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Tony Abbott has just made a truly deplorable statement suggesting a return to corporal punishment in our schools in response to a rise in student violence, stating that: “it may well be that sometimes the only language that some kids understand is that kind of language”.

When will we see a politician actually attempt to solve a problem, rather than stick a band aid on it in hope of a few extra popularity points?

What is the real problem here?

1. Our teachers are under paid, and over worked. – If you are going to argue that point, go to another website to do it

2. Our class sizes are too large.

3. We have a back log of repair work waiting to be done on a vast number of public schools that has left our children sitting in run down classrooms, with pealing paintwork and inadequate facilities.

In short, the state is neglecting our children, and their education!

And what do we know about neglected children?

• They are more likely to exhibit violent or unstable behavior
• They are less likely to be confident – which can lead to anti-social and or violent behaviour
• They are less likely to behave and obey their parents and teachers

…. among a host of other things.

Our children are real people, each of them individual, with their own individual strengths and weaknesses. They all need individual attention, and until we are willing to spend the money to give our kids the attention they not only deserve, but need to develop into the adults that we need them to be, they are going to play up. It’s as simple as that.

So what’s the solution Tony? Kick the little buggers into line!

Good thinking mate. Really inspiring stuff.

Warringah Council has called on the State Government to direct the $59million originally earmarked for the Spit Bridge to upgrading Warringah Road and key intersections.

“Warringah faces significant transport and traffic congestion, as any resident can attest, with our major roads at capacity during peak periods,” said Warringah Council Administrator Dick Persson.

“The recent withdrawal of funding for the Spit Bridge widening project presents the NSW Government with an opportunity to undertake other works that will enhance the travel times for residents and improve the economic viability for local business.

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The Member for Warrringah has done it again.  On ABC TV last night the Federal Minister for Health declared firmly that dental care for “low income” people was not his problem; the States are responsible for such things.  The main reason people who can’t afford to have painful and debilitating conditions treated are in serious trouble is that when the Howard Government came to office it abolished the $350 million Commonwealth Dental Scheme.  For the last 11 years the number of sufferers sitting on waiting lists has climbed to the point where some of them are looking at a four-year wait before they can see a dentist. As many of them are aged pensioners, death often ends the pain rather than a dentist

Former GP turned Federal Liberal MP Mal Washer is among the backbenchers in the Howard Governmant who think this neglect of the disadvantaged is not only disgraceful but dangerous. Dr Washer points out: “If you’ve got dental ill health or poor oral hygiene with oral infection you have a much greater risk of pneumonia and of heart attacks, of infection on prosthetic joints and on your heart valves. That affects the cost to the Federal taxpayer.”  Not only is it bad medicine, it actually costs a lot of money.  You’d think even John Howard could appreciate that.

There is a lot of boasting from Peter Costello at the moment about yet another Budget surplus.  Anyone can save money if they refuse to spend it on the necessities. 
 

Tony Abbott has demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that he is a ‘very small picture’ man.  His recent statements on the subject of stem cell research have been firmly based in his own personal ideology and bear no relation to the real world.  While the war against Hezbollah raged in Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent families, Mr Abbott seemed unperturbed by the moral dimensions of that conflict.  His deep concern for the sanctity of human life was so firmly focussed on the eight-cell embryo that living, breathing, running for their lives adults and children didn’t even register on his moral radar.  On one particularly sad occasion, one of the victims of the Israeli bombs was a day-old baby.  Perhaps she was young enough to attract his attention?  Why is this man so obsessed with as yet non-existent embryos when he is part of a government which is aiding and abetting the slaughter of thousands of innocents in Iraq?  Is he at all interested in the fact that an estimated 100,000 cluster bombs are lying on the ground in Lebanon, waiting for children – it’s usually children who pick up these unfamiliar objects – who will be killed and crippled when they disturb them?

He remains equally unmoved by the possible benefits of the technology, even threatening legal action against people who may be tempted to go abroad to more advanced countries where the cure for crippling diseases and injuries could soon be available.  We have become accustomed to seeing children come to Australia for life-saving surgery on devasting injuries and deformities, and are proud of our ability to offer this help to people from less developed countries. If Mr Abbott has his way, the flow will be reversed. 

Spinalcure Australia, in a media statement on Wednesday said: “Mr Abbott’s position on somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) or “therapeutic cloning”  is untenable: the reality is that research is already happening overseas and this is like King Canute trying to turn back the tide. SCNT must be legalised in Australia if, as is claimed, the Government is to avoid the totally unacceptable position of criminalizing thousands of law abiding Australians.  The Government will be leaving itself open to accusations of hypocrisy and, worse still, endorsing a situation where only wealthy Australians can afford to travel overseas for such treatments.” 
His predecessor as Minister for Health, Senator Kay Patterson, is preparing a private member’s bill in support of SCNT. She told the ABC, “One of my concerns is that the work is being done in Sweden, in America, at Harvard and at UCLA, the University of California, San Francisco, in Britain. My question is, if… there is a therapeutic outcome, would we reject it in Australia?  I think the answer is no. I think if we had a treatment for Type 1 Diabetes and we said, oh we thought it was wrong to do somatic cell transfer so we’re not going to accept the treatment, I think there’d be an outcry from the community.”
And there would be.  From 80% of them to be precise. That’s the proportion of the Australian people who support SCNT according to a recent Roy Morgan poll.  Once again, we see our “representatives” determined to inflict their own ideologies on a population who largely disagree with them.