Policy Amendments and Legislation changes
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International Business development and investment
Real Estate agents must disclose all foreign transactions and withhold a portion of rental income.
Real Estate agents must declare all payments to the ATO made to foreigners for rental payments and withhold 50% of rent paid offshore. Real Estate agents must also declare all money received by foreigners for purchase of residential, commercial or agricultural land.
Short Selling to be banned
Stock lending is stock selling.
Shorting shares is speculation and not in the interests of shareholders. It is only available to large shareholders, and they can use their holdings to move the share price. This information alone should be considered insider information, and as such it creates an uneven playing field between large and small investors.
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Require Multinationals to Publicly Disclose Related Payments by Country
Profit gouging must end. The amount and source of profits being transferred offshore needs to be disclosed to enable a better understanding of just how much profit leaves Australia’s shores every year.
Currently there is very little transparency about the flow of offshore profits. Related party payments are not disclosed publicly which facilitates the flow of capital offshore without proper transparency.
Agents should not vote at AGMs without Shareholder Consent
Fund managers will not be given the authority to vote without obtaining proxies from their members.
The owners of capital must not be separated from the decisions on how their capital is allocated. Yet this is exactly what superannuation does. Not only are board members not elected, once appointed they can cast votes as to who to appoint onto the boards of the companies they hold shares in. They can also vote on other resolutions put forward by companies including executive remuneration. They do not need to seek the approval of fund members for any of the decisions they make at company AGMs. This is not capitalism, it is communism, and the process of decision making in capital markets needs to be more democratic.
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Tighten Capital Controls on Foreign Purchases and Lending
Banks need to limit the amount for Foreign Debt they can use.
House prices have been artificially inflated thanks to generous lending by the banks.
In 1985, the four majors had approximately $8 billion in foreign debt. By 2008, it was closer to $800 billion. Most of this money was lent against housing contributing to house prices at least doubling relative to incomes. As a result, Australians are taking longer to repay their mortgages and have less disposable income. Furthermore, generous tax concessions to the foreign bondholders are resulting in tax base erosion and the leakage of wealth offshore.
Australian banks need to tighten their lending criteria to help suppress the unsustainable rise in house prices. Overinflating house prices is taking much needed capital away from other sectors of the economy which is ultimately hollowing out Australia’s skill base and productive capacity. It is leading to a lower standard of living amongst working class Australians.
Superannuation Funds must Elect their Boards
Fund members must be given a say.
Not only were Australians never given a choice as to whether they wanted 12 per cent of their wages taken from them, they have never been allowed to vote on who controls their capital once it has been taken from their wages. This process is undemocratic and lacks transparency. Industry and retail superannuation funds have nearly $3 trillion in funds under management and this expected to more than double by 2050.
It is therefore imperative that the managers of such huge sums of money are held accountable for their performance. It is worth noting that by controlling such large sums of capital, the managers of superannuation funds exert a large degree of influence on industry and the economy. In a country that upholds democratic principles of accountability, it is only to be expected that managers of capital be held to account.
We will advocate that contributions to superannuation is voluntary, and instead allow workers to take their superannuation as wages. This would put money back into the hands of hard-working Australians and allow them to decide how best to secure their future.
Superannuation is not working. After 30 years of superannuation, over half of retirees are still on a full pension which is the same as it was in 1992 when superannuation started.
The cost of the pension is $53 billion, yet superannuation tax concessions cost almost $50 billion and most of these concessions go to the highest 20% of income earners. It is clear that superannuation is not reducing the cost of the pension at all.
Furthermore, 40% of people today retire with a mortgage which is up from 10% in 1992, which is a good example of how superannuation is making it harder for people to own their own homes.
People should be able to control the way in which they manage their finances. They should be able to save for a home, or pay off their mortgage or HECS with their savings rather than be forced to put it into superannuation.