- by Floyd Kermode
- The Guardian
- Issue #2030
Dear Editor,
Your editorial “No More Tax Cuts For The Rich” (Guardian – 17th October) is very apt, and unfortunately very well positioned, placed as it is opposite Anna Pha’s piece about “bed block” in the NSW medical system, and an article about our skills shortage. Medicine and TAFE are two things Labor could do with $250 billion in revenue they’ve forgone in order to be a “small target” during the election campaign. I remember Labor “rusted-on” voters assuring the world that it was vital for the ALP not to be wedged. Now we are told that they can’t break a promise.
That’s the choice the ALP has made, and maybe it helped them defeat a deeply awful Liberal-National government. However, the “we can’t afford it” excuse for not spending money on things Australians need sounds very thin when you’ve just handed a huge chunk of change to the top income earners. It sounds thinner still when a government is committed to spending around $171 billion on nuclear submarines we don’t need.
I commend Guardian – The Workers Weekly for shining a spotlight on these massive contradictions, and also the CPA for the coming Peace Budget campaign.
In Solidarity,
Floyd Kermode
