Friday 28 March 2008
Families Minister and Member for Jagajaga channels Mal Brough and throws compassion out the window
TONY EASTLEY: The Federal Government will quarantine the $5,000 Baby Bonus from parents who neglect or abuse their children. Families Minister Jenny Macklin says parents will instead receive the bonus in the form of vouchers to buy items like prams and nappies.
Leaving aside the fact that Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs is merely parroting the former Howard Government and the previous ministerial incumbent; the Welfare Rights Centre pointed out in 2006 that such a move was not going to solve the problem of bad parenting and would be unlikely to stop individual abuse of welfare payments by recipients with an established alcohol, drug or gambling addiction.
Since then Ms. Macklin has moved from endorsing a straight voucher system to talking of implementing a debit card or store cards which would be useable at approved stores and for approved purchases.
The aim still appears to be to progress that old neo-con agenda. Starting with the Baby Bonus and other family payments as a trial of the electorate's gullibility, before moving onto the unemployed, disabled and finally introducing universal income management for all pension, benefit and allowance recipients from groups which are not seen as politically powerful.
Such income management would eventually stop 50% of the fortnightly welfare payment from going directly into a recipient's own personal bank or building society account, and 100% of all advance or lump sum payments would also no longer be given as cash payments into accounts.
Now here's the rub for any rural or regional parent receiving one of these debit/store cards (who even lives within commutable distance of one of the government-favoured big three, Coles, Woolworths and K-Mart) covering the Baby Bonus or other family allowance. These future guinea pigs who are already being identified as 'bad' by both the media and the Minister.
Rural and regional towns and villages are by definition reasonably small - if you don't actually socialise with the person standing next to you, you frequently know a friend of theirs or their children go to school or weekend sports with yours.
Store clerks and cashiers have no training and often no tact when it comes to welfare recipients as it is. They sometimes have no compunction in identifying store gift vouchers, being presented for payment of purchases, as having come from a non-government welfare agency.
In one instance I witnessed a cashier confiscating a packet of sweets from a very average pile of groceries a developmentally challenged adult (whom she only knew as a regular store customer) wanted to purchase with his gift voucher, on the stated grounds that lollies are not good for you.
When under any income management scheme almost inevitably one of these cashiers loudly and publicly tells a parent accompanied by a child that an item the parent wishes to purchase is not on the Centrelink/Community Services/Government list, everyone within earshot will be able to identify that family as 'dysfunctional' and the child as possibly considered to be neglected or abused.
Just how long do you think that child's privacy will last and his/her dignity remain intact when the local rumour mill will have that checkout incident across town and in the schoolyard within days?
One of the saddest aspects of Labor's rush to create its own form of Big Brother has been the sight of Ms. Macklin rising to her feet in Parliament last week and relying on a caller to the Alan Jones radio show for evidence of a need for Baby Bonus income management. A show notorious for setting up straw men to further its namesake's own biased arguments.
Ms. Macklin and the rest of the Rudd Government need to slow down here and develop a little political humility and compassion.
They are displaying nothing less than an arrogant paternalism. At the same time ignoring the fact that the Baby Bonus is currently not being handed out as a lump sum to identified dysfunctional families, but rather is being successfully and discretely delivered in instalments - without placing any child's right to privacy at risk or exposing a family to malicious gossip.
A little Mandarin goes a long way
ABC News reported this late last night.
A senior Australian diplomat will be allowed to visit Tibet tomorrow, as a part of a delegation granted access by the Chinese Government.
Australia had requested diplomatic access to Tibet to assess the situation in the region, after a recent Chinese Government crackdown on protesters.
After initially ignoring the request, the Chinese Government has agreed to allow one senior diplomat from Australia's Beijing Embassy to join other foreign diplomats on a trip to Tibet, accompanied by Chinese officials.
The speed of China's approval has surprised the Australian Government.
Before leaving Australia for an overseas trip today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the lack of access as a sticking point.
A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says the Australian diplomat hopes to check on the welfare of four Australians known to be in Tibet.
Clearly an instance where Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith made better ground than might have been possible if John Howard and Alexander Downer were still at the helm.
The Rudd dog whistle exposed
Coming out from under 11 years of John Howard using this very same tactic, it was easy to spot the political dog whistles.
Teenagers out-of-control, bad parents, addicts.
This was confirmed mid-week when the COAG communique was posted at the Prime Minister of Australia website here.
"Binge Drinking. COAG today agreed on the importance of tackling alcohol misuse and binge drinking among young people. COAG agreed to ask the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy to report to COAG in December 2008 on options to reduce binge drinking including in relation to closing hours, responsible service of alcohol, reckless secondary supply and the alcohol content in ready to drink beverages. COAG also asked the Australia New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council to request Food Standards Australia New Zealand to consider mandatory health warnings on packaged alcohol.
