Are Government Hand-Outs The Solution To Your Pain?

There is untold pain from the worst drought in living memory. It's affecting farmers, their suppliers and consumers alike.
It's great to see the Fed Govt come-up with some more funds to help-out but so many of us have been through this before and know that while their hearts are in the right place, it doesn't really solve a lot. And I guess that's where the hard thinking has to begin.
Bob Hawke and Paul Keating deregulated the car, textile and footwear manufacturing industries and the economists are praising them for the economic boom we're now experiencing. However, the flip-side is that involved a lot of pain for the people who were working in those industries - A lot of them lost their jobs.
Just like this latest farmer aid pack, that Government came-up with pay-outs to ease their pain but they still had a lot of personal and family pain that money can't heal. (And I don't think these people were offered anything like the "..up to $150,000", stated in this farm offer! hmmm.. and the devil will be in the detail here, I bet).
With rural water running-out, the ice-caps are now past the point of no return (i.e. they can't freeze again in our lifetime), etc etc is it time to make some hard decisions? e.g. Rather than giving money to irrigators, do we have to severely ration water from water-gulping farming? i.e. Should we only allow as much water as a livestock farm can take from a flowing stream to keep stock watered? I think we have to make these hard decisions. Without putting a finer point on it, do we need to bite the bullet and prevent cotton & rice etc farming and leave such farming to those places in the World that can handle it 'naturally' while we try to work-out how to keep our stock alive without? Government money isn't going to solve the big questions, is it (?)

What do you think? (Please leave a comment below).

Are The Nats & Libs Looking After The Bush?

So, you always vote Nats or Libs and always will.
But are they really looking after the bush? With the exception of a pork barrell that may or may not be rolled-out in your electorate just before the election, do they just take us for granted?

Before you jump-in with the old knee-jerk chestnuts, here's a few points off the top of my head to start some thinking:
1. John Anderson implemented MLA and Vaille and McGauran followed him up. This has resulted in a huge increase in livestock levies, NLIS and LPA QA. Perhaps this is OK by you.

2. Howard, Costello and Co. have increased tertiary HECs fees. Does that make it easier or more difficult for your children to attend university?

3. Vaille, McGauran and Co. have welcomed USA meat at risk from foot and mouth sourced by US companies in Brazil. What's their reason for NLIS and LPA then?

4. Vaille, McGauran and co. have agreed that Japan and the US buy meat other than Australian that isn't controlled by NLIS or LPA .

5. American producers are receiving much more for their meat than Australian producers.

6. Australia's debt is the highest that it's ever been by far, which affects us all.

7. Helen Coonan has blustered about pulling Telstra into line but coming up to the election has now passed this off to Ruddock as too hard.

8. Helen Coonan has given Elders and Optus nearly a Billion dollars of our money and apparently the word is that they're still not going to connect the Bush!

9. The Libs & Nats have removed the right of all Australian children to receive an education. They have given Private schools multiples more in funding than tertiary education. (Don't even think about our local state/public schools).

10. Malcolm Turnbull backed by Howard and Truss, are enabling non-farmers to trade in water to turn a profit while our farms dry-up!

That should do for now. Let's not get into the debate on biodiesel subsidies, decimation of rail and health services, whether our money spent on Iraq would have been better spent on better water management than simply putting in more dams, etc etc.

Are these the sorts of issues to make you *really* consider voting the 'other' way this time or have you faced-up to what the pollies seem to take for granted, that you'll vote for them come what may?!

What do you think? (Please leave a comment below)

Are Horse-Flue & Foot and Mouth Disease Related?

These diseases may differ medically, but to AQIS and the Government they should be treated no differently.
We have hundreds of horses 'down' with this disasterous flu but still while Rome is burning Nero fiddles on. i.e. Minister McGauran has agreed to let foot and mouth disease at risk meat into Australia from the US.

Isn't this a classic case of letting the horse bolt and then trying to re-stable it?!

You'd reckon McGauran et al, including AQIS, would want to learn as quickly as possible and shore-up our defences to prevent this sort of thing happening again to our precious livestock. And you'd think they'd be even more vigilant when it comes to our massive meat livestock market. We are 2nd only to Brazil in beef exports but are allowing meat at risk of foot and mouth into Australia from the US and Brazil. It will be a sad day if (when?) some exotic disease devestates our meat industry because some poilticians wanted to "Go All The Way With LBJ"!
What do you think?
(Please post a comment below).