New link: John Quiggin on Australia

Howard's attitude towards the mentally ill: "We always thought of it as just weakness."
"Let them eat cake!" - Marie Antoinnette

John Quiggin writes:

Along with children’s welfare, mental health seems to be the chronic disaster area of our social services. It’s not hard to see why - the problems aren’t amenable to simple one-size-fits-all bureaucratic solutions (let alone the market solutions beloved of so many policymakers), and those most directly affected rarely get heard. Still, it’s one of the tests of a civilised society how well we respond to the needs of those who can’t voice their own demands, and it’s not a test we’re passing at present. (emphasis added) Regular reader Graeme Bond has written the story of his own family’s tragedy and the policy failures that contributed to it. Well worth reading and thinking about.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2004 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Oz Politics. ..

The Comments are closed now. There are about a dozen lamenting one horror story of governmental neglect and disinterest after another.
John Quiggins comments on a number of controversial issues in Australian politics. Great stuff for a wider view and perspective of the world down under.

Recently, the Howard government's was spurred to the startled realization of its own neglect of the one in five Australians who are mentally ill by promising $1.8 billion in funding over the next 5 years. The first major funding in the decade of John Howard's tenure.