On Australia's Federal Budget (98) Poem by Francis Duggan

I don't know why you smile Peter Costello
When you say Australia is in the black
When the people that you really should be helping
Are the people on whom you have turned your back.

Like the low paid workers the hard done by and the needy
And the people in poor health and the unemployed
To boast that you have this huge budget surplus
Will never bring these people back on side.

You smile when you say your Government has done better than Labor
And Australia better off financially
But they like you helped out their wealthy cronies
And they too did not combat poverty.

And the gap between Australia's rich and poor expanding
What have you done to try to close that gap?
To boast aloud about your budget surplus
Is just another great vote catching trap.

What have you done to combat unemployment
And what have you done to help Australia's poor
And what have you done for those on disability pensions
To help to make their future more secure? .

They won't smile at news of your budget surplus
When they are poorer than they were last year
That you would put aside for them more money
The only news that they would like to hear.

You well may boast about your record budget
A balanced sheet with three billion to spare
But over the past three years your cutbacks have been savage
And the damage you've done you never can repair.

In Australian cities the street kids numbers rising
Of such things you ought to be made aware
How can one say your budget is a good one
When homeless people are no longer rare.

The Government may well be re-elected
You've put the Australian economy back on track
Your budget helps the likes of Kerry Packer
Paul Keating used to help out Conrad Black.

And meanwhile the gap between the rich and poor expanding
And more children become homeless every day
And I read and hear about this budget surplus
And yet I only see social decay.