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2010-06-24

Gillard can address challenges

Comments on Paul Kelly “Labor leadership change rewrites rulebook”, 24/06/2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/labor-leadership-change-rewrites-rulebook/story-e6frg74x-1225883864100
I think two of the three challenges Paul Kelly listed, i.e. "the ETS retreat, the boatpeople dilemma and the war with the miners over the resources tax", can be handled by Gillard without much difficulty.

The ETS can be transformed to a low carbon levy/tax and then the proceeds be distributed to every resident in Australia equally to keep revenue neutral and return the proceeds to the public.

The boatpeople dilemma, is a relatively tricky issue, though it could be dealt with by announcing a new policy initiatives that indicates that Australia only accept the number of refugees each year in proportion to its share of population in the world.

Australia should encourage refugees to be distributed and accepted by all countries, including developing countries, but the rich countries can make some contributions to poor countries for their acceptance of refugees for a designated period for a refugee accepted.

In that way, it is more likely to deter some economic migrants seeking improvement in living standard in the name of refugees.

Perhaps Australia could negotiate and reach agreements with countries in the Asia Pacific regions.

By having this explicit policy for refugees, Australia sends a message that it will treat refugees humanely but will not be a heaven for refugees to come. Most, if they come, will be settled in possibly developing countries.

The resources tax should be largely abandoned or completely redesigned to mirror the PRRT. The only matter is to rebalance the budget in the out years.

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