By Glenn Murray.
www.glennmurray.com.au
In the UK at the moment, there’s skyrocketing food poverty. And in the US, more than one in five American kids live in a ‘food insecure’ household. In both cases, inadequate low-income wages, high unemployment, and inadequate welfare are all significant contributors. And this is exactly where Australia is heading…
14.4% of Australians already live in poverty, well above the OECD average of 11.3%. And it’s on the rise. Yet our government is waging an outright war on social services, long-term infrastructure and low income earners, which will only make things worse. Here’s just a taste of what they’ve done (with a few at the end that they’ll probably do):
What he’s already done
- Increased the unemployment rate
- Suspended the Wage Connect program, despite it being proven to deliver good outcomes for unemployed people
- Cut funding from Operation Newstart, an early intervention program for vulnerable youths
- Axed funding to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia
- Converted Start-Up Scholarships into loans, increasing the debt of 80,000 higher education students by $1.2 billion
- Abolished the National Housing Supply Council, which provided data and expert advice on housing demand, supply and affordability
- Abolished the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, established to help address the challenges the country faces as the number of older Australians grows
- Scrapped the Social Inclusion Board, which had been established to guide policy on the reduction of poverty in Australia
- Scrapped the Home Energy Saver Scheme which helped struggling low income households cut their electricity bills
- Cut funding to Indigenous domestic violence support services
- Completely defunded the National indigenous legal service
- Abolished the position of co-ordinator-general for remote indigenous services
- Abolished the National Office for Live Music along with the live music ambassadors
- Increased private health premiums
- Cut funding to public hospitals by half a billion dollars
- Taken away promised pay increases to childcare workers
- Taken away promised pay increases to aged care workers
- Repealed pokie reform legislation that combatted problem gambling
- Reduced tax breaks for small business
What he’ll probably do soon
- Cut penalty rates
- Extend working hours for public servants
- Abolish the Income Support Bonus that helps one million low paid families across the country
- Axe Medicare Locals, the bodies were set up under the Rudd government to run community-designed health care programs
- Raise the pension age
- Make cuts to the Disability Support Pension
- Introduce a Medicare co-payment for GP visits
- Introduce a fee to visit hospital emergency rooms
- Increase costs on medicines when the TPP comes in
Yet in all of this talk about ‘austerity politics’, I’m yet to hear a single politician suggest pay-cuts for politicians or a reduction in their pensions. Funny, that…
And no need for any of it
The crazy thing about all of the above, is that there’s simply no need for it. Our politicians are talking about austerity, and Joe Hockey says we all have to help with the heavy lifting, but we have one of the healthiest economies in the world.
Real News Australia 
Excellent article and supported by fact.
The Liberals want to increase Aussie debt to the International bankers (money out of thin air) whilst pretending to concern themselves with “balancing the budget”
The budget can never be balanced as all our Pollies have sold us out via our ‘unelected’ entry into the farce of ‘free trade’
The Lima Declaration was the first blow against this Nation and the proposed TPP will not be the last.
Under the yoke of Free Trade how on earth can we ‘balance the budget’ and pay the interest on fiat debt that will never be repaid?
Abbot and his merry men are considering an increase on land Tax and the GST and will implement these taxes should they get another term.
If we vote this mob of liberal Marxists in for another term then we deserve all we get…… problem is all parties are tarred with the same brush….. Cultural Marxism….. Gus
Reblogged this on conspiracyoz.
Wow! Truth Hurts Abbott lol – Mick Raven