My Message to Sunrise

Barnaby Joyce has spoken out about how difficult it can be to cope financially. I'm sure he's tightened his belt, and knows the ignominy of having to purchase generic brand products at the supermarket - and sometimes those tinned tomatoes have the flavour, texture, and appearance of little orange squash balls - and has had to cut down on the number of takeaway coffees he consumes in a week ('However will he cope?' we all ask, clutching our pearls with one hand, and the wrist of the other against our collective foreheads). Where I roll my eyes hard enough to land me in another dimension is when I remember Barnaby is on over $200,000pa.

Newstart, and other welfare payments, are substantially less than that. People on Newstart are often plagued by the flawed premise that is Robodebt, a scheme seemingly straight out of a Ray Bradbury story.

So, why do televisions shows like Sunrise like to punch down? They did it yesterday in an interview with that screeching harridan Michaelia Cash, and the journalist used the term, 'Dole bludgers.' This is an overused and misleading term. As Ms Cash pointed out, the majority of people receiving benefits do the right thing. I'm just wondering if Natalie Barr, the journalist who conducted the interview with Ms Cash, pre-read her questions, or wrote them herself, or just read straight from the autocue? Whoever wrote the copy should be tied to a tree and shot with a ball of his or her own shit. What is it with you lot at Sunrise? I guess you're trying to pander to a right-wing audience with stories that generally make their hackles rise - such as 'dole bludgers'; gosh, you even given grubby grots like Pauline Hanson and Mark Latham a platform, so it's not surprising you'd try and cause 'outrage' (a hackneyed term used by the media, and one that never fails to set my teeth on edge).

Well, guess what? The story turned around and bit you all on the arse like a pissed-off viper, and quite a lot of comments on social media - rightly - took you all to task. So, what do you do? You have Natalia Barr give a bland, sorry-not-sorry apology at 5.43 this morning. Uh, yeah: 5.43am. Who the fuck's watching then? If you guys are genuinely sorry, make a heartfelt apology, and better yet, stop demonising people on welfare. Just talk to Barnaby - if he's having trouble makint ends meet on an income that exceeds the GDP of a small African nation, then imagine how difficult it is for people on welfare.

Screw you all.