Thanks to whoever has been reading this blog of mine but I haven't quite finished it and abandoned it for my next blog which is a little more interesting and even a little entertaining.
I don't have any places of interest or events to write about at the moment as almost all of the events and places of interest I had planned to visit have been cancelled due to the Corona virus therefore I am going to write about the subjects that have affected not just me but thousands of other people around the world due to the Corona virus. Subjects which some countries have dealt with better then others.
I just found something to blog about and it is not related to the Corona virus! I mentioned previously that almost all of the events and places of interest I had planned to visit have been cancelled however that does not stop events and places of interests from going virtual - yes virtual ie online so if you can't be somewhere physically you can still see it online whether it is live streamed or a virtual tour of a museum or art gallery for example. Now my virtual touring skills online are not that great however I just tried one and it was pretty good once I got the hang of moving through it. I had planned to see the fashion exhibition Collecting Comme at the NGV in Melbourne which is on from October 2019 to July 2020 ( goodness knows how I missed that exhibition last year as I was down in Melbourne a lot in Nov 19 - possibly far too busy and tired) however since a decision was made to close the NGV recently, the exhibition has been put online for everyone to see - just go to the NGV website and you will find the link to the virtual tour. So if you love fashion you will like this virtual tour of garments. NGV temporarily closed until around mid April 2020 according to their website including the Federation Square (Ian Potter Centre) location.
OK now I would like to talk about some more serious subjects effecting people as a result of the Corona virus and how stupid YES STUPID the Australian government is in preparing and dealing with it.
Australia has always been seen as THE LUCKY COUNTRY and yes it is and could always be. We are isolated from the rest of the world and in theory can be a self sufficient/reliant country with an abundance of natural resources if used efficiently and effectively. This is what I thought Australia being the lucky country meant until a bus buddy of mine corrected me and advised me that Australia was not known as the lucky country for that reason but in fact Australia is a lucky country because it doesn't matter how much the Australian government wastes our resources or how many times the Australian governments stuff up, Australia still manages to keep it's head above water surviving and coming out "trump(s)" ( and I don't mean like the attempted impeachment of Donald Trump) - rising like a Phoenix time after time.
Australia is also known as the Clever Country and yes we can be with early adoption of technology and innovations however with no thanks to the Australian Government. So how much of Australia's resources has the Government actually squandered over the centuries and how many times have the government(s) stuffed up? Well they sure have stuffed up again during this so called Corona virus pandemic. The government has stuffed up so badly it is heading towards a long term downward economic spiral - not just a recession but a depression - a cat can only have 9 lives and the Australian government has now used up all of them. I don't believe Australia will be able to rise like a Phoenix again this time round.
So why am I so pessimistic?
It brings me back to the subject of my blog - I am about to lose my job just like thousand of other Australians are however with no safety net.
The Government sure has not thought through their so called stimulus plan(s) very well. If they had, I would not be in a situation where I would be better off with the Corona virus then not catching it ( I don't really want it but I definitely would be better off financially if I had it)
In some countries I believe Canada would be a good example there is a compulsory employment fund you have to contribute part of your wages into so you have backup funds in the event you are made redundant ( I am unsure if this also covers you in the event you become injured or sick and are unable to work - there is probably some other insurance that will cover you for that). This would theoretically take pressure of the country's government's social insurance ( or what Australians call the dole - don't ask me about the origins of this word I may have been born in Australian but I'm not that Australian) or welfare payment system. I know when I was on my working holiday in Canada decades ago I contributed into it but when I left the country asked for a refund as I would not be needing to use it. The problem with this system is that there will always be a number of people who will never work and therefore will never have any unemployment funds saved up therefore there still needs to be a government welfare system along with other social support services.
In comparison Australia does not have any type of formal umemployment contribution fund instead emphasis is on a compulory employer contribution into either a default or employee chosen superannuation or retirement fund which is useless during a worldwide disaster or pandemic and where funds usually can't be accessed until after the retirement age of around 65 years of age. I say useless because most superannuation funds perform so badly that if I opened a normal high interest earning retirement savings account or what we call an old fashioned term deposit ( not as popular now) with the same conditions or even better more flexible conditions of not accessing my funds until after retirement age and starting with a fixed % of contributions as soon as I started working as a junior casual ( minimum age you can start work in Australia is 14 years and 9 months with strict working conditions) , I would have accumulated much more then I currently have in my industry superannuation or retirement fund which is whittled away by attached insurances that you may not even want and administration fees - loads of them! Even the insurances attached to your super are useless unless you do get sick or injured ( it is called permanent disability insurance) - it does not cover you for other situations such as redundancy.
