Unemployed ? Get used to it !

Tony Abbott's first job is to stay leader of the Liberal Party and try and keep the liberal party in power. The Prime Minister's salary is $507,338. The Leader of the Opposition earns $360,990. That's 146,000 good reasons to be in power.

His second is to keep his major benefactors happy. Yes, that's big business.

His third job is trying to keep the country going. So you rank third on his list of priorities. At best.

Belief in our political leaders is at an all time low for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that they have spun themselves to the point where no one believes a word they say.

The second major thing is their lack of a long term vision. Neither party knows what to do with the economy or employment. And the reason for this is because we are living an experiment. Never has mankind been in the position we are now.

A global economy, global warming, social and cultural change, religious beliefs, scientific and medical breakthroughs are all developing and changing, impacting our lives and the change is happening so fast that governments have no idea what to do. I must point out that even the great social and scientific thinkers cannot answer the questions of how countries should be run either.

But the key conversation that we most definitely need to have is what we do with all the people who are not required to work.

Are we going to label them as dole bludgers and alienate them from general society because they do not want to pursue a path that we think is relevant? Are we going to value their input even if we don't think it has any value? Are we going to make them apply for 20 jobs a month? We know that takes about 20 minutes on www.seek.com.au. And it's a pointless exercise.

The politicians will say that there are jobs for everyone as long as we have more growth. But that is not only unachievable in a finite world, it is also unsustainable. And in a world that has now stopped its global boom and has stagnated, it is downright laughable.

It's typical of a system where the political leaders actually have no real idea what to do and lack any insight on addressing the real issues that are developing in an ever changing world.

You may disagree with me but there are some key points you cannot disagree with.

• Business efficiency and technology are slowly removing the need for human beings to work
• Increasing population and a global economy means more people are all going for the same jobs
• New industries require less people because of efficiency
• Australians are too expensive to employ and be globally competitive which means large corporates are not coming to Australia unless they really have to.

The big elephant in the room that no politician wants to talk about is population growth and control. But the other big elephant in the room, that no one will admit, is the lower rate of workforce participation required by the population to feed, house and secure all of us while we amuse ourselves to death.

And let me tell you. Those are two really big elephants that the current political system is too scared to address. And the room is getting really full.