Wednesday 4 March 2015

Our State Government is targeting pensioners

in a deliberate misinformation campaign. They are claiming that pensioners will lose money because of a cut in Federal funding.
There has been no cut in Federal funding. The state simply did not get what it was promised if we voted in the current Opposition. 
It would not have got it anyway. There was never anything definite about it. If the money had been forthcoming in that area it would have been taken from some other area. 
This has not stopped our bankrupt state government spending $11m on an advertising misinformation campaign for political purposes. I object to this. From the letters to the editor this morning many more people object to this as well - and some of them are from people I recognise as being supporters of the party in question.
The campaign amounts to party-political advertising of course  - the sort that all governments of all persuasions will try to get away with if they can.  We all know that happens.
The problem this time is compounded by the fact that they are deliberately targeting a very vulnerable group of people - the elderly. Radio, television and the press are still major sources of information for the elderly - particularly the first two. I know many older people who live alone. For them the radio is "company" during the day - particularly in the mornings when the "chat" shows are on. They may watch a television news service in the evenings and then their "favourite" shows. The advertisements naturally appear in those times. They won't be hearing the other information they need to have an informed understanding of the situation. All they are being told is that the Federal government has taken away money and that means they will be about $4 a week worse off. It doesn't sound like much to most people - unless you are already struggling. 
The problem is that the Federal government has not taken the money away - and the State government will almost certainly not be able to do it either.
So, why is a bankrupt government doing this? Why waste the money?The answer is obvious of course. I wonder just what they will cut. 
I know the local library staff are worried that the central funding will be cut yet again. The new "self-service" borrowing system has seen a cut in casual hours - something that was not supposed to happen but obviously was going to happen. When the transition period is over then my guess is that there will be even less staff there to help. The new stock is being reduced too. Although you can borrow anything from anywhere in the state most people won't because they borrow by browsing the shelves not by browsing the on-line catalogue. 
Should we be worried about these things? I think we should. We are losing essential resources at an alarming rate. It is yet another reason to do away with the ridiculous expense of state governments. The only thing to be said for our state government is that it serves a population twice the size of the smallest state government...but that isn't saying much. The entire population of Downunder is about the same as that of New York state.

 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have seen those ads and they are appalling. I voted Labor but it was a mistake...I got conned by my local member who is a nice guy. I think he is beginning to think he was conned too. Doubt he'll be there next election.
You've got an interesting blog. It's about all sorts of things. Daniel