Stop playing politics with the victims
January 30, 2011
"Given the expenditure savings of earlier years, the necessary funds could not have been obtained without paring back in essential areas of social expenditure such as health, education and welfare for the needy."
- John Howard, in 1999, talking about a special levy to assist East Timor.
If Howard were prime minister today, I'm pretty sure he would introduce a flood levy, too.
At the time, ABC journalist Barrie Cassidy commented that
"It's becoming something of a Howard government trademark, a taxation levy to meet the costs of unforeseen crises."
In fact, the Howard government introduced six levies during the 11 years it was in power
They were on things such as funding employee entitlements after the collapse of Ansett, funding the gun buyback scheme and on the price of milk after deregulation.
Howard was very keen on levies, and for good reason.
We have to assume that, as a members of the government and as cabinet ministers, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey were equally keen on them.
Because, when faced with extraordinary circumstances - such as droughts and flooding rains - the fiscally responsible thing for any government to do is to find a way to maintain services while responding to the crisis at hand.
At least, John Howard and Julia Gillard think so.
And while Tony Windsor's idea of a
Future Fund
scheme to insure us as a nation against the disasters that seem to regularly befall us is an excellent idea that deserves serious discussion,
it's a bit too late for the people of Queensland and Victoria
Essential infrastructure needs to be rebuilt as quickly as possible.
The economic health of Australia is reliant on Queensland's agricultural and resources powerhouses.
Nothing can be more important at the moment than rebuilding Queensland and Victoria.
But the Government also has an obligation to honour its election promise to return the budget to surplus.
For Abbott to reject a levy for the victims of the floods, despite having gone along with six of his own when in government, seems to me to be almost incredibly churlish.
When Howard proposed the gun buyback levy and the East Timor levy, Labor, then in opposition, immediately agreed to both.
It didn't think playing politics with matters of life and death was in the national interest.
In fact, then-opposition leader Kim Beazley said: "We are obliged to deal with the realities that we now confront: that there will be a shortfall which will need to be made up in some way.
"And the mechanism that has been put forward, I would say, is about as fair a way as you could contemplate making that up."
So, in light of all that, somebody should tell Tony Abbott to stop playing politics with flood victims.
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