By KATH GANNAWAY
IT’S BEEN a tough week for the Warburton grandmother who prompted the Prime Ministerial wink that went viral on social media after she revealed she supplemented her disability pension on an adult phone sex line.
She makes no apologies for her work, or for her no-holds-barred lashing out at Tony Abbott and his government’s budget, but the reality of social media has hit home and she is hanging up her phone – literally!
That the ‘wink’ has swamped the real message behind the call to Jon Faine’s ABC talk back segment on Wednesday, 21 May, is a double-edged sword.
“If it was the catalyst for him making an idiot of himself, up to a point, that’s a good thing,” she says .
If she were to make the call again however, she would be just as passionate, and as angry – but perhaps not as forthcoming with details that led to her being ‘outed’.
The frustration and anger ABC listeners heard in Gloria’s voice had been building as budget leaks painted an increasingly grim picture for people already struggling to make ends meet.
After paying rent, 67 year-old Gloria who suffers from heart problems and emphysema, has $200 a week to live on; that’s food, clothing, power, fuel, wood and things most people take for granted such as gifts for her grandchildren.
“Financially, I walk along the edge of a precipice, and it doesn’t take much to go over. I had been seething and becoming increasingly apprehensive about how it was going to affect me and worrying about it,” she said.
“But it’s not just me; there are some a lot worse off than me.
“A six-month wait is appalling,” she says of the budget move that will mean some young people will be without an income for six months after leaving school or finishing employment.
“It’s just creating a huge underclass; making people who are already disadvantaged more disadvantaged, and making more of us disadvantaged.”
Julia Gillard came under fire too for her ‘reforms’ that saw single parents forced onto the lower Newstart payment.
“If I had been able to talk to Julia Gillard about what they did to single parents, I would be just as angry with her – partly because you expect more from Labor,” she added.
Gloria said she has had a lot of support for her views on the inequity of a budget that she said put the onus on the poor to do the heaviest lifting.
“It’s this punitive attitude, it’s alienating people and it’s pushing people to the margins,” she said inviting the local Liberal MP (Tony Smith) to walk a mile in the shoes of those the budget will most affect.
“I would love to see the Liberal person who represents us come up here and try to live on what many people up here have to survive on,” Gloria said.
“It would be good to talk, and to know how he feels about this budget.”
