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Reason Australia
Apr. 28th, 2022 11:35 pmReason Australia
Website: https://www.reason.org.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reasonaustralia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReasonAustralia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reason_aus/
Reason Australia started life as the Sex Party back in 2009, largely as Fiona Patten’s political vehicle. It merged with the Australian Cyclists Party in 2017 to form Reason Australia, where it has primarily remained the Fiona Patten Election Platform.
Patten has been reasonably effective in the Victorian Legislative Council at pushing for voluntary assisted dying legislation, injecting rooms, sex work decriminalisation and better abortion protection legislation.
This time around, however, Jane Caro has announced she would stand for the NSW Senate for the party. Caro is definitely the celebrity candidate this time, and although there are a small handful of others standing for upper and lower house seats, it’s probably easiest to regard the party this election as the Jane Caro Election Platform.
Party Analysis
Reason supports climate action. They would like the government to declare a climate emergency and to aim for net zero by 2030, which is the most ambitious timeline I’ve seen yet (For comparison, Fusion wants 2032 and AJP and Greens are aiming for 2035). They support all the recommendations of the IPCC report. They want renewable power rather than fossil fuel or nuclear, and also want to transition the regions to green power exporting. Hilariously, they want to end all NEW petrol car sales by 2030 (while also wanting net zero by 2030), which is something I don’t think quite works out in their maths. They also want truck width limits increased by 10cm so we can import more overseas low emissions models, which have these wider widths. Basically, they believe in climate action and want it to happen as fast as possible.
Reason have a suite of socially liberal policies that they want introduced. They want a new referendum on a republic. They want drug law reform, including: a legal regulated cannabis market (which is a more structured proposal than Legalise Cannabis); decriminalisation of all drugs; reform over vaping to make access less complicated but also protect children (not quite sure how that one works out); pill testing and safe injecting rooms. They want a 4 day working week. They want 6 months paid parental leave at 80% of salary, government super contributions for women earning less than $60k per year, and a 35% women and/or enby quota on big company boards. They want Voluntary Assisted Dying legal in all states and territories, so lift the territory ban. They also want better sex education, sex-work decriminalisation and make it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of employment (so sex workers can’t be discriminated against on that basis).
Basically, if you can find a Scandi nation socially conscious policy that’s not on this list, they’d probably love to consider it. The party is does tend to feel like it’s tilted towards women’s rights (I didn’t see any mention of parental leave sharing policies that assign a bigger use it or lose it component to the non-primary parent).
In terms of education, Reason want free early childhood education, for at least two years of childhood. They don’t specifically address whether under 3s are also free. They want increased funding for public schools, consent education in all schools, and the removal of religious chaplains from schools to be replaced with counsellers. In terms of universities and TAFE, they want a “unified tertiary education loan payment scheme” administered by an independent body, which I’m reading as “HECS for all TAFE”, more investment in STEAM subjects (STEM plus Arts and Health), and increased job security for casual tutors.
Secularism! There is a meme on Reason’s Instagram saying “the only party dedicated to getting religion out of politics”, as if the poor old Secular Party has been forgotten in their merger into Fusion. You’re not as special as you think, Reason! However, this policy is “Religious freedom but not religious privilege”. They want religions and religious charities to lose tax-exempt status unless they’re doing actual charitable work, the ending of school chaplaincy, and basically religion out of government and schools.
In terms of First Nations policies, Reason want to strengthen our commitment to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Reason are quite into UN declarations), remove the Indue card, remove any remaining NT Intervention policies, and to strengthen federal legislation to overrule state mining permits in cases of cultural connection or artifacts (Basically “no more Juukan Gorge moments”). They support Uluru Statement from the Heart. They also want to set up an “Aboriginal led, government funded policy think tank” to guide policy about Aboriginal self-determination, which is certainly a thing. I’m unsure if this is in ADDITION to a Voice to Parliament or instead of?
In terms of foreign affairs, Reason want more regional foreign aid policy, climate action across the Asia-Pacific, giving Papua New Guinea citizens the same work and travel rights as New Zealanders (this is an interesting policy I support, though I’d throw in “go back to pre-2002 reciprocal arrangements for NZ and give PNG same status”), and a citizenship pathway for NZ residents who’ve been here 5 years. Reason also makes a point that to make us “credible champions for human rights” we should address humans right abuses in Australia like asylum seeker detention and exploitation of foreign workers. Look there’s really nothing here I disagree with and I’m delighted to see a party with an actual PNG policy.
