Time to step up
I continue to listen to the rhetoric of governments and can’t stay quiet anymore. I believe governments are elected to take care of our nation and its people but current governments are not upholding this care. Our governments are full of self-promoting, self-centred, self-absorbed, faux celebrities who want nothing more than to be seen lending a helping hand when in actuality are working in purely their own best interests.
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I find myself appalled at politicians’ behaviour at Question Time and deem it an insult to the people they are elected to represent. The self-centred talk about things that don’t promote value for the community, focus on who can talk the loudest and show downright rudeness without actually addressing any problems. I would never let my HSC students watch Question Time as I would never tolerate arrogance and self-absorption demonstrated by our elected members.
We have a government who will not act in the best interests of our people unless they can publicly, again and again, show how caring and generous they are. It’s not generosity when you get more out of it. Our government has come to only thinking about the community only when asked to by celebrities and only responding when it appeases their calls. When the defining factor in finding funds is for Rhianna to tweet about it, we need to reconsider who we have in charge of our policies. But it isn’t the issue of self-absorption that I am most livid about, the sheer misuse of money by our state and federal governments astounds me.
I can understand the need for new infrastructure but I don’t understand $2.5 billion dollar being spent on tearing down two working stadiums only to build two more. At this cost, how does this help anyone but those in charge of construction?
My organisation, Youth Off The Streets will survive without increased government funding. Last year we opened two new schools for disadvantaged young people, one on the central coast of New South Wales, and another in South East Sydney. I pledged an extra $500 000 towards preventing domestic violence in our communities and with the help of Lindsay Fox I decked out a semi-trailer to make youth services more accessible in rural areas.
I want our government to take positive action. Step into to lives of the people I work with, the homeless, the disadvantaged, and the vulnerable, see what their everyday life is.
I have worked with politicians for countless years and although there are many politicians that continue to astonish me with their blatant self-investment it is important to note that there are numerous others who do great work in our communities, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hold our politicians accountable for their poor behaviour
Father Chris Riley,
Youth Off The Streets CEO and founder
Can’t have it both ways
Recent reports indicate that the Commonwealth Government is paying out millions for “expert” consultants to give the Turnbull administration advice. Did we elect the politicians to make decisions who are paid handsomely or the consultants that aren’t answerable to the electorate? It shouldn't be both. I wish I had a job where my employer paid someone else to do my work. A decision has to be made to either get rid of the consultants and save money or keep them and get rid of the politicians and appoint an administrator to run the government. It would stop the squabbling in Parliament. But I digress.
Most pollies are well educated and many are lawyers (God help us) and are “capable” of making decisions. After paying out the debt with the billions of dollars collected in fuel and other taxes then the pollies might be entitled to some assistance and a few overseas junkets. It’s time the politicians stopped being hypocrites.
Jay Nauss, Glen Aplin
Money for education
The ALP plans to corner the Catholic vote by offering Catholics what they want most. What do Catholics want most? Mr Shorten thinks they most want money. An extra $250 million for Catholic schools should do the trick. The Catholic church’s founder, Jesus Christ, said it is impossible to worship both God and money….
Has his church now made that decision and opted for the money?
Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop, insisted that no school run by her Order would ever accept government money. But times have changed. A literally Catholic school would cost little to run -- its staff of priests, brothers and nuns requiring no pay.
If the church can’t generate recruits for the religious life they will lack the personnel to teach the gospel. Arguably they would lack a gospel to teach. By accepting government money, do you not, of necessity, accept a curriculum of government-sponsored paganism, including cultic gender-theory and lowest-denominator pseudo-tolerance?
Arnold Jago, Nichols Point
Trump on twitter
Wikipedia gives 'Bushism' as linguistic errors in the public speaking of former George W. Bush and I wonder if there will be a 'Trumpism' in due time as I heard a similar error on the radio concerning President Trump.
The announcer misread 'a Trump from President Twitter' even though there may be some truth in this expression as he has appeared to pull a 'Trump' card from his pack with accepting the proposed talks with North Korea and announced it on Twitter. Some in the media have suggested that the President overuses Twitter as an 'official' means of communication and that not all of the tweets have met with approval.
What we need is clear communication of a clear message.
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne