Campaign Speech Example
Over the last two years, we’ve all felt the overreach of governments that have crushed our freedom.
The reactions of our leaders have been way out of proportion to the potential consequences.
And what has been the result?
We’ve lost lives and livelihoods.
We’ve lost educational opportunities.
We’ve lost precious time with our loved ones.
We’ve lost our way.
The most vulnerable have suffered the consequences of border closures, lockdowns and mandates. One devastating example was the four babies born in South Australia who needed vital heart surgery available in Melbourne but couldn’t cross the border.
These children’s parents won’t be able to watch their babies take their first steps, start school, make friends and celebrate birthdays.
And for what?
To protect us against an illness with a fatality rate of less than 1 per cent for most of the population.[1]
I watched as a friend of mine couldn’t say goodbye to his dying mother. After flying back to Australia, he was stuck in quarantine during his mother’s last days. My friend learned of her death through a text message – totally heartless.
I’ve known him for 40 years. He’s always been a strong, tough businessman and very unemotional. But this was the first time I saw him cry.
Seeing this devastation and destruction motivated me to stand for the Senate representing the Freedom Party at the next federal election.
The Freedom Party believe in more freedom and less government. We believe that you are smart enough to make your own choices and to accept responsibility for their consequences. We believe that you can make better decisions for yourself than the government can.
To address the current challenges that face us, we’ve created the Freedom Manifesto that outlines our 10 policy priorities. I’ll share three of these with you.
COVID alarmism
The first is freedom from COVID alarmism. Over the past two years, the government response has been out of proportion to the actual risk. We’ve paid a very high price for an absurd and impossible “zero-COVID” policy.
We’ve lost our personal freedoms, our privacy, our relationships, our jobs, our businesses and our happiness. At the same time, our government debt has ballooned to a level that will take 250 years to pay off.
To create a clear path out of this mess, the Freedom Party call for immediate changes.
We will open the schools and keep them open.
We will end all lockdowns.
We will end mask mandates.
We will ensure that peaceful protests are allowed.
We will end vaccine mandates and discrimination.
We will ensure that all Australians stranded overseas can get home.
These will be important first steps to stop the needless suffering caused by COVID alarmism.
Debt and deficit
In 2007, the economy was strong, and the federal government had no net debt. Fifteen years and six prime ministers later, we are on track for one trillion dollars in debt in the coming years. Ongoing stimulus spending kicks the can down the road and will result in much greater pain in the future. It’s becoming a massive weight on our shoulders. If we continue down our current path, we’ll be paying $65 billion a year in interest on our debt. Even worse, our mountain of debt will force future generations to subsidise our current waste.
What’s our solution?
We’ll cut 10 per cent from all federal departs, besides Defence, and cut a further 1 per cent in each subsequent year.
You might ask, “How can we do this without reducing basic services?”
We can achieve it by cutting the wasteful spending that has spiralled out of control. You don’t have to look far to find it.
In recent years, we’ve seen things like:[2]
- Spending $1 billion on an innovation agenda, including $23 million on an advertising campaign
- $850,000 for a study of Italy’s Catherine de Medici through her correspondence.
- $451,000 to a marketing research company to research a National Binge Drinking Strategy.
- $15 million in one year on core funding for the World Health Organisation.
- A $33 million bonus pool for 325 Australia Post executives – that’s an average of $100,000 per executive, who are already well paid.
- $65 million this year for global and regional gender equality initiatives[3], and $300 million in the next four years to support immunisation in developing countries.[4]
And a new one is $1 billion of new spending on the Great Barrier Reef to persuade UNESCO not to list the reef as endangered.
These are only a few of many examples of how much the federal government wastes.
So we could easily cut out 10 per cent and 1 per cent in each subsequent year simply by cutting the massive amount of government waste.
Low flat taxes
Each year on budget night, we hear about new income tax cuts. But these cuts do little more than help keep up with bracket creep. It’s been proven that higher taxes lead to lower government revenue. That’s because high taxes are counterproductive. In the United States, both John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan adopted lower income taxes that fostered economic growth.[5]
Our policy is to have a flat 20 per cent income tax rate, raise the tax-free threshold to $40,000 and index this to inflation to avoid bracket creep.
For an average income of $80,000, you’ll pay:
- $17,500 with Labor
- $16,500 with the Coalition
- $8,000 with the Freedom Party
- And $80,001 with the Greens.
But seriously, with the LDP, you’ll save 50% on your tax bill and use your money as you see fit.
For businesses, our policy is a flat company tax rate of 20 per cent on profit and removing company tax on reinvested profits.
These lower taxes are a crucial step in reigniting incentives for individuals and businesses to grow the economy for a prosperous future.
Conclusion
Today, I’ve outlined three of the 10 policies in the Freedom Party Freedom Manifesto. Visit our website or get a flyer from one of our members here to learn more about our other policies to overcome the challenges we face as a nation.
The past two years have shown us how fragile freedom is. The Liberal – Labor duopoly hasn’t served us well. It’s time for a radical jolt in Australian federal elections with real leadership.
A vote for the Freedom Party is a vote for freedom.
Freedom to make your own health choices.
Freedom from crippling government debt.
Freedom from the nanny state.
And freedom to create a prosperous and peaceful country for us and future generations.
[1] https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2021/06/25/australian-data-answers-key-questions-about-covid19-mortality.html
[2] https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2016/02/12/government-waste-australia-ridiculous/
[3] https://www.dfat.gov.au/development/topics/investment-priorities/gender-equality-empowering-women-girls/gender-equality
[4] fat.gov.au/development/topics/investment-priorities/education-health/health/global-health-initiatives#:~:text=%24242%20million%20(2020-2022)&text=Australia%20pledged%20AUD242%20million%20(2020,which%20ten%20per%20cent%20(AUD24.
[5] https://time.com/4511870/john-f-kennedy-and-ronald-reagan-tax-policy/