Middle Class Welfare

I object to the term "middle class welfare".  It's insulting to tax payers.

The term suggests that some people are getting money from the government they are not entitled to and that they do not need.

With the tax system being such a mess of contradictions there is a current requirement to try and balance the load.  

We have a system where I can get a medicare funded eye test but have to use private health insurance to go to the dentist; a system where private schools receive billions of dollars from the government every year but my kids' primary school cannot afford a new coat of paint; a system where washing a pair of overalls is tax deductible yet washing a suit isn't; a system where a 1st home buyers grant inflates the cost of new houses and others claim a tax deduction for spending too much buying investment properties, etc etc etc.

The tax system in Australia is a mess.  It has been so for a long time and doesn't seem to be getting any better.   

Until such time as the tax system is simplified and sorted out there will be a need to balance the load.  Until such time as the system is sorted out there will be payments and imbalances and unfairness.  

Fix the system, don't insult the tax payers.  

Frankston Bypass and other things

I am concerned at newspaper reports that the Peninsula Link will
somehow be a solution to the absolutely dreadful traffic situation in
Frankston.  The fact is that whilst the new freeway will take some
traffic around Frankston, there will be a considerable amount of
traffic continuing to funnel through the Frankston Freeway /
Cranbourne Road interchange.

It is now a nightmare trying to travel East/West along Cranbourne
Road.  This is forcing cars north on to Beach Street (which is now at
a standstill at peak times) or further south past the University to
try and get around the snarls.

Furthermore, people trying to get home into Frankston are trying to
get off the freeway early at either Rutherford Road, Seaford Road or
Dandenon g Road and then are chasing along rat runs (Dandenong Road
East for example) to try and get home.

Peninsula Link will not fix these problems.

The latest in a litany of disastrous solutions is the laughable
P-Turn.  What an absolute joke.  The P-Turn will make it easier to get
off the Frankston Freeway but is going to make it even worse for
East-West traffic.  A lot of the people who stand to benefit most from
the P-Turn do not live in Frankston!

The pattern starting to emerge is that whilst the Victorian Government
is bending over backwards to help other communities (the Dandenong
bypass, the Ringwood bypass, the Deer Park bypass) absolutely nothing
is being done to help the people who live in Frankston.  Obviously the
parliamentarians in these areas have enough influence with Spring
Street to get results for their local communities.

My question is - who is standing up for Frankston?