Bailies Bits

Australian people are being bombarded with with election promises at the moment with an election likely in November 2007.

So far there seems little hope for fare and affordable rental housing for those on basic wages. The Opposition Labor Party have come up with a scheme to give those providing rental housing with a kick back if they provide a rental discount of 20%. Of course the Government have poohed all over the idea despite the fact that they have reduced funding for public housing by $3Billion over the last decade and have been selling of Public Housing for years.

If the Liberal Party are reelected and Costello(Smiling Assassin) replaces Wee Johnny, then perhaps this great solution to the homeless problem and unaffordable rents would assure Costello a 2nd term!!!

If the Labor Party are elected and are unwilling or unable to:
provide sufficient affordable Public Housing,
raise the Minimum Basic Wage for those now working their bums off for 'alms',
provide full basic hospital and Dental care,
provide honest Pensions to those who have worked all their lives and now struggle to live.
Then tell us now for gods sake - and think how much money we could save by sticking to the bunch of inconsiderate, self promoting, elected clowns we have in Parliament now.

Labels: basic wage, homeless, unaffordable rental

Posted by John at 5:24 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Australia can be a harsh, dry and unwelcoming land, however, it's beauty hits you up the face everywhere you go. Here are some photos of some of the beautiful visitors we have on a regular basis at our home in the bush 50 kms North East of Mudgee, NSW Australia.

Posted by John at 4:03 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A Walk in the Rain

So back I trotted to the shed (almost a kilometer) and found the fencing pliers exactly were I had stored them!! Back to the Wallaby and from the outside of the fence I cut one of the Barb wires. After a little struggle she pulled the leg free and stood up looking a little dazed and staring at me.

I walked down the fence a little and climbed back into the paddock to retrieve my camera from under the umbrella, so as I could get an after shot of the freed little Wallaby. When my back was turned and I was bent down to get the camera, I received this almighty thump and realised, without seeing or hearing anything, that she had decided to attack me.

The good news is that Maggie the Super Poodle had seen the Wallaby move and jumped into the paddock barking. The wallaby thankfully raced off down the paddock with the ferocious poodle in chase. It really could have been much worse as I could feel the animal standing right next to me, probably ready to change the shape of my face with its back legs..... Some cynics might say that would not be a bad thing!!! The moral of the story is 'never turn your back on a wild animal' or if you do, make sure you have a Toy Poodle to defend you.

Posted by John at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Lucky Country Needs to Fight Back

This country is, in my opinion on the Big Dipper to Hell. We are sliding deeper and deeper into a society that is so neglected that it will die.
Ordinary people who have set their goals for their family are being hammered by the present government and are unable to live a reasonable life with hope for their children in the future. Mind you that isn't to say that electing a Labour Government would be much better. Australians really have to make demands and only vote for those who have the moral decency to make it happen.
It is time people started thinking - long before an election is due. At election time we are conned and suckered by the government with paltry tax cuts, cuts that are only intoduced to keep them in office for another term. We vote them in despite everything.

Minimum Wage

Who can Live On It? Median cost of renting a house in Sydney is $300 out of a minimum wage of less than $500.


If an Australian works a normal week then he/she has to be entitled to a wage that allows a family to function comfortably on that wage. Any self respecting MP should be campaigning non stop for a lift in the minimal wage so that this is obtainable within a reasonable time and kept at a thoughtful level with annual increases.
Peter Costello, the grinning Treasurer, proposed that people in country areas should take a cut in wages so more people can be employed!!!!! This man wants to be Prime Minister of Australia? Will Australians be so stupid?

The Elderly

Recent news reports Older people in Elderly Homes are been treated like animals. One man who complained about conditions received No soap for 7 years, toilet paper was withdrawn for 7 or 8 weeks and why would he complain? - The allocation of cash for meals for a whole day for each person was $4 Australian - remember, we call this the Lucky Country... Lucky pensioners work all their natural for a pitence and sit around waiting to die in misery. What a reward for a life of hard work and being taxed to the hilt - even after death!

Health

The Public Health system is in total disarray - the government would like to do away with it and have people pay for it. Well why not? People on a minimum wage still have just under $200 left after paying the rent! People are waiting unbelievable months and years for surgery that would change their lives, pregnant mothers turned away from hospitals and told to drive hundreds of kilometers to another hospital and baby is either born in the car or dies of complications. The government wants Australians to accept a health system like the USA where a lady was knocked of her bicycle and taken to hospital by ambulance. She was sent home with headache tablets and a $2000 bill. Still surely that can be saved out of the $200 remaining from the weekly wage - who needs to eat anyway?

Industrial Relations

Slowly but surely all the rights Australians ever had to fair treatment at work are being weedled away leaving everyone open to abuse and unfair conditions. The con that introduced the new IR Laws promised no Australian workers would be unfairly sacked, would not have wages or conditions cut and the beautiful lie that Australians would be better off - it was not explained that the Australians that would be better of would be the Bankers, receiving multimillion Dollar saleries and of course the poor Oil companies. The Ink wasn't dry on the new laws before people were being sacked throughout the country.

Education

Is it really acceptable that so many of our children are going to school in demountable classrooms with no proper facilities and no Air conditioning? Should our children be subjected to contaminated classrooms where known Asbestos materials have been used in construction? Should tens of thousands of young Australians leave school unable to read or write?

Aaaah - the Lucky Country.

Posted by John at 5:18 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post