What does the right to Social Security and the right to Universal Healthcare have in common?

What does the right to Social Security and the right to Universal Healthcare have in common?

Both are fundamental human rights.

The right to social security when one is unemployed, homeless, disabled or a pensioner living below the poverty line, is as fundamental as the right to universal healthcare when one cannot afford to pay for healthcare or look after themselves when they are sick.

Both the right to universal healthcare and social security are fundamental human rights, for individuals facing potentially life-changing adverse consequences. If you believe in the right to Universal healthcare but not the right to social security, and you possess a conscience you may find your thoughts contradicting themselves and yourself in conflict.

You might ask yourself what if there were no right to universal healthcare such as Medicare. What would you do if you needed a lot of money for an operation that you can’t afford; you might go into debt and become poor, you might lose your house over costs. Or worse still, because you can’t pay you’ll die. You might think of America and some other countries where this happens, aren’t you glad we have universal health care? It’s the same with social security if you don’t have enough to live and have enough money to place a roof over your head, you can become mentally or physically sick or worse. The right to social security is a fundamental right, and I would like to give you an example of why it is necessary.

A while ago, I met a 19-year-old, who is completely blind in the left eye and only has 25 percent vision in his right eye. He reads his mobile phone and computer screen two inches away from his face. He told me, he was forced to work for the dole. Otherwise, his social security benefit would be cut off, but If his right to social security as an Australian Citizen was guaranteed, then I believe he would not have been issued with such an ultimatum. But as the situation stands, he appealed and was denied the disability pension twice forced to live on less than $300 a fortnight. I Thank God that he was living with his parents; but what if he wasn’t living with his parents? Where was the compassion and the humanity of the people who denied him a pension? I guess, some people just don’t care about their fellow Australians as long as they are alright. And many don’t care that there are millions of Australians living in poverty, but they should care because one day they might find themselves unemployed or homeless instead of drinking café lattes looking and feeling smug. According to one survey, 42 percent of Australians believed if their circumstances changed they could become homeless.

Poverty, unemployment, and homelessness are among the leading causes of Australians committing suicide in their thousands, and things are only going to get worse for two main reasons: The economic system has failed working-class Australians and if left unchanged will continue to do so. (I could give a whole lot of stats here but then the update would be a lengthy one.) Further, technological innovations will lead to a decrease in the volume of work available to Australians, leaving hundreds and thousands of more Australians unemployed and underemployed.

If you feel in the slightest bit moved by the misfortune of other Australians living in poverty, then sign the petition and pass it on.

Finally, I ask the people who have already signed this petition to spread the word on social media or promote it on change.org. In the last update, I asked for help to spread the word only 29 of the 2173 people who signed made an effort, thank you to those 29 and any others on twitter who have retweeted my tweets. However, If I see there is almost no effort to promote this petition, then for my own peace of mind I’ll take it down and frame it on the wall to serve as a reminder Thanks for reading.

Vito

The Petition

DO YOU APPROVE the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled-

"An act to alter the Constitution, so that Australian citizens in the event of unemployment or retirement, have the inalienable right to a nontaxable monetary allowance equivalent to the cost of living measured quarterly in each capital city by a committee of learned unemployed adults, without government interference on how the individual spends the allowance.”