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I refuse to live in fear!

The tactic of a bully is to keep their victims living in fear of what could happen so they are grateful when they don’t get beaten or abused. They make their victim believe they are powerless by cutting them off from their support and telling them only the bully can look after them. This is exactly what our own government is doing. It is their tactic of choice in so many areas.

In the past, Australia was a country who willingly offered safe haven to refugees. We recognised their need for a home which complemented our need for population growth. As time passed, the contribution made to our society by those we embraced became obvious and we are the richer for it in so many ways. We are a wealthy multicultural society who used to lend a hand. Those days are gone.

We must spend whatever it takes, and alienate whoever we must, and inflict terrible physical and mental harm, to save the nation from the invading hordes of asylum seekers who will threaten our way of life. They will impose Sharia law, take your jobs, clog up your roads and hospitals, and are just waiting for a chance to kill you. Yes I am sure that’s why they are fleeing their homelands, leaving family and friends, risking their lives on unseaworthy vessels – just so they can come and turn Australia into what they are escaping from.

I do not fear refugees and we can easily accommodate 30,000 a year if not more. We should be welcoming them, assuring them they are safe now, and assisting them to become productive members of our society.

Climate change is real. It is not a conspiracy by bankers for world domination. It is not collusion by scientists to get funding. It is not a fake perpetrated by the IPCC. I refuse to believe the conspiracy theories though I am terrified by the consequences of our inaction. The government has inculcated fear about carbon pricing into the community – Whyalla will be wiped off the map, lamb roasts will cost $100, the cost of living will skyrocket – none of which happened. They tell us that wind farms are bad for our health and when that didn’t run, they revert to they are ugly?

We were told that the mining tax would hinder investment in Australia with investment and jobs going offshore. This scare campaign was also a lie. We have the resources and a stable economy, the investors are banging on our door. The high Aussie dollar caused by the success of the mining industry is what is hurting jobs and sending industries offshore, but Hockey hastened to reassure the miners that they will not have any of their subsidies cut or tax increased. In ‘fear’ of the miners choosing to rape another country instead, we have gotten rid of our environmental protections and given virtually open slather for the short term cash grab of developing our finite resources.

Our country is not broke. Using great big numbers about possible debt in ten years’ time and inflated deficit figures is purely designed to scare us. Why do that? Don’t you want business and consumer confidence? This scare campaign is purely political to exaggerate the problem, blame it on Labor, and use it as an excuse to implement their corporate agenda and social engineering.

People struggling on the old age and disability pensions are terrified about the recommendations from the Commission of Audit. We can reassure the miners but we cannot reassure the pensioners. They have to wait in fear so when they only have to pay $6 instead of the recommended $15 as a co-payment to the doctor they will feel grateful.

We are told that our health system is unsustainable yet the government didn’t ask the people in the industry how it could be improved. We straight away go to the scare campaign of we can’t afford this so you must pay. The experts have said there are many ways that expenditure could be better spent and areas of waste that could be eliminated but starting with preventative health is patently counter-productive.

The same applies to the old age pension. We have now scared everyone by saying they will have to work to 70 yet once again the experts disagree with the fear campaign being spread. Hockey said the number of people aged 65-84 would quadruple by 2050. The ABS says otherwise. They do three predictions – high, low, and medium – their high range estimate is 2.5 times growth in that age bracket. Hockey predicted that only 37 per cent of the population would be of working age in 2050, yet the best available estimates from the ABS show it is in fact between 61 and 63 per cent.

The scare campaign about unions is the government’s way of cutting us off from our support. What collective voice do the people have other than the unions? Who offers protection for our workplace rights other than unions? Who can represent individuals other than unions? Reducing the minimum wage or the availability of Newstart is not the best way to tackle unemployment. There are so many better ways like investing in new industries such as renewable energy, and investing in education and supporting research to develop the industries of the future – something we have been amazingly good at in the past.

