This is an invitation for political parties to come and get my vote. This is what I want in return for my vote.
AUSTRALIA FIRST POLICY FRAMEWORK
Pragmatic. Sovereign. Meritocratic.
I. Core Philosophy: Constrained Prosperity Economics
The state rejects the “driverless engine” of agnostic capital, which seeks profit without regard for national stability, environmental health, or human cost. Instead, Australia adopts Constrained Prosperity, a model that keeps the innovative engine of capitalism but adds a “steering wheel and guardrails” to ensure the pursuit of profit serves the broader goals of the nation.
This framework prioritises human-centric optimisation, resource stewardship, and institutional resilience over short-term financialisation.
II. Economic Sovereignty & Market Reform
To combat the hollowing out of the industrial base caused by “weaponised interdependence” and asymmetrical global rules, Australia will implement the following:
Value-Add Mandate: Australia will transition from a “quarry” to a “processor,” mandating the domestic processing of mineral resources—including a full-spectrum nuclear fuel cycle—before export.
Reversing Financialisation: To ensure corporate earnings build a “stronger foundation for the future,” legislation will curb the practice of using 90%+ of earnings for stock buybacks and dividends, incentivising a return to R&D and workforce investment.
The Fair Capital Block: Australia will seek to form a “club of nations” that adheres to high standards for labour, environment, and intellectual property, preventing a “race to the bottom” against state-directed economies that manipulate markets.
Sovereign Asset Protection: Foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land, water rights, and mining assets is prohibited; these are strategic assets belonging exclusively to citizens.
Fiscal Discipline: A balanced national budget is legally required annually; politicians are ineligible for re-election if this is not achieved.
Corporate Tax Reform: Close all international tax loopholes and implement high-tier tax rates for large corporations to fund national infrastructure rather than industry-specific subsidies.
III. The Hybrid Energy Strategy & AI Frontier
Australia will leverage its 30% share of global uranium reserves to become a global energy superpower, rejecting “renewables-only” paths for an engineering-led approach.
The Triple-Fuel Backbone: We will extend the life of existing coal assets, construct 5–10 GW of high-efficiency gas-fired generation, and repeal the nuclear prohibition within 100 days to deploy Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) on former coal sites. +1
AI Energy Zones: To capture the trillion-dollar AI compute market, “Special Energy Zones” will co-locate zero-emission nuclear power with global data centres, providing the 24/7 high-density power AI requires.
Full System Cost Transparency: All energy subsidies (including for wind and solar) are abolished. All generators must compete based on “full system costs,” including firming, storage, and transmission.
Carbon Pricing as Stewardship: The market must “see the planet” by internalising externalities like pollution through carbon pricing and CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage) at major installations.
IV. Governance & Structural Integrity
The framework replaces “short-termism” and career politics with a Meritocratic Technocracy.
The Expert Cabinet: The Prime Minister will run with a pre-designated portfolio of individuals chosen for professional expertise rather than geographic representation. This avoids rorts and pork-barrelling where a “party” promises a bridge to a region that needs it less than another region needs a dam, but they want to swing the vote. No retired politician may receive renumeration (anywhere in the world, in any form) from any organisations who has current government contracts before or after their political careers.
Two-Tier Governance: State and Local governments are abolished and amalgamated into Regional Authorities to eliminate duplication. “Local Government” would approximate current federal voting districts, and functions normally run by States (e.g. Health and Education) would be centrally run. Australia is too small to sustain three tiers of government.
Government Services will be decentralised and distributed fairly across all regions.
Bureaucratic Accountability: Senior Departmental Secretaries/Directors will be limited to a single 5-year term to prevent the entrenchment of a “permanent” unelected shadow government.
Fixed Five-Year Terms: Federal cycles are moved to 5-year fixed terms to provide the stability required for long-term engineering and infrastructure projects.
Total Integrity Measures: All private lobbying and political donations are prohibited. Elections are publicly funded (equal amounts to all parties; new parties subject to strict legitimacy checks), and representatives are paid salaries commensurate with private-sector CEOs to eliminate the temptation of outside influence.
