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This time of year, like the summer break, is one in which I can become disheartened. It’s quite easy to forget how, relatively, fortunate I am. But now that I’m officially unemployed until the middle of July I thought it timely to look at the way we relate to those who get the most compared to those who get the least.
Just last week, in the dying hours of the final parliamentary sitting before the pollies all flew off to their Pacific Island holiday retreats, they voted themselves another hefty pay rise. Funny isn’t it how this discussion was not put on the media agenda until after it had been voted on. Well let’s have a look at what the pollies have granted themselves this year.
From the first of July 2006 even the lowliest, quietest, most innocuous back bencher will, just for being there, receive an extra $7,800 per year putting their paltry ‘compensation’ up to almost $120,000. Not be outdone by the 6.9 per cent pay rise across the board, our snivelling PM will obtain a pay rise of over $20,000. Yes, that’s right, a pay rise of $20,000.
Even the lost and lonely Labor party must be content. Their so called leader, Kim Beasley, pocketed another $14,000 per year. Wow. Imagine getting $14,000 extra per year just for being a wanna be. And guess what? All that just for mouthing platitudes about how hard off “the workers of Australia” are. I bet he didn’t even give them a second thought has he dove into the public trough to make sure he didn’t miss out on his fill.
Let us not forget that in the Budget, passed just a few weeks ago, the pollies once more rearranged the tax system to the benefit of the high income earners, a group they are well and truly part of. But this is not new. Back in 1999 the federal pollies granted themselves a pay rise of up to 15% with the PM taking the high road by declaring his mob hadn’t had a pay rise since 1996. Back then Bomber Beasley said that, and I quote, “politicians should be in the same position as the rest of the community”.
From July 2002 the politicians get an automatic 3.3% increase per year but can vote above that if they choose. For the last four years the pollies gave themselves a 4% increase. So what does the lowly worker achieve as ‘compensation’ for the disruption to their social life she or he must endure? Well not much actually and even less if the government and their eager accomplices on the other side of the house have their way.
Last year the average wage was just over $800 per week or $41,000 per year. Public servants were paid much more than their privately paid peers and had the highest percentage pay increase overall. Public servants pay increased 5.5% in the twelve months to February 2006 while the average Joanne only had a 4.4% increase. On the other side of the ledger are those who are unemployed. The current base payment, for a single person who is looking for work and with no dependents is $410 per fortnight or just over $10,000 a year.
Here we find a point of connection between the “man of steel” and the real common folk. What one obtains with the stroke of a pen the other must fight, beg and plead for in order to maintain some form of basic ‘lifestyle’.
In 1999 Kim Beasley did not oppose the parliamentary pay rise nor did he in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 or again this year. What he did do was remain silent on the matter just as he has on how intends to “fix” the unemployment “problem”.
We are at a new point in Australian political history. A conservative government
has been extremely successful at destabilising it's opposition and has been fox
cunning in its horse trading with them to get its way on rolling back the social
compact.
This same government has been able to cash in on the generally racist nature of
the Australian community and convince just enough people that those who are
different (for example, unemployed, single mothers, the disabled, the sickly,
the drug dependent, the ones with different skin colours or accents) are not
"true" Australians and should be marginalised and cut off from society. While
Howard and his mob continue to run rings around the ALP, it is time for a
change.
Our political leaders have created what Ira Chernus calls the "Insecurity
State". The national conviction that we can no longer trust anyone and that we
must live in fear of destruction, pain and death. However, when we look at that
condition and examine the foundations on which it is built, we find, largely,
smoke and mirrors.
Crimes against the person are falling, while crimes against property are
rising. Petty criminals are jailed for inordinately long terms, while corporate
criminals are given puny fines or relatively minor custodial sentences. While
drug use among the young is the focus of much police energy, drug use within the
force and by the upper classes is largely ignored, covered up, or blamed on
"rogue" elements.
All the while our politicians continue to enjoy pay rates that are orders of
magnitude greater than the incomes of the neediest within our community.
Research conducted in 2003 indicates that the average pay for the bulk of the
"new" - part-time or casual - jobs created over the previous five years was
around $13,000 per year or just over half of what the PM granted himself in pay
rises for the coming year.
Recently I was talking with someone who kept on and on about how wrong it all
was, about how evil things were and about the ways the media didn't tell us
things. In the end I had enough and let fly. Sure, it is wrong, it is evil and
the media do report in certain ways that cloud the real issues, but they are not
reason enough to give up or fall into despondency. Alone we can feel small,
insignificant, powerless and fearful - just as I bet Beasley is at the moment.
But together we have the means to overcome and break the chains that hold us.
Maybe I'm too much of an optimist, but I live in hope. Every time I have to stop and help someone up or assist them overcome another barrier to a better life, I get a little disheartened. But it doesn't last because while that person has to put less energy into fighting the 'system' they can, perhaps, put that energy into joining with others to overthrow it.
While the people I get to help aren't on anywhere near $310,000 a year the PM
gets, don't live in big houses with flash cars or get to fly to lovely locations
for their annual holidays (usually because they don't have the luxury of them),
at least they usually stop to say thanks or flash a smile. That smile gives me
hope that a better world in this life can be made. That's what I will continue
to fight for. All I ask is for you to consider joining us in the struggle to
overthrow the iniquitous system we call “parliamentary democracy” but which
might be better termed “social welfare for the otherwise unemployed.