How can we have a tax system to benefit most Australians?

Under Australia's tax system the rich have been getting richer and the poor have been getting poorer for years. Although we're one of the wealthiest countries in the world the current cost of living crisis means many Australians are struggling to pay their rent, their mortgages, or even put food on the table.  With an urgent need for tax reform a Politics in the Pub is being staged at The Family Hotel, Parke Street, Katoomba on Saturday June 15th 4-6pm addressed by RICHARD DENNISS of The Australia Institute and MICHAEL WHAITES of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association. 

Admission to the event is free and Richard and Michael will take questions from the floor after their opening remarks.

For further information contact event organisers Peter Lammiman (0410 153 157) or Deb Smith (0408 238 586) of Blue Mountains Unions & Community.

Dr Richard Denniss is the Executive Director at The Australia Institute. He is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and previously an Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. The Australian Financial Review listed Richard Denniss and Ben Oquist of The Australia Institute on their 'Covert Power' 2018 list of the most powerful people in Australia.

Prior to his appointment at The Australia Institute, Denniss was Senior Strategic Advisor to Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown and was also Chief of Staff to Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, former Leader of the Australian Democrats. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Newcastle.

He writes regular columns in the Australian Financial Review and the Guardian as well as regular essays for The Monthly. He publishes regularly in academic journals and has written 6 books including Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough (with Clive Hamilton), An introduction to Australian Public Policy (with Sarah Maddison), Minority Policy: Rethinking Governance When Parliament Matters (with Brenton Prosser), Econobabble: How to Decode Political Spin and Economic Nonsense, Curing Affluenza: How to Buy Less Stuff and Save the World and the June 2018 Quarterly Essay, Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next which was also adapted into a book of the same title.

Michael Whaites has been a nurse since 1992 and a midwife since 1994. He is currently Assistant General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association.

In his former position of Public Services International’s Sub-regional Secretary for Oceania he led the national People’s Inquiry into Privatisation which demonstrated the negative impact of privatisation on communities and services.

Another key project was the establishment of CICTAR (Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research), a global organisation exposing tax avoidance by companies involved in public services, including Australian aged care providers.

Authorised by D Smith, Secretary, Blue Mountains Unions Council Inc