joe.toscano's blog

Nothing highlights the bankruptcy of the deregulation, corporatisation, privatisation and globalisation revolution that has swept the world over the past three decades than the human and economic devastation caused by the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa. Over a decade ago all the pure research that was needed to embark on a vaccination trial had been carried out, all that was needed was a billion dollars to carry out that trial.

It's a pity the Federal government, the Federal opposition and the fourth estate in Australia, including the Sunday Age's "Bishop vows to tackle Iraq threat", "Obama expands on plan to 'degrade' Islamic State" (7/9), outrage at the cold blooded public execution of journalists, civilians and combatants by ISIS militants is not matched by their rage at events that have led to the deaths of over 500,000 West Papuans, just 200 kilometres from Darwin, over the past 50 years.

I'm puzzled by the sentiments expressed in the article "The world must tackle this mass psychosis", The Age (26/8). Linking anarchism with the posturings of the ISIL religious
fundamentalists, is ludicrous. Anarchism is a political and social philosophy based on the creation of a society without secular and religious rulers. It's no accident the rallying cry of anarchists during the Spanish revolution was "no Gods, no Masters".

It's good to see an article about Senator Ricky Muir that gives the man some credit, "Muir a tale of ordinary gladness" Sunday Age (24/8). It's Senator Muir's ordinariness that makes him such an extraordinary Federal Parliamentarian.

Father at 17, sawmill worker, regional Victorian father of 5, a man who has experienced unemployment, he knows the price of a carton of milk. Senator Muir will in time, once he finds his feet and understands the power he is able to exercise in the current Senate, make a significant contribution to the lives of ordinary Australians.

News Corporation's losses (The Age 21/8) are a drop in the bucket when compared to the 882 million dollar windfall News Corporation received from the long suffering Australian taxpayer in 2013. Using a little bit of creative accounting, Mr Murdoch was able to legally engineer a tax refund in Australia while\ making hundreds of millions of dollars profit from his extensive global empire.

"Generation Debt" Sunday Age (6/7) are the children of the deregulation, privatisation, corporatisation and globalisation revolution that has occurred in Australia during the last three decades. On every available statistical indicator, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in this country.

The article in the Sunday Age (29/6), "Two tarnished sides of the Arab Coin" by Thomas Friedman which advocates pluralism – the devolving of power from a central authority to a network of government and non-government groups as the solution to the many problems that arise when power is centralised in a secular or theocentric state, raises serious concerns for Australia as well as the Middle East.

The Geoff Shaw parliamentary saga highlights the limitations of parliamentary democracy when the electorate does not have the power of recall in between elections. Geoff Shaw was elected as the Liberal member for Frankston at the last state election. He became an "Independent" when the Speaker, Ken Smith, referred his case to the Victoria Police. Mr. Shaw's antics in and out of state parliament have been directed to ensure he will never be accountable for his actions. His balance of power status gives him the power to dictate the government's parliamentary agenda.

It's no surprise inequality, in Australia, has been rising gradually since 1982, "Inequality warning on budget", Sunday Age (11/5). The growth of the internationally recognised Gini index (an index that measures inequality) from .27 in the early years of the Hawke government to .33 today is directly linked to the deregulation, privatisation, globalisation and corporatisation revolution launched by the Hawke led Labor government in 1982 and carried forward by every Federal government during the last 32 years.

The Abbott led government has declared war on every social security beneficiary, every wage earner and every small business in Australia in its 2014 budget. No budget since Federation, not even during World War One and World War Two, has been so draconian. The 2014 budget has placed the burden of a very questionable deficit on the shoulders of the individual while sparing a corporate sector that pays voluntary taxation and the country's richest people (who have the assets to legally minimise their tax liability) any significant pain.