All Lives Matter
The real test for society is how they perceive and treat those profiled as homeless, unemployed, single parents, aimless (losers), disabled, unwell, ethnic or different in a range of ways. What they share is a perception of vulnerability. Propaganda sends subliminal and covert messages reinforcing: ‘insecurity’, ‘less than’, ‘worthless’, ‘deplorables’, ‘defectives’, ‘useless eaters’ or ‘diseased’ to find fault or justify this lower status. The community move away from those ‘out of the system’ or ‘desperate’ rather than come together to show compassion, kindness and generosity in recognition they could be me or we are ONE family.
In reality homelessness, as a growing category, represents the breakdown of the family and/or significant relationships which can lead to substance abuse (drugs, alcohol, fast food) in search of relief, escape and a semblance of pleasure, joy or happiness. In reality drugs can never brings true happiness or fill the gaps. They create more problems.
Those who become excluded and experience violence (covert, overt) represent the symptoms of imbalance in economic systems that are increasingly self serving (selfish) and divisive (isolating, dismissive) rather than addressing the underlying structure violence that perpetuates homelessness, unemployment and severe poverty as cycles that do not end. There are fallacious religious philosophies that state that poverty will never end. This is untrue as poverty is not about materialism, it is about socio-emotional isolation which many experienced during Covid-19.
The real poverty is creating economic conditions and a psychology of ‘not enough’ which is termed austerity and can be manipulated by interest rates, inflation, oil prices (OPEC), wage rates, superannuation, price fixing by industry collusion violating the Trade Practices Act and allowing foreign investment to artificially inflate housing prices, imports over exports and encouraging debt (due to inflation, flexible interest) causing mortgages to rise and wages to fall. Loans to those in poverty set the stage of the 2008 financial collapse. So what we witness here is fear, worry, loss, austerity created by decisions that profit one group over another maintaining inequality and working to live as a form of wage slavery. Often the public are blamed for their status unaware that the real problem we confront is greed, emptiness (disconnection) and contrived poverty creating classes.
Susan Carew-Holmes has been without a home and intermittent income since 2017. This experience has provided great insight into the reality on the ground. She proposed ecovillages to ensure self sufficiency as a pathway out of homelessness at Homelessness Conferences as an empowerment strategy. The problem of social impact investment is that foreign equity investors own housing rather than the Australian people owning public housing or at the very least those on low incomes paying off housing. With housing prices making housing unaffordable and Centrelink payments not keeping up with real wages, this disempowers those in severe hardship.
This article on homelessness was published by Supernal Magazine:
Housing Prices
It is evident that the cause of house-less-ness is housing prices feeding into rental prices which are clearly unaffordable. This has policy as a structural cause by allowing over inflated real estate market prices set by an influx of foreign investors buying up properties and then customers being coralled with others to compete in auctions that maximise profit. It has been astounding to witness auctions of homes and rising rents essentially forcing the middle class into austerity. This clearly becomes about greed not a basic essential such as shelter met by responsible government.
Domestic housing is invested in by overseas financial speculators increasing prices in a domestic market. Many in higher socio-economic brackets by a 2nd or 3rd property as an investment which inevitably becomes exploitation of those with the least. The prices always increase (never go down) and wages stagnate or prices rise leading to low real wages and unaffordability. It is a unequal playing field. It is noteworthy that Australian stock of houses are being demolished as large block style homes replace what was our Australian identity, heritage and inheritence. This impacts ‘rights’ as the houses are no longer Australian owned. The houses instead of being knocked down could have been reallocated to the homeless so they can move out of their cars, particularly in winter. This becomes a policy and structural violence that causes housing unaffordability and unavailable for middle to low income earners and those barely surviving on the margins. Often their fate is dismissed as ‘get a job’ or ‘you made your bed’ but in reality systemic conditions and ideologies that have disconnected our community ignore the very structures creating inequality.
