ENTITLEMENTS

“The World Does Not Owe You a Living”

Entitlements should be what is Needed ....not .. what is Demanded.

Basic Needs

Food, Clothing and Shelter have been, and always will always be, the essentials of life. Many people in the world today strive for this.

How times have changed. In our consumer world, we are not satisfied with the basics and want much more.

Surely basic needs does not extend to designer clothes, plasma TV's, cigarettes, alcohol, illicit drugs etc.

What peeves some earnest battlers is welfare recipients being better off than themselves who work hard and still find it hard to make ends meet!

Education

Education once was a privilege, not a right.

The church was a main provider, in a limited sense, to a fortunate few who could not pay for themselves.

Governments have taken over this responsibility. In my mother's era you were provide with a “Primary School” education up to the equivalent of year seven. You were schooled in the basics, that is to be literate and numerate. To go to “Secondary School” you needed to obtain a “Progress Certificate”, that is, passed examinations in the basics. My mother. Like many others, never went to secondary/high school. For most, it was common to start work when you turned 13 years of age. In the 1960's the school leaving age was raised to 14, which meant those that had their Progress Certificate attended Secondary school. Up until the mid 1960's many aspired to get their “Intermediate Certificate”, year 10 in today's terms. This became the precursor of an apprenticeship. A small proportion went on to complete their “Leaving Certificate”, a precursor to a Tertiary Education. To go to University, you needed good marks, and either affluent parents, a Commonwealth Scholarship or a Teaching Scholarship. Needless to say, very few went to University prior to 1970.

Today, most are encouraged to complete year 12, or undergo an alternative form of Vocational Education. There is universal access to this education in Australia. Tertiary education funding, to those who qualify, is proved by the HECS/HELP schemes.

Private education still figures large in Australia. This is provided in the main by the Catholic Education System, and other providers associated with religious organisations. Private education is partially funded by the Commonwealth. There are those ideologically opposed to government funding of private education. I think they fail to recognise the economic value of private schools, and the substantial cost of accommodating those extra students in public schools.

Medical

The world of medicine is advancing at a incredible rate.

We have in reality a pretty good health system. Everyone has access to it. Sure it can be better, but at what cost.

Many are currently forced into the position of having medical insurance. Sure this is the Health Insurance Rebate (now being means tested), but there is also the Medicare Levy on Taxpayers. There are penalties for not having health insurance. Legislation prevents Health Insurers paying more than the “Scheduled Fee”. Most health providers charge more than the scheduled fee (for some services eg medical imaging, well above the scheduled fee). The patient is usually “out of pocket”.

Welfare recipients and other holders of a Health Care Card generally do not pay any “gap”, and are fully covered.

The burning question is still, how much should be provided, and, “who pays”.

If you pay more Tax do you get more Entitlements? The answer is painfully obvious … NO!

In many cases, Means Testing means you get less.