Page 1681 - Week 08 - Thursday, 28 September 1989
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first propounded by the Chief Minister in July, this budget was particularly abhorrent to me because in virtually every area where substantial cuts in expenditure - and of course staff levels - were made, the "victims" almost inevitably were women at the lower end of the economic scale.
Now, while the Government has made some changes to its original draconian proposals - and may I say that those changes are most welcome - it still boils down to the fact that the victims of this budget will be women and those most dear to them and to me - children.
The cuts to services that this budget will accomplish are broad and far-reaching and in particular affect the education and health areas. In education these cuts will directly affect approximately 70 teachers and 30 support staff - the majority of them women. That is not to mention the far-reaching implications the cuts will have on families in society.
What will the effects of the cuts be? They will encourage low morale amongst teachers and staff. Loss of jobs will mean hardship to women and their families. What about the standard of education? There will be more pressure on teachers to fill the gaps created by the cuts and more pressure put on parents with disadvantaged children. This will almost certainly create a stressful home environment because mothers, in particular, will have to spend more time with their children who are having learning difficulties at school.
Class sizes in primary schools are already larger than in the rest of Australia, and further increases in numbers will lead to a decrease in the quality of education. Teachers find it difficult to cope with the present class sizes, and an increase in numbers will mean more stress and discontent, and will possibly encourage them to change jobs. Ultimately, children will suffer because they will not get the adequate and quality standard of education that they need. To say the least, the majority of positions made redundant are held by - you guessed it - women.
In the health area, again the chosen victims are predominantly women. The Government talks about a review of its original proposal, but we all know what "review" means. It fully intends to proceed with what its original proposals were. And what do these proposals mean? Nurses, like all shift workers, are a special type of people, and the majority of them are women. Nurses have already a high incidence of family problems and marriage breakdown due to the fact that shift work is not conducive to a normal family and social life, leading to isolation and other problems.
The proposed changes, if carried out, will create more instability and unhappiness. They will undoubtedly increase the amount of sick leave taken and will also mean the loss of experienced staff due to mass resignations.
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