Part 50 - The new world -

This week is the beginning of a new age,at  least for me.

I am a founding member of the Pirate Party here in Australia and I've finally taken the plunge having decided that I want to do something to shape the future of our country.

I have put my name forward to stand for the Australian Senate and have been nominated for pre-selection.
This is has now been voted by the membership and I am pleased to announce that I am the successful candidate and will be standing.

Now the hard work begins.

As readers of my blog well know, I am an strong advocate of automation and robotics.

However I am also very aware of the downside of this disruptive technology.

More and more people (particularly lower skilled workers) will be displaced in the workforce as this trend continues and I want our country to be in the forefront to act on this and not spending years playing catch up when it really starts to bite.

As a consequence I will be supporting a Universal Basic Income policy, where every Australian has the right to a guaranteed income with no strings attached which they can use as they wish.

The Pirate Party Australia already has a policy here that has a lot of really good practical ideas on  how to implement this and I would take that as a very good starting point to build on if elected.

So.... therefore I am standing for the senate.

Just a note on the effects of technology.
We recently took a trip to San Francisco and were absolutely appalled at the number of homeless people sleeping on the streets. Whole areas are basically full of homeless and for a first world country this is unbelievable and broke my heart to see it.
To be fair, it's not because of automation but is due to tech companies pushing up costs due to skilled workers getting high wages, but the effect is the same. Lower skilled people suffering because of it.

As we live in a wealthy country, now is the time to act before this happens here to the same extent, which it will if government doesn't take action before it's too late.

More news as it happens and please feel free to follow me on twitter @voteCliveMyers

Cheers