Loopholes & Heavy Lifting

Panellists: Sharman Stone, Liberal MP; Alannah MacTiernan, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development & Infrastructure; David Marr, Journalist and commentator; Innes Willox, CEO, Australian Industry Group; and Satyajit Das, Finance Expert. -- Sharman Stone Dr Sharman Stone has been the Liberal MP for the seat of Murray, in rural Victoria, since 1996. A back-bencher since the coalition won last year’s election, she received national prominence earlier this year when she campaigned publicly against the Government’s decision not to provide $25 million to assist the troubled SPC fruit cannery in Shepperton, in her electorate. Before the election she was the shadow minister for immigration, and was Minister for Workforce Participation for nearly two years in the Howard government. Sharman was born in Pyramid Hill, a small town within the Murray electorate to the west of Echuca, in 1951. She was educated at Monash University and La Trobe, gaining degrees in anthropology and sociology and a PhD in economics. Before entering Parliament Sharman was Manager of International Development at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of numerous publications on race relations, environment and geology, including Aborigines in White Australia (1974). -- Alannah MacTiernan After 17 years in the WA State parliament, Alannah McTiernan successfully switched to the federal sphere in the 2013 election, winning the seat of Perth for the ALP. A 2010 attempt to enter federal politics via the WA seat of Canning was unsuccessful, although Alannah achieved a significant swing. Alannah graduated in arts and later law at the University of WA. Her first role was working for the Commonwealth Government in Aboriginal Employment and Training around WA. She then established and operated a local newspaper, the Mount Lawley Maylands Express. This paper eventually became the Guardian Express and is still in publication today. In 1987, Alannah began legal practice in the commercial law department of Dwyer Durack, becoming a partner in 1992. After establishing the Inner City Residents Action Group, Alannah was elected to the Perth City Council in 1988 and served as a Councillor until 1994. In 2011 she made a return to local government when she was elected Mayor of Vincent, a large local government area covering much of Perth’s inner suburbs. Alannah was first elected to Parliament in 1993 as Member of the Legislative Council and in 1996 as the member for Armadale in the Legislative Assembly. Alannah served as WA Minister for Planning and Infrastructure from 2001- 2008. In this role she oversaw many major projects including roads, ports and of course the development of the Mandurah Railway line, at the time a highly controversial project but now widely hailed as a success. Alannah had responsibility for three government departments, four land development authorities and eight port authorities and oversaw big changes in policy and practice throughout her portfolio. During that time, she pioneered deliberative democracy processes that bought competing interests together to develop practical solutions and directions for Government decision making. She is now shadow parliamentary secretary for regional development and infrastructure, and for WA. -- David Marr David Marr is one of Australia’s most influential commentators. An author, journalist and broadcaster, he has many areas of expertise and a broad range of interests, including politics, censorship, the media and the arts. Born in Sydney in 1947, David attended the Shore and the University of Sydney, graduating in Arts and Law. He became a solicitor but quickly turned to journalism, writing for The Bulletin magazine and then The National Times. He became editor in 1981, and sensationally published an explosive article outlining the criminal links of former NSW Premier Robert Askin a few days before Askin’s funeral. Over the past 40 years he has worked at various outlets: The National Times, ABC TV’s Four Corners, Radio National and The Sydney Morning Herald. From 2002-04 he hosted the ABC’s Media Watch program. In addition to journalism and commentary, David has written a number of highly acclaimed books. In 2003 he and journalist Marian Wilkinson co-wrote Dark Victory, which analysed the 2001 Tampa incident and the subsequent election campaign. His biographies of Sir Garfield Barwick (1980) and Patrick White (1991) are regarded as the seminal works on their subjects. In 2010 he published a Quarterly Essay which identified anger and confusion as the driving forces behind former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and has recently published Quarterly Essays on then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Cardinal George Pell. He is now a regular contributor to Guardian Australia and The Saturday Paper. -- Innes Willox Innes Willox is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, a leading industry organisation representing businesses in a broad range of sectors including manufacturing, defence, information technology and labour hire. Innes joined Ai Group in 2008 as director of international and government relations with responsibility at state and federal levels for policy development and advocacy in such areas as trade, defence, climate change, industrial relations and communications. He was appointed Chief Executive in May 2012, taking over from Heather Ridout. Prior to joining Ai Group he held a number of senior roles in both the public and private sectors. He served as the Australian Consul General to Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008, where he represented wide-ranging Australian interests on the west coast of the United States. He was Chief of Staff to the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, from 2004 to 2006. Earlier, he was Manager of Global Public Affairs for Singapore Airlines based in Singapore (2000-04). Innes began his working career as a journalist. His positions include Chief of Staff at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and Chief Political Correspondent at The Age in the Canberra Press Gallery. Innes was educated at Melbourne High School, Monash University (BA History and Politics) and the Edinburgh Business School. He is on the board of Windermere, Victoria’s oldest family and child services agency. He is based in Melbourne and is a lifetime supporter of the Collingwood Football Club. -- Satyajit Das Satyajit Das is an internationally respected expert in finance, with over 35 years’ experience in capital markets. He has worked for the "sell side" (banks such as Commonwealth Bank, CitiBank and Merrill Lynch), the “buy side” (Treasurer of the TNT Group) and now acts as a consultant advising banks, investors, corporations and central banks throughout