General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAustralia's #MarchinMay protests...awesome. Pics. Our battles seem to be theirs. Heartwarming.
I am not sure of all the issues involved there of course, but I notice many similar gripes from the marchers and their signs. One of the main ones concerns the cuts being made because of the deficit, especially cuts to the elderly and those in need.
I found these pictures mostly under the #marchinmay hashtag at Twitter, and few by that name at google. There are also pictures at Twitter under the #bustthebudget hashtag.
Here is one article about the rallies:
March in May rallies: Thousands gather to protest against federal budget
The pictures show many more than thousands.
Protesters angered by the announced budget cuts to Government services - including health and education - gathered in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Hobart on Sunday, as part of the nationwide March in May rallies.
In Sydney, the crowd was estimated at up to 10,000 people.
Protesters gathered in Sydney's CBD carrying placards with messages such as "hands off health, education and welfare".
"Why are 6,000 South Australians raising their voices in Adelaide today? They understand that this is about making sure when they are sick, there is a hospital bed for them," he said at a joint news conference with other state leaders in Sydney.
"When their children have a learning difficulty, there is the extra teaching support to allow their child to be a success that's what's at stake, that's what's motivating them, and we are speaking for those Australians as we stand here today together.
Here are some of the pictures I found:
20,000 estimated in Melbourne.
Here is the link to the MarchinMay pictures at Twitter
Here is an article and some pictures from News.com.au
Along these lines I found a piece at the Tasmanian Times about the alarm over the budget.
A colder, meaner, narrower place ...
There are no paragraphs to go by, just sentences. Here are a few.
This is just the beginning, turning Australia into a place most of us wont recognise a colder, meaner, narrower place.
Losing our sense of fairness and our sense of community.
I believe in a different Australia.
An Australia where your destiny is not predetermined by your parents wealth or your postcode.
A fair and prosperous nation populated by a creative and productive people.
But this is not the Australia we saw reflected in the Budget on Tuesday night.
On Tuesday night we saw the outlines of Tony Abbotts Australia an Australia divided into two societies.
This was a tax it or cut it Budget.
Millions of Australians now know what Abbotts Australia will look like:
If you need to see a doctor, you will pay more.
If you need to buy medicine, you will pay more.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I have been looking around at those pictures for a while. Huge crowds.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)For Goldman Sachs.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I understand our safety nets are still "on the table", just sitting off to the side for a while until we forget.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)By Patrick OConnor
WSWS.org, 17 October 2013
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey this week went to Washington D.C. and New York, where he repeatedly stated his commitment to imposing deep budget cuts on behalf of the international financial markets and domestic big business interests.
Hockey travelled to the US to participate in meetings of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, as well as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings. He met with Congressional Democrat and Republican figures, outgoing US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, and finance ministers from several countries. Hockey also scheduled meetings with the CEOs of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, before concluding his trip with discussions with leading credit ratings agencies.
Hockeys US visit had the character of a loyal servant of finance capital reporting for duty and receiving orders. It came just a month after credit ratings agency Standard & Poors stripped Western Australia, previously the centre of the countrys mining investment boom, of its AAA status, on the basis that the state Liberal government had demonstrated limited political will in slashing spending. The decision was an unambiguous shot across the bow of the recently elected federal Liberal-National coalition government. Hockey has now left no doubt that he and Prime Minister Tony Abbott received the message.
The treasurer has a record of speaking more freely overseas than he does in Australia concerning the ruling elites preparations to slash the living standards of the working class. Most notably in April 2012, when shadow treasurer, he delivered a speech in London declaring an end to the age of entitlement and calling for the abolition of all welfare programs, pensions, universal public health and education systems.
CONTINUED...
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/17/hock-o17.html
For some reason, the reality escapes some people. Especially one percent people.
Notice how the word "austerity" seems missing from the tee vee and noosepaperz?
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I found this from Dec. 2013, about cuts they were trying to keep from making.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/09/heres-what-sequestration-will-look-like-in-2014-if-the-budget-deal-fails/
I just have not heard anymore.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)librechik
(30,674 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)I saw several in search. Will post if I find them again.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)...demonstrations like this become necessary it means the horse (whores) of austerity is (are?) already out of the barn.
Occupy was great ---but it can be argued that it was too late. The middle class was already caved out and no one in power felt they had to listen to us.
I find these march signs chilling. Considering that Australia, Canada and the UK have always been more humane and enlightened and broadly educated than Americans. They all have strong trade unions--so what's going on?