George Brandis even wants to change the law to protect bigots and bullies. Apparently they have every right to offend and humiliate people. What sort of crazy backward thinking is this, done in the name of freedom? Next, will we be defending the rights of countries to commit human rights abuses? Oh, wait…

We must stand up to this government who consciously, willingly lies to its own citizens to keep them in unnecessary fear. We must point out their crazy priorities where we waste hundreds of billions on fossil fuel subsidies, tax rebates for superannuation and private health insurance, fighter jets, paid parental leave, grants to polluters, Operation Sovereign Borders, lifetime gold passes and entitlements for politicians, political advertising and campaigning and the like, while insisting that our most vulnerable must live in poverty and fear. We must expose their lies about debt, deficit, and the affordability of our health and welfare system.

You are the one who should be afraid Tony – be vewwy afwaid – because I refuse to live in fear and will do everything in my power to make sure the Australian people know the truth so we can protect ourselves from the bully by ending this relationship at the first opportunity.

Bullying-stands-for

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60 comments

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  1. John Corby

    Great article Kaye. I can’t believe the way the government ministers are drilled in using negative emotive language at every possible chance when being interviewed. I noticed Christopher Pyne on Q&A the other night making sure he didn’t miss a chance to talk about “the inherited Budget Crisis” and other “emergencies”.

  2. Bill Morris

    Long narratives like this do not achieve their full potential as few people read right through and absorb. You are not getting to the majority, too many messages. People need to be able to dwell on each point, consider and store in memory for action when the opportunity presents. This piece could be broken into several short sharp self contained articles of 100-200 words that would have more impact and better effect. Consider how effective Abbott’s three word slogans have been. Bill Morris bmao2@icloud.com

  3. Kaye Lee

    Depends on your audience Bill. What you say is no doubt true and I have written individual articles about most of these items. The point of this one was to highlight the fear tactic. It is used in so many areas. This is their modus operandi regardless of the topic and that was what I was trying to show. The people that read this blog are not the political illiterates that respond to Tony’s slogans or who enjoy the Telegraph’s version of journalism. These articles are intended to inform and to start discussions. Though I do take your point. When I get on a roll thoughts just come from so many directions it is hard to limit myself.

    “In your guts, you know he’s nuts!”

  4. abbienoiraude

    Kaye you wrote:
    “In the past, Australia was a country who willingly offered safe haven to refugees. We recognised their need for a home which complemented our need for population growth. As time passed, the contribution made to our society by those we embraced became obvious and we are the richer for it in so many ways. We are a wealthy multicultural society who used to lend a hand. Those days are gone.”

    I started to cry.
    I slowly carefully read every word.
    It resonated and sung in me and made me sad.
    You write succinctly truthfully and with a beautifully formed narrative.

    I hear you, I feel what you are saying deeply.
    I don’t want to be afraid, but since I am a carer for my man on DSP I am one of those in the Conservatives sights and I don’t know how to believe that what I say or what I want for my Country will be heard.

    Thank you for this piece. It helps to know I am not alone.

    (@Bill Morris..simply…You are wrong.)

  5. Vicki

    I have responded to Bill Morris’s comments on a previous AIMN article by David Donovan.
    I do not agree with him. I am not particulary highly educated but neither am I a complete dill. I always enjoy articles on here and on IA no matter the length. Please, Kay Lee, do not ‘dumb down’ your messages to the point of ‘three word slogans’ just to fulfill the needs of self perceived pseudo ADD sufferers.

  6. Stephen Tardrew

    Kaye so true. I love multiculturalism and meeting really interesting and insightful people. I too have been emotionally affected by the level of virulence and disrespect for our fellow human beings. I thought we lived on planet Earth not planet Australia.

  7. Dan Rowden

    Do you have something to say to Labor’s entire online community? This coming Sunday, for the first time, we’ll be sending an email from one person on our email list to everyone else on the list.

    From your comments and feedback we know the Labor community isn’t backward in coming forward and so from now on, on Sundays, it’s your turn.

    Pick any topic, include your email address so others can get in touch if you want, or just have your say and leave it at that – but keep your email short and to the point.

    Just click here http://www.alp.org.au/itsyourturn?e=699ef9a564aa7802c3ee2d65997cd492940b0dc7&utm_source=australianlaborparty&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=itsyourturn&n=1 to send us your email by Thursday COB and we’ll send one of the emails submitted to everyone on Sunday morning. Whether it’s a policy issue you’re passionate about or your thoughts on how we can rebuild the Labor Party, we want you to have your say.

