Australian Young (L)liberals plagiarize Obama.
H/T Thoughts on Freedom.
An item in “The Australian.”
THE Young Liberals are proposing nine months of compulsory national service for all young Australians, to be completed before age 24.This has been proposed before, I wondered for a minute how the young Liberals managed to come up with a new idea all by themselves, until I remembered this.
The service would not be restricted to the military but include community and foreign service and trades.
Under the plan, young Australians could do their service overseas, working in foreign aid and development, either in programs run by the Australian government or helping non-government bodies such as the Red Cross or Doctors Without Frontiers.
The domestic option would enable people to serve in hospitals, old age homes and other community organisations.
Participants could also have the option of working and studying in various trades including plumbing and electrical.
Young Liberal president Noel McCoy said the aim was to provide a sizeable low-cost workforce that would help to offset the effects of the financial crisis. At the same time he said it would help instil a work ethic and sense of national pride in young people. …
Mr McCoy said under the proposal students would not be able to graduate from university without a certificate of completion of national service.
Barack Obama's national-service plan purports to be voluntary, yet nonparticipating schools would lose funding, and uncooperative individuals would be denied tax credits. …..The Liberal Party has lost its way, the senior party elements think they can get back into power by outRudding Rudd, and the young ones have always been babes in the woods.
Obama advocates expanding AmeriCorps from 75,000 to 250,000, and establishing a "Classroom Corps," a "Health Corps," a "Clean Energy Corps," and a "Homeland Security Corps." Obama also wants to expand national service beyond our nation's border by doubling the Peace Corps, and creating "America's Voice Initiative" to send Americans fluent in other languages overseas as part of a new public diplomacy outreach.
Obama has set the goal of 50 hours per year for high-school students and 100 hours per year for college students. He claims he is not going to directly compel young people in high school to serve 50 hours per year, but instead would simply withhold educational funding from schools if they fail to comply with his programs. ….
At the college level, Obama says he will "require 100 hours of service" per year by creating a new "American Opportunity Tax Credit" that will reduce education costs by $4,000. So instead of it being mandatory, one could opt out by simply paying $4,000 more than the person who doesn't opt out. That is a high price to pay for something that is allegedly optional. …..
Update: The motion lapsed for want of a mover and was only supported by the outgoing president. Hopefully this will be the last that is heard of him.
Unless the populace change their minds no party will pass this as legislation. People still have strong feelings against National Service from the last time it was in force.
ReplyDeleteIs it not the way oppositions have got into power recently? pretend to be a better party in power than the current incumbents.
I wish oppositions would be parties of principle asking us to vote them in because their policies are better.
It does seem those days are gone, with the two major parties anyway. Witness Peter Garret saying they will just change it all once in power.
It turned out that this was a mouth off by the outgoing president and I understand that when it came up at the conference it failed to even secure a mover or seconder and lapsed.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience oppositions tend to get in through the electorate rejecting the government. This is unfortunate as the incoming government thinks that they got it right rather than that they were the better of two poor choices.
At this time the Liberals don't have any policies, and are relying in being a little different to what Labor wants to do.
Yes indeed, I have been following the story. The fellow would not have put the motion without thinking he had some support.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to political reality, his friends most likely read the papers and realised it is as popular as a dead fish. This might put a crimp in his plans for further political power, and we should all be grateful for that.