Hi I'm John August. I've long been concerned about the injustices and problems around us. I've stood for the Secular Party and Pirate Party in times past, and now stand for the Pirate branch
of Fusion for the seat of Bennelong. I'm concerned about many things, and need to focus on just a few here.
🏠 The Cost of Living and Housing Affordability
Our economy is out of balance because of how housing is treated as an investment. Rather than increasing supply, the price is ratcheted up. Reforming our tax system will not just improve housing affordability, but will also help our economy focus on genuine wealth building rather than distractions.
Our cities become less and less liveable as we play infrastructure catch up. Rather than building first and then putting in infrastructure later, we need to get ahead of the curve.
Climate change is a reality which increases our insurance premiums, meaning additional cost ofliving pressures. We need to do our bit, and not just because it is the right thing to do.
🌏 Foreign Policy and Whistleblowing
While the major parties try to sell us on "mateship" and the "fair go", that wasn't how we treated Timor Leste, along with Witness K and Bernard Collaery. We've treated other whistleblowers badly too. It's not just a matter of justice - we can only imagine the economic boost we'd have if we made a serious go at reducing corruption - and supporting whistleblowers is an important part of that, with recent supposed advances falling flat.
We need to make our foreign policy more principled and independent of the US, and forge our own path. This was always the case, but is now even more relevant with the US going off the rails. We need to pull out of AUKUS and find our own path.
Julian Assange was left to wither on the vine till he was ultimately released, without any recognition of the good he has done. Our Governments' approach was in contrast to how we deal with Australians in trouble overseas, when standing up doesn't inconvenience a nation we're fawning up to.
Rather than training our own people, we're drawing on skilled migrants from less well of countries. We're parasitising, and we should really subtract this cost from our foreign aid budget to get a real understanding of whether we're actually helping the rest of the world.
You can see some of my past speeches on this topic here:
( 12 minutes )
( 6 minutes )
🏛️ Surveillance Capitalism, Government Surveillance and corporate abuse
When social media knows enough about us, they can predict our behaviour better than we can, and rather than "advertising" they have "markets in behavioural futures", packaging and selling our future actions. Such orchestration also undermines our democracy and what it means to be a human being. Government surveillance also increases step by step as well. This is something we need to challenge, to reclaim our own identities.
Along with junk mail and spam, corporations recruit our desires to change the world in a positive way, as so we as candidates receive orchestrated spam from sites like dogooder.com .We need to all engage in genuine activism, rather than have our good will harnessed for others' profits.
And so I say this to you: I'll try to answer any genuine questions, but only if you choose to engage directly with me, but not through such third party sites. I cherish my genuine engagement with the world, and hope you will appreciate something similar yourself.
I have a great many other concerns, things that I see wrong with world. You can see more in a general discussion ( 52 minutes ) I had with Owen Miller, a fellow Fusion candidate:
Rebutting Climate Change Denial (21 minutes)
I participated in the "In The Cove" candidates forum for voters around Lane Cove, but also covered many issues of general interest to Bennelong generally ( about 90 minutes) :
You can also see a speech ( 3 minutes ) I gave on business and comparisons to the different parties:
There's also my website, https://johnaugust.com.au
But, further, let me say, I do my best and cannot be all things to all people. Regardless of who you vote for, I hope you will find someone you feel comfortable voting for.
Best wishes,John August
Contact: [email protected] (For direct contact by individuals, not mass campaign mails. Read More: https://johnaugust.com.au/article/im-being-spammed)