    We’re looking forward to reading your email.

    Skye Laris
    Director of Digital Campaigns

  8. dafid1

    Thanks Kaye Lee have posted to Twitter, hopefully most of my 1300 + followers will retweet and so on and so on…there’s a few 100,000 potential readers

  9. dafid1

    Incidentally Bill Morris I read the entire article, always do when I go to a blog, its why I go there, to read the posts in their entirety. You stick to your concentration of a gnat theory and I will go with, not stupid enough to be swayed by bullies and their 3 word slogans.

  10. sandrasearle

    Kaye, there is really not much else to say, you have said it all so well. You have shown many people that fear is a bullying tactic that has been used by the LNP for many years now as a means to control the masses.
    I for one, do not want to bow down to these bullying tactics and I am not afraid to say so, both in private and in public forums. The more of us who stand up to these tactics the less likely they are to succeed. I don’t like feeling afraid. Fear takes ones breath away and makes the soul shrivel so that compassion, love for humanity, care and concern for them gets destroyed. That is what is happening to us at the moment. We are being bullied big time by a very uncaring, nasty minded LNP government and I WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF THIS MOB, NO, NEVER!

  11. Stephen Tardrew

    Touche dafid 1 totally agree. Bill note each point and come back to it later. I just skip over the repetitions and focus upon points of interest.

  12. hannahquinn

    The Commission of Audit did not look at tax expenditure, that is the tax concessions made to mining companies, largely foreign owned with their profits going overseas, or the enormous benefits going to people at the top end of the superannuation scale who get to pay no more than 15% on top up contributions even if they are millionaires or billionaires. These two concessions alone mount up to tens of billions of dollars, yet the squeeze is all about the struggling working poor, pensioners and disabled who even by their mass cannot equal the tax expenditure. Not only was tax expenditure not in the remit for the CoA, it is not a budget consideration either. This is a reprehensible situation.

  13. Kaye Lee

    Dan, I have been thinking about what to include in my email. It’s so hard. There’s too much. How to choose. If Bill thought THIS article was long and disjointed you should hear what’s going through my head at the moment. Where to start.

  14. Stephen Tardrew

    Kaye re-read and think this is one of your best. Very clear and succinct. I can only agree with you on every point. Mr Rabbit is in for a bit of a surprise methinks.

    Falling into a big black hole of his own making dragging Sweaty Man, Bee Bonnet, I Am Gorgeous, Pain in the Ass, Marlin Brando, Snot Worrisome and the rest into his vacuous void empty of originality or intelligent insight.

    I tried to think like a conservative and found my brain immediately fossilized. Not a practice to be taken lightly while struggling to return from magical mythical ossification.

    I will admit owning the universe had its appeal but I really could not stomach the screaming agonized masses.

  15. Dan Rowden

    Kaye Lee,

    I know, it’s a tough one. But I think that perhaps in the most immediate sense if they get enough people speaking about what many of us consider true and traditional Labor values and the apparent drift away from that of the Party, they might start to take note. For me, beyond any policy specific theorising is the exigency for Labor of shaking off the almost total control of its Right. If that doesn’t happen, individual policy ideas probably aren’t going to halt the inevitable march of this country into deeper and deeper and darker conservatism.

    That’ll be my angle, anyway. I might even use one or parts thereof of my old AIMN articles. But I think this is a perfect opportunity to do what they keep saying we should all do. This is a bit of a put up or shut up moment, I think.

  16. rossleighbrisbane

    serendipity! I was about to call my blog that I’m writing, Economics is About Scarcity, not Scare City but now I may change it. 🙂

  17. J Marsh

    My take on refugee’s is this,
    We need to stop the parasites who are fleecing the desperate.
    To do this there must be a hard line taken BUT.
    If we were to greatly increase the intake from the proper channels in conjunction with no processing if you come by boat, then we would be sending a clear message to the people smugglers that there is no advantage inputting lives at risk.

    As I understand it the ones who are taking the money from refuges stay safely at at home while desperate Indonesians take all the risks at sea with their passengers!

