Welcome to the 21st Century Australia Party, which bills itself as the Party of the Future. Their banner has a picture of Australia with the flag superimposed on it and colourful call outs saying “Financial planning commissions banned”, “Banish mining tax”, “Establish a sovereign wealth fund”, “Remove Stamp Duty” and “Provide Australia with a value for money National Broadband Network”, and they tell us they are “Bringing Australia’s education and political systems into the 21st century”.
Also, you can enter your email to ‘access free magazines, books and political resources, including our policy document’, which has to be the classiest way of saying ‘click here and we will spam you for eternity’ that I have ever seen.
Apparently, this year I am a curmudgeon about websites, so I’m just going to say now that this is a very busy one.
The party’s founder is Jamie McIntyre, and he is very eager to tell you about himself. Here’s a little bit about him:
It was almost 20 years ago that Jamie found himself in an unenviable position. He was completely broke, in debt to the tune of $150,000, had no job prospects and was sleeping on a friend’s couch.
Jamie grew up on a farm in rural New South Wales, Australia and from an early age had dreams of being successful, however he soon discovered that no part of his education had actually taught him the skills he needed to succeed.
15 years ago Jamie McIntyre decided the world needed a modern day ’21st Century’ education to replace the outdated 19th Century education system. A “21st Century” education that was better than school or university and taught by those with a PhD in Results, not just theory. An Education – For Life!
Only 5 years from being almost bankrupt, he had succeeded – Jamie had become a self-made millionaire.
It’s the great American dream! Jamie is an entrepreneur, the founder of 21st Century News, and Think and Grow Rich Inc and is also a ‘success coach’ and ‘the author of numerous globally applauded publications such as the best-selling books ‘What I Didn’t Learn At School But Wish I Had’ and “Think & Grow Rich For The 21st Century” and is the founder of 21st Century TV, which provides a “21st Century” education and entertainment to over 500,000 subscribers worldwide.’
Wow. This is reminding me very much of Landmark, I have to say – one part self-improvement, nine parts cult. But perhaps I am being unfair…
… OK I’m going to be unfair for just a little bit longer, because he has a testimonials page, and a photos page, and this really is feeling more like a sales pitch for a product that I don’t trust one bit than a political party.
To be fair, that’s a pretty good description of politics in general.
But let’s stop the mockery and actually see what sort of policies young Jamie has to offer us, because it turns out that he has 25 ways to improve Australia, and I’m going to be here all night…
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