Socialist Alliance policy platform

Introduction

Socialist Alliance exists to campaign for the ecosocialist changes so desperately needed in our society. Capitalism has proven manifestly incapable of resolving the impending climate catastrophe, arguably the most pressing challenge for humanity.

Equally, capitalism has no answer to the rampant inequality crisis that gets worse every year. In large parts of the world it is incapable of meeting people’s basic needs for shelter and livelihoods. This is increasingly the case in wealthy countries including Australia and has been dramatically illustrated by the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Solutions exist. However, achieving them requires taking power away from the billionaire class and the corporations and governments they control.

The Socialist Alliance believes it is possible to create a democratic socialist society focused on meeting the needs of people and the planet.

It can only be achieved with a revolutionary approach involving the whole community in the transformation of society and the economy.

This platform guides the work of Socialist Alliance members in campaigns and those who are elected to public positions.

We place great value on working with communities, trade unions and social movements because popular mobilisation is the key driver of progressive social change. Direct involvement in struggle changes people’s ideas about what is possible, while creating, expanding and strengthening the grassroots organisations that can make change a reality.

Our goal is the establishment of a new form of radical democracy allowing all those currently exploited, oppressed, and excluded from power, to start shaping the direction society will take, together. We believe it is important to work with others to achieve even partial realisation of the goals and policies outlined in this platform, to make life better now, and as a stepping stone to building the working class and community power capable of achieving more far-reaching change.

Capitalist Australia was founded on colonial theft, genocide and dispossession of First Nations people. We seek to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to rectify these injustices and realise meaningful sovereignty for First Nations people.

This policy platform is intended to be read alongside the Socialist Alliance program: Towards A Socialist Australia.

Tax the corporations and the rich - no GST

Scrap the GST
For a steeply progressive tax system where people with incomes less than the median wage pay less tax while top tax marginal tax rate is increased to 70% for incomes over $200,000
Stop “bracket creep”: index tax brackets including the tax free threshold for inflation
Repeal the “stage 3 tax cuts” for the rich
Introduce a wealth tax for the super rich
An immediate rise in company tax to 49%; establish an additional super-profits tax
Make big companies pay tax: remove tax loopholes and expand ATO compliance resources
Remove all negative gearing tax breaks on investment properties
End the billions in public subsidies to mining corporations banks and energy companies
Abolish the Medicare levy and pay for a free universal health system out of general revenue

Public ownership

Nationalise the mines, banks and energy companies, under community and workers’ control
Oppose and reverse the privatisation of public assets and services
Government assistance for the formation and maintenance of worker cooperatives

Real climate action

A planned shift to 100% renewable energy within 5-10 years via public investment and emission reduction targets
Bring the power industries under public ownership and democratic control
Phase out fossil fuels: no new coal or gas projects, including Adani; ban fracking and unconventional gas mining
Guaranteed jobs with no loss in pay for workers in fossil fuel industries
End all fossil fuels subsidies
Asylum for climate refugees and those displaced by climate change
Ban the logging of old-growth forests
Begin an urgent program of reforestation, sustainable farming and biodiversity protection
Employ Indigenous rangers to lead the urgent program of reforestation, cultural burning, biodiversity protection and sustainable farming projects
Enforce the rehabilitation of mine sites by companies
Institute a national heat health strategy
No nuclear energy, no nuclear weapons and no uranium mining

Democracy, not corporate dictatorship

Proportional representation at all government levels
Election campaigns for all candidates publicly funded to a fixed amount
Put politicians on an average worker’s wage
All government positions subject to recall elections if 10% of electors petition for it
Prevent former ministers and senior public servants from serving on corporate boards or lobbying positions
For a genuine separation of church and state (e.g. end prayers in parliament and religious instruction in state schools)
Mandate the display of all candidates’ “How to Vote” instructions with equal prominence at polling stations
Support a democratically elected constitutional convention to create a new, genuinely democratic constitution
Support publicly-funded citizen-initiated referenda on all issues of significant public concern
Create a Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption with power to hold public inquiries and investigate politicians, senior public servants and corporate executives

First Nations rights

Negotiate treaties to respect First Nations sovereignty and land rights
First Nations control of First Nations’ affairs
End the disproportionate separation of First Nations children from their families
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community control of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child welfare
Repeal the “Stronger Futures”/NT Intervention laws
Abolish racist welfare quarantining and compulsory income management
No uranium or radioactive waste dumps
Close the gap in First Nations health, education, employment and housing
Implement all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Fund language and culture programs and bilingual education in schools
No closure of remote First Nations’ communities
Increase funding and ensure community control for First Nations health, legal and other community and advocacy services
Paid leave for First Nations workers to attend to cultural commitments

