Use cattle prod on unemployed, says Australian politician

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

Wish our politicians would say this kind of thing...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080916/tpl-australia-politics-jobs-offbeat-b034b0a.html

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian politician has used his first speech to parliament to call for unemployed idlers to be stung with a cattle prod to get them to work.

John Williams, a former truck driver, shearer, farmer and small business owner who only took his place in the Senate on July 1, said he had seen many people living on employment benefits who were "determined not to work".

"They are simply getting a free ride on behalf of tax payers of Australia and it is about time they received a touch on the backside with a cattle prodder to get them off their butts and actually do some work," he said.

The 53-year-old, a member of the rural-based National Party, said those who were capable of working should not receive a dole cheque unless they made some contribution to society.

"I believe that if you are in good health and are capable of working, then you should work," he told the Senate late Monday.

"However, I do believe that the genuine unemployed should have a safety net and should be helped through their tough times until they find employment."

The senator's call came as a parliamentarian in the northern state of Queensland called for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools, saying a short, sharp caning would prevent bullying.

"It's a great deterrent. We've already looked at the go-soft approach, I don't believe it's working," Rosa Lee Long, a state MP for the minority One Nation Party, told commercial TV.

[yesitsloaded]

Thats racist oh noes That is why we will never say that in this country.

[MicroBalrog]

"I believe that if you are in good health and are capable of working, then you should work,"

This is now a controversy?

[De Selby]

Thats racist oh noes That is why we will never say that in this country.

The National Party is actually quite well known for its racism-the Aussies are going to read this as a call to "put all the w[bad english word for foreign minorities]'s to work!"

Sometimes the parallels don't work out so well between there and here, as similar as our countries are.

[S. Williamson]

I don't see how any of what was in the OP was racist.

[De Selby]

I don't see how any of what was in the OP was racist.

The article in the OP, if that's what you mean, does not use racist terms, but will be understood loud and clear by the National Party faithful in Australia to mean "put the blacks and w---- to work."

It's still a country where people actually campaign (and win, sometimes) on "keep our neighborhoods white!" platforms.

[MicroBalrog]

Let's say the party is really racist.

LEt's say the politicians actually hate black people and minorities in their heart.

If this expresses itself in them reforming welfare so people who are healthy and young work rather than sit on their bum, I'm all for it.

As long as they don't actually violate the God-given rights of people based on their race or whatever, I don't care.

[De Selby]

Let's say the party is really racist.

LEt's say the politicians actually hate black people and minorities in their heart.

If this expresses itself in them reforming welfare so people who are healthy and young work rather than sit on their bum, I'm all for it.

As long as they don't actually violate the God-given rights of people based on their race or whatever, I don't care.

The problem is that they come up with these plans, and guess who gets targeted for enforcement?  The new rules will be enforced against particular subsets of the society more heavily, and the claims about laziness will help fuel more of the "misguided youths" who smashed parts of Sydney a few years back in search of some brown-skinned people to beat.

Racism is a very serious problem there-it literally rises to the level of people being beaten in the street and young women being assaulted in "retaliation" attacks by white supremacist types.