This week we saw a major achievement in Australian policy - the bi-partisan acceptance of an increase in the Medicare levy to help fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme (DisabilityCare). There was considerable activity on social media before Tony Abbott's concession but there has been a deadening silence in the progressive blogosphere since.
When you google Oz blogs for the last four days, there are no posts heralding this policy triumph. In fact it seems that many have just accepted it as a political victory for Abbott, not a policy win for Julia Gillard's government. A lone voice has been Gary Sauer-Thompson at Public Opinion but even his post was titled Perhaps:
The disability people got what they wanted: a secure funding source that will partially pay for the NDIS and bipartisan support. That means the Coalition will find it hard to renege at a later date because they are publicly committed to the national disability insurance scheme.If the conservatives keep their word, the NDIS will be a major legacy of the Labor government, whether it is reelected or not. Abbott's "conditional" support of the levy contained his usual dissembling but once the legislation is passed, he should be locked in.
Yesterday Victoria signed up to NDIS, just as we are abandoning the field to the Liberal National Party policy void. Despondency over the polls and government policy failures must not make Abbott's austerity a fait accompli.
Schools, climate change and the NBN are just a few reasons to keep up the political fight. If progressive bloggers cannot step up, then it is probably time to archive their blogs and retreat into the twitter ether or a subscription to Foxtel.
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