  18. Kaye Lee

    We need to set up processing centres in transit countries. People who have papers register and are placed on a list determined by need (not sure how to objectively assess that). People who do not have papers are dealt with by a special department who helps them rather than punishes them because they could well be the people who were most at risk in their home country. Each processing centre has a quota determined once again, by need. Increase our total humanitarian intake – if necessary do this by cutting other immigration and 457 visa workers. Fly people here and assist them to enter the community as soon as possible. If a few still come by boat then have humane onshore processing centres who have a much smaller quota and they are placed last on the queue when assessing need. Speed up processing and provide updated information to applicants about the progress of their application. It’s kind of like the argument to provide drugs on prescription to addicts. Cut out the market and the dealers fade away, the gangs lose their funding, and the addicts get help.

  19. The Trees

    If all readers re-tweeted Kaye’s ‘gems’ to at least three people it may help to prove the adage ‘from little things big things grow’ to be correct.

  20. w ch

    Bravo Kaye. Bravo!

  21. Kaye Lee

    At the risk of being repetitive (I feel like I should attach it to every article I write)

    “Net debt is forecast to be $191.5 billion in 2013-14 and reach $280 billion in 2016-17.” – MYEFO December 2013

    Those are Joe Hockey’s own figures and they include HIS spending and HIS policy decisions and HIS forgone revenue and HIS changed forecasts as opposed to the figures presented in PEFO which are produced by finance and treasury independent of political parties. They look at the state of the budget if we continued with current policies ie Labor’s policies.

    PEFO showed the cumulative projected budget deficit for the years 2013 to 2017 as $38 billion. MYEFO, using Coalition policies, shows a deficit of $106.6 billion. So who is adding to the debt???

  22. mandy vuk

    I like your style. Could you email this to George? Do a youtube of it? No kidding, people need to hear this stuff. Makes sense. I fell less angry now in a weird way, perhaps it’s because of people like you. Keep wielding that pen Kaye.

  23. john921fraser

    @Dan Rowden

    Just received the May Edition “Living in Brisbane” from Brisbane’s Lord Mayor.

    Front and centre is the Paniyiri Greek Festival, the week long celebration of Italian Week, Buddha’s Birthday as well as the Africa Day Festival.

    Will there be a “Stop the boats” tent at any of these celebrations ?

  24. Stephen Tardrew

    Kaye repetition is a powerful tool. Repeated clear and precise soundbites are often what is needed. I would encourage you to continue to imprint the facts upon all visitors to this site. A short header would suffice. Some may take a little longer to memorize figures and get the point clearly. Its also good to work out the issues that will have the most impact. In fact some form of questionnaire may help to prioritize concerns. Just a thought.

  25. Kaye Lee

    Doing a Youtube would require brushing my hair and getting out of my jammies but I will keep on writing – you guys keep sharing ideas. You inspire me.

    For those who wonder what Wayne Swan is up to, he is doing a good job of spreading the truth on his facebook page

    https://www.facebook.com/Wayne.Swan.MP

  26. john921fraser

    <

    @Kaye Lee

    You could just scare the bejesus out of everyone a bit more by forecasting net debt in the year 2525.

    I really shouldn't recommend people steal the Abbott gangs thunder.

    "Some ones lying" ….. could be the new 3 word slogan applied to the Abbott gang.

  27. Kaye Lee

    My postman, who is kinda…ummmm…out there in a happy way, just told me that the “online twins who are his gurus” told him that this year corruption worldwide will be exposed “and looooook it’s truuuuueeee it’s all happening”. The message is slowly getting through that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark even to people like my postie, who I hasten to add, is a lovely man if somewhat eccentric.

  28. Vicki

    In my earlier comment I referred to Matthew Donovan as David Donovan – apologies for the brain snap.

  29. DanDark

    “Knowledge is power”
    The gov want to dumb us down
    Bullies do keep knowledge from their victims
    And they also isolate their victims from any form of help
    or knowledge that can help them escape the bully
    Its a vicious circle to be in though

    Phony Tony is doomed
    “give somebody enough rope and they will hang themselves”
    The rope is tightening, and fast

    “A gov of no surprises”,,yeah right, what a laugh they are..
    I am not scared of his weasel words and his intimidating tactics
    Tony is a comedian, just,not a very good one though

  30. Wayne Turner

    Australia elected a bully.Sadly when Labor was in,instead of fighting against the bullies (The MSM,Liberal party,Mining Magnates,etc,etc..) they caved in.NEVER cave into bullies,it ONLY encourages them to bully you more and encourages other bullies to join in with the bulllying.

