Hello everyone this is a bit of a weird story for me to write ,
and its a sort of sad one for me and  l could easily write a book about my town  that I was born in and raised in as were my two boys
My Wonthaggi

Its also difficult because i have to defame a family friend to tell the story

I could write you a book but ill try and keep the message as brief as possible

I was born in Wonthaggi and district hospital by my mate old Brooksie
On June 1st 1968
To start off my interesting journey through life

Later that year unfortunately for my town the State Coal mine that was our main employer finally closed its entrance to the tunnels full of black gold ,
For the last time
that was the end of the heart beat and the soul  of my town

Against all odds and government predictions ,
instead of of becoming a ghost town ,
Wonthaggi did the complete opposite ,
and it absolutely boomed

We had a strong union movement it was
the strongest in the country

We also had  lots of important industry happening like
Exacto
Smith and Nephew
Cyclone Forging
Wonthaggi flexible printers
Local Abattoirs
Etc

These entities employed hundreds of and hundreds of local people and we as a town were  absolutely thriving

We had two schools ,
one for academics and doing your HSC and a Technical school ,
and if you weren’t academically inclined you could actually leave school at fourteen years of age and get yourself an apprenticeship somewhere in your chosen field ,
quire easily ,
and start your working career off locally.

Now you need a double university degree to even apply for an apprenticeship in this country if you can even find one

It was a tough town to grow up in as there was a huge divide in political persuasions but everyone was strangely friends ,
so that was sort of weird

On the streets you had to earn respect from your peers the hard way
The was no alternative
I was lucky to be friends with  absolutely everyone
I believe at one stage i even knew everyone that lived in Wonthaggi then personally and by name

Wonthaggi was so special that someone once wrote a song about it
There’s a part of my heart ❤️ in Wonthaggi

Its still playing in my head

I also had the privilege of studying politics from the very top ,
and a very young age ,
because as  a young boy as my family were friends with Alan Brown ,
He was a builder and the local Liberal candidate and we all socialised together reasonably often from my recollection

I was just like everyone else back then ,
An impressional young kid 
and i was in awe of these special people  ,
so called politicians ,
that apparently all went in to bat for us the underdogs 
for a job
So i thought that they were pretty cool .

As time progressed and i grew up Allan was elected as our local Liberal representative and because of his quiet and his gentle demeanour ,
and his like ability
He soon became the opposition leader of the liberal party and running for the State government

He was at the time the most successful person to ever come out of my town and i was so proud of his achievements

There was a slight problem
He was a no body
He was just
A coalminers son ,
and just not good enough to be the next premier of Victoria

So about three months before the next State election the knives came out
And Jeff Kennet stabbed him deep in the back and he took the  Liberal leadership away from Allan

A few months later the Liberals actually won power
and as a consolation prize the new premier Jeff ,
gave Allan the responsibility of the troubled transport system

On the home front
Our industrial sector had a bit of a power struggle going on with our workers unions and the government in every sector

I felt so sorry for Allan at the time as it all seemed so unfair to me at the time
I was so disappointed with politics in general then and list all interest and faith in it all

Our state was not financially doing very well from previous ridiculous government spending and complete miss management of everything

I remember clearly the day i was driving my ute and an announcement came on the radio that Jeff Kennet had just sold Loy Yang power station to a French consortium

I was devastated to say the least
They started that we were better off letting private industry run our SEC
That we would all be so much better off under their privatisation policies

And things would be heaps cheeper
They included a two year cap on price rises apparently to protect us

I actually wondered if any of them had actually ever studied economics ?
and i thought that this is the end of us as we know it

You see In  my mind if you sell off your assets to pay off debt as our governments all do now you end up with absolutely nothing but more debt and no fiscal control of your economy at all

It’s not rocket science

To my dismay they weren’t finished there
The also then in their wisdom they also privatised the Gas network , Public Transport, our Ambulance service, the State Government printing office , the grain elevators board, the State Insurance Office, and some public Prisons

And they also closed down our mental institutions and put our most vulnerable people on the streets

So they were pretty busy boys and selling out our soul as fast as possible for personal and financial gains

The effect at the SEC was immediate and intense
They broadsided the Union and basically shut it down without  much notice
Heaps of job losses and a thing introduced that they all called outsourcing

They both big noted themselves a lot publicly declaring that they had just saved our state when in fact they actually crucified it

Fast forward to right now

When i look at my town it certainly is now well and truly dying
Government policy has destroyed everything we once had and enjoyed
Shops are closing down one after another and not reopening

Just in the last few weeks The Bizarre has closed Aussie Disposals is now gone
The Caladonian hotel ,
my  growing up stomping ground is also gone
And bugger me through government privatisation policies now Cyclone  Forging is gone ,
to be made now exclusively in China or ROC as its now on their labels
And sold to you

So Wonthaggi has gone from a thriving industrial town that employed absolutely hundreds of and hundreds of of people and my friends to a nothing but business closures and only new government departments and service providers are opening up instead

Tell me someone

Why is it so?

Is privatisation what the government tell us all?

Our local Council is just as bad
They took nearly thirty car parks out if our Main Street strangling our businesses like theres no tomorrow
They also had the balls to lower our allowed parking times so they can fine us all for  the privilege shopping in the town centre

Unbelievable

The industry is now over
completely
And my heart ❤️ bleeds for my town

The problem is now in every town in Australia 🇦🇺

We need to change everything before we cant

So join in the Australian 🇦🇺 Revolution

Cheers xxx
Curlyg