Category: politics

You know some things just make you wanna scream but you’re tired?

CW Suicide and self harm etc

People are doing amazing work out there. The Antipoverty Centre filed their submission to the national Suicide Prevention Strategy. And it’s good. And you’ll read it and nod your head at the content and shake your head at the lack of action from governments and lip service from supposed support organisations. It’s here. There’s facts and stats and stories and it’s all there, screaming to governments to Rise the Rate of Welfare and build public housing and get rid of partner income tests to help people to get out of abusive situations and have independence within relationships. Agency is important and people are feeling helpless and are driven to despair. And suicide is certainly a more appealing option for some that continuing in a punitive welfare situation.

Thankyou for putting that together. And for acknowledging the frustration that people are experiencing with telling their stories over and over and pleading for the dignity of being listened to, when 2.5 years into government, they decide not to respond to the DSP inquiry since it’s been so damned long since the recommendations were made, which is certainly not one of the principles of TREATING PEOPLE WITH RESPECT that was recommended.

meanwhile, apparently social security debts from the seventies are fair game, even though 6 years was said to be plenty long back to expect people to defend debts. But you know, why respect the recommendations from millions of dollars and thousands or hours of paid and unpaid work by experts and lawyers and people on the ground. Fuck us, right?

It’s more than two years since that qanda episode where I got to ask about our dear Treasurer when things might get better, and really nothing has changed. Rent keeps going up, as does every other cost, including out of pocket GP expenses and more. But yeah. Go red team?

I’ve had to put some boundaries in place to help manage my sanity, I’m going to respect my bedtime and meds times more, even if that means other people have to do more for themselves.

 

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We all make mistakes, but Brereton’s managed to go out of his way to make this one

Anyone else? Anyone else feel like screaming at every fucking point of the follow up (or lack of) from the Robodebt Royal Commission? Starting with there being 57 recommendations, not 56 as Labor and now Services Australia documentation repeating to themselves and us until it’s true.

We were always at war with Eurasia.

Then they only partially take one a few, nothing too core like dramatically raising payments or stopping the stigmatisation of welfare recipients so people wouldn’t just live in fear of Centrelink.

Today it’s that the NACC decision not to investigate the key villains for corruption was a “mistake” by Brereton and not neatly crafted with PR people for those he was excusing. That oh poor Paul made an oopsie. And he’s not even going to stand down let alone be booted out? No wonder I screamed and just once again felt that it was all predetermined and why bother pushing for justice when it is actually stacked against anything good coming from it, at least for the common person. Officials get themselves promoted on the back of the deaths of welfare recipients. Cool.

Seriously, if anyone has the fucking sealed section, I’m sure it’s ripe for leaking and someone can arrange something…

It’s a big week.

 

I sleep in a clifftop mansion with my new wife – Antipoverty week and Labor’s weird optics 2024 edition

Copacabana’s pothole problem’s been solved – just have the soon to be (I don’t know how soon but bloody hell he’s trying not to be there past May) former PM move in cliffside (it’s quite the drop) and he’ll get CC council to spend their negative budget on his lil roads, centra coast roads that deteriorate ever rain event, and really weren’t designed for more than holiday traffic.

There were fears of the housing falling into the ocean further north at Wamberal and down in the Northern Beaches of Sydney when there’s severe events, we’ll see if this holiday house up on the hill is far enough from the edge for such events as the impacts of Tony and Tanya’s new coal mines and mine expansions are felt in the coming years.

He did get a bargain though, 300k less than the last sale price. Maybe that can go on the wedding, set to be next spring surely, as it’s gotta be after the election now, and Albo wouldn’t have it in Winter would he?

Lidia Thorpe posted the contrast between Foodbank putting out their hunger report this week with Albo’s new purchase. Andrew Leigh is launching a book, one that Gillard called “fun” which also talks about the haves and the have nots in the country. Fun? Have FUN growing your charity sector and not helping people directly. I’ll give you a hint, you don’t broach divides with golden cheese platters under the giving tree, and more funds for the Salvos. Foodbank charge charities $25 a pop for the food hampers they’ve got their corporate volunteers and school kids packing. Some charities will have to pass this onto the vulnerable families they serve

Those on welfare, while not as worried about the cliff falls that may face the richer among us, food insecurity is just increasing and all of Labor’s protestations that they’re doing stuff to relieve the cost of living isn’t doing a thing to actually help those at the bottom, and while we may fight about the figure, welfare needs to go up, go up a lot, and actually drag the standard of living in this country back past pre GFC levels. We’re also all watching the weather events in the US wondering if this summer will bring us flooding or fires or both and what impact that will have on the people around us living out of their cars if they’re lucky. but, enjoy your cliff face Albo.

