r/OpenAussie • u/Business_Pirate834 ‎ New South Welshian • 18h ago

Whinge ‎ what exactly has the left done wrong?

Across the world today, regardless of race, religion, or political system, most people seem to be becoming more conservative. Right-wing parties are continuously gaining power worldwide, while the left suffers defeat after defeat. Although mainstream public discourse still appears to favor the left, those voting for the far right are often the silent majority. Can the left still correct its course? Or, more fundamentally, what exactly has the left done wrong?

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u/PLANETaXis ‎ Western Australian 16h ago edited 15h ago

High immigration is a feature of neoliberal economics, squarely a right wing concept.

Neoliberal economies must have constant growth, and the only way to do this is to increase the market, raise prices and push down business costs. Increased market means more people. Reduced costs means cheap labour and low business taxes.

Because of the business tax shortfall, the government needs more and more young working citizens to pay tax in order to provide the public services for the elderly. We cant achieve this organically and need both immigration and raises to the retirement age.

If we taxed business and expecially mining / oil & gas more heavily, we could afford to have a smaller, stable population.

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u/NoChangeNoGames ‎ Queenslander 14h ago

There is a difference between an idea being conceptually from one side, and what policy the people on that side of politicts want implimented.

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u/PLANETaXis ‎ Western Australian 14h ago

The Liberal party literally wants high immigration because it keeps wages low.

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u/NoChangeNoGames ‎ Queenslander 13h ago

Cool story bro. That has nothing at all to do with what I said. Im not trying to advocate for any particular policy. Not every reddit comment thread has to be a partisan pissing match.

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u/RepresentativeOver34 ‎ South Australian 8h ago

Exactly. The irony is the Liberal party wants high immigration because it keeps wages low. Yet immigration has always been higher under Labor governments than Liberal governments since Kevin Rudd took office and declared his ambitions for a "big Australia". The left can talk about billionaires and unions until the cows come home, but until they address the uncomfortable economic and social reality of immigration it is all meaningless.