THAT’LL learn ’em
Tuesday August 26th 2008, 6:55 am

The ghost of John HoWARd yet lurks in… the Labor caucus room?

Labor MPs cry foul over welfare cuts

The Federal Government is having a tough time convincing its own MPs to support plans to punish parents who do not get their children to school.

Yesterday the Government announced that it wanted to suspend welfare payments to parents whose children miss too much school.

The announcement shocked some Labor MPs and several made their displeasure clear at a Caucus meeting later in the day.

Eighteen people spoke on the matter, some for, some against.

One MP described the policy as un-Laborlike.

Another questioned why it was announced through the media before being discussed with Labor backbenchers.

Well, let’s see how this works- kids won’t go to school, stop feeding the entire family.

I mean, why stop there? Why not just take the mob out and have them shot?

KRudd has NOT thought this one through.

-weez


12 Comments so far
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But when i was younger, my parents honestly thought i WAS going to school. It was just an issue of finding the letters from school before they did.
Now parents will find out by not being able to pay for groceries at the store etc, pretty harsh!

Comment by Liam 08.28.08 @ 1:38 am

It gets worse. Now Mt Druitt schools and teachers will compete for funding with those in Rose Bay- and it’s hardly a level playing field.

Comment by weez 08.28.08 @ 4:00 am

“Six communities in the Northern Territory and one in the Perth suburb of Cannington will be used to trial the program before it is rolled out nationally.”

So the deal is to run trials of this absurd policy in aboriginal communities first. Racist, poverty bashing and Laborlike, most sadly.

Comment by joe2 08.30.08 @ 12:30 pm

What about it is particularly Labor-like, joe? The policy per se seems like it came out of a conservative’s wet dreams.

Comment by weez 08.30.08 @ 8:48 pm

Question remains: What about the parents who have jobs and have truant children. Or is it about the morality of the unemployed? Rich people are good parents. Poor people are bad parents. Back to the old English class system where the disadvantaged always were linked to poor morals who brought the appalling conditions they lived in on themselves.

Comment by leomarie 08.31.08 @ 10:32 am

Weez, was just thinking, historically, racism has had bi-partisan support in Australia at various stages.

It would have been nice to have seen a few more Labor members shaking the cage on this one. I rang my local Labor members office. Just hope others did as well.

Comment by joe2 08.31.08 @ 11:08 am

joe2 wrote:

Weez, was just thinking, historically, racism has had bi-partisan support in Australia at various stages.

So why did you say:

Racist, poverty bashing and Laborlike, most sadly.

Comment by weez 08.31.08 @ 5:40 pm

leomarie said:

Or is it about the morality of the unemployed?

Isn’t it always? Downward envy is the domain of the willfully ignorant.

Comment by weez 08.31.08 @ 5:44 pm

See your above lead in Weez….
“One MP described the policy as un-Laborlike.”

Not true, this creepy stuff has been going on from most sides for ages.

Comment by joe2 08.31.08 @ 8:34 pm

OK, you’ve clarified, but I was just was wondering why you thought the policy was indeed Labor-like. I’d have thought it quite un-labor-like, myself.

Comment by weez 08.31.08 @ 9:37 pm

Doctor Weez,
My thinking is that everythink went berko when they lost the “u” in labor.

Comment by joe2 09.01.08 @ 10:29 pm

It may be unlike what most people would believe labor is about, but it’s very much in tune with the recent history of the labor party.

Comment by Liam 09.02.08 @ 10:49 pm



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