13th August 2007- Senate Question Time

Kevin Rudd according to Liberal senators has only made reference to families once in an 8 year period. In addition labour shows a considerable lack of funding directed towards family ventures; for example internet protection for children and young people. Yes Labour is meeting the demands of many Australians in regards to industrial relations and environmental issues but there is no doubt that the family unit forms the foundation of our society. If this unit is neglected by its government I wonder to what extent the neglect of needs will destroy Australian cohesion. This is not to say that I believe that Liberal successfully acknowledges the importance of the family because I do not believe that is the case but their recent Net Alert program along with special working groups between the AFP and industry to address internet hazards does show considerably more fore-thought to the issues facing Australians than Rudd’s government. Should Rudd acknowledge the family more frequently and put them at the basis of its policy I feel support would widen…Australians cannot rely on idealistic principles to put food on the table and thus would benefit from a government that can in itself say it is meeting both the economic/realistic needs of its residents along with their idealistic hopes for the country’s future.


On another note: Developments in our defense force prove promising- in the last financial year 9000 people were recruited into the ADF which is an increase of 1125 people. However, this increase correlates with a $779 million recruitment and advertising campaign. In addition the launch of the GAP year for year 12 has the potential to increase participation up to 34,000 people. Yes this is promising…but when families are struggling with inflation and interest rises is it really necessary for our government to spend $779 million on AD campaigns. This along with the extortionate amounts spend on promoting work choices has raised considerable concern regarding the governments tendency to throw Australians’ money around in a desperate attempt to create an image that will keep them in power- well I’m sorry but I’d prefer to see that money directed at ventures that benefit Australians. Now I’m not saying that the defense force isn’t important because I am well aware that it is vital to Australians and their safety- it is the amount being dedicated to it that I found quite astounding and in many ways ridiculously extortionate.