So, it’s Antipoverty Week. The official campaigns the well meaning white women and their organisations are pushing are the Valuing Children Initiatives end childhood poverty, Everybody’s Home‘s call for more social housing (not public), and Raise The Rate For Good (that asks for payments to go up to the pension level of $82/day that leaves Nannas in poverty). All of which are “nice” but nice asks aren’t getting us anywhere are they? Asking nicely for Israel to consider maybe not genociding, (not it those words that’s not a polite word to say) asking to maybe stop killing and locking up Blak kids, asking nicely please sir.

 

Social Cohesion is code for assimilation or elimination of dissent and difference. Grace Tame showed us to be true to ourselves, that politeness is no good in the face of people who are making the world worse one smirk or lie at a time. Paint on a wall isn’t violence, not when the other side isn’t doing anything to stop people (graphic content) being burned alive in the new Holocaust.

It’s hard to focus on much this week.

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I just can’t, Jim. I can’t with your surplus.

You are the federal treasurer you can pull the lever at any time to reduce homelessness and poverty. however it means you won't be able to do a press conference boasting about a budget surplus. What do you do?

You’re repeating yourself, grinning over the same shit, so I’m going to repeat myself. I hate the surplus. I hate it when it’s 9 billion or nineteen. I hate it because it leaves my friends suffering with welfare payments below the poverty line. It leaves public school massively underfunded. It leaves public housing being sold off rather than being bought or built. It leaves you and your colleagues grinning at foodbanks, grinning because you’ve funded more charity, grinning while dental isn’t funded for adults. You’re grinning while women are rejected for domestic violence payments, when you could raise welfare above the poverty line and remove partner income tests. You’re grinning a year after the Disability Royal Commission handed down it’s findings while you’re holding your cards close to the chest on what will be allowed in NDIS packages after Wednesday. Grinning about Urgent Care Clinics while GP’s continue to walk away from bulk billing.

Grinning. Grinning. Grinning.

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Nedzbollah

As your local Eternally Online Elder Millennial, I volunteer to be Social Media Envoy to the Albanese Government

I started a new Sims save today – after reinstalling windows last month I needed to get all the updates and update OBS and all the other things to make streaming possible again. And I got there. It’s cleaner because so much got purged, I’m sure I’ll add to the clutter on the screen, in my life – both Sims and IRL.

I first got online in 2000, aged 17/18. So an older teen, but still a teen. I got onto playing Neopets, chatting through ICQ and Yahoo Groups, and we started online journals and blogging. I made friends around the world. I don’t see banning teens and tweens even from social media as viable, let alone a good thing. Kids already just get their parents and older siblings to make accounts for them or watch hours of appropriate and less-appropriate content. A ban would see kids less able to speak up when things are a bit shady online, less able to know who to turn to if there’s a problem if they’re having to hide that part of their lives and learning to navigate it with less guidance than how many are now – locked down Instagram accounts with a select audience, Minecraft servers with strangers and friends, Youtube channels and Twitter bringing us the headlines more reliably than the national broadcaster.

The country doesn’t know when to actually let kids be kids, and when to criminalise them to to imposed outdated views on what kids should be doing. Access to information when growing up is important, and these days that information and social experimentation happens a lot online. People are worried that kids are being sexualised too young if they’re learning about queerness when really they’re just learning the terminology for what they’re feeling inside themselves that kids in the 90s and earlier couldn’t find out unless they were avid readers borrowing every book in the local library, or were in a very progressive pocket of town. Kids know they’re “not straight” but doesn’t have the words for it, just as trans kids exist and need families who just let them explore themselves – through playing with gender roles, names, types of clothing and more. Kids get to see that Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Intersex, Asexual and other categories of people are able to grow up into happy and healthy adults and can see that positive possibility for themselves.

I’m loving that future for the kids. Let’s not take it from them.

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