User Comments

myopinion August 11, 2024

@snorks only if you live remotely, work unusual hours, have a special needs child or other unusual circumstances - but not if you are just a 'standard' situation with 2 or 3 under 5 or if you have one child under 5 and the other in early years primary school. It makes life a lot easier if you don't have multiple drop-offs or can still have them cared for at home if they have a cold, or of the eldest has a pupil-free day, etc. This is what I mean - I want governments to actually understand how difficult the day-today juggle with multiple children can be, and to come up with some innovative solutions!

myopinion August 11, 2024

Far too little in terms of childcare support for families. How about allowing childcare subsidy for nannies who are looking after two or three siblings in their private family home? Or those for whom a childcare centre doesn't accommodate their shift work?For many this is actually more cost effective than paying multiple places in a childcare centre - and allows parents to cope better with school holidays for their young primary school child while also having a kindergarten child or baby. 


I'd also like to see childcare centres built on primary school grounds, so parents only have one drop off and pick-up - plus you can have the option of after school or holiday care at the same location.

Or, how about we allow childcare costs to be tax deductible and allow income splitting across the parents? If childcare isn't a cost incurred in earning an income, I don't know what is.

It's about time governments (State and Federal) started to look outside the box and come up with innovative solutions that would genuinely help families.

myopinion July 24, 2024

Seeing these ‘influencers’ grab at any trend that puts their body on full display saddens me. They think they are sophisticated but have not grasped the concept that hinting at something, rather than having everything in full view, is much more alluring and sexy. There’s nothing subtle or sophisticated about her outfit. It’s telling me she feels the only way she can get attention is through her body, not her personality, wit or character. 

myopinion July 4, 2024

What she wants is to have some form of financial compensation paid for by the government or employer (ie someone else) for her taking however many years she wants, to solely devote to motherhood. Life sadly doesn't work like that. You are an autonomous adult and you need to finance your own living expenses, and that of your children. For most of us, that means we need to work for a living. 

What if every mother wanted the same thing? What if you don't have a partner to subsidise you? What if every father also wanted to do the same as the mothers for those same precious childhood years - where would that leave our society?  
Having children also creates future workers and taxpayers, yes, but I (a single working mother) should not be expected to fund your choice of lifestyle. 
If you want full financial independence and lifestyle freedom without working, buy a lottery ticket or marry a millionaire. Don't ask a taxpayer to pay for it.

myopinion July 3, 2024

God, this article makes me furious! You cannot compare POTUS to a CEO. If a CEO had to go, the Chairman of the Board can sack them - the CEO is not the ultimate boss. In Biden's case, the only way he can step down is to be voted out in favour of Trump or choose to go himself.

As for Kamala Harris, I don't believe her unpopularity has anything to do with her gender or colour. I think it is more to do with her performance as VP. She was tasked with trying to bring illegal immigration and border security under control and under her watch, it has skyrocketed. If it really was a misogynist and racist flaw in the American people, then Michelle Obama wouldn't be popular either. 
This is not about blaming women for the messes of men at all - it's about hoping that the closest, most trusted and influential confidante of Biden can try to make Biden see that stepping down to make way for a younger person to provide a real alternative to Trump is in fact his best way to serve the country. It just happens to be that the person who could do this, is a woman. 
Not everything is about gender politics.

myopinion April 7, 2024

How can anyone who has previously publicly declared their support for a republic on multiple occasions, agree to a position that represents the Monarch in Australia? 

Is it the $495,000 a year salary? Or the pension for life that is currently $338,000 a year? 
Strange how opposition to having a monarch as our Head of State strangely disappears when the G-G job is dangled in front of them. Support the idea of a republic if you believe in it by all means. But don’t take a job representing the King if you do. 

myopinion October 31, 2023

I’m so tired of the ‘not all men’ line. That it happens every week in this country makes all women wonder if she could be next. I saw on social media someone saying ‘if I handed you a packet of Maltesers and told you one of them was actually a ball of shit covered in chocolate, you’d be wary of the whole packet, right?’   

