A post directed at my friends in Australia.

[reynardo]

It's time to change the targets and the message.

As many of you have been doing as well, I've been writing to the Prime Minister and the appropriate ministers to ask for the following

• Treat refugees like human beings bring them to the mainland, close down the offshore processing centres, and prove that we can be compassionate and welcome those in need of asylum from the horrors of other countries.


• Increase the payments for people on Newstart and other forms of social support, because the amounts are so tiny that people are starving on them, and because there aren't enough jobs for everyone, let alone at the basic level that so many of the young people I know are at.


• Increase funding for NDIS and use it to help and actually support people, rather than using all the funds to find ways to exclude people who desperately need it. In particular, female friends of mine who get rejected because CFS isn't considered something that needs supporting and might possibly get better one day, or immobilising arthritis that has a huge waiting list for the joint replacements, but NDIS won't cover the support that would get the friend to the right physical state to qualify to be put on the huge waiting list. Because the arthritis will be cured one day, even though while there's no support, she won't be cured.


• Stop trying to create terrorist panic especially in places and with incidents that are not terrorist things.


• And …

You get the general idea.

But all I get in response is cookie-cutter letters, some of them badly photocopied, that tell me the Government is just trying to keep us all safe from the nasty horrid people who are either coming to steal our jobs, or who are bludging and refusing to contribute to society …

*Sigh*

Meanwhile the types that Jesus was definitely preaching about when he told of the Man who Fell Among Thieves (Luke 10: 30-37) , or when he asked "Why didn't you help me?" (Matthew 25: 41-45), are sitting in their seats of power and planning how to prove that Australia was nothing until the white man came.

So 17catherines and I had an idea the other day. We need to change the targets, and we need to change the message.

There's going to be a Federal Election this year, either before or on 2 November. There's a very good possibility that the current Coalition government will find themselves out, and a Labour-heavy government in charge. But whether Labour holds all the cards depends on us.

So we need to let the incoming types know in advance what we expect of them.

That we won't vote for them so long as they insist on vilifying refugees and keeping the asylum seekers from coming to our country.

That we will not support them if they do not support the vulnerable and suffering in the community.

And that if they do not show that they are actively changing their policies to assist the poor, the downtrodden, the ill and sick and disabled and lots and homeless and helpless, then we will vote for parties that *will* do these things, and then Labour will have to deal with a mixed parliament where the Greens and Lefties and Socialists hold the balance of power. And they'll have to do these thing anyway.

So if you're a letter-writer, start writing now to your local Labour MPs, your Labour Senators, and those in parties that will look to helping those in need of help. Point out that they need to show that they are different from the current Government, and that you will support them if they do.

Remember – every time a politician gets a letter from a member of the public, it's as if there's another 1000 people thinking "This isn't right". An actual letter puts the fear of change into them.

Let's do it.

Comments

[thewayne]

Never forget that Compassionate Conservatism is a null value, it's just a buzzword to keep their name in the press.

To me, the message of most conservatives is "I've got mine, screw you."

[kerravonsen]

Never forget that Compassionate Conservatism is a null value, it's just a buzzword to keep their name in the press.

I haven't come across the phrase "Compassionate Conservatism", it must be an American thing.

To me, the message of most conservatives is "I've got mine, screw you."

I have come to the conclusion that the main motivation of conservatives is fear, and the main motivation of leftists is anger. Conservatives fear that what they have will be taken away. Leftists are angry about the state of the world as it is.

[thewayne]

I think Compassionate Conservative was something coined during Bush 1 years, but I don't remember for certain.  I think you're pretty much spot-on.

[kerravonsen]

Oh, I AM subscribed to your Dreamwidth journal! I didn't realise because this was at the top of my LJ reading page, but much further down on my DW reading page.