Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Let them eat Cert IV's: recipes for make celebrate Anti-Poverty Week in Glorious Lucky Nation of Australia

It's no wonder that Australia's charities are calling for urgent government subsidies to help Australians struggling with hunger  ... oops... don't mention the "H" word ... that only happens in the USA... In Glorious Lucky Country food insecurity much more reassuring and not frighten horses.

According to Australia's largest hunger relief organisation, Food Bank, an estimated 2 million Australians do not have enough food to eat, while one million children go to school without breakfast, or to bed without dinner! If you find this hard to believe, check it out on ABC News.

Meanwhile, talking about 2 million, a report just released by the Salvos shows that  2 million Australians are living in poverty.  Wonder if it's the same 2 million?

No wonder, when Lily-livered Labor has done bugger-all for the 610,000 unemployed and 837,000 underemployed Australian citizens on Newstart, John Howard's miserable Oldidea for plenty of stick and never you mind the carrot.

The Newstart benefit for a married couple with two children is $97.00 per week below the poverty line, whilst for a single person it's $118.00 per week below.  That's just $235 a week, and maybe $50 rent assistance, folks.

But if the remnants of the Labor Left get any wet, wimpy, big-hearted ideas, Tony Abbott just has to start pounding his hairy simian chest: "Bom Bom Bom,  A Great Big Tax", and Labor goes all limp at the knees.

The best response Mary-Antoinette Macklin's  Ministry for Social Inclusion seems able to come up with is "Let them eat Cert IVs".   Just what we need: Mickey Mouse training courses for non-existent jobs.

Maybe someone should tell Mary-Antoinette that there are 4 people looking for every job available.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"It's no wonder that Australia's charities are calling for urgent government subsidies to help Australians struggling with hunger ... oops... don't mention the "H" word ... that only happens in the USA..."

Well as someone who works with such people, I'm constantly amazed at how they insist ciggies, Pay TV and booze are seen as just as "essential" items in their household and equal to if not over and above food.

Priorities. It's all about priorities.

DH said...

Dear Anonymous,
If you could prepare a Household Budget for a single person on Newstart of $235 pw I wd be very pleased to publish it.

Anonymous said...

Sorry been busy at work helping people, it is our most frantic time of the year.

I fail to see how preparing a budget relates in anyway to the comment I made.

As I said and I stand by it, if you want pay TV, ciggies and alcohol over food, rent and bill paying, you need to be accountable for your choices, not the government, not the support agencies or anyone else.

Simply... yourself.

DH said...

Sorry if DH failed to explain clearly the purpose of the budget: Let's put it this way. If you were unable to find a job despite your best efforts, and you had $235 a week to live on, how much would you spend after rent/mortgage on food, health, medications, phone, transport, gas, electricity, incidentals, insurance, etc. How long could you keep going? Is a human being who cannot find employment over a very lengthy period entitled to any leisure at all?

Also, anyone reading your post may get the idea that you have inside knowledge that the writer of this blog is a drinker, smoker, pay TV sucker, or unemployed. Wrong on all counts. She is something even worse: a latte-quaffing chatterer.

DH said...

PS. DH would not be caught dead watching anything owned by Rupert Murdoch... the very idea!!!