We are teaching (quite rightly) our girls to stand up for themselves, to not take the bullshit and to retain control of their bodies and their futures. But we are not teaching our children, especially our boys, how to cope with rejection. We are too busy ensuring everything they do is a success, or that they deserve the world. We aren’t teaching them that you can’t always get what you want. That you can’t control everything, no matter how hard you try. 
We need to change this. 

myopinion September 3, 2023

@abetterway  if the question of recognition was a separate question, I have no doubt it would be overwhelmingly passed. But it’s been tied irrevocably to the Voice. And that’s the sticking point for many. The Constitution when defining democracy and access to decision makers should be blind to gender, sexuality, ancestry, and religion. The Voice will permanently create two tiers of access to decision makers, based simply on race. And that’s not right. 

myopinion August 31, 2023

While pretty much every Australian wants our Indigenous people to enjoy the same standards of living and life expectancy as the rest of us, the current proposal is uncertain to achieve this. We are being asked to change our Constitution, to permanently give FN people a different level of access to Parliament and the Executive, purely on the basis of their race, rather than circumstance. If we wouldn’t give European-descended citizens special access to Government simply because they are European, why would we do that for anyone else on purely on the basis of their ancestry? We don’t know how Voice representatives will be chosen, how much taxpayer funds it will require to operate, what accountability those representatives will have  or the mechanism for individuals to be chosen  

 or removed from the Voice. Why do we need a Voice to listen to FN people? Aren’t there innumerable Indigenous organisations that work with Government? If Albo can’t answer these questions, he can’t expect resounding support. 

myopinion August 31, 2023

This bluntly (harshly, even?) lays bare the toll that years of not sharing the domestic load takes on a woman. The nagging, the begging, pleading, crying, negotiating, rostering attempts to have a more equitable split of what I call the ‘basic and boring’. Those decidedly unsexy routine chores and tasks that are essential for managing a household and children. It sounds like this woman tried everything in her power to get her husband to share the load and nothing worked. And every unstacked dishwasher, every pile of laundry stepped over, every Christmas present selected, purchased, wrapped and tagged, every trip to buy school supplies and shoes, without help, was another chip away at the foundation of respect and love a marriage is supposed to rely on. Every vaccination appointment, every Book Week costume, every toilet scrubbing done without recognition or contribution, simply adds to the resentment. And claims of ‘being the breadwinner’ when both work, or mowing a lawn every three weeks as their domestic contribution, is just a slap in the face. 

He won’t know just what he ignored until he’s left to manage those things on his own. 
As my now ex-husband once yelled at me a few months after we separated ‘I cannot believe that at my age, I have to look after myself’. He was 51 at the time. 

myopinion August 3, 2023

I iron, always have and always will. Cotton shirts, tees, jeans, skirts, linen dresses, etc all look better when they are pressed, plus it gives you the chance to check for fraying hems or loose buttons. For most people, their wardrobe is their third most expensive asset group, after their house and their car, so it makes sense to look after your investment. Plus, I think it's a sign of self-respect to be well-groomed. It tells the world you value yourself enough to look like you look after yourself, it tells your employer or your friends that you regard your time with them to be important enough to make an effort. It's interesting that women will spend a minimum of half an hour a day doing their hair and makeup, but they cannot spend half an hour a week ironing their clothes? I have relatives who simply do not iron anything - and they always look like they got dressed in a hurry or just rolled out of bed, like they didn't care. I may be old-fashioned but at least I look like I care for myself!

PS. I also clean and shine my shoes - gasp!

myopinion June 26, 2023

Did none of these influencers stop to think about Shein's intent in this trip? That they would be given a tour of just one factory (ignoring the 5,999 other factories) that was deliberately set up to create a sense of a responsible, ethical supply chain? Did they think Shein would deliberately show them a real factory ? 

I think the term 'influencer' is so ironic - there are very very few of them that can actually impact sales revenue (and I work with influencers in my profession as an e-commerce manager for a fashion brand) . But I also know from our customers that, particularly now, most will trade ethics/sustainability for a price that is 20% cheaper. Every. Single. Time.

myopinion June 19, 2023

When I went on HRT a couple of years ago, I was advised then by my doctor that the patches were in short supply - instead, she prescribed me a combination of a gel and a tablet (apply the gel on my upper arms each morning, take the tablet at night). The medication is working well, but I am really annoyed that I have to pay $50 a month just to feel like a functioning human being. I am fully aware that I am in a much better position than so many others in terms of medication requirements and costs, but to be told my HRT is not on the PBS - when Viagra is - made me so mad!

myopinion June 14, 2023

The statement that unpaid care work is 'unsafe' is misleading and overly emotive. Every individual is responsible for their own financial security, whether solo or as a couple. Any parent choosing to stay home and focus solely on the raising and caring of children, has to be aware of all the consequences of that decision, including the financial impacts.

