Now they have, after 9 years.

Now, after hundreds of deaths and lives shattered from respiratory illnesses these people are finally getting their dues.

Makes me wonder though, was this some unholy example of a government's absolute dedication to the free-market and avoiding universal health-care?

"Never Again"

It's a powerful statement, and one that's meant to show that we as a world are united for good.

Unfortunately, a lot of the reason why we say "never again" is because the tragedy that has just occurred could have been stopped.

The Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge massacres, Darfur, Srebrenica, Rwanda, the Congo are all examples of this, and prove the saying that "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

So, in the days to come, as we learn more of the Nigerian Massacre it would be nice to hear that this will never happen again; but in a country that few know about (apart from its oil) and a continent that remains in darkness- don't expect that never will last forever.

As we are constantly told in international relations, security is the central concern of all governments. Without it, society can't function.

So in turn, governments, especially American governments, throw billions into blackhole budgets in an attempt to keep us safe, or feeling safe.

And just to make it all the sweeter, secrecy is essential- meaning transparency is of course impossible.

So just like the story that British Ministers have been getting greedy with their entitlements, the only person to blame for this is yourself.

Because, as long as we're happy blindly throwing power, money and guns to shady people we shouldn't be surprised that they use them for their own benefits.

1. Is stupid and
2. Goes against his previous promises as a leader.

Tony Abbott is trying to relight the dwindling flame of his woman support by proposing a six month paid maternity leave, which in itself is a fantastic idea.

The problem is the bill will be foot by a fairly large tax of 1.7% on all middle to large businesses that earn in excess of $5mil a year.

Apart from the fact that Abbott promised there would be no new taxes if he were to become leader, most of these large multimillion-dollar businesses already have paid parental leave schemes for their employees in place and by this new tax would be put out millions of dollars more to pay for everyone else. 

Interestingly, Australia is one of the only Western countries that doesn't have a governmental parental leave programme already in place, which reflects poorly on us as a progressive nation.  

Perhaps we should take a leaf out of Norway's book - where each Norwegian is taxed 0.01% and is rewarded with 46 weeks off at 100% of their wage or 56 at 80%, and the father MUST take at least 10 weeks off.   

Why didn't Australia get the memo?

Today might be a day to stand-up and humbly say that maybe we were wrong.

Today we see that a country that was never meant to get itself back on track has just held its second free election- with record numbers braving threats of violence to vote.

This was never meant to happen.

The country was meant to descend into sectarian chaos, become a second Vietnam, make the US reticent to use force, show us that neoconservatism doesn't work and prove that we can't impose our values on other ideologies.

Went to script for a while.

Saying that though, the question that can never be answered remains; were the deaths of hundreds of thousands worth this new security, safety and prosperity?