Social Action Australia (SAA) alas, cannot recommend a vote for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria in the elections to be held there on November 28Th 2026. This is regrettable because SAA is a social democratic organization which is orientated toward the election of social democratic parties to power. Integral to SAA’s philosophical orientation is its support for genuine decentralization in both socio-economic and political contexts.
Unfortunately, due to the onset of trade union amalgamation in the 1990s of Australian trade unions, they were re-organized along industry lines as opposed to operating on a craft basis. This transition to industry trade unionism has led to a massive concentration of political power within the ALP at both a federal and a state level. This has been apparent in Victoria where the immense political power of the amalgamated Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has been such that the Victorian ALP government has embarked upon a financially profligate public works program known as the ‘Big Build’.
Not only has the ‘Big Build’ being a major road traffic disrupter but this massive public works program has substantially contributed to Victoria’s $200 billion public debt. That Victoria is a financial ‘basket case’ will become manifestly evident to all following the 2026 state election when it will become incredibly challenging for this state to fund government operating costs.
This probable scenario should not become a pretext for a Victorian Liberal led government led by Jess Wilson to constitutionally de-establish Victoria by possibly co-operating with the ALP federal government to introduce Regionalization. This is a political process which SAA has longed warned about, whereby local government is recognized in the Australian Constitution under section 51, so that new super-regional councils can be created to ultimately replace Australian states.
There are possibilities that the hard right One Nation Party will hold the balance of power in the state parliament or enter the Victorian government as either a senior or junior coalition partner following the November 2026 state election. Should any of these scenarios occur, then the One Nation Party must utilize its political power to oppose moves toward implementing Regionalization.
For should Regionalization be achieved then The Greens and a Teal type of political party could possibly entrench themselves in power by gaining control of future regional bailiwicks. The hard-left of the ALP via their domination of most of Australia’s industry unions could also entrench their power within newly established regional bailiwicks. The rent-seeking Right of the Liberal and National parties’ could also dominate new super-regional councils by holding onto their respective parties rusted on voting blocs.
To prevent rent-seeking elements within the two coalition parties from converting rusted on voting blocs into control of future regional bailiwicks, Liberal Party moderates such as former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull must remain within their party. By doing so, it will be more difficult to consolidate a Teal type political party because there will not be a sufficient enough passage of bloc votes away from the Liberal Party.
For good measure, Malcolm Turnbull could utilize his financial and political contacts to form the equivalent of The Teals’ Climate 200 committee. Such a Turnbull led committee could facilitate financial funding and logistical support for pro-states Liberal Party and National Party candidates (including seating MPs) in future state and federal elections.
An argument could be made, that the Teals might not have emerged as such a powerful political force had Malcolm Turnbull not been deposed as prime minister in 2018. This is because this 2018 deposition led to a substantial defection of socially liberal voters moving away from the Liberal Party to The Teals. Accordingly, by this former prime minister campaigning for Liberal Party moderates such as Tim Wilson and Josh Frydenberg (should the latter decide to recontest the next federal election) then Malcolm Turnbull could well help save the Liberal Party.
By the Liberal Party remaining a ‘broad church’, it will be more difficult for the rent-seeking elements within that party to access a rusted-on vote should Regionalization be later introduced via constitutional recognition of local government. Furthermore, not only would Josh Frydenberg’s return to federal parliament be useful in helping thwart rent-seeking but he could also make a very positive contribution to the public good either as a returned federal Treasurer or as a prime minister.
Josh Frydeberg’s return to senior leadership will be needed because Australia’s net public foreign debt now stands at over one trillion dollars! This massive foreign debt may soon become unserviceable due to mainland China now accessing new iron-ore deposits in Africa and South America. Consequently, someone as financially brilliant as Josh Frydenberg – whose Job Keeper emergency payments saved Australia from socio-economic collapse during the Covid pandemic- could well again be needed to help save the nation.