  31. Kaye Lee

    Dan,

    Some think Tony is a great comedian.

    “You’ve got to give it to Tony Abbott. As a Prime Minister, he is a damn good comedian.

    But it all makes sense.

    You get rid of a tax that is actually economically efficient because it helps reduce a pollution externality while also helping get the budget in better shape. (Please remember that trade-exposed industry gets 90 per cent of its permits for free, avoiding any kind of serious impact on international competitiveness.) Why? Because people don’t understand it, and it’s easy to scare people about the unknown.”

    http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/5/2/climate/tony-abbott-comedian-extraordinaire

  32. Wayne Turner

    Sadly Kaye most people in this country seem to understand very little 🙁

  33. jezzaG

    Kaye, youTube videos would be a great way to increase reach. A photo tells a thousand words kind of thing. knock up a youTube channel and create short vids presented by a credible conservative looking individual.. If you could get one to go viral it may get air time on the MSN. Preaching to the converted is one ting, converting is another.

    In the words of Rhino (hamster in Bolt anima) “YOUR AWESOME!”

  34. Kaye Lee

    Wayne,

    Most people don’t have the time that I do to look things up and read from other sources. The closest they come to news is talk back radio in the car to and from work, reading the paper on the train, flopping down in front of the tv after an exhausting day. Daily existence saps their energy and politics is a luxury they don’t have time for. I am more critical of the politicians and media who choose to misinform them.

  35. Keitha Granville

    Every day reading Kaye’s blog and others on this network keeps me hopeful that we will regain control of our wonderful country from the maniancs that seem to have it at the moment. There are so many fair and decent thinkers out there we MUST be able to wrestle power from these bullies next time, we MUST. Keep at it Kaye, keep on telling the stories. We will keep on passing them on till everyone is listening. Thank you for brightening my days and shining a torch in the darkness. oh – as for Bill’s suggestion not to write long narratives cos people won’t read to the end, SPEAK FOR YOURSELF.

  36. Kaye Lee

    jezzaG.

    you are talking to a middle-aged woman who can barely use a mobile phone. I have taught myself how to publish articles here by trial and error. If some enterprising person who is technologically far smarter than me can sort out that side I would be happy to help write the script.

  37. Terry2

    John Corby

    On the lunchtime news they showed the PM and various Ministers leaving their meeting and you would swear that they had all been practicing their lines, probably in front of a mirror, to get the hand wringing and deep looks of concern right, rather than focusing on the business of running this country.

    Every question was answered along the lines of “the mess we have inherited” or “cleaning up Labor’s mess” or ” not speculating on the budget” .

    Abbott is all about slogans and the trouble is, he is getting away with it.

    Even now we have some of our fellow citizens who are content not to know anything about whats’ happening on our borders with Indonesia and who think bribing the Hun Sen regime in Cambodia to accept dumped asylum seekers is acceptable.

    Things sure are changing.

  38. Kaye Lee

    Terry,

    They are like those dolls with the string you pull out. They have a set of phrases that they repeat, just like the Libs do, though I have to say, Labor is nearly as bad. Oh for the day they dump the advertising people, brush up on the topic by listening to the experts, and speak with knowledge rather than a script provided by image consultants and spin doctors. Matthias Corman is a master at it. It doesn’t matter what you ask him, he repeats the script du jour over and over and over and over……

  39. dafid1

    John I caught some of Abbotts i/v, forced myself to stay with it, hoping for something new. Fat chance, as you pointed out, same weasel words they have been using for months. Come questions what a bunch of scared timid jurnos, all user friendly, speaking in hushed reverent tones, not one had the spine to actually ask him to respond to the actual questions being asked.
    Same old mess we inherited, we must all share the burden, there will be pain, but it must be done for the good of nation building, on he went. Never has a PM shown such inability to be one.
    That’s it I wont make the mistake of watching or listening to the nuttter again …unless its his resignation speech.