For Business and Innovation, it’s a bunch of motherhood statements about supporting small business, mostly. They would like local businesses prioritised in government contracts, fewer barriers to starting companies and reducing regulatory burdens, etc etc. They’re very interested in medical tech, pharmaceuticals and bio-science as areas for investment, and want more innovation hubs linked to both universities and regional areas. Also they’re worried about automation and AI’s impact on the economy.
Government Integrity! Reason want an ICAC, with significant powers that they’ve listed (they didn’t say teeth, what a shame), more funding for the Audit Office, parliamentary codes of conduct for parliament and ministers, more whistleblower protections, a 3 year cooling off period after resigning before being allowed to work in an industry, and more transparency. Nothing particularly new here – it’s the same grab bag a lot of the left are advocating for. They do specifically want access to ministerial diaries, because knowing what meetings occur = more transparency, apparently. Also we need political donation reform to include spending caps on elections, donation limits, and real-time disclosure of donations. Reason want to move towards public funding for all electoral activity to “level the playing field”, with eventually NO private donations to political parties, so I guess they’d be purely government funded? How does that work for non-parliamentary parties? Does your random independent really qualify for the same support as a major party candidate? I say this with the love of someone who is extremely into the weird, niche issues of microparty candidates – someone who will attract 44 votes federally does not need or deserve access to the same funding and exposure as a candidate with actual electoral chances.
Ooh, there’s an “intergenerational unfairness” policy! Aside from “age diversity in decision making” they don’t call out any specifics though on what needs to be fixed (hint: housing prices. Many other things, but let’s start with the housing and rental situation). They also have a housing affordability policy, which calls for more affordable and public housing, more policies to address homelessness, and a policy that carefully doesn’t say “remove negative gearing” but in practice means “remove negative gearing”.
There is a justice policy, but it’s mostly just noting the issues associated with incarceration and particularly incarcerated populations. They do want programs to address risk factors and increase protective behaviours though.
The sexual, family and domestic violence policy is pretty comprehensive on the topic of “more”. More support, more funding, more early intervention, more emergency accommodation, tenancy improvements for victims to terminate leases, get new ones, or remove offenders from the premises, and more access to restorative justice. I really can’t find fault anywhere here.
There’s also a “media diversity” policy, which is assume is a “We Hate Murdoch” policy. Will be interesting whether Stokes gets a look in. Ooh, nobody called out directly, just “funding for ABC and SBS”, more local content minimums, and a Royal Commission into media diversity.
Health policies! Include preventative dental and mental health on Medicare. Access to gender affirming healthcare publicly. Lower out of pockets for low income earners. More preventative care, more bulk billing. There is also an NDIS policy but it’s essentially “review it and give it better funding”, and an aged care policy calling for the same, along with more funding for protections against elder abuse. Again, quite standard left calls, though it’s good to see gender affirming care specifically included.
Refugee policy is extremely strong on remove offshore processing, moving people from temporary protection visas to permanent resettlement when judged genuine refugees, ending immigration detention, increased refugee quotas, a national apology to refugees the country has mistreated (hey there’s a good policy once the issues are addressed), more protections for queer refugees seeking asylum, and less power for the Minister of Immigration to make discretionary decisions. All in all, “be kinder, fix up all the appalling overreaches”.
Welfare reform wants an increase in Centrelink to $90 a day, a job guarantee “for all who want one”, an increase in rental assistance, and are against the Indue card for anyone. They also want government super contributions for all low income earners, and better tax concessions on super for low income earners.
More Arts support! 1% of major arts institutions funding? Profits? To be redistributed to medium and small institutions. Create an Arts Week. More government investment in arts at a community and small organisation level. More support for arts in diverse communities. Create some local tourism campaigns around Arts events.
Is this party trying to kill me?
No, Reason actually want to give everyone a big hug, while sitting down for a chat about diversity.
Is this party trying to harm me?
No, Reason are trying really hard not to harm people, please point out more ways we are harming people so we can come up with more policies.
Conclusion:
I ended up liking this Reason platform even more than I was expecting. It does feel devoid of young people’s issues aside from as adjunct to their parents (I would say the average age of voter they are pitching to here is 40-70), but it’s a socially liberal set of policies that mostly stays out of the economic side of things aside from “Raise the Rate” and extra superannuation. I can see it pitching towards Teal Independent fans looking for a Senate vote in NSW via their choice of Jane Caro.
Do I think they’ll make back their deposits? No. But they’re harmless and advocating for a suite of left policies, even if they do have the most over-eager net zero policy on the table.
