As the Coalition government draws inexorably closer to an election wipeout, what do we remember from their time in government? What have they achieved?
They will tell us that the economy is in great shape. Well bully for ‘the economy’.
Meanwhile…
There are 3.05 million people living in poverty, including 739,000 children.
Homelessness increased by 14% between the 2011 and 2016 censuses, with 116,427 people now thought to have no permanent home.
The AMA, and everyone else, are warning us about the crisis in aged care.
Closing the gap on Indigeneous disadvantage targets related to life expectancy, employment, literacy and numeracy, and school attendance are not on track to being met. Indigenous adults are 13 times more likely to be imprisoned in Australia than non-indigenous counterparts.
Comparative educational standards are declining and preschool attendance is comparatively low.
Less than half of all working Australians have a permanent full-time job with leave entitlements, with insecure work becoming the new normal.
In March 2018 gross household debt reached $AUD 2.34 trillion and gross household debt relative to disposable income reached 190.1%, ranked the second highest in the world.
Despite record company profits, Australia’s private sector workers are enduring their sixth straight year of minimal real wage rises with incomes growing by 0.5% or less a year since 2013.
Four million Australians experience mental illness every year and around 3,000 people die from suicide.
Waiting times in emergency wards or for elective surgery or dental work are increasing.
The other area where the government will tell us they are doing well is national security.
They have “stopped the boats” from landing on Australian shores, in part by holding thousands of people, including children, hostage for years and subjecting them to indescribable torment. Tens of thousands more suffer the uncertainty of temporary visas which can be revoked at the whim of a Minister who delights in deporting people.
Dog-whistling is encouraged with Muslims, Africans, Lebanese and Chinese all targeted by politicians who want to blame migration for everything from crime to traffic congestion.
Draconian counterterrorism laws in response to the threat of “home-grown terrorism” are undermining our civil rights, privacy and our cybersecurity.
Despite continuous growth, since 2013, in cumulative terms, the Australian foreign aid budget has been cut by over 30 per cent.
New travel warnings have been issued to Aussies going to Indonesia due to protest activity in Jakarta about ScoMo’s brilliant, and now deferred, idea to move our embassy to Jerusalem.
The greatest real threat to our national security, and every other aspect of our existence – climate change – is not only being ignored, but we are actively pursuing policies to increase emissions, hence exacerbating and prolonging the damage.
Aside from the stuff they think they do ‘well’, the government are hoping that we will forget about their problems with women which is kind of hard to do when we are subjected daily to new episodes:
Tony Abbott et al standing in front of signs describing Julia Gillard as a witch and Bob Brown’s bitch.
Tony Abbott telling us to vote for him because he had good-looking daughters.
Tony Abbott, when asked to describe the attributes of a female candidate, saying she had sex appeal.
Barnaby Joyce describing Bridget McKenzie as a flash bit of kit.
Jamie Briggs thrusting himself on a public servant and then sending her picture to the media when she complained.
Peter Dutton mistakenly sending a text to a female journalist describing her as a “mad fucking witch” which wasn’t as bad as the text also mistakenly sent to a female journalist by Senator Barry O’Sullivan’s media contact describing her as a cunt who he wanted to die of vicious cancer and who he would bitch slap if she came to his house.
Barnaby Joyce getting a junior female staffer pregnant and facing accusations of sexual harassment from a highly respected female farmer (and others).
Andrew Broad having us fund his flights to meet ‘sugar babies’ he had been sexting with.
Several women calling out the bullying and harassment they receive in the Liberal Party, forcing them to quit.
The overwhelming preponderance of male Coalition MPs and the dirth of female candidates in safe seats.
The treatment of Julie Bishop despite her loyalty, hard work and good international standing.
I guess we can thank them for expanding the RWNJs’ vocabulary to include the word misandrist because, as we know, rich older white Christian men are terribly picked on.
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