  40. Kaye Lee

    The “Labor’s mess” mantra is wearing thin 8 months into their term.

    Greg Jericho @GrogsGamut 4m
    “After reading the Labor Mess document I get the feeling that the LNP really want to win the 2013 election.”

    http://www.laborsmess.com.au/LaborsMess.pdf

  41. john921fraser

    <

    @Kaye LEE

    Try 2 years of it here in Queensland.

    The latest being a Doctor in Rockhampton who made a mistake in 2011 , when Labor was in power.

    And now in 2014 he has made 3 very serious mistakes, including removing the wrong kidney.

    But somehow Larry the Health Minister doesn't get to take responsibility …… why not even the Health Board he set up in Rocky, over 12 months ago gets to take responsibility.

    They all keep their jobs.

    The doctor …. naturally is gone …. the patients are suffering …. but the idiots who are supposed to be running the show … and who let it happen 3 times this year …. are still there.

  42. Don Winther

    The average Aussie should not have to be politically astute. We elect and pay our politicians to run our country. If they lie, cheat and terrorize us, destroy one sector of the community to benefit another, sell our countries assets to top up there own entitlements them our Governor General should step in and do what we also pay him or her to do.
    I just want to live in a country that is relatively independent, able to feed its self, manufacture essential goods and trade in a free market not bound by one sided free trade agreements that benefit only the few that are often the ones that are taking way more than there fair share and giving back the very least they have to.
    Our politicians are taking way too much and giving us very little value for money.
    Their greed has destroyed the Australia that I love, a fair Australia and I am almost ashamed to say that I am Australian.
    My Old Gran used to say never vote for a short man or a fat man or a religious nut and she was right except that Kim Beasley quite didnt get there. 🙂 Just a joke I judge people by the actions and I dont like Tony one bit.

  43. Peter Garcia-Webb

    I am quite new to this site; what jewels I must have missed in the past.
    In one of your comment replies, Kaye, you mention that some say: As a Prime Minster, he is a damn good comedian.
    Sadly I must disagree: As a Prime Minister he is a damn bad joke.

  44. Kaye Lee

    Welcome Peter. The more the merrier in spreading the word about a government that is indeed a bad joke. The more ideas we can come up with, the more we can spread the truth, the greater chance we have of taking our country back.

  45. 'george hanson'

    Hey BILL , if the article is written by KAYE LEE , then i will read EVERY WORD .

  46. Steve

    We get what we did not vote for ?,
    LIES LIES and more LIES , and still they are in government , Why is it that they can lie and break promises , and still keep their jobs ? all in the vain notion that , you voted for us , now we will do as we please ! They should be sacked and jailed for treason against the Australian people. How is it that they get away with this garbage called a government for WE The People , by the people .
    They do not follow our Australian Constitution 1900-1 , and they do not represent the people , they are a corporation and will do what their puppet masters dictate . They are raping our country and our people and are doing it with a smile on their faces.
    Wake Up Australia , it is time we did things differently in our country , we can start by enforcing the laws of our Australian Constitution 1900-1 , our Common Law , and take back our courts , and kick out the illegal private banks printing our money and ripping us and our children off .There will never be honesty in governments as long as they are not held accountable by We The People !
    May God Help Our People ! Especially Our Old .

  47. Kaye Lee

    Peter Garcia-Webb,

    I am assuming that you are the same Peter that was treasurer of the Federal AMA when Tony was health minister? That must have been an interesting interlude.

  48. Kaye Makovec

    Nice thought Dan Rowden but to no avail I fear. I have written to my Local Labor bloke Joe Helper who had been in office since 1999. I even had to Google to find out who my rep was. Apparently he has an office here staffed by a woman but never seen him. The gist of my email was how I was getting tired of defending Labor while he was never seen or heard, anywhere. I was polite and succinct and referred him to a Letter to the Editor in my local newspaper where the writer was repeating Abbott’s lies and asked why he didn’t repudiate it and he didn’t even acknowledge receiving my email, let alone get off his arse.
    I see Labor is trying a membership drive and think they will only care for their members and Unions now. Same as Liberals only care for their members and big business. According to what I saw online somewhere there is less than 100,000 ALP members so as far as I’m concerned once Abbott is gone I will go back to being non political.
    I honestly see no hope for Labor as their MPs all just sit back enjoying the high salary and perks too and don’t give anybody else a thought.
    I didn’t vote for Labor because of their attitude to the boat people and if he / they want my vote they better start earning it before I go into the not caring about who is in power mode and just be like everybody else, pocket the pension with a ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude.

