My choice, or not my choice: Part 1

Owning a home or renting; working or staying home; smoking or not smoking; getting drunk or drinking with care; fighting a war or despising war; driving fast or driving carefully; using violence or living with love; your own religion or all religions – or none. Have you voted LNP or Labor or Greens or One Nation? Are you anti-poverty or pro-rich? Do you think of what you do? Do you get angry when you read comments by people who don’t care about what you care about? What would you say to them?

Last year The Conversation published an article titled Why a population of, say, 15 million makes sense for Australia. This was included in their series, Is Australia Full? The article spoke about what the population should stick to – 15 million. Unfortunately, even since I came here in 2005, it has grown by more than 4 million – that’s just under 20% increase. 2005 was 20,328,600 and 2018 is 24,772,200. That’s too much. I agree with The Conversation. There is a breakdown in this country from too many people, and too many conservatives.

The globe has 7.5 billion now. It has tripled since the 1950s, when it was 2.5 billion. Where is it growing? Worldometers lists 233 countries or dependencies, and Australia is 54^th for their population. The first, of course, is China, with 1.5 billion, and India is second, with 1.4 billion. The third, the USA, only has 326 million! Worldometers also has a list of all population in Australia – and some graphs showing the increase from the 1950s. It’s tripled since then, same as the globe. Perhaps, if you feel like it, you could look through Worldometers for the population increase around the whole world. What caused it? Why did it happen predominantly after WWII? 

So why would ‘my choice’ work for me – or not? Why are too many people – globally – living in poverty, but the ‘rich’ is also growing?

I owned homes over the years, but now I rent because I have to. Prices for houses have jumped enormously since I had my first home. I sold it for $74,000 in 1985; these days it would sell for at least 5 or 6 times that. An earner, like me, who used to earn around $25k per year way back then should now earn around $150k – 5 or 6 times what I earned back then. I haven’t earned anywhere near that. How would I have afforded a mortgage today? Ninety percent of Australia’s population live within urban areas: why are those areas now so expensive? 

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has a long list of year increases in income, titled Average Weekly Earnings. I chose November each year from 2005 (when I came here) to last year. 2007’s November didn’t have a link, so I used 2007 August. I’ve put these in a graph which shows the increase in percentage. Income in this list is 33% higher in 2017 than 2005. That is, of course, if you didn’t change your job for a better paid job in that time, or if you were made redundant. It is also shown just for full-time adult workers, so it would not include casuals, part-timers, parental beneficiaries, disabled people, job seekers, youth, apprentices et al. (Do you know about redundancy? I might add that on the list of subjects in the future.)
  

The house price averaged $338k in 2005, and has increased by more than 100% to $681k in 2017. How can that relate to our income, when our income has only showed as increasing 33% in that same time? 

Apparently the numbers of smokers have decreased over many years that taxes have been added on, but I think that it mostly happens when the tax runs the smoker out of income. Is that why the government has done it? In 1976, according to a 2010 article from ABC, smoking was due to 43% of men and 33% of women. By 2007 it had dropped to 21% of men and 18% of women. ABC also wrote about it in 2014 and looked at 50 years since smoking was connected to cancer. Every packet of cigarettes or tobacco are now covered in anti-smoking advertisements. The cancer ones frustrate me when they say “Smoking kills”, but there are very few other ads for anything else which advertise what can kill. This packet should, in my opinion, say “Smoking may kill”, but the anti-smokers will think I don’t know what I’m saying. Taxes have risen to more than 100% of the cost. Is that legal? There’s a book available online, from the Cancer Society, and from Tobacco In Australia’s website. If you think that tobacco is addictive, then read this. If you prefer to smoke because you enjoy it, then ignore that. I haven’t read it. I have smoked for 40 years – why should I be taxed out of my choice now?

So far I’ve only found one Nicotine Anonymous, in ACT. Really? Their website is based in USA. Why isn’t there anything in Australia? 

According to ABS, in 2014-15 “16.9% of males and 12.1% of women smoked daily”. The government website gives information on deaths from smoking but can they prove it? Have a look through this. I think this is written for those who don’t smoke. Better Health website in Victoria says 14,900 die from smoking-related disease, but the Cancer Council pushed that up to 15,500. They say that “[s]moking leads to a wide range of diseases including many types of cancer, heart disease and stroke, chest and lung illnesses and stomach ulcers.” Really? What proof have they got about this? What other causes do they use for cancers? What types of cancer do they say are caused by smoking? 

Heart Foundation’s website spoke about risk factors for women for heart disease, saying that a 2010 government report said “that the most common risk factors affecting women were high cholesterol, high rates of overweight and obesity and high rates of physical inactivity. Research also shows that smoking, poorly controlled diabetes and depression are greater risk factors of heart disease for women than men.” Why bring smoking in at the end of this, after the “most common factors” were listed out separately and did not include smoking? ‘Research’? 

Why hasn’t the government increased tax on alcohol? There are many ads around these days which try to stop people from driving after drinking. Domestic violence happens after drinking. Rape happens after drinking. Killing someone can happen after drinking. So why doesn’t this government increase tax? Alcoholism has increased in Australia – according to My VMC, “[a]lcohol dependency is the most common substance use disorder in Australia”. Alcoholics are not called alcoholics, yet smokers are called smokers. Why? 

According to an article published in News.com.au in 2014, 15 people die every day from alcohol. That’s 5,500 a year – and possibly more since 2014. Funny though, because there are a heck of a lot more drinkers in society than smokers. Accordingto ABS, “[a]round one in four (25.8%) Australian men exceeded the lifetime risk guideline in 2014-15, [and o]f women, one in ten (9.3%) exceeded the guideline.” News.com.au also noted that “430 people are admitted to hospital for treatment for alcohol-related injuries or disease every day.” So that adds up to 445 people a day – 162,425 a year with alcohol problems. Oh dear. Where’s the ‘research’ on that? Why hasn’t this government add tax on alcohol? Is that because they drink?

Driving fast or driving carefully seems to be a huge problem on the roads. Very recently there was a reported road rage where a car pulled up behind the car he’d followed and they beat that driver up with a dirty crowbar. The victim ended up in hospital fighting for his life. You can Google any of the stories on that between when it happened in February, up to now. Quite a lot of writing. But were the men who were charged with beating up, driving ‘carefully’? Why did they beat the victim up? What else happens out there, every day? 

Car Advice website had 11 reasons in their article which listed why Australian drivers are “among the worst in the world”. Some of that didn’t surprise me – Australians don’t drive very well – but I feel frustrated that I have to react to some of these same drivers who treat me like that! I’ve driven for more than 40 years. I wonder how long too many of the bad drivers have driven? Oh, and do you know how many ‘L’ or ‘P’ stickers these days?? Still, News.com.au reported about how “[c]urrent draconian speed limits on big modern highways are actually making things worse.” I actually agree with that, but for good drivers, not those who think they’re good.

Road crashes happen too often, and too many result in death. In January this year ABC had a very good article which was done in a different way, to show us the people who died in road fatalities since 1989. They say that “[w]hile head-on collisions are perhaps the most widely feared type of crash, road deaths are more likely to involve just one vehicle.” Driving might be a problem, but why you are driving can become a problem, especially if you have had too many drinks. I suggest you look at it, read it and understand it.

Part 2 of this blog will look at other subjects mentioned at the start of this: fighting a war or despising war; using violence or living with love; your own religion or all religions; politics; anti-poverty or pro-rich.

Have a great week.