#doubledissolution

So, by now you'll have heard about the budget. Oh boy! Is this going to really set off a powder keg of public opinion against the current regime in Canberra? Some people might be complacent about climate change. They might go 'meh' about Leadbeater's Possum going extinct. The plight of refugees might not cause them too much heartache, especially now they are virtually banished from the 'news'. But wow! touch health, education, pensions, the arts, the retirement age, the ABC, SBS, and the price of petrol and you just might get them out in the streets waving pitchforks and flaming torches. 

It's going to be an interesting time in Australian politics that's for sure. The LNP's popularity is dropping like a stone. They don't have control of the Senate now and they certainly won't have control of the Senate after July. That would be Clive Palmer and his mates with the deciding vote, if the ALP and Greens decide to vote together. Could we have a double dissolution if the Senate knocks back the budget twice? Clive Palmer would love it I reckon. I think he'd be into that like Flynn. Would Abbott & Co blink? (Can Julie Bishop blink?) Hard to say. Already in social media there is a new 'hashtag' #blocksupply. For those who don't know social media, this means you can do a search of Facebook or Twitter and see what they are saying about #blocksupply and you can see if it's 'trending' (it is), that is how many people are discussing it (a lot). Could we be going back to the polls by the end of the year? Time will tell. Public outrage is 'viral'.

The Westminster System is the best we have, but it's beginning look a bit creaky in this fast-paced world where one government can completely transform the whole country in a short period of time. Four years is just too long to let a corporatocracy run amok. Obviously we don't want to be running back and forth to the polling booth every six months (what an exhausting thought!). But there must be a way that people can express their concerns to governments and require them to take notice (other than Facebook and Twitter)? It would have to be carefully thought out to make sure the robber barons of this world could not manipulate it. It is obvious that having a vote doesn't guarantee anything at all if governments can do a complete U-turn on every single promise in their election platforms. Or, perhaps the simplest thing to do is to ban corporation and billionaires from making political donations and publicly fund elections as Bob Brown started advocating years ago? Another idea that is about to go viral I think.

If you're one of those people wondering why everyone is so not under the collar about this, try to imagine what the long term result of this increasing of social inequity will lead. It looks a bit like this and it's not pretty and it's not sustainable in the long term. We certainly don't want to go there. 

   

The Budget Apocalypse

So, this week I've been talking to my inner-city, lefty, latte sipping mates about the budget (as you do). It's unanimous that it's is an utter disgrace and should be resisted at all costs. My more moderate pals, who only follow the mainstream media (sporadically at best), have been quoting back all the mainstream excuses to me, 'It's not that bad, other budgets have been worse, the rich are going to pay more taxes than before, we have to do this, there's a budget emergency.....' But I've been setting them straight. If Hockey and his pals read any books (other than Mein Kampf and The Fountainhead of course) they would see what they are doing is trying to restore society to Dickensian times. I'm sure they'd secretly adore a return to the 'good old days' when the rich were rich and the poor tugged their forelocks and called them 'Gov'ner' if they didn't want a jolly good thrashing. 

What do they think will actually happen if young people can't get access to unemployment benefits or any other kind of support for up to 6 months? Sure, some will be able to rely on family support, but what of all the others? What will happen when single mothers can't find a job and can't pay the rent? What do they do? Live in their cars and send their children to scavenge for food in rubbish dumps? Do they really want hordes of urchins roaming the streets, Artful Dodger-style, living under bridges, picking a pocket or two? Perhaps once the privatized prisons are all full, we will see prison hulks (orange life boats?) in Port Phillip Bay. We can ship the poor off to privately run gulags in PNG! That would be great for the share price of Transfield (ker ching!). But seriously, have they really thought this through to its logical conclusion? I seriously doubt it.  

    

What exactly are these people thinking? The scary thing is their ideas are based on the 19th century social-Darwinist doctrine of 'survival of the fittest' (The Origin of Species being another book it's unlikely any of them have actually read). Of course they (the wealthy) identify themselves as the 'fittest' and everyone else as 'lesser' and a bit of a nuisance quite frankly. Never mind Dickens, it's more like ancient Rome with its division between citizens and slaves. If they had read any history, they would know this is a zero sum game; in the end nobody wins. Rome was brought to its knees by a series of slave revolts, just when it was overextending its reach and over-spending on its military. Fortunately however, we have a senate that contains a few readers, and has declared it will not pass this budget in its current form. It's going to be important to keep public pressure on them to make sure they hear loudly and clearly from the people that we will not stand for this folly. 

And because you've got to laugh or you'll go mad, here's a clip from another social Darwinist you may find amusing. Even he is not happy with Abbott it seems.