Thankyou for having emailed me requesting support for your candidature as an ALP National Conference delegate.
You will see below two drafts that I think should be considered for incorporation into the ALP platform.
Please advise me of your views and whether you would move or second a motion seeking to incorporate these matters.
Creation of new money in the economy by private banks
Labor believes the right to create new money in the economy is a sovereign right that should lie with government acting on behalf of the Australian people.
This is the case with the production of notes and coins. If an individual prints notes this is a criminal offence- counterfeit.
But most of the money in the economy exists in the form of digital entries in accounts (digital money).
Most of this new money is created by private banks, in the form of debt, when they issue loans to clients in excess of the reserves (existing money) that they already hold in their accounts.
Labor will examine the extent to which new money in the Australian economy is generated by private banks and the extent to which this new money ends up in the real economy as opposed to inflating asset and share prices.
Labor will examine whether private banks should be permitted to continue to generate new digital money in the economy and if so, the conditions under which this should be permitted.
Further resources:
Support for worker owned and controlled co-operatives
Labor supports the development of enterprises that are run and controlled by the workers who work in them (worker co-operatives).
Labor notes the existence of several successful models of this method of production including the Mondragon network in Spain and co-operatives in the Emilia Romagna region in northern Italy where co-operatives directly account for over 40% of the region’s GDP.
Mondragon has assets exceeding $40 billion US and 85,000 members and 20,000 non member employees working in 120 different co-operative enterprises. It engages in manufacturing, banking and operates a university, a supermarket chain and high tech research and development laboratories. It is export orientated selling more outside Spain than inside it. It owns 716 patents on various products.
The advantages of worker co-operatives include:
- Democratisation of the workplace with worker participation in decision making at all levels of co-operative enterprises;
- Compression of income inequalities with workers sharing in the profits of co-operative enterprises and income ratios within co-operatives generally not exceeding 6:1;
- Development of entrepreneurialism amongst the workforce;
- Improved working conditions;
- Improved innovation, research and development and maximisation of human capital potential;
- Accountability of management to workers;
- Reduced tendency for off-shoring of jobs;
- Greater tendency for social concerns to be balanced with the pursuit of profits.
Labor is committed to examining the means by which government can encourage the development of co-operative forms of production in Australia. This will include:
- Identification of industries particularly suited to the development of worker co-operatives;
- Any improvements required to the legal framework for co-operatives;
- Means of accessing start up capital;
- Development of training courses in co-operative methods of production;
- The role of unions and industry associations in co-operatives.
Further resources:
Lyn Malone says
Very thoughtful Peter. I wholeheartedly support both of them.
Sonja Terpstra says
HI Peter, Thanks for your email. You have asked me about my views on the topic set out above and whether I would either move or second the above resolution.
I’ve read what you’ve set out, but I would like to know more about the proposition you are putting forward. There are a few things combined in what you’ve written: whether private banks should be permitted to continue to generate new digital money in the economy; and support for worker controlled co-operatives.
My questions would be around how things would be regulated etc, and what consumer protections can be ensured, transparency and accountability measures, and what happens to debts etc. I note that worker control co-operatives have been successful in some of the nordic countries, but that Mondragon has been beset with its own challenges in more recent times due to low cost global competition.
But I note your resolution is to explore these things, but I would need a bit more information before I could commit to supporting/moving a resolution along the lines above. But in principle, exploring the matters you raise would be useful to provide more answers to some of the questions raised.
Warm regards
Sonja