the world. Das, as he generally called, is the author of many highly regarded books on derivatives and risk management, which are regarded as standard reference works for professional traders. In 2006, he published the international bestseller Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives, a satirical insider's account of derivatives trading. In Traders and a series of 2006 speeches -The Coming Credit Crash - he provided a highly prescient insight into the structure and risk of the world financial system exposing the problems that subsequently became apparent. In 2010, in an article –The Year of Wishful Thinking- he anticipated the sovereign debt crisis. That year, in another article entitled The China Syndrome and a follow-up 2012 piece All Feast’s Must End, he drew attention to the unsustainable nature of China’s economic success and the risk of slowdown in growth. In a 2011 paper Financial Fetishes, he drew attention to the ineffectiveness of policy options, especially the increasing dependence of monetary measures such as quantitative easing and the difficulty of reversing such actions. In the same year, he identified Australia’s fragile prospects and looming slowdown and challenges. His latest book is Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk, which was described by Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics at NYU Stern School of Business and Chairman of Roubini Global Economics as: “A true insider’s devastating analysis of the financial alchemy of the last 30 years and its destructive consequences. With his intimate first-hand knowledge, Das takes a knife to global finance and financiers to reveal its inner workings without fear or favour.” He was featured in Charles Ferguson’s 2010 Oscar winning documentary Inside Job, the 2012 PBS Frontline series Money, Power & Wall Street and a 2009 BBC TV documentary – Tricks with Risk. He is a frequent interviewee and widely quoted in the financial press globally. He has been a featured speaker at financial conferences throughout the world as well as at the Sydney Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival, Adelaide Festival of Ideas and Sydney’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas. In 2006 Das co-authored, with Jade Novakovic, In Search of the Pangolin: The Accidental Eco-Tourist. He is passionate about the preservation of wildlife and he and his partner are still trying to see a Pangolin, a small scaled ant-eater type creature found in Asia and Africa. -- Audience: Coalition 46%, ALP 35%, Greens 13%, Not Specified 6% FIX BUDGET DEBT ASAP Kavitha Gowrishankar asked: Most of us are not experts in economics, but can agree that it’s common sense not to overspend or spend more than what we earn. When dealing with personal finances, getting into debt is usually a vicious cycle. The longer you put off managing, the worse it gets. Why is it then not a good idea to fix the budget deficit, as soon as possible? Why is there an opinion that it’s not an urgency? For all the criticisms we hear about the harsh measures the treasurer wants us, or may want us to take, but what are the alternatives and who else can we trust if not the Government and Treasury to manage our country’s economy and finances? BROKEN PROMISES Tom Blinksell asked: In the 2013 election, the Coalition built a campaign around Julia Gillard’s Carbon Tax broken promise. In addition, Joe Hockey and Tony Abbot personally confirmed a clear commitment to no new taxes. Does the proposed increase in excise on petrol by up to 3 cents, therefore also constitute a broken promise? WHAT DO WORDS MEAN? Jaqui Lane asked: As a writer I am interested in words. I'd like to ask the panel what they understand to be the meaning of the words tax, levy, excise, surcharge and promise to actually mean? And, given that governments as far back as the 1940s (maybe forever) have used, abused and manipulated each and, in some cases, all of these words, why do any of you think that we, 'the voters' should trust any of you to say what you mean and then do what you say? FOLLOW UP QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR Jaqui Lane also asked: It’s about trust. Voters aren’t dumb. We understand that things need to happen but we want our politicians to be open and transparent. LABOR’S DEBT IS THE PROBLEM Heather Wensley asked: My question is to Labor Member Alannah MacTiernan. What does she and Labor feel now that we are very likely going to have a shocker of a budget because of our debt which Labor gave to us through all the money that was handed out to everyone because of the so called GFC. Each person was given about $3000 to $5000. Now we are all paying it back. They say there is never a free lunch. So what are her thoughts now? What do you think? HEAVY LIFTING – DIESEL REBATE Joseph Buchan asked: It is strongly rumoured that the most defenceless among us, those on Disability Pensions, school leavers, youth, families and retirees, will be targeted in the coming budget. Reduced benefits, family benefits, re-assessment of abilities to work, imposition of a short welfare payment period will hit people very hard. Mr. Hockey said that the age of entitlement is over and we will have to do some heavy lifting to get the Budget back into shape. Why then is the diesel rebate scheme being left in place, intact, (recently confirmed by Mr. Hockey), for the benefit of the miners who with their super profits could bear more of the heavy lifting being asked for? KEATING’S LONGEVITY LEVY Celeste McDermott Healey asked: My question is mainly to Sharman Stone and Alannah McTiernan, regarding former Prime Minister Paul Keating's recent suggestion of a longevity levy, in which he proposes a levy of around two or three percent on wages to supplement our current superannuation system. Do you think this is politically and financially viable, or do you think it would be fairer to impose a tax upon the wages of the offspring of the eldest Australians, to ensure their parents will be properly looked after in the coming years? FOLLOW UP QUESTION Celeste McDermott Healey also asked: I want to clarify. I was trying to ask whether you think it’s more of a personal idea that needs to be addressed - do the children of elderly people need to pay for their parents to retire? Q&A: DEMOCRACY STIFLED? Jack Smit asked via video: It has been suggested that Q&A, just like society at large, has become a neutered version of Australia where protesters and dissenters are silenced and depicted as semi-criminals to be met with prosecution to invalidate their views and silence their fury. Have we lost our sense of democracy, having replaced its heart with middleclass-ness and so called 'acceptable opinions', where both the State and public discourse, systematically stifles true democratic openness and spontaneity?