Bass Coast Post
  • Home
    • Recent articles
  • News
    • Point of view
    • View from the chamber
  • Writers
    • Anne Davie
    • Anne Heath Mennell
    • Bob Middleton
    • Carolyn Landon
    • Catherine Watson
    • Christine Grayden
    • Dick Wettenhall
    • Ed Thexton
    • Etsuko Yasunaga
    • Frank Coldebella
    • Gayle Marien
    • Geoff Ellis
    • Gill Heal
    • Harry Freeman
    • Ian Burns
    • Joan Woods
    • John Coldebella
    • Jordan Crugnale
    • Julie Statkus
    • Kit Sleeman
    • Laura Brearley >
      • Coastal Connections
    • Lauren Burns
    • Liane Arno
    • Linda Cuttriss
    • Linda Gordon
    • Lisa Schonberg
    • Liz Low
    • Marian Quigley
    • Mark Robertson
    • Mary Whelan
    • Meryl Brown Tobin
    • Michael Whelan
    • Mikhaela Barlow
    • Miriam Strickland
    • Natasha Williams-Novak
    • Neil Daly
    • Patsy Hunt
    • Pauline Wilkinson
    • Phil Wright
    • Sally McNiece
    • Terri Allen
    • Tim Shannon
    • Zoe Geyer
  • Features
  • Arts
  • Local history
  • Environment
  • Bass Coast Prize
  • Community
    • Diary
    • Courses
    • Groups
  • Contact us

All I want for Christmas

11/12/2019

6 Comments

 
Picture
​Dear Santa

This is what I want by Christmas 2020. It won’t cost you a cent and I’m willing to pay my share.

I want the economy to be the servant not the master of society.  Market forces are not a law of physics.

Christian religions to practise Jesus’s teachings about wealth and poverty. It’s easier to be virtuous if your basic needs are being met.

More respect for evidence-based science, less faith in superstition

Free and fair speech. At present the more wealth you have the more speech you get.


Lower unemployment, less competition, exploitation and wage theft

​
Less crime, mental illness and suicide, less drug and alcohol abuse, less anger and violence

More respect for teachers, police and health workers at the front line of our social problems
​
Rampant consumerism (affluenza) to ease off and for people to give thanks instead of things.

More neighbourhood watching

Cleaner creeks and rivers

Less deceptive pricing and market manipulation, less monopoly power over employees and farmers

Fewer materialistic, selfish and short-sighted CEOs

Abolition of tax havens. Use the money to pay unemployed and under-employed people to do socially useful work. 

A fair democratic system. The National Party has 4 per cent of the vote and 16 seats in Federal Parliament The Greens have 10 per cent of the vote and one seat.

Less corporate influence over attitudes, values and policy direction  
 
A process that allows an electorate to sack their MP if he or she votes in a way that doesn’t reflect their pre-election agreements 

Less work-induced stress and burnout, Parents should get home from work with enough energy and patience left to be effective parents

A free dental scheme funded by a tax on sugar 

Abolition of negative gearing because it gives an unfair advantage to the haves over the have nots

A carbon tax to discourage unnecessary use of vehicles. The proceeds to fund better public transport

A 10 cent container deposit scheme to reduce plastic in the environment

A financial transaction tax on all transfers

More effective banking, superannuation and insurance regulations 

Fewer jails, more equality

And a fair go for all the peoples of the world.

Thanks
Frank Coldebella, Wonthaggi
6 Comments
Jillian Verhardt
13/12/2019 08:49:41 am

Frank Coldebella 26 Best Wishes for Christmas expresses well, how simply and easily, often at little cost, pesky matters can be sorted. Thankyou Frank, for writing this lovely Christmas Message, for 'tis the time to consider how/when we go about our lives, we can make choices, to live within the 'envelope' our globe is able to share, 'tis not the Season to merely be greedy nor demanding, it's not a comp. to have the most, 'tis the time to reflect and assist those who have lack of clarity what living on a Finite Planet may mean to all.

Reply
Neil Rankine
14/12/2019 11:37:58 am

Well said Frank & Jillian,
All the best for the Silly Season.

Reply
Felicia Di Stefano
13/12/2019 11:52:46 am

I sincerely hope all your wishes come to be, Frank. With you all the way.

Reply
Joy Button
14/12/2019 04:17:04 pm

Thank you Frank ..... and if all year round we add a sprinkle of kindness, Christmas would be so much better. Happy Christmas memories Frank.

Reply
Pamela
20/12/2019 10:18:06 am

What I would like to see for Christmas and beyond, is more focus on the positive than the negative. It is very easy to smile and it's infectious! So is frowning and, from personal experience, if you think negative thoughts they become overwhelming and you forget how to turn them into positives.

On the homeless issue, I saw a programme on the television, two actually, where local government and industry supported people who could not buy their own home by helping them to build it! The participants were required to work a number of hours on the project and at the end, they owned the home. The participants learned self-respect, responsibility and a sense of actually achieving something which they did not think was possible. They mostly picked up a new trade thereby making it easier for them to find a job and so it goes on. Community help is encouraged and those involved with the project become a community as well. Something they didn't have before.

If you are worried about the water situation, plant some trees. Get a group together and find some land and go for it! With permission of course, if required. There are lots of positives that can be done which don't cost a lot but make you feel better once you've done them.

Merry Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year ... 2020 sounds quite nice, don't you think?

Reply
Ros Biddiscombe
12/11/2020 09:48:41 pm

Frank
Am so happy to see that you're writing! And so incredibly in awe of the knowlege you have of the history of Wonthaggi!
Just impressive, as always

Reply



Leave a Reply.