Which leads me to return to why I would be better off with the Corona virus then not catching it. The Government of Australia has put in a stimulus package to help small businesses during this pandemic however it does not assist all small businesses just some such as the hospitality industry there it won't assist the retail industry or it's staff.
As you probably know I work in retail and quite like my job after decades in bookkeeping admin payroll HR and accounting roles. I have been a casual for many years now which is where the problem lies as there is not really a lot of assistance in the stimulus package in terms of financial assistance to casuals workers who are not entitled to any sick/ personal leave or annual leave that full and part time employees are entitled to (pro rata 10 days personal/sick leave 20 days annual leave both which can be accumulated over the years subject to company's discretion with some companies also offering leave loading on top of annual leave and days in lieu). Therefore when I am made redundant as a casual during this pandemic I have no financial support from the company or immediate umemployment financial support from the government. I can apply for the dole however by the time I go through the very long and complex application process there is no garantee I will qualify to receive it, it will take months to get my first payment and there are all these ridiculous conditions otherwise you will be cut off from payments before you even receive your first payment ( it took over 3 months the last time I went on unemployment benefits) . I haven't been on umemployment payments for probably decades ( but I remember it very clearly) and I try to avoid applying for it like the plague as it is the most humiliating process even when the government department ( known as Human Services is at fault and makes a mistake leaving you without financial support ( yes I have experienced this first hand and they did not even apologise for their mistakes)..The staff in that department are horrible and have no idea what they are doing. If you do get the Corona virus or are advised to self isolate ( quarantine) , it stipulates in the stimulus package that it will take 13 weeks before you even receive your first payment - when I saw this on a newsthread I made a comment "13 weeks to get a payment frtom Centrelink - I'll be dead from starvation before then if I contracted the Corona virus or had to self isolate/ quarantine!" If I contracted the Corona virus but not necessarily self isolation I do have one form of financial assistance however with a 30 waiting period and with conditions - 30 days I will be dead before I get my first payment from that as well! So now I will explain how I am better off contracting the Corona virus and how stupid the Australian government is.
There is a type of insurance not many people in Australia know about or bother about particularly those in full time part time or certain contract types employment as they are covered by their annual or personal/sick leave which they can use if they do become sick or injured and can't work - 30 days a year total leave is a good amount of time to have banked up for emergency financial support. If you need more time off then that you can apply for the dole for further financial support from the government until you get back on your feet or use your permanent disability insurance from your super or if you have taken out life insurance use that. I took out a type of insurance called income protection insurance and have been contibuting into this type insurance for over a decade now however have never made a claim from it. There are conditions on this insurance which stipulates that the insurance us not transferable to other companies that offer the same type of insurance, wait period is 30 days and it only covers 70% of your income amongst other rediculous conditions therefore I check that I was covered in the event that I did contract the Corona virus otherwise it will be bye bye HCF which is where I also have my compulsory private hea lth insurance with. So you may think great I am covered financially during this pandemic as a casual worker however there is one major condition of this type of insurance- income protection insurance DOES NOT COVER REDUNDANCY ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A CASUAL EMPLOYEE IT ONLY COVERS A PORTION OF YOUR INCOME IF YOU BECOME INJURED OR SICK. I did some further research and found that there was one insurance company that does cover redundancy HOWEVER there were a few conditions 1. you can't transfer your current income protection insurance no matter how long you have had it 2. There is a 30 day waiting period minimum and 3. you can only take this redundancy insurance out on top of your income protection insurance if you are a permanent part time or full time employee hence I don't qualify. I have been a casual employee with the current company for over 5 years and have requested to become a permanent part time employee to no avail. The government a few years back was going to pass a condition of employment where an employee who has been a casual for the same employer for 12 months could request to become a permanent employee however this was not made compulsory just at the descretion of an employer. If this condition of employment was made compulsory I would not be in this situation along with other casual employees. If the australian government was smart they would have made this condition of employment compulsory and there would be less financial strain on both human services and financial stress on casual employees made redundant or had shifts cut. The only smart thing the government implemented on taking out income protection insurance was it is a tax deduction. Maybe if the government put more effort into encouraging income protection insurance they would not have to have such a large financial stimulus package. There is only so much stimulus a country's government can afford and it has to be used effectively and efficiently. It can not be wasted resources.
