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Dannii’s Opinionated Guide to the 2022 Australian Federal Election

Welcome to my guide to the 2022 Australian Federal Election. This is as opinionated guide because it covers only the issues I personally think are most important, and I give my personal evaluation of each party’s policies on these issue. Of course there are many other issues which other people care about, I just hope anyone who sees this might consider these issues as well when they decide to to vote for. But I do aim for my description of each party’s policies within those categories to be factual. If you see an error, or something I missed, let me know here. I’m still adding the micro parties, there are a lot of them!

Remember, you can’t waste your vote in Australian elections! Remember to number all candidates in the House of Representatives, and at least 6 above the line (or 12 below the line) in the Senate. You can safely give your first preference vote to a minor party and then vote for your preferred major party afterwards.

At a Glance

Evaluation	Great	Good	Fair	Meh	Poor	Bad	Abysmal

	Asylum Seekers	Climate & Environment	Political Integrity	Living Costs	Indigenous Australians	Foreign Aid	Technology
Australian Christians	Good	Abysmal			Mixed	Fair
Australian Democrats	Good	Great	Great	Good	Fair	Good	Fair
Federal ICAC Now			Great
Fusion	Meh	Great	Good	Good	Fair	Fair
Greens	Great	Great	Great	Good	Good	Great	Good
Labor Party	Bad	Fair	Good	Fair	Good	Meh	Fair
Liberal Democrats		Abysmal	Meh
Liberal Party	Bad	Bad		Meh	Poor	Poor	Meh
One Nation	Abysmal	Abysmal
United Australia Party		Poor	Meh	Meh
Victorian Socialists	Good	Good		Good	Good		Meh
Western Australia Party		Poor	Meh

Policies

Asylum Seekers

• Offshore processing
  • Australian Democrats
    • End holding asylum seekers in immigration detention and offshore processing
  • Greens
    • End offshore detention
  • Labor Party
    • Maintain offshore processing, but community-based assessment is preferred
  • Liberal Party
    • Scott Morrison as Immigration Minister enacted offshore processing policies
    • All children removed from detention
    • Repealed Medevac laws
  • Victorian Socialists
    • End boat turn backs, offshore detention, mandatory detention
• General asylum seekers and refugees policies
  • Australian Christians
    • Our humanitarian program should include internally displaced peoples
    • Remove refugees from detention once initial checks are complete, and consider a pilot homestay transition program
    • Christians facing religious persuection should have a Special Assitance Visa category
  • Fusion
    • Support political asylum for refugees, particularly for whistleblowers and those exiled for defending democratic freedoms
  • Greens
    • Increase intake to 50K/year. Provide additional 4K places for refugees from Afghanistan
  • Labor Party
    • Prioritise suitable third country resettlement agreements - “No one who has attempted to come by boat since the operation of Sovereign Borders will be allowed to settle in Australia.”
  • One Nation
    • Reduce refugee intake and withdraw from the UN refugee convention
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Offer asylum to all refugges and asylum seekers on Manus and Nauru

