Okay, no doona day for me today. Like I said last post, I have registered a business. I spent the past few days constructing a website, which you can check out here. My husband said to me words to the effect: 'You know you are going to have to be so careful with what you post anywhere now, and make sure you have absolutely NO errors, don't you?' He's quite correct. I will make every effort to have no mixed homophones or misplaced apostrophes ('The horror! The horror!'). Problem is, despite punctuation being my superpower, I will occasionally make an error because it's part of being human (I know there are some who disagree with the concept that I am human). As soon as the error is pointed out to me, I make a mad scramble, akin to eager bargain hunters as the doors to David Jones open on Boxing Day, to fix the offending atrocity.
Now, if you're new to this blog, I occasionally use a judiciously placed swear for emphasis. If it works in the art, then art for art's sake. Obviously, I would not do this in a professional article. I was thinking of making a pledge on my new website to help all, but there are people I will not help. If you're a neo-Nazi wanting your brochure of vicious filth proofread and edited, you can just fuck right off. I guess that policy goes without saying.
As stated in my opening paragraph, today is not a doona day. I am out of my fugue, probably because my tummy feels better, and probably because I am feeling ANGRY. Yes, I know I am excited about my new website (and rightly so), but there is something that always gets me very angry, and it's the politicians pushing to roll out the vile Indue card, or cashless welfare card. The House of Representatives and the Senate that been debating this over the past few days. Why are you people voting for it? What in the name of all things godly is actually WRONG with you? Pretty much nobody, or at least nobody with a modicum of scruples and conscience, wants the frigging thing rolled out or forced onto people. I will type this slowly for you: it helps NOBODY. Oh wait, it does help somebody - the people with a vested interest in Indue, and those people include Larry Anthony, son of Doug. ('*Sniffs air* 'What stinks? Is it a rat?'). It costs between $10K and $12K PER CARD per year in administration fees. Wouldn't the money be better spent elsewhere, such as TAFE, health, emergency services, or raising the benefit to those who receive it? Despite what RWNJs would have you believe, when people have received a little more, they go out and spend - not on the drugs or alcohol or gambling - but on food or appliances or maybe a little treat like the movies. I know some people will buy alcohol, but hey, don't bottle shop owners have bills, too? Besides, at what point did alcohol and gambling become illegal?
Anyway, what's got me feeling very combative today is the footage of Pauline Hanson rancorously whining her case for having people placed on the card. She stood there and said welfare recipients have 'lost their rights'. Pauline, fuck you. Fuck the horse you rode in on (a nag like yourself, no doubt). And while we're at it, fuck whoever chose that outfit you were wearing when you spewed forth that vicious and misinformed bile. (Seriously, that outfit! It looks like it was salvaged and reworked from my mother's old kaftan from 1973). People on welfare have NOT lost their rights. Jesus Christ hooning along the lane on a dirt bike, even people serving prison sentences do not lose their rights, as you would know. I feel a touch mean pointing that out because I thought your sentence unfair, but you should know that prisoners have rights, so why not welfare recipients. You are a prize hypocrite of the first order - you ran a campaign a few years back with the slogan: Give The Girl A Go, and yet you stood there (in that hideous outfit) punching down on people who are doing it tough. I have never liked you, ever since you came onto the scene in the mid-Nineties, but I was willing to be fair. I will still try and be fair, but your batshit vitriol about vulnerable people made me feel as though my head were about to combust with fury. To rant about people spending hardworking taxpayers' money on alcohol and gambling - ARRGGHHHH! - I am so SICK of that idiotic trope.
Some of the problems with this card include:
* stigmatisation
* stripping away people's rights and autonomy
* not helping people budget
* preventing people squirreling away cash to escape domestic violence, thus leaving them in danger
* not helping people save because it can't be used at markets, fetes, second-hand shops, Gumtree, etc
* humiliation for adults who have to seek permission from some drone at Indue to purchase an item from an online store like Amazon - I say humiliation because it's very demeaning to get permission like some Dickensian orphan who wants a bit more crappy gruel
I know there are people who say: 'I don't want my tax dollars supporting someone buying booze', but I really want to know is why do people CARE how other people spend lawful income? It's none of my business, and certainly none of yours. Why can't someone on welfare buy a small treat occasionally? Being kind to yourself is an important part of self-care. People on welfare have often been taxpayers themselves and had bad luck.
Another question: why is the Government paying so much heed to Twiggy Forrest's views over this shitty card?
Senator Hanson, and all the others pollies who voted in favour of the card, you are all a bunch mangy, flea-ridden mongrels who will be voted out when the public realise what a foul concept this cashless welfare actually is.
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