Dont give them a leg to stand on! Make no mistake about it, I would dearly love to see this government lose power as soon as possible. Within a week would not be too soon. But I think we have to pick our fights carefully. Because this government are pushing so many genuinely terrible ideas it is easy to slide into dismissing or opposing absolutely everything they propose almost on principle because theyve really got our backs up. But if we are to rescue this country from falling off the edge we do have to remain impeccably rational as well as maintaining our sense of justice and compassion. In general I think that it is important to hammer the really bad crap in this budget but acknowledge and allow what seems reasonable. Now it may well be that it is simply because I am not sufficiently well informed, but I can think of two of their budget proposals that do not seem to me to be terribly bad. I am somewhat persuaded that it is not unreasonable for university students, given the fact that they have the potential to earn high incomes, that they should retrospectively contribute to the cost of their education. Obviously it should be tagged to their subsequent actual earnings and be at a rate that is not exorbitant. Yes of course it would be nice for tertiary education to be free as in some of the Nordic countries but that would mean that taxation rates would have to be a lot higher and it certainly doesnt seem that the public would have the stomach for that. There may of course be elements of this that I am unaware of or have not sufficiently thought through and if so please dont hesitate to point them out. I must confess that I dont know how what they are proposing differs from the current HECS arrangement. Similarly for those who who visit doctors only occasionally I dont think that a $7 so-called co-payment is not necessarily a terrible draconian imposition, especially if the funds go into increased medical research. Health care is expensive. Obviously for those on low incomes who need multiple consultations there needs to be truly adequate provision and Im not convinced this aspect has been sufficiently addressed. The point I am trying to make though is that if we concentrate on the absolutely unambiguously abominable measures and policies then we are far more likely to carry a far greater percentage of the overall population with us than if we squander our objections across the full range of issues, some of which will get considerable support from reasonable people.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 11:34:42 +0000
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