Category: blahblahblah

Happy EOFYS! (Don’t let the tax cuts overwhelm you on the way out)

You can’t have missed it. EVERY AUSTRALIAN TAXPAYER IS GETTING A TAX CUT. Well, anyone earning above the tax free threshold is. Anyone paying GST or excise other other taxes that disproportionally impact the poorer peeps only isn’t.

Apparently, recipients of the age pension, a disability support pension and carer payments will be able to earn more before their payments are reduced. Singles can now earn $212 a fortnight (previously $204) and couples can earn $372 (previously $360). Let’s ignore the face that those people are currently on sub-poverty level payments because they’re supposed to be caring for themselves or others full time and really shouldn’t have to go out to work for that elusive block of cheese. Aspirational cheese.

I’m still slightly bitter that the energy rebate is less, even though it was just stupid to begin with. Also jelly of those states going to elections getting extra from their state labor where GST splits have allowed it. My bill is only going up, and here I am hoping my stepson’s JobSeeker application gets approved before the next bill so we can use his backpay to pay that. Waiting time for Jobseeker is still about 12 weeks I hear, so it lines up.

I’ll be relieved when tomorrow comes and the mailing lists I’m signed up for for various organisations with charitable status will stop asking for end-of financial year contributions. Though I have shared this one for Southlakes, the local community support organisaion near me that’s run on the smell of an oily rag, feeding families each week after Centrelink refers them their way rather then government deigning it time to Raise the Rate above the poverty line.

$12 bag of expired food items from a foodbank

I’ve starting attending rental inspections for the step-kid and bub to mover back to Newcastle, there’s so little out there and so many families at each inspection. At least we all have housing, it’s not ideal but it’s shelter.

Foodbank Fizzies

Oh, I used to be a food blogger, trying the latest products, writing up the cafes, and justifying my wine habit with blog posts. But that’s changed now, and while you’ll get the occasional local takeaway review, I’m not first out the gate to try the latest new product, it doesn’t land on my doorstep with a bow and props, a letter with keywords and samples to giveaway to readers and friends.

No, now I satisfy my need to try something new, and my desire to not exist solely on diet coke (pffft) I’ll get a can or bottle or two from the mixed collection of drinks that the foodbanks tend to have. A treat, often ranging up to $1 a piece, but cheaper than the shelf price and considered a donation to help their work. Sometimes, like the experience will be bad – there’s a reason these didn’t sell at the major supermarkets and made their way here. Or they might be out of date and TASTE out of date – flat, stale (yes, drinks can taste stale). But some are winners.

Like these fancy sodas. Lemon Squash and a Yuzu spritz. Fancy pants but I totally get it. There’s apparently also jalapeno and lime, which I gave a miss as I’m a wuss with chili.

There is no “right way” to protest or otherwise advocate for change

Be polite they say, don’t graffiti they say, don’t smash a window to break un unjust law. Don’t block the road, don’t camp there. Fill out this complaint form, submit to this enquiry, accept the status quo.

I’ve always been a “good girl”, not rocking the boat, trying to make peace in a house, in a group. Trying to keep things calm at the expense of what I believed was just. So I’m new to all this. New to rocking the boat. Hell  I’ve not yet don’t a port blockade because my father works the tugs and my mother doesn’t approve. But I’m learning what boundaries I’m happy to push, while maintaining the fluffy pink outer shell and making others comfortable.

The federal Health Minister has visited the Hunter, announcing a new urgent care clinic for either Newcastle, or Lake Macquarie.While it’s good news for patients, some say more needs to be done to improve access to bulk-billing.
Recently on the local news, complaining that no-one bulk bills anymore – video is here

Protest can’t be effective if it doesn’t inconvenience SOMEONE. I find extreme weather cause by climate change pretty inconvenient, the people being killed by it the ecosystems being destroyed, so I don’t see it as an overreaction to block a coal train to disrupt supply or shut down peak hour traffic to bring attention to the cause. You’ll never make everyone happy.

This week was winter solstice, and Vinnies’ biggest fundraising gig of the year – the CEO sleepout. This is where bosses and other bigwigs pretend to be homeless for a night by sleeping in brand new Kathmandu sleeping bags with Visy branded cardboard to protect them from any elements that may appear in the football field or parliament underground carpark that night. They get to network and go to sleep with a full belly, able to sleep through the night undisturbed by the weather, nightmares from trauma, police moving them on, critters at their toes or dickheads walking home from the pub trying to provoke them

How lovely and clean is the parliament house underground carpark? There’s toilet onsite, and guards to keep away those pesky actual homeless people who might see it as better than sleeping under the Lake Burley Griffin bridges. People have been pointing out the flaws in the event for years.

