simple example. The knock on effect, we all pay more for 3rd party and full comprehensive insurances to cover this. That is just one tiny example of the types of problems we create. I heard today we now have Western Sydney school in Wylie Park with 500 students, none of which have english as their first language, they all come from families where English is not the spoken language at home. So the next request will be to have schools teach children in alternative languages other than english, really….???, How will that benefit those children in the future, last time I checked Australia uses English to communicate.
So as Dick has started to say, think carefully about our immigration policy and who we allow into the country. Additionally the taxation system, and the welfare system. We are to generous to unemployed people and to “single mothers”, the system is geared to allowing way to many people to get to many benefits. We have also made it culturally acceptable to leave school get pregnant have a bay stay home and get benefits, some see that as a natural “career path” now and that there is no shame in it, why?, As for taxing higher income earners, some work needs to be done in “trimming” some of the corporate greed and excess, IE: the heads of banks earning 10 Million or more is out of control. So maybe an extra tier above the “Hard workers” who earn well, that exists for say the “Top 200 corporations and anyone earning more than say $5million per annum could be a better way to go. As it stands today if you earn say $250,000 and the CEO earns $3,500,000 you both get taxed at the same rates. So now looking back at what is Australia’s foundation and beliefs are al about, a side from our indigenous population that we have treated badly (whole other story there) who were here long before the colonisation of Australia, this country was founded by Christian migration from the British Commonwealth countries, and sure we have evolved over the last 200 plus years into a multi cultural country, but our foundations and history were founded on christian beliefs, laws and a parliamentary system based around the Westminster system, adopted to suit the colonised Australia. Why should that need to change?. These are my views and opinions, not aligned to any political party, nor am I a racist, I have many friends with various ethnic backgrounds whom have all assimilated into Australia and work hard, pay taxes and equally contribute to our great country. Most are also concerned at our current open door immigration policy and the longer term knock on effects this will have on all of us.
MattBP says
Great read Jon!
And some great comments too!
Wondering where Ron and KiwiAl stand on this & what their comments are?!?!
I’m all for Dick (Smith)!
Dick for PM