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I had a girl I know (who's about to become a university student no less) post up the crap about the refugees supposedly receiving more than pensioners recently. I managed to debunk it by pointing out:
-The people who are responsible for those payments are the Department of Human Services. There is a huge list on their website of what payments they issue and who is eligible for what. Refugees don't get any more than Australian citizens are entitled to. In fact, the payment that they'd be eligible for can be claimed by anyone who's in serious trouble (i.e. a partner who's the victim of domestic violence) and is a one-off. The other payment is no higher than the unemployment rate or youth allowance rate and Australian citizens are eligible for it too.
-The government itself actually did put up a webpage stating further facts about what actually happens to the refugees once they come off the boats.
Luckily she realised that she'd been acting on emotion (probably doesn't help that she has 2 kids under 5) and apologised. I was about to write up something along those lines but didn't want a full-blown discussion. (I already have a rule that anyone who posts that they are going to hurt someone or bully someone for fun gets wiped and blocked from my page. I've had to do about half a dozen people in the last five years. Thankfully those people have faded into obscurity)
ETA: Another one I thought of. In the wake of the latest round on Venables and Thompson, a lot of people have been posting crap about how they're treated like royalty and all that jazz. I proceeded to inform the last poster what I'd been told here.
-The people who are responsible for those payments are the Department of Human Services. There is a huge list on their website of what payments they issue and who is eligible for what. Refugees don't get any more than Australian citizens are entitled to. In fact, the payment that they'd be eligible for can be claimed by anyone who's in serious trouble (i.e. a partner who's the victim of domestic violence) and is a one-off. The other payment is no higher than the unemployment rate or youth allowance rate and Australian citizens are eligible for it too.
-The government itself actually did put up a webpage stating further facts about what actually happens to the refugees once they come off the boats.
Luckily she realised that she'd been acting on emotion (probably doesn't help that she has 2 kids under 5) and apologised. I was about to write up something along those lines but didn't want a full-blown discussion. (I already have a rule that anyone who posts that they are going to hurt someone or bully someone for fun gets wiped and blocked from my page. I've had to do about half a dozen people in the last five years. Thankfully those people have faded into obscurity)
ETA: Another one I thought of. In the wake of the latest round on Venables and Thompson, a lot of people have been posting crap about how they're treated like royalty and all that jazz. I proceeded to inform the last poster what I'd been told here.
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