RoboDebt [Content Warning: human rights abuses, abuses of power, anger, and the need to make moral choices and not be amathiac)

The following is based on news reports here (The Guardian), here (The Guardian), here (SBS), here (The New Daily), here (ABC), and here (The Guardian), and constitutes my genuine opinion, based on my reactions to the above.

The Royal Commission into the suicide causing (ABC) RoboDebt has released its report, and it is an exemplary piece of truth telling - and a savage indictment of Australia’s: 

• reactionary and equality-phobic conservative politicians and their christo-fascists backers; 
• our, in my opinion (IMO), neo-liberal-infested far-right-sympathising public service; 
  
• sections of our media (The Guardian) that are of questionable competence and enable - possibly inadvertently - white supremacist, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQIA+ hate; and 
• the utterly clueless and out-of-touch voters and consumers who put them all in power - people who are so amathiac that they think the “anti-welfare rhetoric” of the “taxpayer versus welfare recipient” mentality - rhetoric such as “welfare cop” and “dole bludger” - are accurate and/or acceptable.
  

Civil and criminal charges have been recommended, and other actions. 

That makes this a test of the Albanese government. That government has been good on many issues, but appears to be led by a transphobe, and has lacked the strength many of its supporters expected on a number of issues. 

The coming National Conference in August will possibly confirm how much of a problem that is - and the Albanese government has not yet succeeded in reining in the public service, as a visa was recently issued to the notorious anti-democratic son of former potus45 (the son was an active part of an attempted coup!!!).

In the meantime, the conservatives are continuing down their path of hate and destruction - especially around the Voice. 

And they are being supported by too many Australians - too many people who, in my opinion, are the same sort of militaristic-authoritarian mindset found in those sections of the military, police, and other positions of power who commit human rights abuses, offences to decency (as described by the judge assessing a human rights claim by a refugee victim of Australia), and petty bloody-mindedness. 

Yes, I am furious - and I’m not alone - see, for instance, some relevant comments in this newsletter from The Australia Institute. 

I’ve lost friends to the sort of hate, viciousness and bureaucratic obfuscation that reached its peak in RoboDebt - and I have other friends and family who have been scarred for life by this. 

I know the scars and massive damage I have from the consequences of the perverted pathology of the attitudes that reached one peak in RoboDebt, and many other peaks of hate and hurt in many other areas of life.

This needs to change. 

As written in the article titled “the robodebt royal commission revealed the worst of ‘welfare cop’ politics. But what happens next is up to us all”, on The Guardian website, by Luke Henriques-Gomes: 

“Holmes says “anti-welfare rhetoric” and attitudes have been set by politicians, who must now lead “a change in social attitudes to people receiving welfare payments”.

Not everyone is as I described above. 

Even in the police, who have members who seem to think handcuffing a person who reported a relative committing self harm is not going to cause any problems (on that, see here, here, here, and here), have decent people. 

Many Australians are decent - or would like to be. 

Most politicians got into politics out of a desire to serve the community. 

The public service has decent people in it - I’ve seen the DEI work that they’ve done. 

Even sections of media want to do good - and do, as exemplified by the above-0mentioned Luke Henriques-Gomes, who played a key role in bringing the problems of RoboDebt to light, despite the attempted cover-up of some politicians and at least some members of the public service.

But the only way to now be decent is to enforce decency - to stand up against reactionary, power-at-all-costs, equality-phobic conservative politicians and their christo-fascists associates   ...   against our neo-liberal-infested far-right-hate sympathising and INCOMPETENT public service   ...   against those sections of our media that are incompetent (both-sidesism is a key example of that problem - see here, here, here, here, and here) and/or unethical (by enabling or being white supremacist, misogynist, LGBTQIA+phobia) and/or too unrestrainedly powerful   ...   and against every single clueless voter who thinks the terms “welfare cop” and “dole bludger” are accurate and/or acceptable. 

Just as with the Voice, there’s no walking past and clinging to an illusion of neutrality - and, as this is being written, Switzerland and other nations are rethinking their neutrality in response to the untrammelled threat of putin. 

Putin is evil; so are the deeds being written about here, and all who willingly enable them. 

Choose.

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Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.