Restricted Franchise: To prevent “benefit inflation,” voting is separated between two tiers. A presidential-style selection (Prime Minister and Cabinet) at Tier 1 and Regional elections at Tier 2. Prisoners, immigrants, and individuals currently reliant on social services cannot vote in Tier 1 elections. All citizens, and citizens only, may vote in Regional elections.
Free Speech Enshrined: Freedom of speech will be constitutionally enshrined as a foundational right. Citizens will not be prosecuted for expressing opinions, however unpopular—subject only to the narrowest exceptions for direct incitement to violence.
V. Social Cohesion & National Identity
Australia will emphasise Universal Citizenship and individual responsibility over identity politics.
Colourblind Governance: Race-specific institutions are abolished. Government assistance is delivered strictly based on socio-economic need, ensuring help reaches the disadvantaged regardless of ancestry.
Mandatory National Service: To build resilience and shared duty, all citizens (aged 18–20) and immigrants (under 45) must complete one year of paid national service (civil or military).
Enshrined Liberties: Freedom of speech and Parental Sovereignty (the right of parents to direct their children’s upbringing, values, and health) are constitutionally protected.
Secularism: Religious education is prohibited in public schools, treating faith as a strictly private matter. Individuals and private organisations retain the right to practise their faith and speech freely in their private and communal lives. The practice of religion may not impede or impact public or community life. (E.g. no audible call to prayer.)
VI. Immigration & Foreign Policy
Integration First: Mandatory fluent English proficiency for all adult applicants; zero “family” or “compassion” concessions.
No Social Welfare: All migrants are ineligible for any government benefits for their first 10 years; non-citizens who commit serious crimes will face immediate deportation.
Mandatory National Service: All immigrants under the age of 45 will complete one year of paid national service (civil or military) as a condition of permanent residency.
Asia-Centric Pivot: Australia’s foreign policy will prioritise strategic and economic ties within Asia, reducing over-reliance on the USA.
VII. Education & Skills Evolution
Public funding is redirected to align education with national industrial needs.
Two-Tier Tertiary Model:
Universities (Academic): A smaller number of properly funded universities will preserve the academic disciplines—philosophy, literature, history, the humanities—that produce the public intellectuals a healthy democracy requires. University places will be capped as a percentage of the population.
Technikons (STEM & Trades): A parallel network of Technikons will deliver engineering, science, technology, and trade qualifications. Public investment will be redirected heavily toward this tier, co-located with “Value-Add Mandate” industrial zones.
Outcome-Tied Funding: University and Technikon fee structures will be tied to graduate employment outcomes—courses with poor job placement rates lose public subsidy. All Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) mandates are abolished in favour of strict merit.
Private Schools: Funding to private and independent schools will be phased out over 5 years to eventually receive zero public funding. Public money is for public education. Private schools are not controlled by the Government in any way.
Primary Education: Public schools at primary level will focus on literacy and numeracy before adding core subjects like science, history, and geography. Mandatory participation in sport and cultural activities.
National Apprenticeship Expansion: A major expansion of apprenticeships co-located with the Technikon network and the industrial zones created under the Value-Add Mandate.
National Service & Education: Only those who complete national service receive free tertiary education. (Dissidence is allowed, but with consequences.) People who refuse national service, are also prohibited from being employed by the Government, or doing business (tenders and contracts) or receiving grants from the government.
VIII. Sovereign Realism: Defence & Foreign Policy
Australia will move from “client state” status to a sovereign regional power.
Sovereign Defence Manufacturing: Australia will build its own naval, drone, and munitions manufacturing capabilities rather than relying on foreign procurement pipelines.
National Service: Mandatory national service (civil or military) for all citizens aged 18–20 to build cohesion, resilience, and a shared sense of national duty.
Cyber Warfare: Cyber warfare will be treated as a core military domain with dedicated funding and a standalone command structure.
Export of Clean Technology: Rather than “self-flagellation” through symbolic domestic cuts, Australia’s greatest contribution to global emissions will be exporting uranium and nuclear fuel to displace coal in high-emitting nations.
IX. Digital & Monetary Sovereignty
Protection of the individual from state and corporate overreach is paramount.
No CBDC: The introduction of a Central Bank Digital Currency is prohibited. Monetary sovereignty belongs to the individual; the state shall not have the power to monitor or freeze citizen wallets.
