Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, a grassroots free-market centre-right advocacy/activist group, is being launched in Sydney on 1 May.

What is the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance?

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance (ATA) is an innovative new activist organisation, dedicated to fighting Australia’s crippling levels of taxation, over-regulation, and government waste through the creation of an empowered and highly-mobilised grassroots movement.

Why is the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance needed?

Political discourse in Australia is been dominated by numerous highly effective left-wing astroturf groups such as GetUp!, with no counterpoint challenging them or providing public support for sound public policy. As a result, the Australian economy is being strangled by high taxation, excessive regulation, and government waste, and unless we change course, Australia faces long term economic disaster. The ATA shall be critical in educating, activating and mobilising Australians to support sound policy, and provide the momentum necessary to convert this into legislator reform.

How is the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance different from the CIS or the IPA?

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance is not a think tank: it is a do tank! Rather than focussing on conducting research, or influencing opinion leaders, the activities of the ATA shall be directed towards educating and activating everyday Australians, thereby creating an effective grassroots movement for change.

Is this a right-wing GetUp?

No! In contrast to the out-dated command-and-control style micromanagement structure of GetUp!, the Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance is a decentralised network designed to empower individuals to take action in their own communities, and create their own ‘franchises’ within an appropriate framework. As such, the ATA activities shall be directed through the proven more-effective ‘bottom-up’ method, in contrast to the out-dated top-down approach used by GetUp. This key difference will ensure that the ATA shall become considerably more effective than GetUp!, while requiring less resources.

Why the name Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance?

Australian taxpayers are presently unrepresented in political debate where special interest groups and ‘rent seekers’ dominate. As such, hard-working Australian taxpayers shall have a voice in political discourse. Furthermore, due to the decentralised structure of the ATA, numerous subsidiaries will be established under the overall ATA framework, providing further opportunities for different branding and demographic micro-targeting.

Source: Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance

Details of the ATA Sydney launch reception with Tom Switzer (and discount for Quadrant readers) in What’s On…