Nothing for the working class!For the Howard government, unemployed people are not even worth thinking about. Having dumped them into the hands of private job network agencies, and forced most of them to do work for the dole, John Howard and Peter Costello figure that they can be ignored.
So in this so-called "big-spending " budget do we get anything? No! Mark Latham is now very popular. He has based his support on the "aspirational voter". So the Latham threat has to be countered.
Costello does this by tax cuts and cash handouts. The idea is that if Latham wants to change the agenda significantly, he has to do this at the expense of his beloved aspirational voter and lose their votes.
Alternatively he does nothing and offers no alternative and therefore not worth voting for. Costello creates a clear divide. Those above fifty one thousand dollars per year income get tax cuts and those who earn below that get nothing.
Costello has made the family a big issue. He wants Australians's to have more children.
But his handouts only enable rich people to have children.
For low-income earners, low wage and unemployed, bringing up a child is extremely difficult if not impossible.
The Budget also refuses to address childcare, schools,and suitable housing. Which we cannot do without if we want to satisfactorily bring up children.
We think voters will see through the fist full of dollars gimmick.
According to ACOSS parents whose child turns seventeen will actually be $67 per week worse off after this family friendly budget.
But what does Mark Latham have to offer? Well for a start, he wants everyone to have a tax cut and not only those who earn fifty one thousand dollars per year. He doesn't explain how he will arrange this? Will there be cuts in services? Or will there be other taxes elsewhere?
But unlike Costello he is at least concerned about unemployment, especially youth unemployment. He appears to have forgotten about the oldies. "Learn or earn" is his catchcry. So many unfortunate young people are going to be forced back to school to show the government that they are "doing something" for their meagre dole payments. Will there be any work for these educated unemployed when they leave school? Latham doesn't say.
On the whole no there won't is the real answer. Latham appears to be repeating the strategy of Hawke and Keating. The Newstart scheme forced the unemployed (of all ages) Basically we were forced to do all sorts of courses, which were boring, useless, and a sheer waste of our time.
A Department of Social Security contact of ours told us that most courses had a shelflife of six months, after that they were utterly useless. The Budget and Labor's reply show that the major parties have no answers and treat us with utter contempt.
Posted 4 June 04
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