Gambling. COAG agreed to continue to discuss issues related to problem gambling".
A perfect example of sound and fury signifying very little.
Not so easy is it fellas. Just because you are now teh Federal Government doesn't automatically mean you would be able to come up with instant easy-fix answers or allow you to pretend that this focus on binge drinking and gambling was anything other than a beat up.
I look forward to hearing you discover Laura Norder, border security and welfare 'cheats' next week.
Thursday 27 March 2008
Northern Rivers couple star in documentary
Ms Clague told The Daily Examiner that "For us as film-makers it's important to give it back to our community," ---
"This film is a gift to the Clarence River. It identifies Yaegl country really well,"
Pauline said she was excited and nervous about showing the film at Yamba.
"As a writer and producer it's hard to bring it back to my own community, but Mum and Dad have seen it and they're happy with it," she said."
Details of the film here.
When Colin Met Joyce will also be shown on SBS at 7.30pm on 1 August 2008.
Opposition shadow spokesperson for water makes a Laughing Jackass of himself
However, Opposition spokesperson for environment and water Greg Hunt continues the Liberal's new tradition of counting kookaburras whenever it is brought face-to-face with another instance of cooperative endeavour between the Commonwealth and the States under the Rudd Labor Government.
Yesterday when a real breakthough was announced on management of water within the Murray-Darling Basin, I swear I heard Hunt on the teev repeating a version of his February line about the Murray-Darling being an "defining failure" of the Rudd Government.
Only this time he was calling it "an abiding failure".
After the complete, utter, total, abiding failure of the John Howard-Malcolm Turnbull attempt to bully the states into a collective formal agreement over this dying river system, all Hunt could do yesterday was accuse Rudd of a similar failure.
He has definitely taken to imitating the Laughing Jackass. A real Koo-koo-koo-waa-aah-aah-ah!
This new agreement may not be perfect, but at least it's a fair dinkum attempt.
You remember what fair dinkum means don't you, Greg?
Here is the Murray Darling Basin Reform Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Prime Minister and every Premier and State Minister with territory within the Murray-Darling Basin.
The 2008 Olympiad as a graphic
Wednesday 26 March 2008
Don't do it, Nicola!
Apparently Abbott has been complaining about a lack of bipartisanship in government decision making in areas covered by his Indigenous Affairs shadow portfolio.
That was on Monday. By the next day that ever changeable far-right media tart was saying something different according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Give Mac Bank the flick & bring back bonds says Motorists Action Group
Dinner with Barack anyone?
They are now bringing out the family silver and holding a lottery. With first prize being an intimate dinner for three.
Will Barack finally talk detailed policy then?
Today's email.
Some of Barack's favorite moments of the campaign have been opportunities to meet and talk with the most important donors to this campaign: ordinary Americans just like you.
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But our campaign is different.
In February alone, more than 94% of our donors gave in amounts of $200 or less. Meanwhile, campaign finance reports show that donations of $200 or less make up just 13% of Senator McCain's total campaign funds, and only 26% of Senator Clinton's.
Our funding comes from a movement of more than one million people giving whatever they can afford.
And in the next week, four supporters will be selected for a new kind of fundraising dinner.
Make a donation in any amount between now and 11:59 pm EDT on Monday, March 31st, and you could join Barack and three other supporters for an intimate dinner for five.
We're reserving two of those seats for new donors like you. If you've ever thought about making a donation to join our campaign, now is the time:
https://donate.barackobama.com/dinner
This movement is changing the way campaigns are funded.
More than one million individual donors have demonstrated that this election is about more than a candidate -- it's about each of us having a personal stake in the future of American politics.
Meanwhile, Senator McCain has raised more than 70% of his total campaign funds from high-dollar donors giving $1,000 or more. Senator Clinton has raised 60% of her funds from $1,000-and-up donors. And both Senator McCain and Senator Clinton have accepted millions of dollars from Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs.
Refusing to accept donations from lobbyists and special interests has allowed this campaign to answer only to ordinary Americans like you. And this dinner will be an opportunity for you to sit down with Barack and your fellow supporters and talk about the issues that matter in your life and in your community.
Get the kind of treatment that John McCain and Hillary Clinton reserve for special interests -- make a donation in the next week, and you could share your story and your ideas with Barack in person:
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With every single donation, we're building a movement to change American politics. Help the movement grow, and own a piece of this campaign today.
Thanks for your support,
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America