Thursday, October 4
Think About It
Labels: Australia, Citizen, Government, Homeless, society
I wanted to raise a difficult issue, so I might start this and finish when I get home when I get home from my date... The topic is about the homeless. Its a touchy subject with many younger people ridiculing those who live on the street. I can't say that I haven't laughed, I laughed to join in with what I thought was right. Schools are judgmental places, and I don't want to be left out from the other students conversations. But it's occurred to me that it is a serious issue and we need to start taking some responsibility for out people, the people of Australia.
We as a nation and a society frown down upon other countries, we compare ourselves to them. Third world nations have a much higher level of poverty and people living without a home, so we try to help. Though at the same time we seem to have forgotten what people suffer inside our country. Its wrong for me to say that we don't care, because there are numerous organisations who go out of there way to make sure that people have a roof over there head and food to eat. But lack of funding has made it incredibly difficult to ensure that all people receive these basic needs.
This week the Australia Government released the the citizenship test. Why are we allowing thousands of new Australians into the country when we can't even look after the ones we have? Already in the ACT and other cities there is a housing shortage, the increased number of people entering Australia is of concern, if the housing situation doesn't improve. Where are all these new citizens meant to live?
I understand that by allowing refugees into Australia we are helping them out, but are they really better off living in a place where already we can't look after everyone?
What concerned me most about this issue is the attitude about the homeless. Words such as "bogan" are thrown around interchangeably, without any consideration to the people who get labeled.
How low are we as a society that another homeless man would set another man alight. This recent event occured on the 3rd of October, 2007. "Police said a 57-year-old homeless man allegedly poured flammable liquid on another homeless man, aged 36, and set him alight at a park in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills yesterday morning." (News.com.au, please see below for a link to the full article). This just shows that we have our priorities all mixed up and we need to do more to help this sensitive problem.
I'm sorry for the rant, but it is something to think about. Please comment and tell me your ideas about this issue.
Rachael
Image from: Carlos AGM, http://flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/449314732/
News article: Click Here