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Climate & Environment

• Electric vehicles
  • Australian Democrats
    • Require all government purchased passenger vehicles to be electric
    • $240M to electrify 500 metropolitan commuter buses
    • Ban the sale of new fossil fuelled passenger cars and utes by 2035
    • From 2023 allow only electric vehicles to qualify for company car tax benefits
  • Fusion
    • All governments switch to electric vehicles
    • National charging network
    • Remove luxury tax from electric vehicles
  • Greens
    • Reduce cost of electric vehicles by up to $15K
    • $2B for publicly owned fast EV charging network
    • $1.2B towards local EV manufacturing
    • Electrify the Commonwealth fleet by 2025
    • End sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030
  • Labor Party
    • Remove import tariffs and fringe benefits tax from electric cars
• Emissions
  • Australian Christians
    • Supports the view of “natural climate change” and opposes all carbon taxes, wants subsidies to renewable energy to be ended
  • Australian Democrats
    • 66% reduction by 2030, net zero by 2050
    • Introduce a carbon tax of $30/tonne
    • Stop all fossil fuel subsidies
    • Switch all residential gas heating and cooking to electric by 2030
  • Fusion
    • 10 year net zero target (2032)
    • No new fossil fuel projects, and a 2 year window to stop current fossil fuel extraction
    • End all government subsidies to fossil fuels, land clearning, and native forest logging
  • Greens
    • ?
  • Labor Party
    • 43% reduction by 2030, net zero by 2050
    • Reduce the public service’s emissions to zero by 2030
    • $20B to upgrade the electricity grid
  • Liberal Democrats
    • No net-zero or renewable energy targets
  • Liberal Party
    • 30-35% reduction by 2030, next zero by 2050
    • technology, not taxes; investing $22B in low emissions technology
    • will not put in place a mining tax, carbon tax, or change fuel tax credit arrangements
    • increase natural gas production
  • One Nation
    • Withdraw from Paris Agreement
    • Climate change skepticism
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Zero emissions society by 2035
• Energy
  • Australian Democrats
    • Opposes nuclear power
  • Fusion
    • 800% renewable energy target - so that we can export renewable energy to other nations
  • Greens
    • Immediately ban the construction of new fossil fuel power infrastructure
    • Stop $10B/year of subsidies to fossil fuel companies
    • Phase out the mining, burning, and export of thermal coal by 2030
    • Ban gas in new housing developments
    • Support household batteries with $10K grants
    • Create a publicly owned non-profit power retailer to bring down prices
  • Labor Party
    • $200M for 400 community batteries (each could support 250 households)
  • Liberal Democrats
    • Abolish subsidies for renewable energy
    • Pro nuclear power
  • Liberal Party
    • $140M to hydrogen hubs
  • One Nation
    • Supports building new low-emission coal-fired power stations
  • United Australia Party
    • Start moving towards nuclear power stations in Australia
  • Victorian Socialists
    • 100% renewable energy by 2030, but not nuclear power
    • Bring energy sector under public ownership and control
    • Immediately ban new coal and gas mines, ban coal power by 2030
  • Western Australia Party
    • WA has to transition to renewable energy sources
• Environment
  • Fusion
    • Multiply the Indigenous Ranger Program
  • Greens
    • $2B/year for replanting trees and reestablishing green spaces in our cities, suburbs, and regions
    • $767M to expand First Nations ranger program, and return land to First Nations management
  • Labor Party
    • $200M to support the restoration of waterways and river cachments
    • Double the Indigenous Rangers program, and boost funding for Indigenous Protected Areas by $10M/year
    • $34M to establish a national water commission to reform use of water resources
• Forestry
  • Australian Democrats
    • Encourage reforestation, reduce land clearing
  • Fusion
    • End native logging
  • Greens
    • End land clearing and native forest logging
  • Liberal Party
    • Guarantee not to support any shutdowns of native forestry
    • $4.4M to fight illegal logging
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Ban logging of old-growth forests
• Public transport
  • Greens
    • $25B more to rail and bus services, and $500M/year towards safe cycling and walking
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Make public transport publicly owned, safe, free
• Recycling
  • Australian Democrats
    • Set a target of 80% recovery rate from all waste streams by 2030
    • Investing in recycling and re-use inititives, including for e-waste
  • Greens
    • $1B for local council composting facilities
    • $500M into infrastructure and programs to reboot recycling
    • Phase out key single use plastics by 2025 and have a national approach for container deposit schemes
  • Liberal Party
    • $250M Recycling Modernisation Fund
    • Plastic, paper, tyres, glass waste recycled on-shore
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Invest in public owner recycling

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Political Integrity

• Anti-corruption commission
  • Australian Democrats
    • An independent National Integrity Commission, with the powers of a royal commission and able to conduct public hearings
  • Federal ICAC Now
    • Establish a federal anti-corruption commission
  • Fusion
    • Create a federal anti-corruption commission with retrospective powers and open hearings
    • More protection for whistleblowers and activists
  • Greens
    • Create a strong Federal integrity commission
  • Labor Party
    • Will legislate a powerful, transparent, and independent national anti-corruption commission by end of 2022
• Political donations
  • Australian Democrats
    • Financial cap of donations, disclosure thresholds reduced to $1500, disclosure within 7 days
  • Federal ICAC Now
    • Real-time polticial donation disclosures
    • Limit donations by corporations, trade unions, lobby groups
  • Fusion
    • Real time disclosure of political donations over $1000
  • Greens
    • Ban political donations from the mining and resources sector, cap all other donations to $1000/year
  • Liberal Democrats
    • Abolish taxpayer funding of political parties
  • Western Australia Party
    • Abolish political donations from property developers
• Transparency
  • Australian Democrats
    • Introduce a mandatory 3-year post-ministerial ‘cooling-off’ period
  • Federal ICAC Now
    • 5 year moratorium during which no retiring elected official can be appointed to any government funded position
    • Prohibit former ministers from being employed in any commercial sector formerly under their authority, or engaging in any lobbying regarding their former portfolio
  • Greens
    • Require major projects over $100M to have an independent evaluation and community consulation
    • Publish a register of meetings between Ministers and mining lobbyists
    • Stop Ministers taking industry jobs in industries they used to regulate within 5 years of leaving parliament
  • United Australia Party
    • Stop lobbyists holding official positions in political parties

