Centre for Civil Society

 Organisation
 Projects
 Director
 Contacts
 
 

HOME PAGE

NOVEMBER UPDATE

OCTOBER UPDATE

 
AUGUST UPDATE
 

We bring people together in each federal electorate (150 electorates around Australia) to work locally in engaging our communities and our  representatives in an agenda of empowerment of ordinary people and strengthening of civil society.
CLICK HERE to join us.

SELF-DIRECTED
SERVICES AND PERSONAL BUDGETS


You can take charge of your social support, education and health care through a personal budget.
CLICK HERE
for further information.
AGM SEASON

Making a difference in our not-for-profits.
CLICK HERE
for further information.
STREET BY STREET

Linking
up people who live in the same street or nearby to build community through practical helping tasks - on a national scale.
CLICK HERE for further information.
COMMUNITY BUILDING
NATIONAL NETWORK
CLICK HERE
  to participate in the Network.

LEFT AND RIGHT?

"The Left and Right have been as bad as each other. The Left has allowed its distrust of markets and endless faith in government to obscure the importance of civil society. The Right has been so focused on replacing the state with markets that it has forgotten how to cultivate a trusting society.

This is the politics of the absurd. The Left identifies with the good society but rarely talks about the mutualism and trust between people. The Right recognises the importance of moral obligation but gives the impression of trusting market transactions more than civil society.

Few things seem to happen anymore without a government law or market transaction to guide them. This is how record levels of GDP in Australia now sit alongside record levels of crime, social stress and family  breakdown. The political balance needs to swing back towards civil society.

This task, in fact, requires a new type of politics."

Mark Latham, Mutualism: A Third Way for Australia," 1999.

CLICK HERE to read more. 

SURVEYS

If you are the proprietor of a small business, please send us your thoughts on how we can support small businesses through our
SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY

If you are caring for an ill or disabled family member at home, please click here to participate in our

Family CarERS  SURVEY 


 
 
 

We aims to strengthen the Australian economy by dispersing ownership and power as broadly as possible, building the capacity of consumers and small and medium-sized businesses, transforming welfare by inclusion of people with disadvantages in the real world of work, and overhauling the many legislative and institutional arrangements that prevent market competition from benefiting ordinary people.

We rejects both the anti-competitive culture of big business and the anti-enterprise culture of our trade unions. It supports small and medium sized businesses and measures to encourage greater ownership of capital by a greater proportion of Australians. It opposes corporate welfare of all kinds, and encourages a deeper and more confident culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship. It seeks a smaller government sector in the economy and a bigger mutual, not-for-profit and social enterprise sector.

People Power seeks a more inclusive society and economy, with favourable taxation and industrial relations incentives for businesses which engage people with disabilities and other disadvantages.

People Power stands for

ü A nation of owners (the widest possible distribution of economic ownership amongst individuals, families and communities)
ü A break up of cartels (forced divestiture of assets by firms with more than 50% of market share, and firms which misuse market power)
ü Empowerment of consumers (greater capacity for consumers, fewer restrictions on competition, removal of restrictions on new entrants in banking, insurance, airlines and the media)
ü Inclusion of people with disadvantages and disabilities in the mainstream economy (comprehensive incentives for firms to engage the disadvantaged)
ü An end to corporate welfare (elimination of corporate hand-outs, subsidies, tariffs)

People Power will

  • Establish a Capital Account for every citizen between the ages of 18 and 55, administered by authorized fund managers, into which yearly contributions are made from existing Commonwealth and State revenue streams and levies, as well as individual, employer and philanthropic contributions. Withdrawals from the Capital Account may only be made for business, property or share portfolio acquisition or development.
      

  • Allow individuals to choose to place their employer superannuation contribution in their Capital Account and/or in a super fund of their choice.
      

  • Encourage competition and an export culture by requiring a forced divestiture of assets in any firm controlling more than 50% of market share in any domestic market.
      

