Campbelltown councillor and former mayor, CLINTON MEAD, takes up the offer from the South West Voice to name five reasons the voters of Macquarie Fields should support him on March 28:
1. Politicians, myself included, are very bad at spending your money, and that isn’t going to change whichever mob is spending our money after the 28th of March. I believe the more money you can keep in your pocket to pay for services yourself directly, the better.
2. For people who can’t afford to pay, there should be a safety net. But that doesn’t mean the government needs to run businesses. People need food, but the government doesn’t run a food growing and distribution business. It does not need to run hospitals and schools either. All that’s required is that people have the ability to access these services, which can be done through vouchers or government funded insurance. But welfare shouldn’t be as extensive as it is today, reaching well into upper middle income earners. People who can afford to pay should pay themselves. They have to pay now anyway through their taxes, but it will be cheaper if they pay directly as the politicians and bureaucrats can’t take their cut.
3. I believe I’m the only candidate to publish a proposed budget on my website, http://clintonmead.com/nswbudget. It proposes a 60% state tax cut, keeps the budget balance, and abolishes taxes like stamp duty, motor vehicle tax, home insurance tax and health insurance tax, and others. It would put $8000 back into the pocket of the average family of four each year, with no cuts to infrastructure spending.
4. I believe the core role of government should be the protection of life, liberty and property. I believe its only other legitimate functions are a safety net only for those in need (not the majority) and providing only infrastructure and services that would be impractical to charge for on a user pays basis, such as roads, footpaths, parks, fire fighting services etc.
5. You may not agree with everything the Liberal Democrats (and our sister party running in the upper house, the Outdoor Recreation Party) stand for. But if you want change, please help us by giving us your vote. We’re not going to form government, but it does send a message to the Labor/Liberal Party and we can hopefully elect more upper house members. You can always preference your preferred major party number two so your vote still counts. We need a change from the “better of two evils” game each time an election comes around.