Sovereign Data: All Australian citizen data must be stored onshore. Citizens will hold a digital ID solely for delivery of government services, firewalled from all private activity—connection of government service data to a citizen’s private life, commercial behaviour, or personal communications is explicitly prohibited by law.
AI Regulation: AI regulation will focus on transparency and accountability, not innovation-killing precaution—aligned with the “AI Energy Zones” economic strategy.
X. Housing & Property
Primary Residence Focus: Residential property will be treated as shelter, not a speculative investment class.
Tax Reform: Both Land Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemptions on investment properties will be abolished to level the playing field for first-home buyers.
Infrastructure Focus: Government spending will be redirected from industry subsidies to the critical infrastructure needed to open new regional housing hubs.
XI. Health & Aged Care
Universal Healthcare: Universal public healthcare will be preserved but radically reformed for efficiency—collapsing duplicated state/federal health bureaucracies into a single national structure, consistent with the two-tier governance model.
Community-Led Aged Care: Aged care will be structured around community involvement and family responsibility, not warehoused as a government function. The state’s role is to set standards and fund community-based models, not to run institutions.
Mental Health & Addiction: Mental health and addiction services will be funded directly from drug, alcohol, and gambling tax revenue, creating a transparent and self-sustaining funding loop.
XII. Agriculture & Food Security
Foreign Ownership Prohibition: Foreign ownership of Australian agricultural land and water rights will be prohibited outright.
Food Sovereignty: Australia will be designated a “food sovereign” nation—domestic food supply security will be legislated as a matter of national interest.
Disaster Support Reform: Drought and disaster support will be reformed to insurance-based models rather than ad hoc political handouts.
XIII. Mining & Resources Sovereignty
Foreign Ownership Prohibition: Foreign ownership of Australian mining assets and mineral extraction rights will be prohibited. Australia’s mineral wealth belongs to Australians.
Sovereign Processing: Consistent with the Value-Add Mandate, all critical minerals will be processed domestically before export, building a full-spectrum sovereign supply chain.
XIV. Liberty & Responsibility
Regulated Freedom: Drugs, liquor, and gambling will not be banned but will be strictly regulated and heavily taxed to fund the public health system.
Life & Family: A firm anti-abortion stance protects the rights of the unborn.
Parental Sovereignty: Parents, not the state, are recognised as the primary authorities responsible for the upbringing, values, and health of their children.
XV. Transport & Infrastructure
National Freight Strategy: A national freight and logistics strategy will prioritise rail over road for long-haul transport.
Regional Decision-Making: Regional infrastructure investment will be tied directly to the new Regional Authorities—decisions made locally, funded federally.
Urban Transport: Urban public transport funding will be conditional on density and efficiency benchmarks, not political pork-barrelling.
XVI. Justice & Law Reform
Violent Crime: Mandatory minimum sentences for violent crime; judicial discretion preserved for non-violent offences.
Anti-Corruption: A national anti-corruption commission with full investigative and referral powers—no toothless oversight bodies.
Access to Justice: Legal aid funding will be increased to ensure access to justice is not wealth-dependent, consistent with equality before the law.
Constitutional Renewal: Aim to run a referendum on the need for a new, human rights–based constitution.
XVII. Environment & Water
Water as Infrastructure: Water policy will be treated as critical national infrastructure, not an environmental side-issue.
Murray-Darling Reform: Murray-Darling Basin management will be reformed under a single national authority with binding enforcement powers.
Pragmatic Conservation: Land management will be guided by pragmatic conservation—productive use and environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive.
XVIII. Veterans & Emergency Services
Veterans’ Affairs: Veterans’ affairs will be streamlined into a single, well-funded national body with guaranteed healthcare and transition support—no bureaucratic runaround.
Emergency Services: Volunteer emergency services (SES, RFS, CFA) will be given federal funding certainty rather than relying on state-level political cycles.
XIV. Miscellaneous (Current Environment)
Repeal the 'hate speech' legislation
Repeal Social Media Ban for under 16s
Not Pro-Israel, Not Pro Hamas: It's their business - probably make it difficult for people have marches that disrupt public life in pursuit of external/ international political causes.
Repeal ban on guns: but require compulsory training, completed national service and strict licensing.
