Thursday 27 June 2013

The start of something

Today is Thursday 27 June 2013. Australia just lost another Prime Minister by a bloodless coup and we are looking at another election in next than 100 days time. In light of the strange political environment that Australia appears to be in, plus also the even stranger, superficial, skew-iff media coverage politics in Australia is currently getting, I thought i would start this blog; to help process my thoughts as I try to decide who to vote for. I do it so that others can interact, because my FB feed isn't big enough and also, that these discussions might help others.

 So, who am I? (said just like Lizzie Bennett) I am a woman, in my mid-thirties, who balances a part time corporate job with loving a husband (The Man) and two little children (Peppa and George). I live in a main city of Australia; in an electorate that Labour holds with a small margin. I am not very educated in politics (often confusing the left and the right) but I try to keep abreast of what is going on, even in the toddler-hazy phase that I am in. As I start thinking about this federal election, my three big policy issues currently stand as:

1) Maintain paid parental leave, because it helped our family a lot;
2) Processing boat people onshore, providing some form of compassion; and
3) Maintaining a carbon tax, as an effective (though small) way of seeking to combat climate change.

I hope to post anything I find helpful on this blog, so happy for people to post links as well. However, since this is my blog, I also maintain editorial rights. Enjoy.
(all these random pieces of coloured playdough & thoughts. What will they become?!)
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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 June 2013 at 22:46

    It's an interesting time for sure...but you know what? The last term of government - minority government, and in particular the bloodless coup you just referred to showed just how versatile and wonderful the Australian constitution to be able to deal with the circumstances that arose.

    I agree with your views regarding processing boat arrivals on-shore, but it does come at the expense of so called border security.

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  2. Anonymous28 June 2013 at 08:40

    I concur with keeping the carbon tax

    What about reducing the number of politicians? Maybe just get rid of State govt altogether?

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  3. jolookschinese28 June 2013 at 22:14

    Hi Anonymous #1 - I think your substitution for my description of "strange" to "interesting" tells me how you read my post. I am very glad that you government structure is so versatile and have found the last 3 years interesting as Australia deals with a minority government which I don't think we have had in my life time. The sad thing is that I don't think the media, or the everyday person (if that who the media is appealing to) realises this, so doesn't realise how much Julia Gillard had to work hard with the interests of the Greens and the Independants. For that I applaud her as I am sure that was not an easy job.

    How will processing refugees onshore affect border security? (Said as a genuine question as I am not truly not read up on this)

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  4. jolookschinese28 June 2013 at 22:15

    Hi Anonymous #2. Can I ask you about your comments?
    1) Why do you concur about the carbon tax?
    2) Why do you feel that the number of politicians needs to be reduced?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beaver30 June 2013 at 10:17

    Clicked on this link when you posted it, just got to the browser tab.

    So, in terms of paid parental leave - Are you in favor of the bold Tony Abbott style one year at half pay, or equal amounts to all for a fixed period? Who would be the winners and who would be the losers?

    (I don't understand the difference between onshore and offshore processing - can you shed some light on this?)

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    Replies
    1. jolookschinese30 June 2013 at 22:26

      Hi Beaver
      I don't think that Abbott is advocating a one year at half pay, I thought he was advocating that people got their normal salary paid by the government and paid by increasing business tax. I don't think I am in favour of that. I think that equal amounts to all at a fixed amount is the best (out of the options) in that at least some women, even the ones who couldn't work full time/fixed employment etc for various reasons, were able to get some help.

      I confess I am very very new in my understanding of the refugee issue. (Have some articles I have been reading that I will post soon). However, one of the big claims against off-shore processing is are the human rights issues where Australia has an obligation to accept refugees so off-shoring that responsibility to small neighbouring island nations, in many ways, is just off-shoring our responsibility to help the poor in the world.

      Now, the argument about the validity of the refugee status is usually argued at this point. The extreme thoughts on this I think are: "Don't let them onshore or they "escape" into the community." on one end and "People who are willing to cross the open waters to get into Australia must be desperate" on the other. What do you think?

      Delete
  6. Unknown1 July 2013 at 21:09

    Hi Anonymous #2,
    Surely you're an advocate of Federalism? Should we really give up local control of schools and hospitals?
    JG

    ReplyDelete

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