Abbott Government Bullshit

Something that has been in the news all week is the “shocking” revelation that some Australians have left to fight in conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Sounds bad, but it is not something new. Young and stupid men have always gone off to the world’s trouble spots to fight since antiquity and before.

Bringing this very old fact to the surface right now is all about politics and it disgusts me. The people of Iraq and Syria are being used by the Abbott government simply to scare the public into giving their support to the government. They know that in dangerous times the public tends to support the incumbent government. It is just a sad cynical exercise to distract us from the budget aftermath and several other things that the government has done to upset voters.

Just a couple of things that the Abbott government has done:

Appointing a new human rights commissioner Tim Wilson a former Liberal Party member, vocal conservative commentator, former member of the right wing think tank the Institute of Public affairs, a man who once argued that the human rights commission should be shut down.

Abolishing the position of disability discrimination commissioner a position filled by Graham Innes – a blind man.

Scrapping funding for the ABC Ramp Up website edited by Stella Young - another disabled person!

Planning to introduce a ridiculously over generous paid parental leave system. Why should somebody who earns over $1 million get any money from the government? Women who are millionaires are probably just as perplexed by this as I am.

Appoints a Cabinet with 17 men and only one woman. Out of the 32 other government roles only 8 are women.

Forcing young people to wait six months before receiving the dole which has the potential to simply increase the crime rate probably costing more money than they save.

Making it more expensive to go to University.

Introducing a $7 fee to go to the doctor. This might not sound like much but to some people on a disability or carers pension, and others, who are living really close to the poverty line it could mean a choice between having an empty stomach or going to the doctor. Then somebody doesn’t get the antibiotics they should have got and ends up in the hospital with a far more serious illness - costing the government far more than $7.

I see a pattern here with minorities such as students, the poor and the disabled being disadvantaged, but the super wealthy actually benefiting. Making lots of little cuts instead of a couple of big cuts (negative gearing) is stupid in my opinion. All it does is make the government look petty and cruel. Many of these cuts could damage our country in the long term and maybe end up costing more money than the amount saved

I see a pattern here with minorities such as students, the poor and the disabled being disadvantaged, but the super wealthy actually benefiting. Anyway, I’m not going to waste any more time grumbling about this.