iamthecreaturefromuranus

If they impose a flood tax will that mean we all get a rebate during a drought?

jad n rich

To be honest this mateship thing drives me bananas, not just cause its toted out over and over with every emergency, but is it not somewhat insular to believe only australians will help out in an emergency?

What about the NZ earth quakes?

New Orleans floods?

9/11?

Kings Cross......

I guess the millions of people who helped out in those dramas were australians then??

It is not unique to Australias to help out in times of crisis, its human nature whatever the race. Its not some special mateship its what anyone would do.

That aside, 2 big aussies are not being very ahum ' australian ' then at the moment. Unless mateship involves hiking up the price of every foodstuff you can imagine, despite only a tiny % of it being grown/produced in the flood areas.

But Agree 10m from the gov is a joke, the sydney fireworks cost 5m.

stevenglish

Can't disagree with any of that, the mateship being uniquely Australian thing does wear a bit thin, have you noticed how the only thing they've been comparing it to is New Orleans?

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I don't remember too much in the way of 'mateship' being shown during that incident. Anything but in some cases.

jad n rich

I wasnt there, but did americans not donate, did they not help neighbours and family, did people not volunteer IF they didnt then my bad

I know there was looting and no doubt many made a profit from it, but isnt that the case here too.

The talk on bulding sites about how much people are going to grab from this is frankly quite horrible. Insurance companies not wanting to pay up, people chucking out perfectly good stuff so they get new...

Good and bad in all disasters, but bottom line is most people will do what they can in the eye of the emergency. Race aside.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I don't remember seeing the equivalent of the US National Guard turned out in Brisbane to protect the populous, as had to happen in New Orleans, or any reports of sexual assaults on a large scale, again as happened in New Orleans.

Amazulu

Yes, read the story about the Louisiana National Guard soldier having to point his M16 with safety off at a bunch of black guys to stop them trying to rape a group of female British students.

jad n rich

But wasnt the disaster in New Orleans about 10 times bigger than the bris one, in an area of EXTREME poverty with very little in the way of a welfare system.

And nope it doesnt excuse rape etc.

I also doubt many in the OZ floods will have to build their life up again on $6 a hour wages without any welfare.

I think my point is valid, mateship in times of crisis is not unique to australia.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

...and I agree with that, 100%, just that I didn't remember much evidence of it being shown in New Orleans and you had used it as an example to make your point.

ABCDiamond

The Ansett Levy was a $10 extra charge on airline tickets, for almost 2 years. If they had charged everyone whether they flew or not, it may have been received very differently.

There is already talk that if we have a flood tax, then people won't need insurance, as they will expect to claim from the government

Amazulu

Some good points and all true, but why does the fact that Aussies have shown a lot of mateship during these floods bother you so much (I know the answer but I'm asking anyway)?

stevenglish

I don't think the mateship thing is the issue, it's that it's a uniquely Aussie thing that is...I would say, anyway. They should quite rightly be proud of it, but for want of a better term they don't own it.

jad n rich

As I raised new orleans, so to be fair it does appear not everyone was going round raping etc.

One quick google shows in the rebuilding over ONE MILLION volunteers showed up to help out afterwards.

1600 people died.

200,000 people opened their homes to the homeless.


http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/a-...-trumped-chaos

Pretty old article, not sure if it will paste.

roaringmouse

Another way could be to apply a flood levy only to those in the flood regions. For the Qld rebuilding, it could be added to the electricity bill like they have with Ambulance, or onto rates. There's already a levy for dealing with bushfires on rates - are there levies on rates for floods in flood-prone areas?

jad n rich

Because it is not UNIQUE to australians.

Most races will do the same, help out, and a small % of all races will also take advantage of the situation.