Migrant and asylum seeker rights

Full industrial, residency and citizenship rights for all migrant workers
Reaffirm Australia's commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees and honour our other UNHCR international treaty obligations
Demilitarise and dismantle Australian Border Force, reassigning its functions to the Department of Immigration and a re-established Australian Custom Service
Cease discrimination towards people seeking asylum who arrive by boat without a visa (UMAs)
End boat turn-backs and the policy of mandatory detention
Close offshore and onshore detention centres; replace with welcoming transit centres to process arrivals, issue IDs, bridging visas, medical checks, organise support and short term accommodation
Interim bridging visas enabling people seeking asylum to live in the community while their claims are being assessed and to include Medicare, work rights, free education and access to social services such as housing and government payments
Grant permanent protection to all refugees and their partners/children, abolish Temporary Protection Visas
Offer permanent protection visas and reparation payments to all refugees and asylum seekers remaining in PNG and Nauru and those brought to Australia under Medevac laws, expedite remaining US placements and accept NZ’s offer where refugees prefer this
Enable and expedite family reunion visas
Increase the offshore humanitarian intake, including reinstate the intake from Indonesian and Malaysian refugee camps
Protect the rights of medical, teaching and security staff to speak out about abuse in detention; restore all Australian territories to the migration zone
People displaced by the effects of climate change to be treated and given the same protection rights under Australian law as refugees.
End deportations and end ASIO security veto of refugees

Defend civil liberties and human rights

End the racist targeting of Muslims
Defend and extend anti-discrimination laws
Scrap ‘anti-terror’ laws
Abolish ASIO and all spy agencies
Repeal data retention laws
Put the police under community control
Adopt a Bill of Rights including guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly and religion
Support the right for people to choose voluntary assisted dying
Decriminalise assisting a person to carry out their free and informed choice to end their life

Workers’ rights

Scrap all anti-union laws
Recognise workers’ right to strike and organise in law, including solidarity actions
Increase the minimum wage to at least $25/hour
Restore penalty rates
Make wage theft a crime
Recognise the right to secure work for all – reverse casualisation
Full industrial, residency and citizenship rights for all migrant workers
Expand apprenticeship programs
Establish national industrial manslaughter laws
Allow workers to retire on the pension at age 55 if they so choose; assist people who wish to continue in paid employment to do so, including retraining for less arduous jobs or changing work processes where necessary
Full decriminalisation of sex work and the sex industry; oppose criminalisation of clients of sex workers (the "Nordic model")
Retool Australia’s manufacturing sector for the production of renewable technologies, vaccines, public transport and other socially useful projects
Immediate public investment to create jobs in providing better public housing, schools, hospitals and health facilities
Create jobs by introducing a 30 hour work week, with no loss of pay

Social rights

A guaranteed livable and dignified income for all
Scrap “Work for the Dole” schemes and all “mutual obligation” schemes
No compulsory income management and other forms of welfare quarantining
Lift all welfare payments above the poverty line and index them to maintain real value
Boost funding to community-based aged care services
Provide free, 24 hour childcare funded by a levy on business
Expand disability services and access to all who need it
Restore the universal right to the aged pension
Abolish the Job Network and reestablish a Commonwealth Employment Service with a service provision (instead of punitive) focus
Provide guaranteed free aged-care assistance in the home for those who want it
Nationalise the residential aged care sector under community control and implement all the recommendations of the Aged Care Royal Commission

National Disability Insurance Scheme

Make all infrastructure − housing, public and commercial buildings, transport, education, employment, recreation and culture − fully accessible
Private, for-profit organisations should not receive public funding
Democratise governance of all disability funding-support bodies, including the NDIS; fundamentally reorganise the NDIS with governance provided by a board with the majority members being people with disability
Make NDIS fully transparent and accountable; people with disability and their organisations must be the central decision-makers in shaping the design, implementation and monitoring
NDIS eligibility must not apply a medical model to disability; it must meet the needs and reflects the interests of all those with disability, and be inclusive, regardless of type, severity and episodic nature, age, visa status and how disability was acquired; psycho-social disability must be included; access to the system should not be means tested
Assessment of requirements for services, support, equipment and aids must be guided by a self-assessment of the person with disability as the expert of their personal and life situation
Oppose any attempt to categorise workers in the disability services sector as being in a “private and domestic” relationship with the person/people they support
Ensure all workers providing support and other services funded by government receive, as a minimum, the same wages and conditions as those currently working within the state public sector
Ensure NDIS is an equitable system across all states and territories, and across urban, regional and rural areas; where relevant services are not readily available (e.g. culturally specific or a service located in a remote or regional area), government must ensure that these services and supports are provided