Website: https://www.reason.org.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/reasonaustralia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReasonAustralia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reason_aus/
Reason Australia started life as the Sex Party back in 2009, largely as Fiona Patten’s political vehicle. It merged with the Australian Cyclists Party in 2017 to form Reason Australia, where it has primarily remained the Fiona Patten Election Platform.
Patten has been reasonably effective in the Victorian Legislative Council at pushing for voluntary assisted dying legislation, injecting rooms, sex work decriminalisation and better abortion protection legislation.
This time around, however, Jane Caro has announced she would stand for the NSW Senate for the party. Caro is definitely the celebrity candidate this time, and although there are a small handful of others standing for upper and lower house seats, it’s probably easiest to regard the party this election as the Jane Caro Election Platform.
Party Analysis
Reason supports climate action. They would like the government to declare a climate emergency and to aim for net zero by 2030, which is the most ambitious timeline I’ve seen yet (For comparison, Fusion wants 2032 and AJP and Greens are aiming for 2035). They support all the recommendations of the IPCC report. They want renewable power rather than fossil fuel or nuclear, and also want to transition the regions to green power exporting. Hilariously, they want to end all NEW petrol car sales by 2030 (while also wanting net zero by 2030), which is something I don’t think quite works out in their maths. They also want truck width limits increased by 10cm so we can import more overseas low emissions models, which have these wider widths. Basically, they believe in climate action and want it to happen as fast as possible.
Reason have a suite of socially liberal policies that they want introduced. They want a new referendum on a republic. They want drug law reform, including: a legal regulated cannabis market (which is a more structured proposal than Legalise Cannabis); decriminalisation of all drugs; reform over vaping to make access less complicated but also protect children (not quite sure how that one works out); pill testing and safe injecting rooms. They want a 4 day working week. They want 6 months paid parental leave at 80% of salary, government super contributions for women earning less than $60k per year, and a 35% women and/or enby quota on big company boards. They want Voluntary Assisted Dying legal in all states and territories, so lift the territory ban. They also want better sex education, sex-work decriminalisation and make it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of employment (so sex workers can’t be discriminated against on that basis).
Basically, if you can find a Scandi nation socially conscious policy that’s not on this list, they’d probably love to consider it. The party is does tend to feel like it’s tilted towards women’s rights (I didn’t see any mention of parental leave sharing policies that assign a bigger use it or lose it component to the non-primary parent).
In terms of education, Reason want free early childhood education, for at least two years of childhood. They don’t specifically address whether under 3s are also free. They want increased funding for public schools, consent education in all schools, and the removal of religious chaplains from schools to be replaced with counsellers. In terms of universities and TAFE, they want a “unified tertiary education loan payment scheme” administered by an independent body, which I’m reading as “HECS for all TAFE”, more investment in STEAM subjects (STEM plus Arts and Health), and increased job security for casual tutors.
Secularism! There is a meme on Reason’s Instagram saying “the only party dedicated to getting religion out of politics”, as if the poor old Secular Party has been forgotten in their merger into Fusion. You’re not as special as you think, Reason! However, this policy is “Religious freedom but not religious privilege”. They want religions and religious charities to lose tax-exempt status unless they’re doing actual charitable work, the ending of school chaplaincy, and basically religion out of government and schools.
In terms of First Nations policies, Reason want to strengthen our commitment to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Reason are quite into UN declarations), remove the Indue card, remove any remaining NT Intervention policies, and to strengthen federal legislation to overrule state mining permits in cases of cultural connection or artifacts (Basically “no more Juukan Gorge moments”). They support Uluru Statement from the Heart. They also want to set up an “Aboriginal led, government funded policy think tank” to guide policy about Aboriginal self-determination, which is certainly a thing. I’m unsure if this is in ADDITION to a Voice to Parliament or instead of?
In terms of foreign affairs, Reason want more regional foreign aid policy, climate action across the Asia-Pacific, giving Papua New Guinea citizens the same work and travel rights as New Zealanders (this is an interesting policy I support, though I’d throw in “go back to pre-2002 reciprocal arrangements for NZ and give PNG same status”), and a citizenship pathway for NZ residents who’ve been here 5 years. Reason also makes a point that to make us “credible champions for human rights” we should address humans right abuses in Australia like asylum seeker detention and exploitation of foreign workers. Look there’s really nothing here I disagree with and I’m delighted to see a party with an actual PNG policy.
