As David & David sang….”Welcome, Welcome to the boom town, all that money makes such a succulent sound”.

It sure does when you are feasting on the fillet but that isn’t actually how “the other half” live, it’s closer to a small minority whilst the rest of the populous are “chewing on life’s gristle” (Thanx Monty). The difference between the haves & have nots used to be a bigger house, a better school & boutique beer…. Now the “haves” have it all & the HAVE NOT’s HAVE NOT got a pot to piss in or a home in which to house the pot….

It seems pointless to parrot on about how unfair life can be & you can’t begrudge the successful who reap the rewards of hard & smart work, good bloody luck to them…. BUT when you analyse what the boom means to the poor guy holding up the food chain something becomes patently obvious. The poor battler is simply plodding along in his dead end job waiting to die. He can’t pay the rent, or the basic essentials, Jesus he can’t even buy his family a moment’s respite.

The poor battler survives by putting the credit noose around his head & nervously watching the trap door beneath his feet. Sooner or later the door will spring open & his neck will snap like a chicken wing…. That is his future, no blue skies ahead, no happy ending.

My question if this. How with the greatest level of prosperity in our young state’s history have we managed to engineer a new class of poor in what has always been a very middle class town? Worse that that why do we accept this grotesque development as some sort of unavoidable & meaningless collateral damage?

Our State Government is infested with caring left wing union sorts. And they and the opposition have been letting their own people drown in life’s drip tray. The rich may complain about excess utility costs, criminal stamp duty rates, lack of police & no hospital beds but the poor are the ones that are stuck in the trenches on the frontline & they don’t have the means to survive the bombardment.

Money may not buy happiness but without money freedom is compromised…. I may not be rich but I have more than enough money to buy the freedom we all crave. More money will only allow me to buy more of the same or to buy something else I don’t need, something that will impress others, or something I don’t even want….

This “boom” can teach us much about ourselves, individually & as a community. Are we prepared to trample the people left behind for a few more bucks? Has decency left the building?…Will our euphoric money lust reign unchecked?…Or will all of us, including the Government put a little bit back so the little guy can sample the spoils of financial freedom?…. If we don’t this boom has only led to moral bankruptcy.