Greedy and mean-spirited

IT seems fitting that in the same week Mr Howard introduced measures to reduce wages and conditions for the majority of Australian workers, MP’s received a 4.1 per cent pay increase.

Of course, this news was buried on the day Schapelle Corby got 20 years in a Balinese prison.

The great majority of Australians received a $6 tax cut. The pay increase, combined with the high-income earner tax cuts, will put about $150 a week in MP’s pockets.

The eight million Australians getting by on $21,000 a year (according to St Vincent De Paul) have a right to feel hard done by.

So-called Christian members of the Howard Government and their Family First associates should hang their heads in shame for supporting the failed Liberal policy of making the rich ever richer and expecting it to trickle down.

After all, is it not easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven?

The ignorant calls to punish Indonesia with a Bali boycott, or the return of tsunami donations, in retaliation for Corby’s misfortunes prove Mr Howard has at last got the Australian population he wants – greedy and mean-spirited, and unable to accept others’ points of view.

James Gee
Parap

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 02 June 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: James Gee
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/283