Offend In Every Way – Subsidies for the rich, while forcing others into unemployent by Peter c/o Wixxyleaks The other day I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that quite annoyed me. It was not the way it was written, or whether I had doubts over its content. I just found the subject matter offended me given the public discussion since last September over what Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey call the age of “entitlement”. The article was by Gareth Hutchens and was a piece on the $18 Billion in assistance that has been given to the mining and energy sector over the past six years by State Governments. $18 Billion dollars is a lot of money no matter if you’re Clive Palmer, Gina Rinehart, or someone struggling to feed the kids on minimum wage. What offended me is that we have been told for so long how business must be left to stand on its own two feet by those in the Coalition and the right-wing media. Why is this not the case with the mining and energy sectors? For those who work in the struggling car industry sector this news must come as a kick in the teeth. It has been estimated that over the next few years that 50,000 workers in the auto industry will find themselves looking for new employment, as the big car manufacturers shut up shop here, and the hundreds of small businesses that rely on them find themselves going under. This is because the Abbott government decided it would no longer support the subsidies that kept these 50,000 people employed and paying tax. Also feeling abandoned by our current Federal Government would be all the Qantas workers who were let go after Abbott and Hockey decided they werent worth saving from the chopping block. Those who face uncertain times ahead due to these decisions by the Abbott government must have serious questions when seeing Clive Palmer drive to parliament in a Mercedes Sports car one day and a Rolls Royce the next and wonder why he is receiving subsidies. The State and Federal governments seem happy to continue subsidising Gina Rineharts mining empire as she flies around in her private jet. However when it comes to helping out our fruit farmers and SPC the Federal Government they wanted no part of it, and it was only after a long ugly campaign that the Victorian State Government finally stepped in with some dollars to save some face. Although in their wisdom the Coalition gave $16 Million to Cadbury in Tasmania so Eric Abetz could play Willy Wonka, or something else that rhymes with it. However that boost to Tassies tourism the $16M was to bring looks set to fail with the Cadbury factory tours it was funding not even operating on weekends. We also need to bear in mind that $18 Billion represents only state government subsidies and assistance, it does not include any assistance from the Federal Government Over the coming weeks Tony Abbott will be seeking to raise the fuel excise in what will effectively be a travel tax as part of his budget. While Abbott and his Coalition conspirators seek to punish us for our need to travel, the mining sector will continue to receive a government subsidy on diesel fuel. Not only will the miners receive the government’s gift of discounted fuel while we pay extra, Abbott is also seeking to scrap the mining tax as well. As the well-respected Fairfax economics editor Ross Gittins pointed out in an article yesterday we are currently under taxing the mining sector. The Mining sector in Australia is largely foreign-owned and sends most of its profits overseas so why on earth would we want to give them a tax break? Are we really comfortable in subsidising foreign interests and not out own? Surely it couldn’t have anything to do with political donations could it? I personally have nothing at all against subsidies, after all one person’s subsidy is another person’s investment, however the government should not favour one particular sector over all others. What I do detest though is the complete lack of transparency on this issue from a government that seems to more closely resemble a board of Mining Industry lobbyists than any sort of decent government.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 04:03:39 +0000
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