Mel aka Artist Affame is a good friend and recently too on the convener role at the Antipoverty Centre. She uses her wealth of “lived experience” to advocate for change, using her art to bring more eyes in, and has learned amazingly well how to express herself through her art and writing, and through the “proper channels” of meeting with politicians and attending consultation events and being generally awesome.

That didn’t stop her state’s premier’s media teams from blocking her on Twitter this week for questioning why he’d do the CEO sleepout when he has the power to actually change things for poor and homeless people in South Australia. or Vinnies themselves from also blocking her this week (they’ve previously blocked other antipoverty activists) after questioning the efficacy of the sleepout, and why they’d be doing that while still exploiting people through work for the dole. But I don’t think we have laws here where you can’t block your constituents for asking questions of you.

So, we’ll keep taking you petitions to ignore, making submission you’ll ignore and going through peer led advocacy which you’ll ignore, while you have lunch with ACOSS and still ignore their recommendations to stop keeping people poor. We held out hope that the Robodebt’s revealed horrors would be dealt with by the corruption commission, but no, people just got to remain nameless and move on. So, at some stage people are going to get more than a little frustrated that going through the right channels, being polite, being calm, that they’re not getting them anywhere.

And then we’ll see things burn.

drawing of a frog with a molitov cocktail with text be the light you want to see in the world

Slow March

March has been far from slow, it’s the 26th already, Easter is this weekend, but at least the nights are cooling down and I can snuggle up after dark.

Oranges have been nice, which is fortunate since after the flood of granny smiths dried out, I’m eating an orange a day to get through my foodbank acquisitions, and of course to have a yummy snack to combat any dizziness or shakeyness my body wants to do. I started taking a med again that I’d stopped last year, it seems to be keeping the shakes at bay, dizziness not so much. Having a weary slow morning this morning for no apparent reason, but I’m taking my time and getting through my little chores gradually. I have to go to the RMS to confirm that we’ve swapped the gauge cluster in the Corolla before I go for a pinkslip and get its rego done. I’m thinking of doing that Thursday now.

So, it might take me all day, but I get everything done.

Antipoverty Activist Origin Stories

Melissa wrote yesterday on the impacts of poverty on self-esteem, but how much of that comes from others kicking you when you’re down or questioning how you dare to enjoy a little treat on indulge in a “vice”. This post wasn’t out of nowhere, and not the first time an antipoverty activist has felt the need to detail their backstory, from born into poverty to having a long fall from the top, we all have them and feel the need to justify our existence in this space now and then, but never moreso than when self-appointed gatekeepers come out with their deserving and undeserving poor narratives, how it’s all about hard work and but never about how they may have got there then pulled the ladder up after them.

Inside the private school past and comfortable lives of 'Jobseeker Jez''s 'union' leaders - as they campaign for bigger dole payments for the unemployed

Our favourite online rag, the Daily Mail, has a regular go after some of the more prominent members of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, and has dedicated articles to the private school backgrounds of some of the office bearers, because there’s no way that anyone who’s parents fronted up for a private education could ever have difficulties in their life that lead to disability and/or long-term unemployment.

I’ve mentioned Van Badham here before, and how she won’t engage with any criticism of Labor and preemptively blocks anyone associated with the Greens rather than engage on Twitter.  She had quite the weekend on Twitter, with this profile piece done on her by the ABC, that drew some comments and eye-rolls, but even more so being called out by comedian Aamer Rahman after she shared one of his bits on racism in regards to Sam Kerr’s charges, and he called her out quite thoroughly for avoiding any mention of Gaza let alone condemning the slaughter of 30,000 Palestinians by Istael.

It was certainly a get my name out of your mouth moment.

I assume Van is of the school if you can’t say anything nice say nothing at all…

So, coming back to the qualifications needed to be an anti-poverty activist. You need to be genuine and care about other people. You need to realise that everyone’s story is different and legitimate and what worked for one won’t work for all. You need to put people’s health, welfare and safety ahead of looking good and cheering on your team. You just need to be a decent person who listens.

Perhaps, now and then I’m jealous of a pair of shoes that the well-meaning white women speaking over us has, or their paycheques or stable housing. But then I’m jealous of Amy Remeikis’ wardrobe, but she seems like a legitimately great person who uses her position to ask difficult questions of those in power about their priorities policies and not just whether it’ll be good for the party.

Anyways.

My origin story? Do we have time for that?

Not really, perhaps another day. But here’s my linkedin, so you can draw your own conclusions xoxox