Killarney,
You don't strike me as someone who has any idea what work is.

Marko

'the fine words of Marshall in the British context, "entail the right to a modicum of economic welfare and security; to the right to share in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilised being according to the standards prevailing in the society."'

what have the words of an Englishman have to do with understanding or defining our our egalitarianism?

Like you they are foreigners trying to redefine our values and our heritage.

A fair go also applies to those who need the compassion of the majority of us. That is a part of our egalitarianism. A part you and all the other foreigners and Johnny come latelys don't or won't acknowledge.

Most of us who understand our egalitarianism see it being abused by con artists and bludgers. We see our elected government reflecting our concerns and putting a stop to the rorts of asylum seekers, many able people with concocted disabilities, work dodgers, well off receiving welfare handouts, bloated public services and wastreful stupidities like the climate change industries and the nbn.

All you are doing is saying that isn't part of you egalitarianism.

I utterly reject your idea of what constitutes our egalitarianism. Your definition is truncated and isn't the same as our traditional one.

Our writers and poets of the late 18th and early 19th centuries defined us and highlighted our egalitarianism. In those times there was no social welfare. They expected people to pull their weight. We still do.

in those times there was a benevolence in our society. Social welfare and the creeping socialism destroyed that generosity. Slowly until today any possibility of reviving that benevolence has been destroyed by the over generosity and wastefulness of the stupid socialists and assorted dogooders with our taxes.

I'm with you, Julian, hear, hear!

For you, Marko, from one Australian egalitarian ideologue, "Fair suck of the sav." (Or, pull the other one, mate.)

Marko's portrayal conjures images of an Oz of clean, crisp blonde-haired blue-eyed youth blissfully savouring sweet ripe fruit and sweet breads which appear magically out of nowhere, who swim languidly in transparent blue pools and retire to spotless air-conditioned quarters illuminated in a soft warming glow, and where calming tones of flute and lyre lull them gently to deep untroubled sleep in king-sized feather-downed beds laid out lovingly by invisible hands for their absolute care and contentment.

Not a dirty hand, or a single shoveler to be seen anywhere.
Such utopia, such bliss, such a crock.

Those who can, do; those who can't don't; but those who refuse can't expect a red carpet ride.

Those who have the means should, and often do, whatever they can to help those less fortunate. This applies to country as well as to individuals, but the 'quality of mercy' is indeed strained when too many want, nay demand, too much for nothing.

Utopia we don't have, and those who insist on living in a fool's paradise can only blame themselves when the teat runs dry.

Only in some hypothetical tribe hidden away deep in the Amazon may there exist, or have existed, a true 'egalitarian' society - and even that is questionable (as the successful hunter usually has the pick of the spoils).

Whether the budget situation is as bleak as portrayed or not, is moot. The reality is that there are very real difficulties ahead, with downturns in mining and industry, and a relative non-competitiveness in our labour market.
We are going to have to get smarter, or our economy is headed for a rude awakening.
Something has to change, and I give credit to Abbott and Hockey for proposing to do what is needed to avoid economic suicide.
Too many handouts, and having too many hangers-on, is not the way to a rosy future.

Egalitarianism for those who truly deserve it, no more, no less.

I know that you would like everybody in your former homeland to come to Australia, Marko, and turn it into what you fled from, but as an Australian, I don't want that. In the same way that you want to live among your own people, and feel a bit threatened living among mine, I want to live among my own people, not yours. And it is my country.

If hundreds of thousands of Anglo Saxons were pouring into your former homeland every year, your people would be just as pisssed about it as my people are about your people invading our country. Especially if they were turning up in boats and asking directions to the nearest dole office.

We do believe in a fair go for everybody, Marko. But that does not mean that we want to become a minority in our own country. It is bad enough that our stupid governments, both Labor and Liberal, are determined to completely change the demographics of their own country, but at least our immigration laws prevent just anybody turning up. We will not tolerate people lobbing on our shores with their hands out for our ever shrinking welfare funds.

People are starting to figure out that "refugees" means "no pension for me until I am 85."

People are starting to figure out that "refugees" means "no pension for me until I am 85."
Lego,
That's exactly how things are going in Europe now. The son no longer gets the same benefits as his father although the nephew took over the father's job. It all is due to funding having been heavily reduced from paying for refugee immigration. When the European WW2 refugees came to Australia they worked & worked hard & well to build australian infrastructure. Today's so-called refugees from totally different cultures under drastically different agenda with mentalities of gimme, gimme & no work ethics are depleting our coffers & that is the fundamental difference.
I'm ready to help anyone but I refuse to do things for someone who has no inclination to help themselves. I have lived the bulk of my working life in a gimme, gimme society & can assure any doubters out there that these people are on collision course with their own destruction due to lazyness & costing the decent citizens a fortune for nothing in return for anyone.

I am surprised at how people have reacted to Abbott's duplicitous behaviour he was after all schooled by the Jesuits, as was Corman and I suspect Hockey, who mastered the art of equivocation and mental reservation.