Hey guys! Just a short one for now, I'll write some more later on in the week
Tony Abbot and treasurer Joe Hockey released the Australian budget recently. As much as I don't like to write on politics I would like to write a little bit on this budget and particularly the reaction it has received.
Much of the reaction from my friends and those my age are extremely negative and the budget has been faced with lots of criticism. As a current university student, I am concerned about about the fee rise that will be coming.
I do also understand that Australia needed a tough budget. Australia's economy isn't the same economy that we had during the Howard years and I think it is here which lies a lot of the problem. Australia are too use to "hand outs." I use those terms really losely, but Australia has had no real economic problems during those years and the budgets during that period reflected that.
A treasurer's job is easy when the economy is strong. Votes during election reflects this. When we're not taxed as much, when there are no new fees and no cuts in spending, the population is happy. Which is fair reasonable.
What is not reasonable however, is to expect this to continue forever. Like her people, Australia is always going to face tough times. During this time, the job of the treasurer becomes difficult. During this time, the government needs to do its job to ensure the recovery process is as fast as possible. To expect for this budget to be everyone's best friend and to simply throw money at people would indicate a lack of understanding of the current state of the Australian economy and the world economy in general.Hockey did what needed to be done.
This budget was always going to ruffle some feathers. Comparatively, Australia has recovered well from the GFC and as such, it is easy to see what this particular budget was trying to do; to further the recovery and bring Australia to where everyone wants it to be. Australians have had to fewer sacrifices in the past decade compared to other counties and perhaps this is the first time where the sacrifices have been relatively sizable.
If you think the sacrifices are unnecessary then by all means, go ahead, write to your local MP, go to the protests and voice your opinions. It is important for the core of your way of life to be preserved and maintained. Ensure that the government stays honest and don't give them another term in Canberra. But when we set that core to be too big then we have a problem. When there is no one prepared to compromise a little then there is something wrong with society, not the government.
It feels like society in Australia have taken a little too much for granted.
I do however, feel that that the government changes are too much and too extreme, particularly those concerning foreign aid and university fees. Whilst Australia economy is not the best, it is also not in a "budget emergency" The university fees destroys a generation of students who have studied years expect the same fees that I received. I would imagine that had they known that they were going to be paying such high fees, some would have chosen a different path; one not involving a university education.'
Whilst we're not in the midst of a cold war of ideology, I feel Kennedy's words during his inauguration speech is suitable here.
"...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
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