  • Strengthen small businesses by permitting them to collectively negotiate with suppliers, acquirers and franchisors..
      

  • Strengthen the Trade Practices Act provisions dealing with anti-competitive behaviour, predatory pricing, price fixing and collusive behaviour.
      

  • Stop the banking cartel's gouging of consumers by requiring downwards movement in fees and charges as a condition for continued licencing, removing barriers to more effective competition to the Big Four, and requiring a divestiture of assets penalty where banks have a debt/equity conflict of interest.
      

  • Unbundle Telstra by separating its retail operations from its network and media operations.
      

  • Ease the restrictions on new entrants in banking, insurance, airlines and the media to encourage more players, more competition, and more options for consumers. Licensing fees for suppliers and providers should be set at cost-recovery rates and not used as money-making instruments for government.
      

  • Remove the consumer levies on milk, sugar and other products which have been introduced by governments to bail out inefficient producers.
     

  • Bring in 'lemon' laws in all jurisdictions to protect consumers who purchase a dud product or service.
      

  • Encourage the development of consumer agents or brokers in industries such as utilities, telecommunications, financial services, trade services, health and aged care.
      

  • Encourage a major expansion of employee share ownership schemes for large and small businesses.
      

  • Link the permissable degree of deregulation of employment relations to the degree of employee involvement in enterprise ownership and governance.
      

  • Cut the company tax rate to 20% for firms which employ people with disabilities and other disadvantages as 20% or more of their workforce.
      

  • Overhaul the culture of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority to remove its ideological bias against mutual, not-for-profit and social enterprise institutions.
      

  • Scrap all forms of corporate welfare including subsidies, development assistance, relocation incentives, research grants, tariffs and industry adjustment schemes for private sector businesses.
      

  • Encourage the development of regional mutual institutions to harness regional savings and investment, and aggregate regional purchasing power.

People Power Economic Policy Contact : Vern Hughes 
             
        

Send your comments to PEOPLE POWER







CLICK HERE to read People Power's Privacy Policy.


© PEOPLE POWER 2004
 

TRANSFORMING OUR SCHOOLS

CLICK HERE
for details of our campaign for a Real Education Revolution.

PARENTS FAMILIES AND CARERS

CLICK HERE for info on the National Federation of Parents, Families and Carers.

MAKING IT PERSONAL

Charlie Leadbeater, Jamie Bartlett and Niamh Gallagher have authored this highly influential Demos Report on Self-Directed Services and Personal Budgets.
CLICK HERE
to read Making It Personal.
THIRD WAY FORUM
Communitarianism,
Mutualism, Third Way Thinking

CLICK HERE to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE

To SUBSCRIBE
to our FREE email news bulletin, enter your email address here. 




Family Carers
There are 2.7million family carers of people with a disability, a chronic or mental illness, or aged frailty in Australia. They are invisible to politicians and policy makers. Read more...
How to Use this Website
If you are visiting this website for the first time, please note that there are two sets of links - one at the top of each page; and a second on the left hand side.

Click on the links on the top of the page for information on the Centre for Civil Society - including an overview of our current CAMPAIGNS and  POLICIES we would like you to comment on .

Click on the links on the left to JOIN, VOLUNTEER or make a DONATION; or to participate in one of our DISCUSSION forums. 

Use the SEARCH button to find items of interest; or the WRITE button to send us your comments and suggestions.If you are having problems navigating, there are additional  links at the bottom of each page. Or click here for our PLAIN TEXT version (ideal for printing).

For those with reading difficulties, this website has been designed so you can click on 'Text Size' in your 'View' menu to enlarge the font..

If you need more assistance, feel free to send a message to our WEBMASTER.

And don't forget to visit again soon to see our website - and our ideas, campaigns and policies - evolve.  We value your contribution.

home / about us / campaigns / policies / events / news / donate / join / volunteer / discuss / write / search / plain text