The Australian government is giving many Australians money in the hope that they will spend it and the economy will keep turning over. Who’s getting the money and how much will they receive? According to The Australian:
Those who hold a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card or are Veterans Gold Card holders eligible for Seniors Concession Allowance will receive a payment of $1400 if they are single or $2100 to couples…Families who receive Family Tax Benefit (A), families with children who receive the Youth Allowance, Abstudy or a benefit from the Veteran Children’s Education scheme will be eligible.
This breaks my heart. Over the past several months I have come to know a very small number of the 800+ people who live in the housing commission estate just down the road from my church. The stories I have heard from the people I have chatted to – from their own lives and the lives of others who live there are just terrible. They are stories of abuse, drug and alcohol dependence and every mental health disorder under the sun.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that for many people (not every person, but still many people) the government bonus will only go to fuel gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. Our government is effectively supporting – funding – the addictions of the vulnerable.
If I mention the word ‘paternalism’ I’m likely to get punched in the face. Civil libertartians would argue that these people are adults and the government has no right to dictate how they spend their money. But if it’s the government’s role to care and protect and provide for the people (and I believe it is), then it is doing exactly the opposite by giving people the means to continue to abuse themselves.
I think of one man in particular who I’ve met who sits outside the train station on a picnic table, all day, every day, drinking his bottle of VB. There are no prizes for guessing where his $1400 will go. I can’t help but think that the people who stand to gain the most from the government’s bonus at the Kirribilli Hotel and the local BWS store.
I don’t know how the government can best take care of its people particularly in “tough economic times”, but I’m certain that dumping money in their bank account isn’t it.
This post is tagged
2 Comments
As a Civil Libertarian I would argue that these people are adults and the government has no right to dictate how they spend their money.
But in reality; some sort of stimulus package targeting those worst affected is something we need. But you start to run into issues when you want those people to start spending it ‘wisely’. Imagine, for a minute, that there are three families;
# One with a father with a past drug issue where things are now on track
# One with an alcoholic father, whose alcoholism has never been reported
# One with neither issue
Now imagine, one of those families has a mortgage, one of them has crushing credit card debt and one of them has 6 kids.
Is it even possible to design a stimulus package that would pay out ‘wisely’? Or does each ‘condition’ you add to the money make things worse?
I strongly believe that there is a point at which we need to decide to do something to help as many people as we can, even if it makes things worse for a segment. We have programs to help addicts and people with gambling problems; if they don’t work, we should expand and fund them, or run them more effectively – but we shouldn’t use a whole different system with a whole different purpose to address issues they are ill suited to solving.
The measure of success for *this* program should be “is the economy better then it was before the package, with the minimum of side-effects?”.
Welcome to wonderful world of Labor Government Steve!
Labor gives to the poor who spend it on alcohol and gambling which is highly taxed. The government then receives their handout back.
Liberal gives to the rich who expand business therefore people pay higher taxes. The government then receives their handout back.
I prefer the liberal approach. Either way the struggling poor arn’t helped.
That’s my $0.02 worth
Incoming Links
Leave a Reply