woman + government = mother. Is that the only answer?

November 29th, 2004

"From Tuesday 26 October 2004 when the Fourth Howard Ministry was sworn in, the functions of the Office of the Status of Women transferred to the Department of Family and Community Services. These changes will be reflected in templates and official documents as soon as possible. Please bear with us in the interim."

"[…] the Honourable Senator Kay Patterson MP’s title changed from the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women to the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Women’s Issues. Also, the functions of the Office of the Status of Women transferred to the Department of Family and Community Services, and the Office’s name is now Office for Women. These changes will be reflected in templates and official documents as soon as possible."

This is what you see when you go to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Office of the Status of Women website.

"The (Family and Community Services) Department will now also be responsible for gender issues and the Office of Status of Women will move to FaCS from The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C)"

This is what you find when you look for Office of the Status of Women data over at Family and Community Services.

I postulated this in an earlier post and am devastated to find that women have lost ‘status’ so soon!

I have to go now.
There are bras to burn!

Posted in Feminism, Social justice | No Comments »

Garage Sale at Peter Garrett’s house.

November 28th, 2004

Some of the stuff listed for disposal:

  1. Yurt
  2. Solar panels
  3. ‘SORRY’ t-shirt and matching pants
  4. Jabiluka mine protest t-shirt
  5. Yvonne Margarula’s phone number
  6. Map to Pine Gap
  7. Credibility (hurry on this item, only minute quantities left)

Perhaps hypocrisy makes you sick?

Posted in Political, Social justice | No Comments »

Kicking wheelchairs

November 25th, 2004

The Federal Government is considering a system of coercion and incentive to get disability pensioners off welfare and into the workforce.

According to Peter Dutton, the Minister for Workforce Participation:

"The disability support pension shouldn’t be seen as a way of life, of a way to opt out of work requirements, and I think the Australian taxpayer would also ask that the Government look very closely at this."

"[…] the majority of people there is a willingness to participate to look for work. For those people that we think aren’t there legitimately, then we need to try and adopt some coercion, and that’s unfortunate in that minority of cases."

"We want to make sure that those people who are most deserving of government assistance, that those who are most disabled enjoy every support from the government, and we want to make sure that we can work with the sector to see that we can quarantine and provide every assistance to those people, and we don’t want the Labor Party going forward with a scare campaign from here."

Does it make you wonder who will be deserving and legitimate and who will be undeserving and illegitimate? What criteria will be used to determine who is who?

Does a wheel chair, a caliper, a walking frame (with unsteadiness) get you classed ‘deserving’.

‘Undeserving’, will that be the people with the Central Nervous System disorders such as

  1. Multiple Sclerosis
  2. Epilepsy
  3. Parkinson’s disease
  4. Anxiety disorder
  5. Bipolar disorder
  6. Depression
  7. Schizophrenia
  8. Rheumatoid arthritis
  9. Huntington’s chorea
  10. Alzheimer’s disease
  11. Chronic fatigue syndrome
  12. Guillain-Barré syndrome

Face it Dutton, the general public does not like to be exposed to people with disabilities. It makes most of us uncomfortable.
Do we look away?
Do we offer to help?
Do they see our pity?

The very next time my workplace recruits a new staff member,
in the spirit of this Peter Pan world that Peter Dutton envisages,
I am going to have as Selection criteria #1

"Must possess a disability. Our preference is Chronic fatigue syndrome. To that end we run a peer-to-peer support group every second Wednesday in the Parent’s room. Please bring medical evidence confirming your condition so that we can claim our subsidy."

Posted in Social justice | No Comments »

1981 barefoot and pregnant. 2004 cashed up and exercising choice.

November 23rd, 2004

In a new 20-year report Diversity and Change in Australian Families
by the Australian Institute of Family Studies it has been found that since 1981, the role of women within the family has changed significantly.

"Since 1981 there has been a decline in the percentage of traditional male breadwinner couple families and a rise in female breadwinner families. In 2002, 81% of men in couple families were the main breadwinners, compared with 91% in 1981."

"There is still evidence of the view in much of the community that for women, children should be a more important priority than employment."

I can tell by the quote above that Tony Abbott, Christopher Pyne and John Howard were interviewed.
Unfortunately, these men also have the power to take us (as women) back to the lack of self-determination in the 1950’s.

Posted in Feminism | No Comments »

Grogblogging 2004

November 20th, 2004

On a humid, rain soaked spring night in Sydney Grogblogging 2004 unfurled.

I liked unfurling.
Furled and unfurled near me were:

  1. moo cow
  2. completely biased
  3. darp
  4. will type for food
  5. deltoid
  6. weezil from s’truth? strewth!
  7. georg from psephite
  8. darkie from psephite
  9. minty twat 🙂
  10. daily flute
  11. ian
  12. mark
  13. peter
  14. dave from fulmination of thought
  15. flashman
  16. agent fare evader

Pandagate shirts were popular and gorgeous. More than one person suffered from the inevitable blogspot identity confusion…

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

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