(no subject)
This excellent piece by Geoff Lemon has been doing the rounds, dispensing the sober truth: almost no one is going to be affected by Australia's new carbon tax. $9.90 extra week will break almost no one's bank.
In actual fact, I think the current carbon tax package is too soft and only a token step towards redressing climate change, but it's little wonder that this is the best the government could do with so many people opposed to the idea, not to the mention opposed to the very concept of climate change itself, and the need to do anything about it.
Then I saw The Global Rich List, where you can rank your innual income against the rest of the world. My paltry postgrad stipend still puts me in the top 11-12%, a rather sobering thought. Yes, the cost of living in Sydney is pretty high, but what is included in that cost of living, anyway? Rent for a roof over my head, electricity and gas to keep me warm and able to cook and see, fresh running water, adequate public transport, and more than enough good food to eat. That's a whole lot more than a lot of people in the world. And if we didn't spend and use so much power and fuel, then the need for a carbon tax mightn't be as dire.
The fact is, very few people in Australia are truly doing it tough, no matter what Tony Abbott says (and as if Mr Abbott himself would even know what that means). Lemon has it exactly right when he says, "Australians, en masse, are enjoying a better standard of living than has ever been enjoyed in this country’s history." There's some poverty, but not much, and those who really cannot afford the increase caused by the carbon tax won't have to.
I'm lucky. We're the lucky country. So why are we so damn selfish sometimes?!
In actual fact, I think the current carbon tax package is too soft and only a token step towards redressing climate change, but it's little wonder that this is the best the government could do with so many people opposed to the idea, not to the mention opposed to the very concept of climate change itself, and the need to do anything about it.
Then I saw The Global Rich List, where you can rank your innual income against the rest of the world. My paltry postgrad stipend still puts me in the top 11-12%, a rather sobering thought. Yes, the cost of living in Sydney is pretty high, but what is included in that cost of living, anyway? Rent for a roof over my head, electricity and gas to keep me warm and able to cook and see, fresh running water, adequate public transport, and more than enough good food to eat. That's a whole lot more than a lot of people in the world. And if we didn't spend and use so much power and fuel, then the need for a carbon tax mightn't be as dire.
The fact is, very few people in Australia are truly doing it tough, no matter what Tony Abbott says (and as if Mr Abbott himself would even know what that means). Lemon has it exactly right when he says, "Australians, en masse, are enjoying a better standard of living than has ever been enjoyed in this country’s history." There's some poverty, but not much, and those who really cannot afford the increase caused by the carbon tax won't have to.
I'm lucky. We're the lucky country. So why are we so damn selfish sometimes?!