Women’s rights

Eliminate the gender pay gap — equal pay for all
Create publicly-funded abortion and contraception services available to all who need them and ensure safe access zones across the country
No to foetal personhood laws because they are an attack on abortion rights
Restore and expand funding to women's refuges and community anti-violence programs and provide evidence-based consent education in schools
Guarantee employer-funded, paid parental leave with maintenance of seniority
Increase funding to feminist advocacy services
Paid domestic violence and sexual assault leave for as long as needed

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer rights

Make all discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people illegal – no support for religious exemptions
Full rights for trans and intersex people including easy change of identity documents
Full, publicly-funded medical services for gender transition
Fully-funded school programs for non judgemental sex education and anti violence campaigns
Full adoption rights for LGBTIQ+ people
Paid affirmation/transition leave for gender affirmation/transition steps and procedures

Youth rights

Right to vote at 16
Boost funding to youth services
Full pay for young people – no youth wage
Expand youth housing programs
Expand apprenticeship programs
Raise Austudy, Abstudy and Youth Allowance to a living wage

Justice

Re-imagine community protection: make police accountable to local communities and expand social support, mental health support and First Nations restorative and healing initiatives in place of a punitive “law and order” approach
Abolish imprisonment for non violent offences of poverty and non payment of fines
Decriminalise drugs and public drunkenness
Address family and domestic violence with expanded services and rights for survivors
Reinstate the Family Court and reform it so that victims of violence, women, children and LGBTIQ+ people’s rights are prioritised
Treat corporate tax evasion, industrial manslaughter and other corporate crimes including environmental vandalism as serious offences
End mandatory sentencing
Raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 16 years
For prevention programs, community-oriented rehabilitation schemes and alternatives to imprisonment
Fully fund legal aid and legal assistance services
Keep corrective services in public hands - reverse the privatisation of prisons
No police involvement in industrial disputes

Education for all

Guarantee free public education at all levels (primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational)
Abolish all HECS debts
Reverse the funding cuts to public education
Democratise TAFE and universities including student and staff control of curriculum
Expand the public education sector and massively increase funding to vocational education and TAFE
End public funding to private schools, tertiary institutions and training colleges

Housing for all

Tackle homelessness and the housing affordability crisis with a large-scale expansion in quality public housing;
No ‘privatisation by stealth’ via conversion of public housing into social housing
Establish a state-owned body to provide low-interest home loans
Nationalise and renovate all substandard landlord holdings; repair and decarbonise public housing
'Use It or Lose It' policy to purchase unused dwellings for public ownership
Phase in return to full Capital Gains Tax
Cap private rents at current levels for ten years; public and social housing rents to be no more than 20% of a renter’s income
Expand emergency accommodation services as an interim measure until a Housing First model can be adopted, that is until everyone is housed via a large scale public housing building program, therefore reducing the systematic trauma people experience moving through the emergency accommodation system
Target housing provision for at-risk youth, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities and women and children leaving family violence
Ban ‘no grounds’ evictions
Establish a bill of rights for renters (including rights to long-term leases, pets and guarantees against unfair eviction)
Provision of permanent and stable housing for homeless people should come without conditions, in the area they desire and with genuine wrap around services

Free healthcare for all

Restore free, universal health care – end back door co-payments
Boost funding for preventative care and chronic disease management
Free dental care
End subsidies to private health insurers
Expand community-based health care networks, reproductive and sexual health clinics
Boost funding to public mental health services
Legislate for aged-care staffing ratios
Provide safe injecting facilities and pill testing
Free long term trauma therapy, medical treatment and support services for victims/survivors of sexual abuse
Legalise marijuana, decriminalise other recreational drugs, and treat addiction as a health issue
National mandated/legislated nurse/carer to resident ratios in Residential Aged Care
Health care for all regardless of visa status

