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Letters Politics

It’s tax time

Every year the gap between the haves and the have-nots gets bigger.  The high earners are earning more money than they can sensibly spend and still they want more and they will get more.  One can only make a profit if one has something to invest.  The low end of the scale isn’t growing and doesn’t look like it ever will.  They are destined to be poor.  It’s time that the politicians in Canberra faced up to these facts and set fair and equitable tax rates.  The top earners pay far too little in tax and that is wrong.  They can afford to pay more and they should.  It’s all very well to say that the leaners should get off their backsides and look for better jobs but for the majority that isn’t possible.  The majority of the top end earners have never been leaners and have been blessed with a better start to life than those on low incomes.  An unfair advantage that needs to be righted.

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Letters Politics

Political leadership

Unless one is a dyed in the wool, paid up Liberal voter, it is clear to anyone with a conscience that our leadership in Canberra is abysmal, and the same can be said for the other mob, especially among the male politicians.  If I were the chairman of a large corporate organisation looking for a new CEO, I would be hard pressed to find anyone if I wanted a politician except maybe one or two women politicians.  Looking around the world, it is the same everywhere, hard to finder a leader of quality.  Angela Merkel is one of the few standouts and possibly Joe Biden will prove to be a capable leader.  The big question is, how do we encourage the right sort of person to go into politics in the first place, who would want to be part of the current rabble, and especially when people like Barnaby Joyce make puerile comments like “by its very nature, Parliament has the objective that one side has to get rid of the other, and vice versa.  It’s a hostile crazy boarding school out in the country”.

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Letters Politics

Overpaid University Vice Chancellors

In 2018 the former Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University earned $1,589,999 compared with $1,304,999 the previous year (1).  Clearly the current Vice-Chancellor will be earning a lot more than that.  It is no wonder that the Universities are desperate to bring the high paying overseas students back into the country. 

The average salary for a High School teacher is $72,092 and for a Primary School teacher is $69,627 (2).  To graduate as a teacher today will cost at least $20,000 and that is after their parents have forked out significant school fees and other payments.

This trend isn’t going to go away anytime soon and I dread to imagine what it will be like in 10 years’ time.

There was a time when education was free and it should never have been abolished.  Every child regardless of background should be entitled to a free education and therefore have the chance to realise their full potential.  And preference should be given to local students over overseas students every time.

  1. https://www.smh.com.au/education/university-vice-chancellor-salaries-soaring-past-1-5-million-and-set-to-keep-going-20190620-p51zq3.html
  1. https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=High_School_Teacher/Salary

Categories
Letters Politics

Refugees

Like many writers to The Age, I too am horrified that we still have many refugees in deplorable  conditions in detention.  But I gave up writing about this a long time ago and I wonder why so many people bother to still write about it.  I’m sure neither Scott Morrison nor Peter Dutton read The Age and even if a staffer reads The Age and puts clippings in their in-trays, neither of them gives a fig.  As far as they are concerned they have stopped the boats and that’s the end of it.  The fact that some refugees have died in detention, and more are likely to,  is of no concern to them.  What a tragic fiasco this all is.

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Letters Politics

Labor leadership

Bill Shorten lost the unlosable election and was replaced by Anthony Albanese who is most likely going to do the same thing as Bill.  With the current situation in Canberra regarding the treatment of women, blind Freddy will tell you that if Labor were to appoint Tanya Plibersek as leader and Penny Wong as deputy leader, they would shoe it in at the next election.  Wake up Labor and get your act together.  Even Albanese would rather be a Minister in a Labor government than be leader of the Opposition for another three years.

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Letters Politics

Social media

With regard to the incessant and disgusting trolling of anyone on social media, the answer is patently obvious.  Don’t use it.  I only use Facebook to hear about local and family news and visit genealogy groups.  I don’t use any other form of social media and I don’t miss it.  I did have a Twitter account for a while but closed it when I was violently abused by someone I had never met.  I don’t miss it. Virtually everyone in Parliament House in Canberra has at least one social media account.  None are necessary. Close the accounts of all MPs and staffers and make it clear that anyone using social media under an alias will be sacked.

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Letters Politics

Point Scoring

This week’s article in The Age by Amanda Vanstone is typical of her Liberal point scoring game playing.  It’s easy for her to pontificate from the comfort of her South Australian home and attack a Labor government and the Premier in Victoria.  I wonder what she would have written if we had a Liberal government today led by Michael O’Brien and the situation was the same?  I am, of course, assuming that she did write the article herself rather than has been inferred in the past that some of her articles are written for her.  For political point scoring.  Whatever – I doubt she would have criticised Michael O’Brien.

What amuses me though is I know many people who regard The Age as being too left wing and Labor biased.  The Age allows biased comment every week by Amanda Vanstone but as far as I can see, no former Labor pollie gets the same coverage.  Que?