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Scott has a new pamphlet

As Coalition politicians flood the airwaves holding up Scott’s new pamphlet like kindergarteners proudly displaying a participation certificate, all I can think of is how much did it, and the roadshow to sell it, cost.

Seriously guys, another glossy brochure?

Scott earnestly tells us how concerned he is about our kids.

“Half of all Australians of voting age will have never experienced a recession in their working lives” intones the economic manager in chief. “I don’t want them to learn how important a strong economy is to each and every single one of them by having them endure the cruel lessons of a weaker economy that would occur under the Labor party,” he said.

“The economy” may have been growing for 28 years but, as far too many people are painfully aware, that growth has not been shared. Is Scott unaware that one in eight adults and more than one in six children are living in poverty, and many of those are living in “deep poverty”? They endure daily the cruel lessons of an economy which favours the wealthy.

Every move made by the Coalition is designed to reward investors, clinging to the belief that that will somehow magically translate into bounty for all. But as we have seen, investors get very narky if asked to share any of their gains.

They also claim to be creating jobs by helping small business through tax cuts, instant asset write-offs, and a reduction in penalty rates. All well and good except 61.2% of all businesses don’t employ anyone. Over 70% of the businesses that do employ someone have between 1 and 4 employees. In order to be able to buy new equipment, you have to have the spare cash in the first place and, more importantly, the increased demand from customers to warrant the investment.

Back in 1985-86, the top income tax rate was 60c for every dollar over $35,000. The corporate tax rate from 1973 to 1988 was in the range 45-49%.

Successive governments since then have reduced taxation rates and increased tax concessions for investors and big businesses.

CEOs’ remuneration packages have increased exponentially. Company profits have reached record highs. Property investors and self-funded retirees have set up very comfortable nest eggs through largely untaxed income and discretionary trusts are flourishing as another way for the wealthy to disguise their income to avoid paying taxation.

At the other end of the scale, over 670,000 people who want to work remain unemployed and the labour underutilisation rate is 13.4% according to the ABS.

The government pursues welfare recipients mercilessly through their robodebt debacle, their draconian compliance regime for unemployment benefits, infantilising people through cash management programs, and increased red tape for disability pension recipients.

Now, more than ever, we should remember the words of Robert Kennedy fifty years ago…

Even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction – purpose and dignity – that afflicts us all.

Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.  Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product – if we judge the United States of America by that – that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.

It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them.  It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl.

It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities.  It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play.  It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.

It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

If this is true here at home, so it is true elsewhere in world.

And nowhere is it more true than in a country that would sacrifice the Great Barrier Reef for profits for foreign coal companies. A country that would endanger its water resources for the profits of foreign agribusinesses and mining companies. A country that would hold traumatised children hostage to deter others from asking for our help.  A country that ignores a Statement from the Heart of its Indigenous people inviting us to move forward together towards a life of dignity for all. A country whose elderly languish in inadequately staffed nursing homes.

We must do better.

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36 comments

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  1. Aortic

    Good stuff again Kaye. Where’s the glossy brochure on positive policies on climate change? A one pager at best along with the benefits of a fifth rate NBN, the undoubted proven benefits of a trickle down economy and the benefits of cotton farming et al.

  2. helvityni

    “Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.

    It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

    Sadly our leaders do not speak in the tongue of Robert Kennedy, who already fifty years ago worried about the loss Redwood forests…

    Our leaders are prosaic , mundane…what’s poetry, song, music, art…it’s manna that matters to them, kick ball, scull a beer….

  3. Kaye Lee

    It makes me cry to read those words helvityni. So much lost and wasted in the pursuit of greed. So much potential unrealised. So much unnecessary heartache.

  4. Keitha Granville

    Love the quote from Bobby Kennedy – I was just remembering the other day about the moment I heard of his assassination. What a loss to the USA.

    None of our politicians has this level of integrity and forethought for the future of our country, our planet.

  5. Adrianne Haddow

    I’m going to have to stop reading news from leftist publications such as the Guardian, Independent Australia, AIMN….. my faulty high blood pressure cannot take it.

    I spend my days seething with anger at the LNP/IPA measures which are bleeding our country, its citizens, our rivers and our resources dry. Not to mention the systemic corruption which seems to be their stock in trade.