There are a few other points I would like to make about how stupid the Australian Government is.
1. We have had a terrible 6 months in Australia - floods , bushfires and now the Corona virus resulting in the downturn of the economy. Athough we survived the floods and the bush fires there are still thousands of people that are still waiting for assistance - where is the financial support promised and why does it take so long to reach people? Does the government have the funds? I mean they have already wasted a lot of funds on previous failed schemes such as the pink bats insulation scheme, the water licence buying scheme and what about the installation or roll out of the NBN - all total waste of government resources which could have been used now.
2. Then there are the total waste of resources at the State level such as payroll tax - having worked in payroll I never understood why the larger the payroll a company has and the more employees it hired the more payroll tax had to be paid. Why do we have a payroll tax - the simulus packaged included a reduction in payroll tax for companies. How is it going to help now - it is too l ate people have already lost their jobs. Why not just abolish payroll tax? Surely this is logical that by abolishing payroll tax it will encourage companies to retain and recruit more staff - isn't part of a strong economy to have low unemployment rates? Don't just save my job but save everyone elses under threat now! Not good enough just to target apprentices. I never did and never will buy into the reason we have payroll tax is to fund hospitals schools and roads for example. Well hello your hospitals are under enormous strain all the time, your roads and transport infrastructure is totally shit and even your schools are nowhere on par with others around the world. No amount of funds will ever fix any of the governments way over budget and hugely delayed completion of projects - like the Metroline and Lightrail as examples.
3. I am all for immigration and a very diverse multicultural society within Australia however I really believe Australia has 2 problems 1. an overly heavily reliance on Mainland Chinese imports to survive and 2. allowing too many Mainland Chinese to immigrate into Australia and I suspect through loopholes in the immigration system and financial bribes or so called "investments" whether they be legal or illegal. The whole Corona virus would not have spread to Australia or around the world if we had tighter immigration policies in regards to the number allowed of Mainland Chinese entering Australia .Only China is to blame for the pandemic as this is where it originated. Who knows what resources China will attack next in Australia. Immigration should be open to all nationalities not just Mainland Chinese. Australia is far too top heavy with Mainland Chinese to the extent that one day Australia will be owned by Mainland China and Australians will no long have control of their own country. Immigration needs to be more open and balance to allow all countries around the world an opportunity to immigrate to Australia. Why do you think Australia now has a problem with essential supplies during this Corona virus pandemic? It's because we are allowing The Mainland Chinese a so called "legal" avenue to send huge amounts of our resources back to Mainland China to save their country before ours. Yes there is actually articles written about this. If Australia went to war we would not have a chance to defend ourselves becasuse Mainland China secretly owns at least 2 of our airstrips in 2 different states. Foreign countries should not be allowed ownership of any of Australia's resources or assets. I don't believe the Australian government or anyone know how much of Australia is actually Australian owned in terms of land for example. I do not want to be forced to becoming a citizen of China. If you look at the balance of trade agreements between Australia and China , China is taking a lot more from Australia then giving back which is wrong - you can see this with the baby formula and milk powder situation leaving Australians without. Now it's the same with essentials such as hand sanitizer, masks, disinfectant, tissues, even toliet paper, feminine hygiene products and nappies. I hate how China is allowed to export all of our essential emergency supplies and allowed to import back to us their faulty poor quality supplies. This is just wrong. The government needs to tighten up restrictions on what can can be exported to china and not to just export to china to decrease Australia's reliance on one country. Australia does not need China - China needs Australia more. Australia can rely on other countries for trade agreements. Again I emphasis the importance in a balance of trade with the rest of the world. Australia is also capable of being more self sufficient referring back to it being the lucky country.
4. The Australian government should be encouraging people to buy Australian made products and australian owned products instead of allowing companies to move their operations offshore. This will create and keep jobs in Australia as well as ensure the supply of quality and quantity of services and products as needed therefore not having to rely as much on overseas goods and services as providers. The whole international trade agreements, taxes, duties and tariffs have to reviewed and implemented. The government needs to provide more incentives to Australian companies. Why people buy overseas products instead of buying the equivalent locally produced products is all about price. It is often cheaper to buy the overseas product. I try to buy Australian produce whenever posdible altbough it maybe a little more e pensive I know that I will be getting a quality product as well as assisting the australian economy.
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