The Foreign Investment Review Board and the Treasurer are responsible for foreign investment decisions in this country furthering market distortions and crowding out ‘domestic’ demand. Our last Treasurer Josh Frydenberg left this office to join financier Goldman Sachs (equivalent to Rothschilds). Malcolm Turnbull (former PM) was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Thus the revolving door into foreign corporations raising the issue of foreign interests having dispropotionate influence over domestic issues. The financier/equity investor influence in Australia is of great concern as they are in business for returns on investments (ROI) not for the love of the people (public service). This is why poverty exists.
The following is an example of distorted CPI index inflation causing prices to rise and directly impact the bottom line as 1:3 cannot afford the basics:
On 25 January 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the December quarter 2021 Consumer Price Index (CPI) results.23 The CPI is a measure of inflation in the Australian economy. It measures the price change of a ‘basket’ of goods and services purchased by Australian households. According to the 2015–16 Household Expenditure Survey, on average, Australians spend approximately $2,300 on automotive fuel each year. This is reflected in the measurement of the CPI with a weight of 3.3% of the CPI basket.24 In the December quarter 2021, the CPI increased by 1.3%, with the most significant price increase being automotive fuel (6.6%). Annually, the CPI increased by 3.5% in 2021, with automotive fuel the most
significant contributor, with an increase of 32.3%
This is why life is becoming unaffordable, there are market distortions due to foreign influences maximising profit as wealth is transferred out of the country. Other issues include changing industries and the implementation of STEM and technologies which push the public into online purchasing. What is not understood is that money (wealth) flows out of the country to foreign corporations that are difficult to hold to account. Monies spent in a country become the investment for new business, industry sectors and employment.
Poverty and Unhappiness
The real story is the unhappiness, anxiety, depression structural inequities cause people who feel ‘stuck’ and unable to pay their way or find that crack in the hard environment to get a break. There are social impacts as they become isolated, labelled ‘losers’ or seen to be sponging off others as they should ‘get a job’ by those ignorant of the reality on the ground. This unhappiness translates into conflict, family breakdown, family violence, mental health challenges for both adults and children who do not have the basic right for shelter met. Australia is a signatory to the United Nations protocols and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every person has a right to basic shelter.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/human-right-adequate-housing
We can speak economics but never is the ‘felt lived experience’ understood until you, the reader, find yourself homeless and subject to bias.
It was former Prime Minister and ACTU President Bob Hawke who stated by 1990 no Australian child will be living in poverty. I remember this television broadcast at the time and believed he was a leader who cared. Overtime we come to realise this was clearly political rhetoric and our politicians were not who we thought they were. It is manipulating the public belief that things are being done, to discover it is distracting the public from the massive transfer of wealth away from Australian families to other actors. Corruption is a core issue. What this is, is a disconnect or detachment from other people. They simply do not feel the others pain, have no sense of empathy and victim blame those suffering. There is a denial in personal responsiblity and inability to see we are indeed ONE.
Today, one in 6 children live in poverty according to this article.
Refer https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/ending-homelessness/what-is-poverty-and-does-it-exist-in-australia
Other research suggests 1:7 children are homeless.
It was during the Keating/Hawke era that the billionnaires club started to emerge in 1997. Refer https://www.forbes.com/lists/australia-billionaires/?sh=244a1258585b
When people live on high levels of income they start to believe they are ‘superior’ or as one global elite player stated ‘money is easy to make‘. The reality is money is not easy to make at the lower levels as you don’t have assets or mates to give you a loan to start up a business. Moreover, not everyone wants to be a millionnaire, some just love to create, contribute and share as a life lived without the slightest desire for return on investment. The stigma of poverty or lower income or job type can become subtle forms of discrimination which keeps people in their place as some believe they have not earned the right to be heard. I had a family member make that point. These were property rights not universal rights. The reality is we are indeed equal and their are structural, wealth/status, disadvantage that ensure class exists.
The 1980s Accord process was an example of the beginning of increasing poverty in Australia but under the guise of structural reform.During the 1980s-1990s the Price and Incomes Accord system was introduced to lower wages in combination with the dismantling of the National Wage Case:
The Prices and Incomes Accord (also known as The Accord, the ALP–ACTU Accord, or ACTU–Labor Accord) was a series of agreements between the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), in effect from 1983 to 1996. Central to these agreements was an incomes policy to address the stagflation crisis by restraining wages. The unions agreed to restrict their wage demands, and in exchange, the government provided a ‘social wage’ of welfare and tax cuts.
