Cairns Anti Poverty Network members gathered this morning outside the Cairns DFO pre-polling centre to send a final message before election day. They called for the next government to slash poverty with a single stroke by lifting the rate of JobSeeker and pensions.
“Poverty is a policy choice. And it is the choice that successive governments have chosen for many of us in Far North Queensland”, declared Pat O’Shane, Kuku Yalanji trailblazer, former magistrate, and candidate for Leichhardt.
“I grew up dirt poor in a shack shared with my parents and younger siblings. Today Australia is a rich and modern country, yet poverty is rising again.
“For a short window in the early days of the pandemic this Government significantly lifted the incomes of many people on income support through the Coronavirus Supplement introduced on April 27, 2020.
“That was the day when Australian poverty was slashed in half through a single initiative. Lives drastically improved in Far North Queensland”, she said.
Community housing providers, Access Housing and SHAC (Shelter Housing Action Cairns) reported that their tenants were able to clear rent arrears – in many cases for the first time. St Vincent De Paul saw a 78% decline in requests for assistance in Far North Queensland (April 2020 compared with April 2019).
“But it was short-lived. As the supplement was wound back in early 2021, St Vincent De Paul and other welfare agencies saw requests for emergency relief rise sharply.
“We used to talk about people falling through the cracks. Now increasingly there is no floor.” said Renee Lees, rally organiser, spokeswoman for Cairns Anti-Poverty Network and Senate Candidate.
“This election has heard talk of the housing crisis, cost of living and stagnating wages. But the incomes of Australia’s poorest have largely been overlooked, with neither major party prepared to commit to lifting payments above the poverty line.
“The Cairns Anti Poverty Network asks voters to assess parties by their commitment to a future where no one is left behind. We ask our next government to choose dignity over poverty and raise the rate of JobSeeker and other income support to at least $70 a day. The Greens and Socialist Alliance have committed to that.” explained Lees.
Everyone gets a go here. Look at comments! Ed
Agreed. How about those politicians that are no longer in power survive on their superannuation and stop being paid by us tax payers. How about politicians not getting a “cost of living” increase each six months. How about politicians no longer being able to access their superannuation until retirement age. How about …
Hi bollux, re: “Why would anyone listen to Pat O’Shane…”. Exactly!
What the hell has this crazy, greedy old bat ever done besides line her own pockets and spout platitudes? Zilch.
The sooner she retires to a knitting circle somewhere the better.
Why would anyone listen to Pat O’Shane? She is as mad as a cut snake. Have a look at her magisterial record. Why would you give her any publicity?
This silly old lady has no idea about the extent of joblessness and low incomes generally in Australia, seeing this in purely partisan terms. Which is typical insularity for her lobby.
To use the phrase “Today Australia is a rich and modern country” exposes O’Shane as hopelessly blind to reality. We are an impoverished nation, having lost 90% of our manufacturing, our food security converted to giant agribusiness for export, and even before the covid repression, half of Australia’s workers had either inadequate part-time work or were entirely unemployed.
Then, to cap off her blind and uncomprehending ignorance, she quotes The Greens, who are attempting close down our coal mines with their equally absurd belief in atmospheric CO2 as poisonous to the planet, when in fact CO2 is plant food needed to reforest the planet. This insanity will cause around 30% increased pauperisation of Australians.
No doubt, the mass media will give O’Shane a good hearing as she is contributing to the destruction of Queensland, most especially Aboriginal Queensland.
makes you very angry when you know it comes out of our ESTATE trust’s NOT the tax payer’s coffer … people are clueless .. do a CUSIP number search ?
Another Socialist. Their Zionist controlled Judas goat agenda requires the extinction of the middle class, which automatically creates poverty, and the building of Jew financial empires of the super rich.
Socialism is humanistic Satanism, the application of political Darwinism baited with “concern” for the poor. The creation of poverty, misery and despair is vital to the continuance of Socialism in all its forms.
Wake up, Pat, there is a third non Jew way.
It is called Nationalism. Not class struggle.
She lost me when she said the word “Greens”.