    The slack is picked up by charitable organisations, run largely on volunteer labour , while these ‘oiks in suits’ on large salaries swan around spending the public purse to try and sell the myth of the benefits of their ‘superior stewardship’.

    Enough….. bring on the election and vote the bastards out. And never let them come back!

  6. Kaye Lee

    Adrianne,

    I know how you feel. Three more months. Tell the young ones. Tell anyone who will listen. Maybe then we can have a rest. I so hope Labor will let us.

  7. Kronomex

    Scummo’s glossy, “Look at me, I’m on the cover.” pamphlet should come with the following warning –

    “Please be aware that what is printed between the covers has no bearing on reality outside of the LNP.”

    Oh joy, and we still have months of being carpet bombed by LNP lies and dirt and obfuscation.

  8. New England Cocky

    “And nowhere is it more true than in a country that would sacrifice the Great Barrier Reef for profits for foreign coal companies. A country that would endanger its water resources for the profits of foreign agribusinesses and mining companies. A country that would hold traumatised children hostage to deter others from asking for our help. A country that ignores a Statement from the Heart of its Indigenous people inviting us to move forward together towards a life of dignity for all. A country whose elderly languish in inadequately staffed nursing homes.

    We must do better.”

    You have said it all Kaye Lee. BRING ON THE FEDERAL ELECTION!!!

  9. Kaye Lee

    Kronomex,

    I laughed to myself about the photo. They normally have “the team” but who the hell knows who’s still on the team. I have this vision of them printing a cover with Julie Bishop, scrap that, Kelly O’Dwyer, scrap that, Michael Keenan and Nigel Scullion, scrap that….and he can’t have very well have Tony or P Duddy since they both think they will be leader after the next election. And Matthias and Greg and the others who voted for the Spud can’t really get a call-up. Josh might be at saturation level and no-one knows who the hell McCormack, Taylor and Price are. I know….let’s just have me this time. Can you do something about the hair though?

  10. Frank Smith

    Our country is in a mess – the whole world is in a mess. There has not been a true Statesman with vision and the capacity to articulate that vision and lead a nation since Nelson Mandela. Look at the pathetic leadership here, in the USA, in the UK and the despots in Russia, the Philippines, Turkey, Brazil, Hungary. And meanwhile our planet is being plundered and destroyed by greed.

  11. helvityni

    Good on ya, Adrianne, you put it so well; luckily my blood pressure is on the low side…

    I cried of anger and sadness when I saw the report on 7.30 re some shitty private colleges , dragging poor unemployed people to their schools of NO-learning…then hitting them with big bills….

    No doubt according to Scomo those Colleges are having a go…having a go of making money….not a go of educating the young vulnerable ones…

  12. Diannaart

    Kaye Lee

    That’s when the work really begins, keeping Labor progressive.

  13. Kaye Lee

    Diannaart,

    I’m tired. I so want to trust someone.

  14. HumeandTwain

    A most hearty “second” to all the comments above … and a big thumbs up for the article itself. Kaye Lee … you are certainly one of the most succinct commentators on the current scene. LC Jauncey would be proud.

  15. Kronomex

    Kaye Lee,

    Your comment (@1.12 PM) reminded me of the current craze and madness in comic books; variant covers. I can see the following –

    Covers (just to name a few) –

    1A – Scummo.
    1B – Friedeggburger.
    1C. Duttonuci.
    1D. Pynebox.
    1E. Paynefullyknowsnothing.
    1F. Grhunt.
    1G. Corminnator.

    And the list goes on…

    Then there could be second, more exclusive printings –

    2A. Rainbow Foil Scummo with Gold Halo.
    2B. Friedeggburger Talking to His Parrot, Mathematics Professor Polly.
    2C. Duttonuci Smiling.
    2D. Pynebox in One with the Nailed Shut.

    Again, the list gows on…

    Oh yes, to finish with a bit of trivia about the lunacy with variant covers in comics. The current holder of most variation covers is The Amazing Spider-Man #666 (September 2011) with 145 different covers. Absolute idiocy!