In effect there was a massive redistribution of wealth to the top end of town as the Prices and Incomes Accord was actioned under the premise of ‘stagflation’ high prices (oil) and unemployment. This lowered wages and real wealth for the public increasing poverty. Stagflation was driven by high oil prices at the time. Moreover, global superannuation was introduced as another vehicle by whchich earned wages were diverted into super for retirement citing there would not be enough to pay for old age. The transfer of wealth to global markets and superfund investors meant that the available cash was not invested in Australia but sent overseas. The compulsory super meant lower real wages and personal wealth for the public ensuring unaffordability and shortage (mentality of poverty).
This transfer of wealth created major distortions in competitive markets as wealth was not generated by serving consumer needs and wants rewarded by profits but instead was taken over by investors with access to trillions given superannuation. Financiers directed investment into projects serving their needs but marketed as a public benefit. The monies were diverted to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (technocracy, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence, automation and data gathering and real estate to name a few, As a result of extremely wealth inevitably we witnessed government capture as he who owns the gold rules the world. Trillions were invested in pandemic preparedness and technology to facilitate the Global Reset.
At no point was Homelessness a genuine national priority. There were non-profits providing services but many of these today have power brokers on the Boards and funded by investors ie. Social Impact Investing buys up social housing which is no longer public owned. Overtime the government provision of services are contracted out to entities not voted in by the public or working for the public interest. This ensures that poverty becomes profitable for the small ‘service provider’ cohort up the top as the growing mass of new poverty swell the ranks of those unemployed or homeless. This is how we lose our rights to say no.
Essential Services and Health
The Trade Practices Act stated that price fixing is unlawful. That is, there are laws against businesses colluding to inflate or control prices. This is why we notice no real competition but mostly prices set similarly. No legal or regulatory action has been taken against foreign multinational corporations.
Food is an essential foreign corporations like Woolworths and Coles collude to increase prices by up to 30% not in response to high demand but resulting from pandemic/political induced shortages enabling price gouging on essentials. This creates an economic shock to the country as business and community depend on oil/petrol. Both Coles and Woolworths profited up to $1 billion (transfer of wealth from the public to corporations).
Petrol is a signficiant price increase impacting the Australian economy. The oil companies (petrol) such as Shell, Ampol, BP and others increased petrol prices due higher international refined fuel prices driven by OPEC oil production cuts and stronger global oil demand, combined with a lower Australian/US dollar exchange rate, contributed to higher petrol prices in the September quarter, according to the ACCC’s latest quarterly petrol monitoring report therefore OPEC coordinating higher prices in collusion with global investors. The Report into the Australian Petroleum market. https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Report%20on%20the%20Australian%20petroleum%20market%20-%20December%20quarter%202021.pdf
Fuel prices were the largest contributor to the increase in the consumer price index… In the December quarter 2021, the CPI increased by 1.3%, with the most significant price increase being automotive fuel (6.6%). Annually, the CPI increased by 3.5% in 2021, with automotive fuel the most significant contributor, with an increase of 32.3%.
According to the Report:
Retail prices increased to their highest level in 7 years in real terms In the December quarter 2021, average retail petrol prices in the 5 largest cities were 162.8 cpl. This was an increase of 10.3 cpl from the September quarter 2021 (152.5 cpl), and the fourth consecutive quarter in which prices increased. Between the December quarter 2020 and the December quarter 2021 average retail petrol prices increased by 41.4 cpl (around 34%). Inreal terms, prices in the December quarter 2021 were the highest in 7 years (prices were 166.3 cpl in the September quarter 2014).
Table 3.1 shows quarterly average retail prices in the December quarter 2021, the September quarter 2021 and the change in each of the 5 largest cities.
