INDECENT MONEY WASTING BY POLITICIANS

There is something seriously indecent about politicians generously wasting taxpayers’ money on travel, accommodation claims and many other things that are presumably within the rules, because it sets standards that are well below those the community expects of our leaders.

Our governments should be full of role models we should look up to, with people who show what Australia’s values are, but far too often they rort the system for their own egos.

When the independent speaker of Federal Parliament spends $ 300,000 on travel expenses in her first year in that role then there is something very wrong with the parliamentary system we have created for our society.

Politicians of all parties abuse the system when in government and spend far too much money on so called fact finding missions, that their staff could research on the internet at no costs.

If a member of parliament or their spouse own a second home in the city of parliament they should not be able to claim accommodation expenses and get reimbursed for not living at their residency while parliament sits. It is a rort and nothing else!

For reasons I have never understood society expects sports people to be role models, but why should they be? Why should someone who can kick a football or hit a cricket ball be of exceptional moral values, when the moral standards of many of our elected members are so low? Why don’t we demand from our politicians to show restraint and decency when spending our money and why don’t we tell them that their greed and arrogance in the way they spend our money is not acceptable and in fact indecent.

When footy players take drugs there is public outrage, but when politicians misuse our money for their own inflated ego we say little. That makes me wonder what the Australian values are and what is means when people say that something is un-Australian. Wasting taxpayers’ money should be on the top of the list of un-Australian behaviour.

Roel Loopers

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I published an article here some weeks ago about Fremantle chef Mark Woodcock wanting to find charities to take left over bread from a local bakery and the fact that he could not find anyone, so I am happy regular reader and comment writer Diana Ryan pointed me to the ALINTA newsletter and an article about FOOD RESCUE by Uniting Care West.

The article reports the organisation rescued 500,000 kilograms of food, or the equivalent of one million meals, for people in need, and that is absolutely fantastic.

So all you bakers, supermarkets, etc. in the Freo area, contact them and ask them to pick up the food you are up to now throwing away. It will help feed people in need and will make you feel good!

http://www.unitingcarewest.org.au

Roel Loopers

WHY BREAD BECOMES LANDFILL

We live in a society of quite unbelievable waste, but when people try to change that it is far more difficult than one would expect. Fremantle chef Mark Woodcock , who nominated for City Ward at the last council election, got annoyed that a bakery he works next to throws out so much bread each day and suggested they could donate it. They were happy to do so if Mark could find anyone willing to take it, but all his calls to local charities and schools have been without success and no one is interested in receiving free bread.

As Mark points out, a lot of work goes into making bread, it costs flour, yeast, power, gas, manpower, etc. to produce, but at the end of the day it has no longer any value to society and disappears in rubbish bins and landfill. That kind if waste is staggering and as a society we should not just take that for granted and accept  it. How can we change it? Why do bakeries produce far more than they can sell? That makes little business sense, but more importantly how can we get leftover bread to people who might not have the money to buy it? Any ideas, Freo?

Roel Loopers