Saturday, 12 April 2025

Propping Up Plutocracy: Australia's Hollow Democracy and the Corporate Boot on the Throat of the Public

"Democracy™": How Australia Became a Corporate Playground Disguised as a Nation-State

You don’t need to read between the lines anymore. The lines themselves scream it: this system is not broken—it’s working exactly as designed.

You know something is wrong. You feel it when a scandal breaks and not a single head rolls. When the politician who once regulated a sector is suddenly employed by it. When multimillion-dollar contracts land in the laps of political donors while hospitals are understaffed, schools crumble, and services in your community are slashed.

Australians have come to a bitter realisation from coast to coast: it doesn’t matter who you vote for if both major parties are taking money from the same corporate interests. Democracy has become an empty ritual. Elections are held, yes - but their outcomes are predetermined by the machinery of money, power, and influence.

This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s the architecture of Australian politics.

Bipartisanship at Its Ugliest: Corporate Capture

The ALP and the Liberal Party are adversaries only in name. Behind the scenes, their campaigns are fuelled by the same toxic cash. Since 1999, the two have jointly accepted nearly $300 million from fossil fuel companies, the Big Four banks, supermarket monopolies, defense contractors, and consulting behemoths like PwC and KPMG.

These aren't donations. They're investments - with expectations.

And what do these donors get in return? Billions in fossil fuel subsidies while Australia burns. Entire public policy sectors outsourced to private consultants. No climate plan. No anti-corruption watchdog with teeth. And no consequences.

Meanwhile, the revolving door spins ever faster: politicians slide seamlessly into cushy corporate gigs when they leave office. The public interest? It’s not even a footnote.

The Illusion of Reform: How "Integrity" Became a Punchline

Public trust in politics is in free fall - and for good reason. Integrity is spoken of like a quaint relic. We get headlines, inquiries, reports, and promises. But never justice. Never real reform.

And when the system is criticised, the defenders of the status quo clutch their pearls: “You’re undermining faith in democracy!”

But faith in democracy is being systematically exterminated by the very people who claim to defend it. Each scandal they ignore. Each lobbyist-written bill they pass. Each backroom deal they cut.

This is not dysfunction. This is doctrine.

The Greens: Actually Doing What the Others Pretend To

Enter the Greens - the only party in federal Parliament that refuses corporate donations. Not just a symbolic gesture. A structural line in the sand.

This isn’t about political purity. It’s about power. The Greens can challenge the corporate stranglehold on our politics precisely because they’re not owned by it. That makes them dangerous - not to the public, but to the powerful.

Their platform isn’t radical. It’s what a functioning democracy should look like:
  • Ban corporate donations from fossil fuels, gambling, alcohol, arms, and banking.
  • Cap all political donations and enforce real-time transparency.
  • Extend lobbying bans on ex-ministers from 18 months to five years.
  • Publish all ministerial diaries.
  • Make lying in political ads illegal - with penalties.
  • Boost the power and independence of public watchdogs.
  • Fund participatory democracy initiatives to give people - not just corporations - a seat at the table.
If that sounds extreme, ask yourself: Who benefits from the current system? Who would lose if politics were actually accountable?

Why the Status Quo Fears Democracy

The most dangerous idea in any elite-controlled society is that ordinary people should govern themselves.

And the most feared thing in Canberra isn’t extremism. It’s hope. It’s the idea that the public might start demanding not just representation but power, that we might tear down the revolving door, break the donor-politician feedback loop, and reclaim democracy from the corporatocracy.

That’s what the Greens represent. Not just a policy agenda. A threat to business as usual.

It’s Not Enough to Change the Players. We Have to Change the Game.

Labor won’t clean up politics. They rely on the same donors as the Liberals. The Liberals fear integrity like it’s a contagion. Both parties will tinker around the edges while the machine keeps running.

The Greens want to tear out the rot at the roots.

This election isn’t just about booting out one lousy government. It’s about whether you believe democracy should serve people - or profit.

Vote to ban corporate donations. To jail corrupt politicians. To make the powerful accountable - for once.

Because democracy doesn’t die in darkness.

It dies in broad daylight - when people stop believing it can still be theirs.

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