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children in need
Maybe we older Australians can speak up for the young as they do not vote
Dear Ministers and MssHammer
I am a 77 year old disabled navy vet with my wife turning 80 in 4 weeks.
We pay from our pension $104/month to the Smith family to help one needy child have a chance of a decent education. TSF recently asked for a further donation to help their general fund to which we chipped in $30.
It seems to me that this should be a priority of any government to look after its children.
Having lived in this rich wonderful country for 50 years I realise it is not in the LNP DNA or ideology to help the poor and needy in our society
( and a case can be made for adults helping themselves) but surely children especially in poorer circumstances should be a budget priority invariably belonging to parents who themselves did not receive a good education.
My thoughts and recommendation which surely would give the labour something to be remembered by is to ask every taxpayer in Australia to donate 1 cent from their weekly pay to TSF. A recent press club gathering was told there were 13.5 million taxpayers in Australia in 2015/2016 so assuming with immigration there are now about 14 million that would bring into TSF about $140000/week or $7 million/year to drastically reduce the number of children requiring help with their education.
Even if only 50% taxpayers and businesses took up the offer The Smith family would no longer have to beg for funds as they do now ! With the Labour being remembered for years to come by future adult children as recipients of a good education
Having been brought up by a single parent in a very poor area of Glasgow I was the beneficiary of a very good education in a poor community.
To which end I immigrated to Australia as a 10 pound pom and set up my own business which at one time employed over 100 people till a severe stroke ended it
This came about by bipartisan Scottish governments giving a very high priority education to all children including FREE university. This from a very small country (pop. 5 million )
The results can be seen in the contribution of Scots to the world. ( try tv, telephone, penicillin rubber tyres. radar and many more ) Not a rich country like Australia but one whose priorities are different.
This would cost the government basically nothing except for administration and would probably make a lot of taxpayers happy to do so.
A very happy Christmas to you all
ken mcalpine
forster nsw.
