Wall of Shame

This is not an attack on any individual.

Our politicians didn’t start this fire, and they cannot put it out alone.

About half of Australia’s government debt is owed overseas. Our banks rely on offshore wholesale funding to help finance Australian lending, including mortgages, and even our national gold reserves are held in London.

We must recognise the power of the international banking system: private international banks, institutional creditors, central banks and financial markets can exert enormous influence over nations, their economies and their political independence.

And the threats are not merely economic. Financial pressure, political coercion, diplomatic intimidation and violence are real instruments of international power. History has shown repeatedly that nations and their leaders can face consequences when they challenge powerful financial and geopolitical interests. We should neither dismiss these realities nor attribute specific threats without evidence.

Our leaders operate within a global system far larger than any one parliament. They must navigate international creditors, banking institutions, foreign governments, domestic political pressure and the expectations of ordinary Australians.

They have a responsibility to protect Australia’s sovereignty, preserve our financial independence and ensure that our national interests are not subordinated to the interests of overseas institutions.

Understanding the system is the first step towards changing it. We must be able to question who creates credit, who owns the resulting claims, who collects the interest, who bears the risk and, ultimately, who holds the power.

This page records the policies that have trapped us further, so we don’t make the same mistakes again.