5 August 2013
Bogan's Rant - With Michael McShane - August 2013
I'm Bogan McShane and for this special edition of Diggers and
Dealers I'm going to do something I never do....
Type one handed. There's not much else on my never ever list. I
had you going for a moment though didn't I?
In all seriousness folks, what's got my kangaroo in a hop this
week is politics and in particular every time someone dressed up in
a suit says 'the mining industry' or 'high income earners'.
Another day and another Robin Hood speech about how much miners
and 'high income earners' have and why it's not fair to the rest of
the country.
Let's try to discuss this calmly and rationally.... Stop
laughing! I can do it.
Now the last time I had a holiday that lasted more than two
weeks I was a teenager. I slogged my guts out at University and ran
up a debt to do so and haven't really had much of a break since. I
work hard for what I have and appreciate it all the more for doing
so. However in the last year or so there have been more than a
couple of moments that have made me want to quit my job, shut up
shop and become a professional centrelink recipient.
Oh where do I start to explain….
'You find jobs for people on the mines
and they're earning a lot of money. Get me a job, it looks easy.'
How many times must I hear this phrase uttered before I'm allowed
to go off like a possum in a fuse box. For a start,
there are no easy jobs that pay a lot of money. Unless you're a
reality TV star which I'm sure comes with its own problems. Jobs
that pay well in mining require long hours, a truckload of time
away from your family. It's hot, it's wet, it's remote, it's 2 week
old freeze dried macaroni and cheese. And if at the end of the day
you think you've been well compensated then you're not doing your
job right. To all of those who think the money comes easy, go stand
next to someone who's just finished a 30 days on roster and please
film the encounter.
Let me tax you with that. Tax is a necessary
evil and highly inevitable. I actually don't have any real qualms
with it at all. What I do have a problem with is not receiving a
fair share of the pie as it's being redistributed. In what other
system does it happen that the more you put in, the less you get
out? With thresholds now on almost every government initiative I'm
starting to feel more like a charity than an Aussie with equal
rights.
For right or for wrong, the mining industry, its companies and
its employees have been cast in the Australian culture as the
'haves'. There seems to be a belief that money flows freely from
the proverbial silver spoon and that reward is far greater than
risk or effort. How you can believe that with the current stories
of woe I will never understand and for my part in it all I believe
there should be a reward in return for hard work.
Do I have a solution for you today? Sadly I don't. What I do
have is a determination to find out more about my options. What are
Tony, Clivey and Ruddy promising to do to alleviate what I see as
an imbalance in the scales?
Do you feel as if you're discriminated against for
working hard? I'm interested to hear what you feel about the topic.
I'm sure it'll be a heated one.