COVID-19

End vaccine apartheid – support a rapid global vaccination program: lift patents on COVID vaccines and promote use and production of patent-free vaccines; increase free vaccine distribution (including via continued AstraZeneca or other vaccine production in Australia) and assistance to produce vaccines in the Global South
Ensure comprehensive vaccination rollout including booster doses and vaccination of children prioritising frontline and essential workers, their families and vulnerable sections of the community
Significantly increase the capacity of the health system including increased funding and staffing levels
Boost PCR testing capacity as well as manufacturing and providing free RAT tests
Establish a permanent fund to provide leave payments for all those who need it, particularly for COVID testing, vaccination or, self-isolation and quarantine purposes, regardless of employment or visa status. Reinstate income support - broaden & increase support payments for workers & people out of work
Ban sackings and evictions if lockdowns prove necessary
Lock in a job guarantee program to ensure all workers – full-time, part-time, casual, sole trader, self employed, visa workers and any worker that is stood down – maintain their ordinary-time wage during the crisis
Massively increase the numbers of people allowed into Australia with appropriate testing and/or quarantine measures
Prioritise information campaigns and education over punitive measures to promote public health measures
Government programs run jointly with workplace health and safety reps to ensure essential workplaces and schools are COVID-19-safe with necessary PPE. Audit and monitor air quality, ensure adequate ventilation, and install HEPA filters where feasible if ventilation is inadequate. Supply necessary PPE including N95 or KN95 masks. Supply RATs and empower workers to walk off the job if their workplace is unsafe
No watering down of WHS/OHS laws to facilitate workers returning to work. Covid-positive workers should not be forced back to work. Change definition of "close contact" to include workers who have worked with a worker who has tested positive. Legislate to ensure that workers who report COVID-unsafe workplaces to authorities or a union, are not able to be sacked or discriminated against by their employers
Return Commonwealth Serum Laboratories to public ownership

Public transport in public hands

Make public transport comprehensive, frequent and free
Boost investment in suburban and high-speed intercity rail
Reverse the privatisation of and cuts to public transport services

Media and communications

Massive increase in funding for ABC and SBS – democratise their boards
Reject privatisation of public broadcasters – no corporate advertising on SBS
Increase funding and increased availability of licences for community media
Support a publicly owned NBN with fibre-to-the-premises
Bring telecommunication companies back into public ownership
Reject privatisation of Australia Post
Support net neutrality, online privacy and a bill of digital rights
Shift to open source software use by government bodies

Rural and regional

Emergency assistance to struggling farmers, including for sustainable farming and farming cooperatives
Restoration and rebuilding of transport links
Housing, education and employment assistance in regional areas
Just transition from fossil fuels to sustainable jobs
Increase access to health services in rural areas
Remove water subsidies to industries and mining companies that are contaminating water resources and clearing forests

Animal welfare

End live animal exports
Abolish the cruel and inhumane use of animals for sport, recreation or entertainment
Tighten standards for free-range farming
Implement alternatives to culling and netting of sharks
Establish a national framework for the protection of animal welfare to monitor and enforce existing laws that criminalise cruelty against all animals and regulate conditions for the captivity, transport and slaughter of animals
Restrict experimentation on animals except where there is a clear need and where no current alternative methods are possible;
End the inhumane intensive factory farming of animals
Support comprehensive and enforceable standards for free-range farming practices for all animals
Establish a national labelling system for foods and other products identifying cruelty-free, organic or free-range products, based on the National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce, or better
Ban whale slaughter and lethal research on whales
Mandate alternatives to shark nets and the culling of sharks
Ban trophy hunting of all animals, including Australian native water birds

Solidarity and international aid, not war and occupation

Reject war and imperialist aggression against China, while also expressing solidarity with labour and democratic rights campaigns and victims of human rights abuses including Uyghurs, Tibetans and other ethnic minorities
No participation or support for imperialist interventions; bring back all military forces abroad
Pay reparations to Iraq and Afghanistan for the illegal invasions and occupations
Launch an official investigation into Australia’s involvement in illegal wars and prosecute war crimes committed by political leaders as well as Australian troops
Isolate apartheid Israel with boycott, divestment and sanctions; end all military and sporting ties with Israel
End ANZUS and close all US military bases in Australia; Withdraw from AUKUS - no nuclear submarines
Cut military spending by at least 50% and boost development and climate change aid to poor countries
Reverse the cuts to Australia's overseas aid programs — for a massive increase in Australia's aid budget
End sanctions and blockades except where called for by progressive movements with mass support
End Australia’s interference in the affairs of countries in the Asia Pacific
Solidarity with all popular struggles for socialism, self-determination and decolonisation
Solidarity with the Kurdish liberation struggle, especially the struggle to defend the liberated zone in northern Syria; remove the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) from the Australian government terrorism list
Frame foreign policy decisions on the basis of support for global justice, human rights and climate action

Trade

Withdraw from all trade agreements that allow corporations to sue governments
Conduct an audit of all existing trade agreements so as to withdraw from such agreements that undermine labour rights, environmental measures, consumer protections and human rights

Water

End privatisation of water and water infrastructure (dams, water pipelines, pumping stations); restore to public ownership those already privatised
No trading of water “rights” for speculative purposes
End the free access of the mining industry to water, in artesian basins, catchments and rivers
Develop a national water conservation plan
Stop land clearing and logging in important water catchments to preserve water quality
Phase out water-intensive monoculture crops in climatic regions which remain unsustainable
Restore adequate river flows including scientifically based, flow targets for all river systems