Australia's Drought Wallet is Dry

If it ain't massive floods, its prolonged droughts. Oz has always had extremes and is likely to continue while Political parties and politicians prefer to party.  Sure as hens have teeth, our mob in Canberra and the States' Gummunts have as little interest in solving, or even going some way to solve the problem of the effects of our climate and weather, nor the immediate problems faced by the affected people. Particularly our farmers. 

Tasmania is a 'maritime-temperate' climate which gets hot weather periodically, when the north winds bring heat from the desert inland of the big island: we go to the beach. We also get periodic dry spells. But in the main we do not suffer from the devastations  - apart from bushfires: we do have bushfires - that NSW or QLD get visited upon them. They have a 'Continental- arid' climate

Our Feds enjoy taking vast sums of money from Taxpayers and businesses which they use to gain smarty points with furrin dictators and despots, handing out largesse and borrowed monies, but they are reluctant to invest in infrastructure at home, nor in alleviating distress. Those countries that benefit never, never ever send aid to us.

General Maddox was in the bar seeking help. ( I don't know if he is a real General. He didn't have his fingernails painted). Tasmania has sent truckloads of hay across the Bass Strait and hauled them a thousand miles north in the past few months. Tassie folk have donated to charities too. More has been donated from people's pockets than the Government has given out. 

Indeed, some of the money has been snagged from charity by the government. It has been siphoned off to pay the taxes of dispossessed farmers. Scandalous.

Drought Relief Donations Missing

The media finally listened to the pleas for help from our rural areas after years of drought. Australians coughed up the cash. But what happened to it?

 https://realnewsaustralia.com/2018/10/20/drought-relief-donations-missing/

Our rural brothers and sisters have been complaining about the drought conditions for over a decade. Conditions have worsened and finally the mainstream media decided to bring it to the forefront and milk it for all it’s worth. The masses listened as for weeks we were shown the plight of the farmers and the abhorrent conditions they’re forced to deal with by countless breakfast TV shows etc.

Australians opened up their wallets and money poured into the coffers of a bunch of charities some of whom were set up specifically for drought relief. More the $50 million dollars was donated. A massive sum that shows regular Aussies do feel for our farmers and want to help.

It’s been over a month now since the drought has been mentioned on the 6 o’clock news and it has officially dropped off the daily news cycle. 

Well, the tugging of our heart strings & the emotionally charged side of the plight to be exact. Now we’re just starting to see a new issue emerge. 

It turns out that at least $20 million of the $50 million that was donated can’t be found or has been misused. 

What a shock!

For the uninitiated, many large charities have a bad track record of giving and using very little of donated funds for their advertised cause. Most of the money goes to administrations costs. Many charities have been exposed as outright frauds simply stealing the money gullibly donated by the public.

Several charities in charge of distributing the $50 million to Australian farmers are now under investigation and may face fraud charges.

It’s easy to donate to these causes when you’re shown the hardships of those involved. We make a call or visit a website and hand over our credit card details. It’s done and we get a little release of endorphins and feel good about helping. But it seems there’s actually more effort involved and needed in the giving side of things.

I read a comment from a person who said he was a farmer in western Queensland. We’ll have to take it on face value but what he said rang so true. Simply donating money to the drought appeal while a good notion isn’t actually going to make a big difference. He said if you really cared about their plight and wanted to make a difference this is what more Australians MUST do…

I have to say, it is a Big Ask ! 

Get in your car, drive about 8 hours into the rural parts of Queensland and New South Wales. Stop in small towns along the way for a bite to eat and fill up the petrol tank. When you’ve reached a farming town, stay at the local hotel/Inn, buy a meal, go shopping, get a hair cut, get the car serviced, buy some locally made souvenirs and buy a few boxes of locally grown produce. 

No-one gives 'aid' to Oz.
Oz gives BILLIONS to others.

Then buy a load of groceries and drive to one of the farmers properties whom you met at the local pub. 

Give them the groceries and perhaps some spare cash.

What he’s saying is by taking a weekend trip to the country and making a mini holiday out of it you’re not simply donating to a random charity that perhaps might only donate a fraction of that money. You’re helping a whole swag of people by pumping money into their local community. 

That’s true philanthropy.

We should be organising bus loads of tourists to these remote and rural towns. We may not be bringing the rain but it will be more helpful than a $20 donation to the morning breakfast show clowns.

It is the same whenever a sudden or even a 'regular' hardship happens in the world. Oz gives aid, in cash and manpower. If we have something happen the best we can expect - and be most grateful for - is bushfire troops coming from NZ and the USA. Just as ours go to help them in such emergency. But do we get Indonesians? Indians? Arabs? Africans? 

We do not hold our breath.

And closer to home. Those un-Australian politicians some dull tools  keep electing, with their promises to make life better for 'ordinary' people, what do they do? Nothing.  Oh, naughty Tavern Keeper. Of course they do something. They round up the media for a jaunt into the affected areas so they can have a photo-shoot. That's when they can drag themselves away from jaunts to wineries or from overseas holidays to shake the grasping hand of some foreign bugger.... er ... beggar.

Build dams and catchments to store some of the rain?  It could be used when droughts come. Good grief no. The Greenies would scream blue murder. 

So we continue to dig deep, with increasing sighs at the knowledge that some will be syphoned off. We continue to suffer without kicking a political arse or two.

And those who provide food for our tables, go without.

Weep and drink up.

Get angry. Or if you are of Anglo stock, get a little annoyed.

Pax.