Table 3.1 shows that prices increased in all cities in the December quarter 2021, and that:
Sydney’s average retail prices were the highest (166.2 cpl). Adelaide’s average retail prices were the lowest (157.9 cpl). This was the third consecutive quarter in which Adelaide had the lowest prices. Prices increased the most in Perth (by 13.7 cpl) and the least in Melbourne (by 7.0 cpl). Chart 3.1 shows that 7-day rolling average retail petrol prices in the 5 largest cities were at a high of 156.3 cpl in mid-January 2020 before decreasing substantially to record low prices on 29 April 2020 (92.4 cpl).30 Prices increased in May and June 2020, and in the 6 months between July and December 2020, 7-day rolling average retail petrol prices were relatively stable within a 21.4 cpl band between 112.4 cpl and 133.8 cpl
In the case of Diesel there were deals done for refined urea:
On 20 December 2021, the Australian Government announced that it had struck an agreement with fertiliser manufacturer Incitec Pivot to secure local production of refined urea for the supply of AdBlue. Under the agreement, Incitec Pivot will rapidly design, trial and, on completion of successful tests, scale-up manufacturing of significant quantities of technical grade granular Urea. At the same time the Government also said that it had accepted an offer from the Indonesian Government to provide 5,000 tonnes of refined urea in January 2022. (p14)
Urea in Diesel fumes has health impacts due to exposures: nausea, vomiting poisoning, convulsions and death. The Toxicological Review of Urea report states:
“…occupational exposure to industrial environmental chemicals, including urea, on liver and kidney function and on the levels of three biomarkers of carcinogenesis: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Male workers who were negative for the hepatitis C virus and hepatitis B surface antigen were included in the study. One study group consisted of eight workers exposed to urea for an average length of 8 years, while another group consisted of 13 workers exposed to mixed vapors (phenol,formaldehyde, and urea) for an average length of 13.5 years. The average length of exposure was 8 hours/day. Fifteen subjects not exposed to urea were used as controls. (Refer p21, source: https://iris.epa.gov/static/pdfs/1022tr.pdf)
Homeless people can live on the streets, couch surf, in their cars or caravans and are severely impacted by fuel and food prices creating significant vulnerability. This means they can’t move on as people get annoyed or suspicious (this author experienced). On the streets they inhale the toxic fumes which increase disease and sickness.
The reality that homelessness could end overnight was apparent when homeless people were accommodated in hotels when it was stated they could infect others (untrue). The reality is the expensive amounts spent on hotels could have been grants for caravans, tiny houses or subsidised permanent accommodation to ensure transition from severe poverty to permanent shelter as governance is supposed to facilitate. Refer https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/5/how-has-covid-19-affected-australias-homeless
The real pandemic is homelessness, unemployment and inequality which is the reason people work. They fear poverty. Today homeless numbers have grown due to basics (rent, food, petrol) becoming unaffordable. It is evident the middle class is being collapsed. The data on this subject is not trustworthy given vested interests it is likely to be close to a million unemployed. The majority of homeless people are single women over 50 who are not deserving of this status as it impacts their ability to survive. In Economics we call this ‘structural violence’ that is, the structures in the system are the cause of hardship. In reality homelessness is not about a home but the break up of the family and propaganda victim blaming those who are experiencing hardship. Poverty is a mindset created by wealthy countries and is another form of violence when there is enough abundance for everyONE.
Artists within an economic model that maximises profit as value, find themselves unable to sustain their lives as many live in the opposite paradigm. True value from an artists perspective is in a creative guise. They paint their visions and create beauty through their gifts. This brings joy, love, inspiration and opportunities to see life differently as we decide what a piece of art means. Those of us ‘clowns’ or ‘fool’s’ use humour and paint the picture of a loving world. We smile, play, laugh, joke, dance, sing, make mistakes and give permission for others to appear foolish. We were in the courts of Kings reminding them of the truth of their humanity. We do it without fear or favour acknowledging that every human is of the highest value, as that is how we see. Thus, we do not fit into economic models of self interest, gathering up more things to look good, or saying we are better than anyone. Artists realise the more we love the more we give and it means the less we take as our true nature is to give. We live to give is the modus operandi of artists and those who are non-commercial or community based.
The real wealth of a nation is Gross National Happiness (GNH) or reframed as Giving is National Happiness 4 Fun (GNH4Fun). When this becomes the reason for being, then no-one will be heartless or homeless. Refer link below