  16. Stevn

    I don’t think people realise the impact that the religious books, CONDONING SLAVERY has in the thinking process of the LNP.
    “Entitled” isn’t a strong enough word to describe what they aim to achieve.
    2000 years ago there was basically 2 types of people. Those that were rich(owners of slaves) and those that were poor (slaves). And all that an owner had to provide was shelter and food.
    This is a horribly dangerous way to think, because they are FULLY justified in trying to strip everything from the poor. God clearly condones that!
    I think that if Australians actually realised that this is the thought process behind these people, we would be rid of the LNP, permanently.
    I would be interested in your thoughts on how we go about educating the people Kaye.

  17. Stephegb

    I know this is a little off topic, which I might add is brilliant Ms Kaye, but it bought to my mind the following which I offer merely as my thoughts.

    Many AIMN readers are enjoying the spectre of a crushing defeat of the LNP (I am too). BUT just remember that every time you or I post something here or on social media counting our chickens before they hatch, we actually help the LNP. It brings out the trolls who just love to repeat the LNP propaganda rhetoric.

    I fear that treating this coming federal election as a foregone conclusion we risk encorouging those who would just not bother to vote, because they think it doesn’t matter – Labour will win – it’s a shoo-in, so don’t bother.

    We need to remember that at the last federal poll whilst Labor did well they lost. They did well because they were the underdog, people went out and voted, BUT even after the chaos of Abbott and the dysfunction of the LNP, the LNP stayed in power.

    This coming election is NOT a ‘shoo-in’, it is not rigged by the chaos of the LNP by any means, the Right supporters are the 80% of small and medium businesses, the mining conglomerates, those employed by multinationals, those employees who are brainwashed wannabe high flyers, the white supremacists, the racists and the bully boys who believe the LNP stands for them. The only way the ALP will win is for the swinging voters to vote ALP and are therefore are prone sticking with the devil they know or just not bothering becausec of complacency.

    I know you might think that posting highly charged positive messages about an LNP rout might be demoralizing to the LNP supporters, but in fact I believe it makes the LNP the underdog, spurring their supporters whilst helping the complacent to be complacent, remember even the died in the wool ALP voters can be complacent, let alone the swinging voters and the ones who really just can’t be bothered!

    My thought is that we on AIMN get out on facebook in particular and counter the LNP propaganda machine because it has started with avenge and it has only just begun.

    We need to do our bit for the ALP case, because it is still only a two horse race.

    Vote ALP

  18. Kaye Lee

    Stevn,

    People come to an interest in politics in their own time and for their own reasons.

    Many of our politicians were educated by Jesuits. The founder, St Ignatius of Loyola (and namesake of the school which educated Abbott and Joyce), wrote:

    “The enemy is like a woman, weak in face of opposition, but correspondingly strong when not opposed. In a quarrel with a man, it is natural for a woman to lose heart and run away when he faces up to her; on the other hand, if the man begins to be afraid and to give ground, her rage, vindictiveness and fury overflow and know no limit.”

    and

    “We should always be prepared so as never to err to believe that what I see as white is black, if the hierarchic Church defines it thus.”

    He was also, probably falsely, attributed with the Jesuit maxim:

    “Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man”

    Stephegb,

    I think they may have been taught to underestimate women and children.

  19. Geoff Andrews

    Stephegb,
    Very elegantly expressed.

    I tried to sound the same warning a couple of weeks ago but it was misinterpreted.
    I can see no advantage in trumpeting a victory prematurely. There’s a reason why combatants try to claim the underdog status.
    Being quietly confident is preferable to over-confident boasting.

  20. Stevn

    Kaye.

    I agree, women are clearly beneath men in the texts. But those sentiments are just a furthering of the slavery sentiment.

    We don’t pay enough attention to the mindset that has been created by the condoning of slavery in all the different religious texts..

    Slavery was outlawed officially, but the sentiment still remains.

  21. roma guerin

    Golly Kaye, Walkley Award material!

  22. Keith

    No doubt the pamphlet would give composting worms indigestion!

  23. Kronomex

    I just finished watching a couple of episodes of The Young Ones (Bomb and Sick) when the following the two Alexei Sayle lines, paraphrased, that fitted nicely with Scummo :

    “Didn’t you knife our Turnbull?” and
    “‘Ullo Scott! Gotta new pamphlet?”

