I find it hard to grasp that in a ‘first world’ country we have a government which expects unemployed people, mainly young job-seekers, to live on nothing for six months.
Naturally those from wealthier families will be better supported, for the rest turning to crime might prove the most attractive option, even the only one.
The distinction between well-off and not so well-off will be further accentuated by the proposed deregulation of university fees.
The prospect of a greatly increased debt will deter many young people from going to university in the first place and, as has already been acknowledged by honest analysts, will result in a two-tier system with the wealthier, more prestigious institutions catering for wealthier students in the more expensive courses.
The rest will be regarded as second rate and won’t be able to compete, regardless of the ravings of Christopher Pyne. So much for the ‘clever country’.
The gross unfairness of this budget is obvious in many areas and, to my mind, despicable but the policies I still find most offensive are those towards asylum seekers who, we learn, are about to be offered resettlement in Cambodia.
These policies are bipartisan, whether or not Labor agrees with the Cambodian plan and absolutely shameful. Thank god for the Greens.
Jenny Coman, Bangalow
