# Sustainable Australia
https://www.sustainableaustralia.org.au/
* Their roots are as the Sustainable Population Party, but limiting population growth (from
current 26 to 30 million by 2050) is now a little hidden inside all their policy details.
Personally I'm fully with them on this, endless population growth is an ever increasing
drag on the lifestyle of Australians as well as our natural environment.
* Lots of policies to look into. Many seem along similar lines to the Australian Democrats, but
with a bit more of an environmental and ecological focus which flows into the sustainable
population policy. They also have a refreshingly reasonable tone, attempting to limit scope
within practical boundaries. Or possibly it's just that their boundaries are closer to mine
than most.
* They want to minimise factory farming in preference to smaller-scale operations, which is
nice. They also plan to end live animal exports, which I'm not so sure about.
* They're not very radical about defence (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). "Aim to avoid
regional conflicts and failed states by linking foreign aid to environmental sustainability
programs that optimise the management of natural resources like water and productive land" is
an nice approach. Another nice bit is that they want to prioritise producing military gear
in Australia.
* Hey they've got a photo of a 3D printer on their 'Economy' page, which is umm... mis-matched,
but hey I love a photo of a 3D printer wherever I see it. Actually they're a bit more radical
here, proposing to replace GDP with "a broader Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) as a key
measure of Australia's progress that redefines growth and prioritises growth in good things,
including:
* Health and wellbeing, including happiness
* A more equal distribution of wealth
* A healthy environment
* Quality education
* Affordable housing
* Full employment
* Economic diversity and self-sufficiency
* A circular, no-waste economy
* Stopping corruption"
In a way, this GPI could the seen as a measure of the core objectives for their policies. It's
also necessary because the conventional quest for endlessly increasing GDP conflicts with
their aim for long-term sustainability. I like it, though the actual method of measurement
is the tricky bit.
* They plan to ban all new coal mines and gas fracking schemes, while "Empower[ing] Australian
consumers to choose and use distributed (non-centralised) energy systems including solar
photovoltaic (PV), micro wind and ground source heat pumps, supported by battery storage".
How that empowerment happens, I'm not so sure. They also aim to "Return energy utilities to
public hands where appropriate".
* National environmental standards set and monitored by "an independent National
Sustainability Commission". Parallel with this they want "a federal Environment Protection
Agency". I'm not sure exactly where that would improve upon state-based entites, though
such entities have been caught in examples of extreme incompetence recently, I'm not sure
whether adding another agency at a federal level is the answer, but perhaps it wouldn't hurt.
* Preferred target of net zero emissions by 2035, but 'minimum target' of 2050 (the latter is
in line with the two major parties). "Reduce emissions by at least 50 per cent below 2005
levels by 2030". They consider limiting population growth to being an essential part of the
strategy for acheiving this, combined with more usual policies: renewable energy targets,
phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and "Adopt a globally consistent carbon pricing mechanism
that does not unfairly penalise Australian industries"
* They're against foreign ownership of buildings, land, and natural resources, and will prevent
new aquisitions of greater than 25% stakes in these things by foreign entities. I quite like
this, and the supply of housing is so constrained at the moment that I think the market could
handle the shock, resulting in more availability. Preventing increased foreign ownership of
farming land also improves food security and large takeovers by dodgy foreign monopolies. If
they can't pull this of their backup plan is extra taxes on foreign purchases of such assets.
* They want to boost public housing including a mandated "minimum 10% public or affordable
housing" as part of signifcant new housing developments. They also want to take the wind
out of property investment by removing tax concessions. This sounds fairly reasonable to
me. One policy at the end of the section that I really like is "Where environmentally
appropriate, create a 'Natural and sustainable housing' permit framework to allow for tiny
houses, off-grid houses, and houses built from natural methods".
* A job guarantee programme grabbing unemployed people to work on environmental projects.
Sounds good, but possibly very tricky to implement effectively.
* Various policies to provide more responable planning decisions for property developments.
* They're keen on renationalising various public assets, particularly ports and airports.
Sounds nice if the money was there, but at least acheiving this isn't the key basis for
acheiving their other aims, as it is for some other parties.
* They want to try and get "a majority Australian-owned electric car company" going, which
I love. Either way they want vehicle registration discounts for electric cars. They also
want to better popularise public transport by lowering cost by 50% and improving services.
That's more of a state issue though.
* Transition to zero waste through a focus on supporting re-sale and re-use as well as
recycling, which is great.
* They're vaguely in favour of introducing "Swiss-style direct democracy with
citizen-initiated referenda and plebiscites".
* The key issue of limiting population growth is the be implemented simply by capping
immigration at 70,000 people per year, which is perfectly reasonable in my book. They
also plan to "abolish the open borders Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement with New Zealand".
They also aim to promote population stability globally with targeted foreign aid
programmes to promote family planning particularly through female empowerment and
education.
For what was once, and a heart possibly still is, a single-issue party, they really have
worked out a remarkably extensive set of policies, and have gaven me a hell of a job
getting thorugh a decent selection of them. It's not a 100% hit rate for me, but far
better than average. They're about the only party I've seen even mentioning putting
limits on population growth this election, so that attracts me to them on its own.
Their emissions targets aresn't backed by such radical energy/transport plans as some
other parties, though they intend a lower population to help with that as well and I'd
agree to some extent. Opposition to foreign ownership, the GPI instead of GDP, and a few
fun things like the electric car company, are all nice. I do doubt the effectiveness of
their guaranteed job programme, and they're not particularly focused of foreign policy
beyond the population issue, but they're one of my favourites overall.
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