There's a reason why stay at home parents (overwhelmingly mothers) are often given greater than a 50% share of marital assets in a divorce or separation, including the spouse's superannuation. It's recognition of their unpaid, yet still valuable, contribution to the family unit, and their likely reduced future earning potential due to less time in the workforce. It's also why life insurance for the non-working parent is often for the same amount as for the salary earner - because to replace those caring duties with paid help, costs a lot.
Every life decision will have good and bad, short and long term consequences, and you need to consider all of them when making your choices. But - A MAN IS NOT A FINANCIAL PLAN. Neither is asking for the taxpayer to compensate said choices, particularly when you haven't had the expenses of full-time childcare.

myopinion May 15, 2023

I don't have an issue with an English language test. Being able to speak the language ensures that employment opportunities are maximised, you can navigate all the bureaucracy around opening a bank account, applying for a lease, seeking medical help as well as settling into an area where you can start to make friends and build up a support network. Skilled migrant visas have to have high conditions - they are designed to allow migrants who we know will assimilate and make a positive contribution to Australia. Family reunion visas, spousal visas and other classes of visa don't have as strict requirements - but these all depend on there being a person who can support them in their settling into Australia without relying on the taxpayer to do so.

myopinion May 9, 2023

The inference that the British press attacked Meghan on the basis of her race is false. The headlines came about due to reports about her behaviour, not her skin colour. And for someone who constantly talks about the need to prioritise mental health, Meghan's utter obsession with what strangers say about her doesn't ring true. Any mental health professional will tell you that placing weight on what strangers, as opposed to loved ones, think of you, is a recipe for disaster. 

Kate has absolutely played the long game with the press, and it appears to be a winning strategy. It doesn't matter if the press turn against her (as they inevitably will), she will continue to focus on her charities and her family - and each night, she can go to bed secure in the knowledge she is the one sleeping in a castle with her family close by and with a virtually immutable position in the world, long after tabloid articles have been consigned to the internet bin.

myopinion April 18, 2023

I'm so tired of this overuse of the word privilege. It's being used as a substitute for guilt. As in fertility guilt, white person guilt, middle class guilt etc etc. It's no one's fault if they are fertile, it's no one's fault for the colour of their own skin or the land of their birth, or the socio-economic status of their family. 

The only part of this article that I agree with, is that there is ALWAYS someone worse off than you. So should the couple struggling with their IVF journey to have a child not share that because there are couples for whom this is financially or geographically impossible? Should the woman who is incredibly proud for her child graduating from university not share that to spare the feelings of those who failed to get a place at uni, or didn't finish school? Should I not ever voice my difficulties with balancing full-time work with running a house and looking after my family as a single mother because at least I have a job, a roof over my head and children?
Everyone will have their good and bad situations as no two lives are the same. We all have to cope with loss and disappointment. Silencing others is not the solution; building personal coping mechanisms is more likely to give you the resilience to manage your own situation.

myopinion April 11, 2023

How can anyone support a change to our Constitution that gives one group of people extra access to our government and decision-makers, simply by virtue of their race? The law and our democratic system should be blind to gender, religion, sexuality, income and race with all people regarded as equal. The Voice will not unite Australia, nor will it magically allow our Indigenous people to improve their individual circumstances overnight. 

We all want every person in this country, regardless of their background, to be empowered to live their best possible life. But using such a divisive tactic is not going to achieve any meaningful change in the everyday lives of anyone - it's not going to reduce the incidence of sexual assault, domestic violence, unemployment, drug or alcohol abuse that we know is borne by so many of our Indigenous fellow citizens. All it will do is create another layer of bureaucracy, slow down decision-making, and divert funds away from the people who need it the most.