Come in spinner

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 26 April 2010 | 0 Comments

Don't you love spin? In the past few weeks, according to the spin, the Rudd government has protected us from becoming a 'divided community' and cleverly avoided 'disrupting parents' and 'unsettling the child care industry'.

We should be so grateful.

But look beneath the spin and you can see it has been a busy week for a government in denial.

Apparently Australia doesn't need anything nearly as straightforward as a Human Rights Charter to prevent human rights violations as recommended by the National Human Rights Consultation.

No, we just need to educate people better according to the Attorney-General for Australia. Oh, yes, he also added in some vague promises to consolidate discrimination laws.

Really?

And, apparently we don't need more childcare places.

Gosh no, that would simply cause 'disruption' for parents and unsettle the childcare industry' at least, that is what Childcare Minister Kate Ellis is reported as saying.

What the heck does that mean?

The spin is that the government is doing us a favour by NOT acting on these issues.

By NOT giving us a Human Rights Charter, they say they are preventing the community being divided.

By NOT giving us more child care places, they say they are preventing parents from being disrupted and the child care industry from being unsettled'.

How kind.

I wonder what they are protecting us from by deciding NOT to accept any refugees from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka?

Such spin combined with such self-righteous justification for not taking action takes my breath away.