Editorial: Giving Respect to All

The most important contribution that Christians can make to an election campaign is to insist that human beings are not isolated individuals but members of a community. In a community each member has the same dignity, and thus the right to the same respect. Our bishops remind us on this Social Justice Sunday of the dignity of our aged members — our recognition of which is on trial in this election.

The One Nation party, for example, is very restrictive in its list of those it values. Reunions of Australian residents with their elderly parents would, according to its immigration policy, be virtually eliminated. Moreover, migrants of all ages, and even our original Australians, will, according to its policy, be valued only if they become like us, by which it means Anglo-Celts. Christians believe that the earth is God’s gift to all: thus no group can legitimately claim such an exclusive right to a land as One Nation is asserting. Immigration policies must be based on an esteem for persons of all ages and cultures.

Our esteem for the aged is also tested by the amount we are prepared to spend on their care. Economic rationalist ideology has led governments in recent years to increasingly shift the financial responsibility for aged care from the community to the individual. The coalition’s proposed GST would threaten aged pensioners more than most other citizens, and compensate them meagrely for the consequent rise in the cost of living. The ALP’s proposed tax credits, because they apply only to the employed, will not benefit aged pensioners either.

Our message to politicians at this election should be this: the doctrine that the market should be the sole distributor of wealth in our nation clashes with the Christian belief that a genuine community is responsible for ensuring a just share for everybody. Paying taxes for this purpose should be presented as a citizen’s willing contribution to the common good, instead of an odious confiscation by ‘big brother’. Taxation must be as progressive as possible to be fair to all taxpayers. Thus, income tax must remain its major source, and compensation for the burden of indirect taxes upon the poor must be generous. There is nothing in the gospel about providing incentives for the rich, but there are some salutary cautionary tales for them and an overwhelming insistence on care for the poor.

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