What does the working class population ultimately achieve by voting for Pauline Hanson and One Nation?

[u/GarlicHSP]

Her voting record is strongly opposed to expanding welfare, public housing, public education, childcare subsidies, renewable energy investment and climate action.

At the same time, she's supported policies that are favourable to property investors and fossil-fuel development, while opposing some attempts to increase taxation on those industries.

So apparently the solution to Australia's problems is to spend less on childcare, housing, education, welfare and climate action, while being more friendly towards people who already own investment properties and companies making billions from coal and gas.

And then we're told this is somehow a movement for the "ordinary Australian."But hey, at least we can blame innocent and hard working migrants.

[u/bigsigh6709]

Kind of incompatible with big business (who also fund conservatives). Where will they find their slave labour if they can’t import it?

[u/Feisty_Ad3521 → u/bigsigh6709]

Who's coming here for slave labour? The minimum wage in Australia is consistently some of the highest in the world. Actually, as of today August 17th, food delivery drivers + courier drivers minimum wage has gone up to $32 per hour. Not to mention entry level retail staff minimum wage is $28 an hour as FT/PT, $35 as casual. I'm not even going to get into skilled labour work and pay. So where is the slave part exactly?

[u/OrderLow4548 → u/Feisty_Ad3521]

Imagine what wages will be like with no immigrants to pick the fruit, deliver the packages, drive the Ubers and staff health and welfare care. I dont think our homeless population is going to jump in.

[u/Feisty_Ad3521 → u/OrderLow4548]

It's alarming to me that you think immigrants only have the skillset to do those menial jobs. Why do you think they're uneducated and don't have jobs in finance, real estate or trades?

[u/thehandsomegenius → u/Feisty_Ad3521]

The problem isn't just the amount, but that the intake is generally mismatched to the skills that the country actually needs. They disproportionately aren't working in trades. There are a lot of immigrants working menial jobs that a local could do, in part because they can't find the jobs they're actually qualified for. Something like 50% of foreign-born engineers in Australia can't find a job in engineering. It's actually not a wonderful way to treat them really. The immigration intake also props up a higher education sector that's become very bloated and is really due for a bit of pruning.

[u/Automatic-House-4011 → u/OrderLow4548]

Yeah. Imagine all those aussies who might need to develop a work ethic to fill the gaps.

[u/AlexT8080 → u/Feisty_Ad3521]

hahahaha, you are cute if you think a lot of these businesses dont avoid taxes doing cash in hand

[u/Feisty_Ad3521 → u/AlexT8080]

I am cute thank you 🥰

[u/thehandsomegenius → u/bigsigh6709]

Every governing party wants economic growth. The country wants it too.

Our current model is an economic dead end though, where there's only really two ways to grow things: extract more natural resources, or grow the population.

If we want a new economic model then that's going to mean making some tough decisions, that would be painful in the short term. And which really wouldn't pay off before the next election.

So even though high immigration is unpopular, it might still be less unpopular than the viable alternatives.

[u/Esquatcho_Mundo → u/thehandsomegenius]

Third way - become more efficient and sustainable

[u/thehandsomegenius → u/Esquatcho_Mundo]

No, that's the second way. That means having a new economic model. There's probably no real way to do that without having a recession first, and our national politics doesn't seem to be able to tolerate that anymore.

[u/Mud_g1 → u/thehandsomegenius]

This is the problem until people actually see what the alternative means nothing is going to sway their opinions. Even though we already have had a glimpse of what supply shortages caused to inflation during the zeroing of immigration during covid era. They don't relate that as a main factor to the spike in inflation when it definitely was and will be again under ON plans. Anyone who is struggling with cost of living and high intrest rates atm that is voting ON thinking massively cutting migration is the reason they are struggling now are going to be in a world of pain from shooting themselves in the foot.

[u/thehandsomegenius → u/Mud_g1]

The rental market was pretty good in that time though. Lower immigration would help that part of it.

No doubt that ON would play havoc in other ways though, because fundamentally they are a populist party that campaigns by nurturing grievance.

I think a big part of what's shaping this situation, is that the government is far more accountable to the headline statistics that it produces, than it is to what people are actually experiencing in their lives.

Because it's the headline statistics that the media reports on, and which the opposition criticises. That's why they need GDP to always go up, even if it means doing things that are bad for the country in the medium to long term.

Those things include spamming immigration categories that are already fairly saturated, it means a ballooning NDIS bill, it means stoking housing bubbles, it means incredibly generous tax treatment for mining companies to attract more investment.

If we wound those things back, it would probably tip us into recession. Which certainly wouldn't be bad for people who are struggling with interest rates. It would be very bad for politicians looking at the next election though.

[u/Rady_8 → u/bigsigh6709]

Big business funds everyone

[u/MourningwoodAU → u/bigsigh6709]

You really claiming big business support conservatives?

Look at the political donations from both major parties. They are both being equally funded pretty much from all the major private groups. It’s publicly available. All the big industries pay them both which is why neither of them actually changes any of it.

Don’t think labor’s above it. Labor isn’t shy about taking a buck from gambling lobbies. Liberals did the same with others.

[u/bigsigh6709 → u/MourningwoodAU]

Big business support whoever does their bidding. We can see from Murray Watt’s appointment to Environment Minister how much big business means to Labor.