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Living Costs

• Basic Income
  • Fusion
    • Universal Basic Income of $500/week for every citizen over 18 years, replacing many conditional welfare streams
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Support a guaranteed basic income for all
• Education
  • Greens
    • Wipe out student debt, and make TAFE and university free for everyone
  • United Australia Party
    • Abolish HECS debts
• Health
  • Australian Democrats
    • Provide children and concession card holders with comprehensive dental care, then incrementally move towards universal dental
    • Supports a national mental health plan, including new funding
  • Fusion
    • Add basic mental and dental health to medicare
  • Greens
    • $4.8B for mental healthcare, including unlimited sessions with psychologists/psychiatrists with no out of pocket expenses
    • Make free Medicare-funded dental care to all
    • Double Commonwealth funding to $900M for alcohol and other drug treatment
    • $246 to establish a national Centre for Disease Control
    • $250M for Covid-19 research
    • $68.5M for free pads and tampons in all schools
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Make dental part of Medicare
    • Replace NDIS with Medicare-funded publicly run disability services
• Housing
  • Australian Democrats
    • Fund 100K new affordable and 100K new social/community housing units
    • Lift the Commonwealth Rent Assitance cap by 30%
    • Fund safe, permanent housing, no strings attached, for people who have been homeless medium-long term
    • Change negative gearing rules to apply only to new housing
    • Halve the capital gains tax exemption to discourage long-term house vacancies
  • Fusion
    • Stop tax structures that treat hosing as an investment, such as capital gains tax discount
    • Replace stamp duty with a land tax to ensure housing is not left vacant as an asset
    • Increase social/affordable housing stock
    • Increase zoned densities to reduce sprawl into bushland
  • Greens
    • Build a million new affordable, accessible, sustainable homes to clear public housing waiting lists: 750K public and community houses, 125K new shared ownership homes, 125K public rental homes
    • $7B in grants to improve existing homes making them warmer in winter and cooler in summer
  • Labor Party
    • $10B to build 30K new social and affordable housing properties in 5 years
    • $1.6B for 4000 new social housing properties for women and children fleeing domestic violence
  • Liberal Party
    • $5.5B (an increase of $2B) for low-cost financing for social and affortable dwellings
  • Victorial Socialists
    • End negative gearing
    • Expand public housing for indigenous communities
    • Cap rents and mandatory mortgage repayments at 25% of household income
• Parental leave
  • Australian Democrats
    • 26 paid parental leave, allocated to each parent
  • Greens
    • 26 weeks of paid parent leave
  • Labor Party
    • 26 weeks of paid parental leave funded through government and employer contributions
  • Liberal Party
    • $346.1M towards 20 weeks of “fully flexible leave” for eligible working families
• Tax relief
  • Liberal Party
    • $250 one-off cost of living payment to 6 million Australians
    • $420 one-off cost of living tax offset
    • Extended the Low and Middle Income Tax Offset, so 7 million Australians received tax relief of $2000 or more
    • Cut the fuel excise in half for six months, saving 22 cents/litre

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Indigenous Australians

• Health
  • Australian Christians
    • Support alcohol bans and dry communities
  • Australian Democrats
    • Support community-driven health initiatives with Aboriginal leadership
  • Greens
    • $371M to community-led First Nations health services
    • $1.07B to build First Nations owned healing places
  • Liberal Party
    • $4.6B over four years to improve health outcomes for Indigenous Australians
• Indigenous voice to parliament
  • Fusion
    • Supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and a First Nations Voice in Parliament
    • Supports a treat with First Nations
  • Labor Party
    • Will move towards a referendum to consitutionally enshrine an indigenous voice to parliament
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Uphold the principle of Aboriginal self-determination beyond tokenistic Constitutional recognition
• Justice
  • Australian Christians
    • Reduce social housing and encourage private ownership
    • Narrow criteria for Aboriginal ancestry and identification
    • Supports food vouchers over cash or direct payments
  • Australian Democrats
    • Make the cashless debit card optional
  • Greens
    • $250M for a national Truth and Justice Commission
    • $200K payment per survivor of the Stolen Generation, plust $7K for funeral expenses
    • $310M/year extra for legal services
    • $382M to establish independent police and prison oversight and ombudsman systems
  • Labor Party
    • $79M to expand up to 30 local Justice Reinvestment initiatives, to “help turn the tide of incarceration and deaths in custody”
    • Convene a national summit to ensure coordinated action on First Nations deaths in custody
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Implement all the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
    • End incarceration for unpaid fines and change bail laws

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Foreign Aid

• Australian Christians
  • Increase to 0.5%
• Australian Democrats
  • Increase to 0.7% of GNI
• Fusion
  • Expand use of diplomacy and aid in support of global human rights
• Greens
  • Increase aid budget to 0.7% of GNI by 2030
  • Cancel loan repayments from countries in Global South who owe debt directly to Australia
• Labor Party
  • Increase development assistance to Pacific countries by $525M over four years
• Liberal Party
  • Currently 0.21% of GNI

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Technology

• NBN
  • Greens
    • Provide free broadband access to 1M households with a healthcare card
  • Labor Party
    • Upgrades so that 10 million premises (90% of Australians) will have gigabit connections by 2025
    • Up to 660K additional properties in regional areas connected by optical fibre
  • Liberal Party
    • $470 to upgrade fixed wireless and satellite by 2024
    • $4.5B to upgrade 8 million fixed line premises to gigabit connections by end of 2023, via private debt markets, not government funding
  • Victorian Socialists
    • Replace the NBN with a publicly owned and run broadband network that provides free high speed internet to every residential property
• Online scams
  • Labor Party
    • Establish a national anti-scan centre
    • Double funding to help Australians recover stolen ID
• Online trolls
  • Liberal Party
    • Wants to introduce laws to hold social media companies more accountable for anonymous trolls
• Right to repair
  • Australian Democrats
    • Support a right to repair, mandate minimum software support periods
  • Greens
    • Amend laws to deliver a right to repair

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Authorised by Dannii Willis, Brisbane QLD.