joe.toscano's blog

Housing affordability will be the single most important issue Australians will have to grapple with in 2017. Increasing numbers of Australians living on the streets, in their cars and couch surfing is only the tip of an iceberg that is having a significant impact on an increasing number of Australians. The current malaise can be directly attributed to the subcontracting of the public housing sector by governments to both the non-profit and for profit private sector.

I find it difficult to believe the Andrews led Labor government can get it so wrong when it comes to public housing. Traditionally Labor governments have built and managed public housing to put a roof over people’s heads who have difficulty in accessing both the private rental market and the home ownership market. A strong public housing sector puts downward pressure on private rents and housing prices especially for first home buyers.

Obesity during human history has always been an indicator of power and wealth. During the Neolithic period figurines excavated across Europe of women with over developed thighs and protruding abdomens, were an indicator of the wealth of a nomadic community. It is no accident humans across time and geography equated power and wealth with obesity. Nothing in an era of feast and famine highlights personal security more than the amount of adipose tissue accumulated by individuals within a community.

Join Us at Federation Square Melbourne (corner of Flinders & Swanston St) at 12:00pm to celebrate the 23rd Anniversary of the historic High Court judgement delivered on the 3rd June 1992 that recognised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders had rights to land in law because of their prior occupation of this land.

Mabo Day - Wednesday 3rd June 2015

Why Celebrate Mabo Day?

Treasurer Joe Hockey's small business budget package is not the economic godsend the government and many commentators make it out to be. Cutting taxes by 1.5% for companies earning less than 2 million dollars per year and allowing small businesses to access a $20,000 tax deduction for business related asset purchases, won't make much difference for the small business sector and sole traders.

The single most important challenge facing Australia in 2015 is that in this country corporate interests always take precedence over public interests. In an era when News Corporation and 21st Century Fox dominate the media landscape to such an extent that they have become the de facto parliamentary puppet masters, it is important Australians understand the damage that is being caused to every person in Australia by the boardrooms of unaccountable corporations whose primary responsibility is to their major shareholders.

The cold blooded murder of the Editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane Charbonnier, seven of the editorial staff including world renowned cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, Bernard Verlhac and Philippe Honore, two police officers, a guest at the editorial meeting and a maintenance worker at a nearby office, is much more than political terrorism.

We were saddened by the lack of respect shown to the miners and soldiers who were killed during the Eureka uprising on the 3rd December 1854, in Ballarat during the celebrations that were held on Wednesday to mark the 160th Anniversary of the uprising. It's a pity the City of Ballarat continues to refuse to fly the Eureka flag on the main flagpole of the Town Hall on the anniversary of the Eureka massacre to acknowledge their sacrifice.

The death of former Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, has unleashed a national reaction that is seldom seen when a major political figure dies. His death at 98 marks the end of an era when ordinary Australians were able to exert real pressures in shaping the political programs of this country's major political parties. The list of reforms that became law between 1972 and 1975 encompassed all areas of human activity in this country.

Died suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday 11th October 2014. He is survived by his wife Linda, his son Graham, his sisters Hellen and Sandra and brother Steven. His other brother Malcolm died in 2012.