By Kevin Healy
A week when Premier Joannie Learner said even people from the other side of the political fence had called to congratulate her survival — which I felt very strange, since I couldn't imagine anyone from the left congratulating her.
Joannie said the beaut record unemployment figures meant she couldn't possibly hold an election because of the sharp boost it would give to those same unemployment figures. "It would be quite irresponsible to put all those people out of work at once in the present climate", she said.
The unemployment figures showed the government/business tactic of creating leaner, meaner companies which get rid of their workforce and make the others work five times as hard, and work even harder if they want an unjustified wage rise, is working, which is about the only thing working. A million or more Australians certainly aren't.
To make the picture even rosier, figures also released on Thursday showed that wage levels have fallen. Isn't that exciting news, and doesn't it show that Billy Killthem and Martin Cliché and the team are doing their job so efficiently, and we'll all be better off in the long run, which is very long indeed.
But I was disturbed at one move this week which impinges on the rights of some very, very good True Blue Aussies With the Big Red Hearts — the suggestion that bankruptcy laws might be tightened to stop the odd high-flying bankrupt from living in luxury. I mean, surely the shame of it all is punishment in itself — why tear that last strip of dignity off these poor people?
We might get a little campaign organised around this one. It's not like the debts of people like Christopher Skatsing-on-thin-ice and Alan Stocks-and-bonds et al aren't being paid: we're all paying for them, the most egalitarian solution you could think of. And who needs an efficient education system, or public transport system, or health system, or public housing anyway? Chris and Al sure don't.
And poor old Big Aussie got a kick in the guts with that decision not to offer tax rorts — sorry, sensible tax concessions — to the Very Fast Train consortium, which is looking a bit thin anyway. But how can they privatise the Melbourne-Sydney rail route and prove that the private sector can run these things so much more efficiently if we don't let them leave the starting block with a very fast run on the public trough?
What a good idea to charge everyone under the Medicare
free health system. Even though it's only $3.50, it's the principle that counts. These silly sick poor people have to know it all costs, and they can't expect to bludge on the good will of doctors. And when we're tightening the budget next year and the year after, we can whip it up to $5, and then $7.50, and then $10. Oh, the possibilities are endless!
The only thing that isn't endless is the principle of a free health system. And if you can't afford it, well, it won't worry you for long, and your friends can kick in for the funeral.