Twitter, new to it but its good to use now I'm getting the hang of it. It relays opinion & facts and often they're mutually exclusive but watching a few other twitter people a couple of things popped up regarding the Backpacker Tax which need collecting together.
Firstly I'm getting sick of certain word overuse. Words like narrative, paradigm and a few others but there's one I'm liking a whole lot.
DUOPOLY.
It applies to the Coles/Woolworths duopoly pressing prices down on farmers either directly or by pressuring processors.
It also applies to the Liberal & Labor party positioning or rather dominance.
During the recent Federal Election the Backpacker Tax came up. Our local member for O'Connor said they'd "look at it later" and after the election he said he supported something closer to 19% despite his party wanting 32.5%. WA Nationals candidate John Hassell was pretty upfront that he was happy to not only fight for WA over the unfair GST allocation but also the Backpacker Tax and would cross the floor without hesitation.
The Back Packer Tax was forced out at 35.5% then compromised down to 19% and now down to 15%.
Now we should point out, when there's a compromise its because pressure was brought upon the incumbent. Sorry to say, this pressure was not from Rick Wilson, its come from Jaqui Lambie, Pauline Hanson, Nick Xenophon, David Leyonhjelm & others. Sadly again Rick Wilson made his claim pre election & close to zero since.
Labor cannot cross the floor & Liberal MPs refuse to.
Overall its been an utter debacle. It was said no one has covered themselves in glory over this issue. Dead right. Utter debacle.
It could be argued that in the last Federal Election campaign Rick Wilson said what he thought people needed to hear to secure votes or lessened electoral damage. Remember he was the one who said they'd "look at it" after the election. But he said he favoured 19% but didn't pipe up in support when others suggested 19%. In fact, we're still looking for any comment from him since the election.
So why blame both Liberal & Labor parties? Why complain about the duopoly?
Well in the last federal election the Liberal & Labor Parties came together to work out a preference deal that would see preferences from the Labor Party go to the Liberals if the Labor was coming third. This was done federally with even many WA Labor members unaware until the announcement was made. Two well known WA Laborites were well embarrassed as they thought the NationalsWA candidate would probably get over the line with the Labor preferences.
The Nationals/Liberal preference deal was also done over east due to the Coalition deal. Ironically whilst it meant the Liberals candidate Rick Wilson was very well placed preference wise it also spells out clearly that both members of the Liberal/Labor duopoly detest the NationalsWA.
Local card carrying union locals were stunned when they found out about the Liberal/Labor deal & felt cheated. The NationalsWA were clearly shafted as the last NationalsWA federal MP was Tony Crook who famously did cross the floor for WA whilst he was a federal MP. A party &/or candidate who is prepared to fight for WA is not going to be popular with the duopoly because the duopoly favours solely positive east coast outcomes.
Did someone say WA's unfair GST allocation of 30c in the dollar?
Yes someone did but they weren't from the duopoly, it sure wasn't Rick Wilson MP or an other WA based federal MP.
Duopoly votes sell you and your state out every single time. There is no blood nose politics in the duopoly, none. Not one ounce, the only fight the WA MPs put up is the fight to deliver tactical replies to justify the eastern states centred decrees when they come home & front voters...rare as that is.
Its possibly unlikely but my personal view is I'd like to see the NationalsWA break away from the federal Nationals so the NatsWA can do their own preference deal to place our state first over Liberal & Labor Party objectives. It might only be an appearance of self determination but it'd be a damn good start.
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