Thatcher-Reaganism is a vampire sucking on the chance to live in a civilization.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)We have trusted our party to stand up for things that we value. We have had to fight them on the most serious issues like our privacy, the TPP, the fairness of the internet, saving the safety nets, fighting back against their attacks on public education.
So I guess you may be right. The people together there are heartwarming....but the fact they have to do so is chilling.
Fairgo
(1,571 posts)I have been wandering around, alternately calling out Cassandra and apologizing for the "Americanization" of anything. But Aussies get it, and always have. The corporatists may have over-played their hand out of arrogance. The "Fair-go" culture is still entrenched in most common people across the political spectrum, and they are genuinely pissed at the Liberal party government. Fortunately, with a public groundswell the vox populi can sweep the lot of them to the kerb rather quickly. It's a bellweather moment. There is a chance. And perhaps an inspiration for our brothers and sisters in the U.S. Back the Labor Party!
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)but in too many areas they want to claim they are just like the other. I love those pictures, wish the best to the Aussie people in this fight.
For decades the Democrats followed the dictates of a think tank that decided unions, minorities were not that much needed. They got their money from corporations. In many ways they are still following those policies.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/7796
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)So, they are in America's pockets, unfortunately.
ancianita
(36,055 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Seems to be a worldwide thing now.
Snarkoleptic
(5,997 posts)Not sure if that's a reference to blocking the implementation of Reaganesque supply-side economics.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Sounds like it may be connected. Saw TPP mentioned several times.
https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23BlockSupply&src=tyah
Eureka
(523 posts)The way our Parliament is set up, if a Supply Bill (budget bill) is blocked twice by the upper house the Government can call a Double Dissolution election. In reality, if supply is blocked they have to do this because Supply Bills are what gives the government it's money.
In a Double Dissolution election both houses of Parliament are dissolved and every seat, House and Senate, are up for grabs. It very rarely happens.
The basic premise is, you can't get your budget passed so it goes back to the electorate so see what they think, if they agree with you then you'll end up with the numbers required to pass it.
Abbott's approval/popularity figures as of today are almost rock bottom and it is assumed that if an election were held the right wing would be tossed to the curb pretty convincingly.
Hope this helps
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Was trying to figure that out. Impressive numbers at rallies. Good for them.
Snarkoleptic
(5,997 posts)madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Whether true or not, perception means a lot.
Also found at the same Twitter link:
https://twitter.com/irisherself
eppur_se_muova
(36,262 posts)These guys are no Tea Partiers !
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Matilda
(6,384 posts)They believe that you should get the health care you can afford, not the care you deserve.
This budget is so blatantly favouring the wealthy, I can't see how Abbott can ever get a second term.
"The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges".
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Violet_Crumble
(35,961 posts)The mental image of Joe Hockey in Marie Antoinettes blonde ringlets proclaiming Let them eat cake might prompt consternation or an upset stomach, depending on your political persuasion. But with his beer and cigarettes comments, he has in effect uttered the modern-day equivalent.
It is thought the Queen of France never actually said those words. Joe Hockey, on the other hand, undeniably compared the $7 co-payment for a GP visit to the cost of a pack of cigarettes and two $3 middies of beer. In the same breath (almost) as he inhaled a cigar, he also perpetuated the stereotype that welfare recipients were layabouts who would choose booze and ciggies over feeding their children or taking them to the doctor. They simply sprawl in front of their flat-screen TVs, never look for work and watch the fat welfare cheques roll in. Isnt that right, Joe?
Mr Hockey, sitting in his castle twirling his ringlets, is displaying an appalling lack of understanding of the way real welfare recipients live. How would I know? I was one.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/beer-and-ciggies-more-like-let-them-eat-cake-from-joe-hockey-atop-his-tower-20140519-zrh3z.html#ixzz32MH4D7P5
Smug fucking prick...
mattclearing
(10,091 posts)Basically an ultra-conservative government snuck in with a vague agenda of platitudes and Murdoch's blessing. Now they are austerity-mad, trying to privatise everything they can, and just generally doing what conservatives do. People are not happy.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Sounds familiar. Here in the US they are turning schools over to private management companies and calling it "educational reform"
mattclearing
(10,091 posts)I only moved here in 2006, and still lurk here regularly.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)The deflection does nothing to help cure their ills. Playing the blame game helps none. They are their own country and must resolve it on their own terms.
mackerel
(4,412 posts)Love that one!