Re your post which included; "... Now in the interests of fairness, as long as the funding into a private school is roughly the same as the funding provided to a public school, where is the welfare to the wealthy as you put it? ..."
When people make private choices its their responsibility to fund them.
As an old codger I am entitled to travel from Wodonga to Melbourne by train for free a couple of times a years. But if I decide to travel by plane or car I have to pay the entire costs since that represents my CHOICE.
The same applies to private schools. If you choose to send your children to them you obviate government from the costs.
It should also be noted that when public schools are closed all assets are returned to the public. That's not the case with 'private schools' - very substantial public wealth is transferred elsewhere.
As for the diesel fuel rebate; I did not include farmers and fishermen. I would however make the point that there are an awful lot of SUVs running around with business advertising on them and an awful lot of transporting of goods and equipment to and from mine sites on public roads and trains.
Of course motoring organisations such as the RACV have long protested that what governments collect via fuels excises is not spent on roads or for that matter on public transport.
My point is that Australia should not be adding to the bottom lines of multinational mining companies that are having a massive impact on our resources and environment.
In a nutshell it's all about wealth distribution and it's increasingly apparent to mainstream Australians just who Abbott's protected species are and just who his austerity targets are.