  24. David Bruce

    The Economy is for the benefit of our ponzi, usurious banking system! How much has Australia borrowed from the IMF etc?

    As you rightly point out, The Economy does not deliver prosperity to all!

    Earlier this year, the prime minister of one of our south pacific island neighbours conducted a forum to determine when and how his country would get the benefits of a stronger economy.

    Economic growth had delivered a love of money, increases in youth unemployment, teenage pregnancies, domestic violence, family breakdowns (divorces) and drug and alcohol abuse.

    When I hear the words economy, economist and The Economist, I know it is for the benefits of the IMF, World Bank, Bank of International Settlements, the Reserve Banking System and commercial or investment banks.

    The economy is right up there with astrology in terms of pseudo-science for boom and bust cycles, austerity and wage slavery.

    As I recall, it was a Labor government in Australia which helped Australians survive the GFC?

    Every western country appears to be living on credit to sustain the lifestyle, so it will be interesting to see what happens when Trump devalues the US dollar?

  25. David Bruce

    I wonder if ScuMo copied this pamphlet?

    Edward Bernays built up the image of Guatemala’s new president Carlos Castillo Armas, giving advice for his public appearances both in Guatemala and in the US. In 1956, Bernays produced a pamphlet comparing the Communist way and the Christian way…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

  26. Kaye Lee

    David Bruce,

    ” How much has Australia borrowed from the IMF ”

    Ummmm….nothing. We have lent them money.

    As part of a global response, Australia has committed to lend the IMF SDR4.4 billion, if required, under a multilateral borrowing arrangement, and has pledged a further SDR4.6 billion under a bilateral arrangement (currently equivalent to A$6.4 billion and A$6.8 billion, respectively). These commitments made by Australia are contingent loans to the IMF itself, not directly to those countries that borrow from the IMF. When Australia lends to the IMF, the associated risks are judged to be low, with the IMF having a number of safeguards in place to protect country contributions. As a result, Australia’s outstanding lending to the IMF, referred to as Australia’s Reserve Position at the IMF, is classified by the IMF as a reserve asset.

    https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2012/dec/8.html

    David, whilst skepticism is warranted, conspiracy theories don’t help

  27. Wun Farlung

    Kaye Lee
    I was thinking the same yesterday – How much did it cost? and Who paid for it? when is saw a large (almost Drive In Theatre size) electronic billboard along side the Kwinana Freeway featuring Andrew Hastie Liberal, I suppose one way or another the answer is us

  28. Rhonda

    Thanks for your tireless work, Kaye. You deserve a rest

  29. James Cook

    “I’m tired” Noooooo Kaye! We need your words of wisdom, your research and your ability to voice so succinctly what many of us cannot properly articulate. And, those words from Kennedy were gold.

  30. Kronomex

    “”I’m going to be pretty honest with people. I am going to talk to people pretty bluntly about what is coming and I don’t want them to wake up a year later and go ‘oh, oh I really didn’t think that was going to happen’. If you want to vote Labor, understand what it will mean.””

    Which as we all know means lie and lie and scare and lie, ad nauseam. The LNP never changes, when you are a party of nothing lie, scare, cheat, frighten, promise the moon and deliver night soil.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-boasts-of-influx-of-donations-to-liberal-party-20190201-p50v4y.html

  31. New England Cocky

    @Stephgb: A timely warning indeed. The exposure of the too many flaws in the NLP misgovernment allows the unelected political hacks who control pre-selection, to rectify those flaws, using the enormous political donations made without immediate accountability; remember Turdball and the $1.75 MILLION personal political donation to save Toxic RAbbott in Warringah in 2016? (I wonder whether Toxic will put in for his own re-election in place of the Turball millions?)

    In New England the women of Tamworth who support Adultery still support Joyce. Does that make Tamworth the Country Adultery Capital?

  32. Judith W

    Kaye Lee. Thank you for that quote.

  33. Kaye Lee

    Judith,

    I love that quote too. And then they shot him.

    Q&A was refreshing tonight for me to hear politicians talk about policies rather than parties.

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