    As for the stopping the boats I will repeat what I have said many times. The only way I can see to stop them is to bring in a mandatory 20 years (40 with any deaths on the way) sentence in detention IN AUSTRALIA for all crew and not as now sent back to Indonesia where they are set free, thumb their nose at us and do it all again. Many of the crew are teens and young men and I can tell you once mothers know they will probably never see their sons again they will not let them go. Far cheaper to keep a few crew members in gaol too than thousands in detention.
    Then with the money saved the government can set up proper screening in Indonesia and settlement in Australia for asylum seekers and refugees. And bring in a gaol sentence for people visiting who overstay their Visa and can’t pay their own fare home. And while on the subject of visas, completely cut out the 457 Visas as too many businesses are sacking Australians and employing visa holders for half wages.

  49. mars08

    QUOTE:

    …The one thing that the Australian workers will find is that I am their best friend. What I want to see is higher wages and more jobs. That’s what I was like when I was the Workplace Relations Minister and if the Coalition wins the next election, the workers of Australia will find that I am their best friend…

    Such sweet words from the lumbering oaf (Sydney: 12 July, 2012)

  50. Kaye Lee

    He said today that we have to trust him, that he will be able to look us in the eye on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. That does not fill me with hope as he has looked into the eye of the camera or interviewer and told bald faced lies on many occasions. He told his nervous back bench the same thing. Trust us…we have a strategy. If I thought it was a strategy to make this country an even better place I would be happy. Sadly, I am only too aware that what it means is they have a glossy new pamphlet, that they are lying about our current situation, and that they will try to buy votes closer to election time.

  51. Roswell

    Nooo. Not another pamphlet. What’s next? Fridge magnets. Mouse pads.

  52. dafid1

    mars I was enjoying an after dinner glass of Cloudy Bay Sav Blanc and the keyboard was close to being winelogged reading that load of Abbott lies.What a disgusting dishonest person we have as the country’s leader. Sickening.
    Always good to be reminded, although as if we can ever forget 🙂

  53. DanDark

    Kaye, I am sure you are the shining light in a lot of ppls lives
    Who cares if you write too many words,
    It’s the message that matters,and your message comes from the heart

    There are a lot of scared ppl out there at the moment,
    and if your words,,help, comfort,,enlighten,,
    or give people hope, there are voices out there
    fighting for them in forums like yours Kaye,

    Whilst we under this sustained attack by Tony and Co
    we all need to pull together and help the scared and frail
    So keep the good work up….

  54. bjkelly1958

    Thank you, Kaye. As usual, a terrific read, all of it. I pity the fools that don’t realise how much they have been socially re-engineered, bit perhaps it wasn’t so hard. The struggle by women, unions, some churches and other interest groups to demonise racism, bigotry, repression of women, the hiding of domestic violence, ecological abuse of our country has been turned so easily by the spin doctors of the Liberal Party that one can’t help but fear there is still a deeply rooted problem in this nation’s psyche.

  55. jimhaz

    Swanny agrees with Kaye – maybe he read her post above.

    “I used to reflect on Tony Abbott’s political skills and find it hard to deny he was an especially brutal and effective opposition leader, but how would this translate to government? Now we know. His is a government of excessive partisanship and vicious vindictiveness. He fuelled his obstructionist opposition, and now drives his partisan government, by the same primal motivating force: fear.

    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/demolition-man-abbott-swings-his-wrecking-ball-20140507-zr6by.html#ixzz315WLfSsY

  56. Jeanette Lewis

    What a great article! my sentiments exactly. Only one point to add, rather than future generations living to their 80’s, because of food additives, sugar excesses in food, pollution and obesity to name but a few, todays generation I believe will not reach much beyond late 50’s, so who is going to be working until 70? The real expense will be in health, this will be the real problem of the future.

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