Policy 1 – Fair Wealth Limit

“That a democratically decided limit be on everyone’s total net worth to prevent excess wealth which is good for no one.”

The policy in brief

The Protector Party will work to set a legal upper limit on the total net worth any one person can hold. Like the 0.05 blood-alcohol limit or the 110 km/h speed limit, the limit would be decided democratically by the community. The Party’s starting suggestion is around $100 million.

Below the limit, nothing changes: people keep working, building businesses, earning and saving as they do today. Wealth above the limit would be directed back to the community rather than held as private power over it.

Why it matters

We decided long ago that no citizen should have more votes than any other. Yet there is no limit on the wealth that can be used to fund politicians, own media, and now control the AI platforms and data that shape what we see, hear and believe. A limit on extreme wealth protects one-person-one-vote democracy from being outweighed by a handful of people.

Read the full discussion paper, “How Much Is Too Much?” →

What the policy would do

• Set the limit democratically. The threshold would be set by the Federal Government, through Parliament and after public consultation, not by wealthy interests, and reviewed over time.
• Require disclosure. Citizens with substantial wealth would be legally required to disclose all prescribed assets, both in Australia and overseas. Hiding assets would carry very serious penalties, including long jail terms.
• Redirect wealth above the limit. Anything above the threshold would be passed to the community, either through philanthropy or through government, to fund national development, charities, Australian manufacturing (see Policy 4), organic farming (see Policy 5) and lower taxes for everyone else.
• Enforce it with modern tools. Government and enforcement agencies would be given up-to-date AI and data-matching tools to identify hidden assets and illegal transfers, sharing systems with existing tax enforcement.
• Lead the world. Australia would aim to be the first nation to legally limit extreme wealth, promote the idea at international forums, and favour trade with nations that adopt similar laws.
• Return control of our resources. Where Australia’s natural resources are controlled by foreign individuals holding wealth above the limit, we would move ownership into the hands of Australian citizens, both privately and publicly, as Norway has done with its resource wealth.

What the policy is not

• It is not a tax. A wealth limit and the tax system are separate. Tax raises revenue; the limit prevents excess power.
• It is not a ban on success. The vast majority of Australians, including most business owners, would never come close to the limit.
• It is not anti-business. The Party supports free enterprise and the incentive it creates. Someone at the limit can keep working and growing their business, directing the gains above the threshold to causes of their choosing through philanthropy.

How we will pursue it

If elected as Member for Brighton, John Casley will:

• move a motion in the Victorian Parliament calling on the Federal Government to legislate a net worth limit;
• press the Victorian Government to raise the policy with the Commonwealth and other states;
• publicly ask every candidate and sitting MP to state where they stand on a limit to extreme wealth.

Key term: “Excess”

An amount that is too much to be desirable, decided democratically, just as we set limits for alcohol, speed and pollution. Just as there is an extreme poverty line, there can be an extreme wealth line.