Penny Wong: "‘People don’t share if they do not have a fair share."

"‘People don’t share if they do not have a fair share." (from "Penny Wong: Passion and Principle" by Margaret Simons)

That is an excellent quotation, one I intend to remember and use. It also brings to mind some of the stories a former colleague of mine from mainland China told me. He grew up in poverty, and once told me of the day he was flogged once when caught stealing a chicken because his younger sister was crying with hunger. Another comment he made - one that is relevant to Penny Wong's comment above - was that people would not help those injured in car accidents because those injured had been in a car, and thus must be rich.

That is the sort of division that has been created in Australia by people like John Howard. It has to stop.

What gives me hope is that poorer people are capable of outstanding generosity - for instance, when I was collecting for the Red Cross once (many years ago, before arthritis), one such household scrounged every bt of money they had available.

The potential to be better exists - it is there; we need to focus on drawing that out, rather than driving people into a xenophobic shell of fear.