For Business and Innovation, it’s a bunch of motherhood statements about supporting small business, mostly. They would like local businesses prioritised in government contracts, fewer barriers to starting companies and reducing regulatory burdens, etc etc. They’re very interested in medical tech, pharmaceuticals and bio-science as areas for investment, and want more innovation hubs linked to both universities and regional areas. Also they’re worried about automation and AI’s impact on the economy.
Government Integrity! Reason want an ICAC, with significant powers that they’ve listed (they didn’t say teeth, what a shame), more funding for the Audit Office, parliamentary codes of conduct for parliament and ministers, more whistleblower protections, a 3 year cooling off period after resigning before being allowed to work in an industry, and more transparency. Nothing particularly new here – it’s the same grab bag a lot of the left are advocating for. They do specifically want access to ministerial diaries, because knowing what meetings occur = more transparency, apparently. Also we need political donation reform to include spending caps on elections, donation limits, and real-time disclosure of donations. Reason want to move towards public funding for all electoral activity to “level the playing field”, with eventually NO private donations to political parties, so I guess they’d be purely government funded? How does that work for non-parliamentary parties? Does your random independent really qualify for the same support as a major party candidate? I say this with the love of someone who is extremely into the weird, niche issues of microparty candidates – someone who will attract 44 votes federally does not need or deserve access to the same funding and exposure as a candidate with actual electoral chances.
Ooh, there’s an “intergenerational unfairness” policy! Aside from “age diversity in decision making” they don’t call out any specifics though on what needs to be fixed (hint: housing prices. Many other things, but let’s start with the housing and rental situation). They also have a housing affordability policy, which calls for more affordable and public housing, more policies to address homelessness, and a policy that carefully doesn’t say “remove negative gearing” but in practice means “remove negative gearing”.
There is a justice policy, but it’s mostly just noting the issues associated with incarceration and particularly incarcerated populations. They do want programs to address risk factors and increase protective behaviours though.
The sexual, family and domestic violence policy is pretty comprehensive on the topic of “more”. More support, more funding, more early intervention, more emergency accommodation, tenancy improvements for victims to terminate leases, get new ones, or remove offenders from the premises, and more access to restorative justice. I really can’t find fault anywhere here.
There’s also a “media diversity” policy, which is assume is a “We Hate Murdoch” policy. Will be interesting whether Stokes gets a look in. Ooh, nobody called out directly, just “funding for ABC and SBS”, more local content minimums, and a Royal Commission into media diversity.
Health policies! Include preventative dental and mental health on Medicare. Access to gender affirming healthcare publicly. Lower out of pockets for low income earners. More preventative care, more bulk billing. There is also an NDIS policy but it’s essentially “review it and give it better funding”, and an aged care policy calling for the same, along with more funding for protections against elder abuse. Again, quite standard left calls, though it’s good to see gender affirming care specifically included.
Refugee policy is extremely strong on remove offshore processing, moving people from temporary protection visas to permanent resettlement when judged genuine refugees, ending immigration detention, increased refugee quotas, a national apology to refugees the country has mistreated (hey there’s a good policy once the issues are addressed), more protections for queer refugees seeking asylum, and less power for the Minister of Immigration to make discretionary decisions. All in all, “be kinder, fix up all the appalling overreaches”.
Welfare reform wants an increase in Centrelink to $90 a day, a job guarantee “for all who want one”, an increase in rental assistance, and are against the Indue card for anyone. They also want government super contributions for all low income earners, and better tax concessions on super for low income earners.
More Arts support! 1% of major arts institutions funding? Profits? To be redistributed to medium and small institutions. Create an Arts Week. More government investment in arts at a community and small organisation level. More support for arts in diverse communities. Create some local tourism campaigns around Arts events.
Is this party trying to kill me?
No, Reason actually want to give everyone a big hug, while sitting down for a chat about diversity.
Is this party trying to harm me?
No, Reason are trying really hard not to harm people, please point out more ways we are harming people so we can come up with more policies.
Conclusion:
I ended up liking this Reason platform even more than I was expecting. It does feel devoid of young people’s issues aside from as adjunct to their parents (I would say the average age of voter they are pitching to here is 40-70), but it’s a socially liberal set of policies that mostly stays out of the economic side of things aside from “Raise the Rate” and extra superannuation. I can see it pitching towards Teal Independent fans looking for a Senate vote in NSW via their choice of Jane Caro.
Do I think they’ll make back their deposits? No. But they’re harmless and advocating for a suite of left policies, even if they do have the most over-eager net zero policy on the table.