Another benefit of Josh Frydennberg’s return to senior national leadership will be to counter-act anti-Semitism which has been disturbingly apparent in Australia since the October 7th 2023 massacre in Israel, not to mention the more recent Bondi massacre. Furthermore, as a social liberal, Josh Frydenberg could also counter potential extremist tendencies within the One Nation Party should that party enter government at a federal level.
Concerning the One Nation Party possibly entering into government at either a federal or state context, this party will need to have leaders with the necessary financial technical skill to save Australia from financial ruin and associated social catastrophe. Therefore, it would be desirable that the North Queensland federal MP, Bob Katter join the One Nation Party to become a senior minister should this party enter federal government.
Bob Katter is a neo-Mc Ewanist who has the knowledge of how public policy can be re-orientated toward reviving primary and secondary industries via government support. Should such a Mc Ewanist approach to public policy be re-adopted then Australia will return toward a Production First orientation which was the dominant paradigm until the ALP won federal government in March 1983.
A Production First approach is one where government policy is orientated toward fostering and protecting the agricultural and the manufacturing sectors of the national economy via government assistance. There is a need for such a demographic re-orientation of the labour force due to the onset of AI which is such a fundamental threat to Australia’s post-1983 service focused economy.
Regarding social policy, Bob Katter as a One Nation senior federal minister could well support income taxation splitting so that one of the parents will have the option of staying at home. The immense benefits of income splitting will be that more children can be raised by one of their parents rather than being sent to child care centers.
An associated benefit of income splitting will also be to help facilitate increased employee bargaining power. This will occur because the fundamental problem of there being an over-supply of labour leading to downward pressure on wages will be overcome.
It should also be pointed out that Bob Katter is not only an admirer of Black Jack Mc Ewan but also of the ALP’s Ted (‘Red Ted’) Theodore who served as a federal Treasurer in the Scullin government, (1929 to 1931). As such, Bob Katter in government could also help engineer a return to craft-based trade unionism.
There are those who might say that a future federal government with both Josh Frydenberg and Bob Katter in it, might be too unwieldly due to their vividly contrasting approaches to public policy. For Josh Frydenberg has previously applied a Finance First approach to toward economic policy which accords with the economic reforms of the Hawke-Keating and Howard eras, which therefore contrasts with a Production First approach.
This dichotomy between the respective Production First and the Finance First approaches to public policy is one which this correspondent first became aware of due to a talk which he attended given by the Australian economics writer, Dr. David James. I now realize due to the existence of this dichotomy, that the real historic impact that the Trump administration is having in the United States is to move America back toward a Production First economic paradigm. The consequent political question which arises is whether working class Americans will correspondingly cross over to the Republican Party due to the Trump administration pursuing a Production First economic approach.
It could be validly argued that had the United States not applied a Finance First approach pursued by Republican administrations in the 1920s that the Great Depression might have been avoided. Similarly, the economic recovery which the United States experienced following her entry into World War II in late 1941 might not have occurred had the Roosevelt administration not been pursuing a Production First economic approach.
That is not to say that a Finance Approach cannot facilitate prosperity and higher living standards. Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies in the 1980s moved Great Britain away from a Production Frist approach toward a Finance First approach and in the process facilitated prosperity in the service orientated south while the industrial north of the nation grievously suffered.
However, the Production First and the Finance First approaches need not be contradictory as both the Swedish and German economies attest. Sweden is one of the most successful social democracies in history due to this kingdom achieving a synthesized balance between the Finance and the Production approaches to economic management.
The most successful example of this synthesized approach was Germany’s post-war social market economy which was brilliantly devised by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his Finance Minister, Ludwig Erhard. Sadly, Germany is now transitioning away from this synthesized approach which is currently leading Europe toward ruin.
By contrast, with Australia now moving toward a possibly fundamentally new political direction, leaders such as Senator Pauline Hanson, Malcolm Turnbull, Josh Frydenberg and Bob Katter by co-operating with each other, can help create a synthesized balance between the Finance First and the Production First economic approaches and in so doing also help save Australia from rent-seeking.