Now let me understand this. Holden, Toyota and SPC say they're going to shut down and sack thousands of workers who as a consequence are looking at the very real possibility of losing their homes, financial ruin and a lifetime of denying their children. And instead of visiting the workers losing their jobs Abbott took the opportunity to attack them and generally talk down worker's pay and conditions for the benefit of who? Toyota, who recently forecast a $24 billion profit for this financial year. But when the socialist hating AGW denying farmers are begging, YET AGAIN, for another socialist handout to counteract the effects of global warming and overstocking we all jump right on queue like brainwashed North Korean automatons worrying whether Abbott's tour of the drought affected farms and the farmers is sufficiently caring. And then what happens. First Abbott insists that he won't give the farmers any more handouts or subsidies and then announces a handout package for the farmers under another name that he calls "a drought-assistance package".
Look, I'm not against helping these people but the double standards that Abbott is applying for his coalition supporters is absolutely palpable. And like trusting sheep when the govt says it's not giving handouts and then under our very eyes goes ahead and gives handouts we accept that the govt is not giving handouts. Are we really that docile now.
Here's some quotes from the article
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The Government has refused to provide any public breakdown on the size or cost of the package, but confirmed loan support and income support will form part of it".
So a former Holden worker whose going to lose his home, he wont be getting loan support. And what is income support? Is it the same as the dole or more then the dole or in addition to the dole?
"The Government has got to be prepared to step in and assist. That is what we will be finalising in the next few days," he said.I dont recall him saying that when it was worker livelihoods on the line. Quite the opposite.
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Mr Joyce said he would not go into details about possible assistance. "There's a very short-term problem and then there's a slightly longer-term problem," Mr Joyce said.
"There's the immediate income needs that people have got to live, and then there's the reconstruction after the drought for people who have been very badly damaged.
"The package that we announce will deal with both of these issues."
Well, clearly, for someone whose constituents are not getting a handout Mr Joyce is a very happy man
"Mr Abbott says disaster relief payments are set to start on March 1. Mr Abbott says he will announce a drought-assistance package in the next week".Well that was quick. No wringing of hands on this one. They came straight to the party. And I love this next quote from BJ. This is a man who (for good reason it seems) is supremely confident that he can tell us that black is white and white is black and that we will believe him
"They don't want handouts, they don't want welfare, they want to be able to get on with the job, they don't want government to run their businesses."
Sorry???? It's handouts and its welfare.What else is it???? And of course the workers at Holden, SPC and Toyota etc, well they just wanted handouts and welfare, and they diodnt want to be able to get on with the job.
I'll shed a tear for farmers when the govts of this country start treating workers fairly and with the same amount of respect and regard that they do the other sectors of the economy.