LL:ART: WHAT'S BEHIND THE MEDICARE LEVY

[Communist Party of Australia]

What's behind the Medicare Levy?

The following EDITORIAL was published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
December 1st, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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The Howard Government, riding on the wave of support for military
and economic assistance to the East Timorese people, has taken
the opportunity to implement policies which would not otherwise
be so readily accepted.

It is on this background that the Government has imposed a
special Medicare levy on those with incomes above $50,000 per
annum to help pay for the cost of Australia's military force in
East Timor. This is definitely not the way to fund such
expenditures.

The Medicare levy should be retained solely for health purposes.
Once this precedent is established what is to stop Medicare being
milked for other "one-off" needs? The Government imposed a "one-
off" levy to pay for the gun buy-back -- again using the popular
demand that something be done to reduce the number of automatic
weapons in the community.

The special Medicare levy is being sold as a "fair and
reasonable" way to bring in money but this is far from being the
truth. Most families with incomes of around $50,000 a year are by
no-means well-off.

There is no thought by the government of extracting the funding
from those corporations and banks now recording obscene, record
profits: they will not pay one cent towards helping East Timor.

There will also be substantial tax cuts handed out to the wealthy
next year when the GST comes into effect. The claw back of a few
dollars by way of the special one year Medicare levy is peanuts
compared to the extra money high income earners will have in
their pockets as a result of those tax cuts.

Furthermore, the special levy to pay for the East Timor operation
would not have been necessary at all if the Government had not
squandered $1.7 billion of taxpayers' money by way of subsidies
to entice people to take out private health insurance.

This Medicare levy shows all the hallmarks of a Government that
is incapable of any long-range political and economic planning
except when it comes to finding ways to manipulate the economy
for the benefit of its private enterprise mates.

Taxes are to be increased for low income earners by way of the
GST while allocations for public health, education, housing and
other necessary services continue to be pared back.

In terms of international relations it means the Government
making Australia a deputy sheriff of the United States and
adopting an interventionist policy in Asia.

All this is now being justified under the umbrella of public
sentiment in favour of helping East Timor.

There are plans afoot to substantially increase military
expenditure and build up Australia's military forces both in
manpower and hi-tech weaponry. A Defence White Paper is to be
released next year and it is absolutely certain that it will
recommend increased military expenditure.

The East Timor operation will also be used to justify a policy of
intervention in Asia generally. We will be told that Australia
has a key role to play in Asia and that because of our "strength"
Asia needs Australian intervention to solve its problems.

Future problems could well be provoked on the Korean Peninsular,
in connection with the reunification of China and Taiwan, or as a
result of further political changes in Indonesia.

How the independence movements in Aceh, West Papua and other
areas of restlessness and revolt develop could be used as
justification for Australia to muscle in.

It should never be forgotten that both the Liberal Coalition and
the Labor Party strenuously backed the Suharto military
dictatorship in Indonesia and supported the invasion of East
Timor and its annexation by Indonesia.

Only when this policy was blown out of the water with the
overthrow of Suharto by the Indonesian people, and with the
independence struggle of the East Timorese, did the Government
change its policy.

The leaderships of the Liberal and Labor parties have not changed
their fundamental position. They now pose as champions of freedom
as they pursue their imperialist and deputy sheriff role, riding
the wave of genuine groundswell support for East Timor's
independence.






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