In September in the NSW Legislative Council, I spoke about financial regulation both at home and abroad in the wake of the global financial crisis. I criticised Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his heavy handed use of tens of thousands of words to slash wildly at 'corporate cowboys' and 'stopping capitalism from canibalising itself', while laying out absolutely no concrete reforms which might stop such a crisis from occurring again.
The spectacular the falls of insurance giants and merchant banks might have been the headlines splashed across newspapers, the internet and television, and these large financial institutions were undoubtedly the drivers of the system the Prime Minister was railing against. But the consequences were and are still being felt by the most people, having seen their superannuation funds dissolved, their jobs disappeared and their small business closed or on the verge of closure.
With the most volatile elements of the crisis seemingly over and the markets crawling back to their version of stability, it needs to be asked whether anything has really been done to stop such a crisis from happening again. As the bean counters start ticking over the quickening influx of funds, the Government, the Opposition and big business have unsurprisingly gone silent on the need for reform. It would appear they are content with business as usual, unconcerned with the damage already done to the general public by a flawed system, and even less concerned with the possibility of a future recurrence.
A strong part of the Greens' economic policy is the introduction of a Tobin Tax, a miniscule tax on foreign exchange transactions which would not only help stabilise the $1.5 trillion weekly turnover of the foreign exchange so that it was less likely to suffer massive fluctuations.This tax would also generate around $100 billion annually, a sum which could ensure every child on the planet living in poverty has clean water, enough food and a school to attend.
Read the transcript of Lee's speech here.
See here for more information on the Tobin Tax