The Australian editorial, 11 January 2013:
Australia’s welfare system is crying out for comprehensive reform… Is it fair that a couple with one child and a household income of $160,000 a year receives a family tax benefit, or that a young couple buying, for their first home, a $700,000 apartment in Toorak are paid the first-home owners grant? The old principle that welfare should exist only for those who genuinely need it appears no longer to hold.
But what happened when the Government made moves to reduce transfer payments to families that earn over $150000 per year?
The Australian ran stories including this one: “The Allardyces both work full-time and together earn about $200,000 a year. That makes the Dutch-born working mum rich according the federal government. She doesn’t feel that way.”
The Daily Telegraph: “THE Grays are the quintessential so-called rich Australian family squarely in the crosshairs of the Gillard Government.
Victims of Labor’s war on middle-class welfare, the Castle Hill family of three is one of millions of hard-working, double-income McMansion households mercilessly assaulted by the Federal Budget - families deemed too wealthy to need any government rebates or to escape additional taxes.
The problem is, Rob and Kerrie Gray certainly don’t feel very rich – despite the family earning more than $150,000 a year in combined wages.”
The Coalition agreed that reducing family benefits for high-income families was unfair. Tony Abbott: “These are class-war cuts that the government is inflicting on people.”
How did the Australian respond to the modest measures in the 2012 budget?
Staggering!
That is such bullshit living on 150 grand is hard, try living on $12,000 a yr. Like I do!!
Maybe you should get a decent job you bludger.
The opposition say they will make big cuts,
If this area is off bounds, where are they going to cut?
We all know from experience, it will always be from those at the bottom.
Mr, Howard and Costello took this even further. They took from the bottom to give to the top.
A governemnt, that from todays heradlines, was a big spending government, but took from such things as health and education.
What a load of rubbish. If these people cannot manage on 100-150k per year than they need to get som financial counselling.
People often don’t *feel* they are rich, but its easy to forget the luxury house & cars, the private schools and expensive hobbies after a while. That’s usually why feelings aren’t used as an objective measure of… anything.
The hypocrisy of the Oz seems to know no bounds. It is, as a news paper, completely self unaware.
I suspect the people at the Oz are actually completely self-aware. Just not so honest.
*sigh*
The language is interesting. “She doesn’t feel that way [rich].” “Rob and Kerrie Gray certainly don’t feel very rich.” Conservatives and the right-wing commenters on papers like the Australian are very big on the denigration of “emotion”. People on the broad left do this too, but conservatives are especially enamoured of this concept. “That’s a very emotional statement”, “We need to get away from the emotion and look at the facts”, etc. Yet when it comes to middle class welfare for a privileged social group, their “feelings” are enough – the Oz didn’t see fit to discuss whether these “feelings” were valid or not. Feminists and environmentalists never get away with this – ever. We’re told to bring out the peer-reviewed studies, and we do, but it’s a double standard – again.
Interesting point, Helen!
Haha, yeah. “You don’t feel rich? Oh my god (arm around shoulder) are you ok?”
What about the theory that the Oz and co are strategically writing this crap to get lefties to buy the thing? I know I never picked one up before recently getting excited at the prospect of having a good laugh, and/or getting a little geed-up.
Technically, I don’t think you have to be ‘left’ to live in reality.
The reality is the majority of Aussies have it very good indeed by world standards
As humans we adjust our expectations as our circumstances change, hence ‘I don’t feel rich’ from upper middle class folk. Doesn’t mean policy should be influenced by that phenomenon.
And Bravo Helen, great comment.
They don’t feel rich because they are so far removed from poverty they don’t what poor actually is.
Good one Helen.
Wholeheartedly agree.
One of my friends complained that they were doing it a bit tough. I pointed out the facts he had a new house, a brand new luxury SUV and another new SUV so things couldn’t be quite as bad as he imagined. He stuttered a bit.
Yep. I spent a good bit of my time shaking baby-boomers by the shoulders (metaphorically) when they bang on about times being tough. “I have all my wealth bound up in real estate” – boohoo.
However you managed to read this editorial i certainly hope no money changed hands ;)
Is this not the point the journalism though? To report on both sides of the story? Granted these papers aren’t not doing that in the one article. However, we often rightfully bash papers for only ever telling one side of the story. Then when they try to tell both, we bash them too. They’re allowed to flip flop on what side of the story they report. That’s called creating a public debate.
FWIW, we earn $130per year, with 1 child, and we live like Kings. Harden up people, stop buying 40000inch plasmas and more cars than your family has people and you’ll be fine.
i feel poor
Nice round-up of the retarded understanding of Limited-News egos. I have found the output of Limited-News rags too `bipolar` and gave up on them years ago. I suppose they are happy as long as they find a way to lobby pro-biz/tory and anti-union/watermelon, but I just don`t see the-oz being able to make a profit out of it.
Feelings are an interesting thing, In the last two years I have gone from being a full time student working part time on an IT phone line to a full time employed profession. My pretax income has increased 10 fold. I don’t feel rich so I can empathize with people who don’t feel rich, even if they earn at least twice what I do now, except that they can go to the ABS website whenever they like, and they can find out just how many people earn less than them, and recognize that if they don’t feel rich it is because they probably have made choices not available to people on the dole, or minimum wage, or even to a family being supported by say a nurses income
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