Why I Put The Greens Last
Sir Robert Menzies said "The Liberal Party stands for the family, the individual and free enterprise" - that's what I believe in. The Greens don't. Their policies don't represent what's best for our society, or what's best for individuals. Here's just a snapshot of the reasons why I put The Greens last. Look at what they say in their party documents, in most cases it speaks for itself!
They’re Economic Vandals
Property Rights
Under The Greens' policies owners of rental properties will be forced to offer lifetime leases - "All tenants will have access to unlimited leases, which can only be terminated with 12 months notice by the landlord, and only on reasonable grounds." They also want state imposed rent controls.
They also want to bring in a vacancy tax of 5% for empty properties - "The Queensland Greens will levy a 5% tax on properties which are intentionally kept vacant and not advertised for rent or sale. This tax will raise $800 million over five years to help fund our plan for universal housing". The Greens will also "investigate levying a vacancy tax on commercial property and vacant land".
These proposed actions directly attack private property rights.
More and Higher Taxes
The Greens want to increase the tax burden, rather than lighten it, to help fund their crazy schemes. The Greens will "Increase gambling taxes and levies" and "Reintroduce an Industry Waste Levy" with the cost, as always, to be picked up by the consumer.
If you'd like to pass on some money to your family, The Greens want to make it harder by introducing Death Duties. They say they want to tax "dynastic wealth handed from one generation to another...".
They also want to make it harder for people to get ahead and own a house by "Abolish[ing] the First Home Owner Grant Scheme". And just when you thought it couldn't get worse, they also say they are committed to "Investigating introducing progressive state income" - that's right, more taxes!
2. They think ‘Law and Order’ is a TV show
The Greens want to see drug injection rooms in a centre near you by saying they "Support the ongoing provision and expansion of supervised safe places for drug- and alcohol-affected persons (i.e. supervised injection facilities)."
Instead of taking drugs seriously, they want to "Introduce a system of civil sanctions for personal use of illicit drugs," which is just like decriminalisation.
Police officers are also going to find it harder to defend themselves if The Greens have their way about tasers. They want to "Remove Tasers from the QPS until additional safeguards are in place to ensure that only specially trained squads can use Tasers".
3. They think they know more about Agriculture than Farmers
Farming gets a whole lot harder under the The Greens. They want to "Phase out intensive animal farming practices". We know Labor badly damaged the cattle industry but The Greens are worse when they say "live exports of farmed animals" should be banned. Even after Labor's recent damage to agriculture, The Greens still want to "Strengthen vegetation management laws" so farmers will be worse off.
The drought has been tough enough for those on the land. The Greens will "Prohibit the construction of new major public or private dams and desalination plants" which would not only make the disaster worse but means less jobs in rural Queensland. They also want to put an end to new land being opened up for agriculture.
4. They’re anti-resources and anti-resource jobs
The Greens want to "Phase out existing thermal coal mines and coal export..." ,"Oppose coal seam gas exploration and production, and associated pipeline and export infrastructure developments" and to top it all off "Ban fossil fuel exploration anywhere in Queensland". They have even introduced a bill into the Queensland Parliament to ban fossil fuel mining in the Galilee Basin. More jobs being sacrificed.
Even though they don't believe in the industry, they're more than happy to slap a mining tax on companies, and are claiming they "will raise $26 billion over five years by raising coal and gas royalties". That means less jobs and less investment.
5. They don’t like freedom of choice in healthcare or education
Over half of Australia have some kind of private health insurance, and 35% of students are in private education. That's why The Greens want to get rid of what Richard Di Natale says is a "wasteful and ineffective private health insurance rebate", and it's why they want to adopt "national needs-based funding that results in public funding to private schools being scaled down in accordance with the Schools Resource Standard (including to zero in applicable cases)". This would have a massive impact on low-fee independent and Catholic schools that parents choose to send their kids to. It also means bigger health bills for those who responsibly choose to self insure!