“Currently, our tax system transfers wealth from those who can least afford it to those already seriously wealthy. Will the government have the courage in the next budget to introduce a fairer system,” asks political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

The Victorian teachers and ABC staff have gone on strike seeking a fair deal. Australia can expect to see ongoing and expanding industrial strife unless there is a fairer redistribution of wealth.

The media has focused on the issue of housing, and there is no doubt the issue is real, and younger workers are feeling that they have been shafted by previous generations. The only individuals who are able to purchase homes are those supported by the Bank of Mum and Dad.

A supply-and-demand problem does exist regarding housing and is exacerbated by the levels of immigration. However, it is not the full story. The broader context is about distribution of wealth.

Major parties have been reluctant to effectively tax big business. Is it the donations made to those parties? Is it effective lobbying and influence by big business? Is it the relationships built by the powerful with those in power? Or, has the attempt by Kevin Rudd to introduce the mining industry super profits tax and the loss of his prime ministership tainted the behaviour of politicians? Or, perhaps, it’s a combination of all these factors?

In late April, 2010, then-prime minister Kevin Rudd announced his intention to tax the super profits that were being made by a thriving mining industry.

This, along with postponing the emissions trading scheme, would cost him his job. Although the super profits mining tax was initially supported by the Murdoch media, a total turn around followed with what can only be described as a relentless campaign against the idea.

The outcome is that Australian resources continue to provide extraordinary profits for the mining industry and its shareholders. The extraction and distribution of Australia’s natural gas resources that return very little money to ordinary Australians, for example, is outrageous.

The scandalous half-truth tactics deployed by the mining industry at the time were nauseating. But they were effective – and the rich continued to get richer, while the distribution of wealth to ordinary workers began a long, slow decline.

According to the mining industry at the time, it would be mum and dad investors who would miss out. The reality was that such investors, even through their superannuation, received a minimal share of the profits.

The stock market also facilitates the distribution of profits from the less well off to the wealthy. 

Donald Trump’s announcement that he would not pursue “dire vengeance” on Iran was preceded, according to CNBC, reports by “a sharp and isolated jump in volume” in Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and oil markets.

It would appear that someone close to Trump was able to make huge profits on oil futures, estimated by The Financial Times in the order of $US580 million ($A834 million).

While ordinary people struggle with cost of living, our government supports Israel and America invading Iran over oil. The pretence of weapons of mass destruction (this time nuclear potential) is as farcical as it was in Iraq. In the Middle East, the country that has actually invaded a range of its neighbours is Israel – and they do have nuclear weapons!

Which brings us to the price of oil. As soon as the Straits of Hormuz was blocked, our fuel prices skyrocketed. Diesel was $1.66 a litre just before the crisis. A couple of weeks later, it rose to over $3 a litre. Old stocks of fuel were still being held by the distributors. No one can convince me that the major distributors were not price gouging. 

The federal government’s response was to allow the ACCC to investigate. However, as former Commissioner Alan Fels pointed out, the ability for them to do anything about price gouging is minimal thanks to amendments made to their legislation under the former coalition government and not corrected since.

The price of fuel skyrocketed, and other prices are following suit. Transport will cost so much more. For farmers, the cost of running their machinery and purchasing fertiliser will also go through the ceiling – pushing the price of fresh produce.

Our current taxation processes facilitate a transfer of wealth from those who can least afford it to those who are already seriously wealthy.

Will the government have the courage in the next budget to introduce a fairer taxation system? If they are not willing or able to do so, Australian workers will have little choice but to take industrial action, including on the streets.

Michael Moore is a former member of the ACT Legislative Assembly and an independent minister for health. He has been a political columnist with CityNews since 2006.