A perennial issue for voters is what the government is going to do about their immediate surroundings − their home and their surrounding streets.
Although streets are largely under the mandate of councils and state governments, Fusion does have some federal policies which could end up making an even larger difference when it comes to shaping neighbourhoods into places that people love.
Canning Street in Carlton. Photo: Owen Miller
Granting Councils Money
An obvious way of improving streets is simply to give some extra money to councils, who are the ones ultimately looking after most streets. The problem here is that the council doesn't necessarily have the same ideas about what improves a street, especially when it comes to bike lanes. People might not be familiar with the idea of induced demand: if you build an extra lane for cars, then driving will suddenly become more appealing, so more people will end up driving and the traffic can end up being worse than it was before.
In Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon Stream had been covered by multiple lanes of traffic which would frequently be prone to traffic jams. Then in 2003, multiple lanes were ripped up so that the stream could be restored. People ended up still being able to get where they wanted to be. Less than one year after completion of the project, office rents increased 13% and land prices surged. The revitalised stream was beautiful and popular.
If we look at Amsterdam or now Paris, we can see that a move from cars to bicycles can prove hugely popular and can decrease travel times. Sure you can scream to yourself in your steel box on wheels, but it turns out that this isn't something that people really want to do.
Still, you see places like Chatswood in Sydney, where people aren't big believers in bike lanes:
The start and end of the 20-metre Help Street bike lane.
Let's keep in mind that being a councillor is typically a part-time job, and it attracts people like Labor's Mohamad Hussein, who voted to ban books with same-sex parents.
Labor councillor Mohamad Hussein voted to ban books
Someone who bans books is not a strong contender for who's going to read widely and keep up-to-date with the latest research findings.
Granting councils money can be hit-and-miss, and there are ways that the federal government can affect local communities at a more fundamental level than what's available to local councils.
Universal Basic Income
The idea of giving people enough money for shelter and basic needs is bound to have widespread effects; and studies have shown that amongst other effects, a universal basic income (UBI) results in recipients reporting more time for volunteering and spending time with loved ones.
We can imagine people spending time on gardening and the upkeep of their local neighbourhood.
A curbside flower bed and community library in the Bulleke-bek ward of Merri-bek (Brunswick, Melbourne). Photo: Owen Miller
When people care about their neighbours and their neighbourhood, of course you're going to get better outcomes than could ever be achieved by trying to squeeze out taxes and hand it to hourly contractors.
If people have a sense of belonging, they'll go over and above, creating a paradise where they can live in harmony and achieve self-fulfillment. This is not something that government can create on someone's − food stamps, battery subsidies and alcohol taxes all aim to impose the government's ideas about what a good life looks like, whereas UBI gives people the pre-conditions for success and entrusts people to pursue what's best for themselves and their community.
Open-Source Innovation
Fusion supports releasing government-software open-source and funding further open-source projects. We can imagine software for eg measuring bird life in a community, or traffic flows. Without clear profit motives, these sorts of projects have a hard time getting off the ground at the moment. Our government has been underwhelming when it comes to using the latest innovations to improve our society and to better deliver government services.
Animal Welfare
Happier and healthier residents will be more productive. There are just so many good outcomes if we pursue a strategy of living in harmony with nature.
Electrification
Housing Tax Reform
Fusion's housing policy calls for a move to real land tax like Henry George proposed, without the exemptions for the principal residence. This would incentivise smaller, denser footprints for homes and would skew people's housing costs more towards the ongoing taxes rather than mortgages and asset prices. As a result, governments could more easily acquire private land and create eg wildlife corridors or bike paths.
The land tax would also create better alignment for investments in infrastructure projects − in the past, building a rail link would've resulted mainly in good will, but also some extra income tax from extra jobs along the line, and eventually some extra stamp duty or capital gains tax for the properties along the line. By moving more to land tax, we could quickly see a measurable before and after for the land tax revenue (applicable to everyone along the line) and even tie that to returns for investors. Our housing policy calls for the creation of a Livret A, a government bond where everyday civilians can invest in social housing, loans to Australian companies, city-building and high-speed rail.
The Shinkansen high-speed train. Photo: Dilu
