What are Melbourne’s biggest social problems?
Published 1 year, 9 months ago in My life.I am a community development student who will this year be conducting a social research report on any social ‘issue’ I wish to…
I am interested in and would really appreciate hearing some input from other residents of Melbourne regarding the issues they percieve to be significant social problems which could benefit from some research and analysis.
Thanks.
16 Responses to “ What are Melbourne's biggest social problems?”
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As an unemployed community development worker, I have a few ideas to share with you. In my opinion, the social fabric that holds a contented society together is being eroded, and fast. Our culture is being replaced by an alien ‘one size fits all’ culture, and our values are being stripped away and replaced with a ‘dog eat dog’ mentality. As you’re a fellow CD adherent, you’d know about the usual terms such as race, class, gender, religion, and age.
Racism is being promoted by the Howard government, his party didn’t comment on or distance themselves from the Hansonites, if anything he stole a few of the One Nation policies!
Class is also rearing it’s ugly head, though it’s never really been underground. The new IR laws are meant to control and subjegate the working class, while at the same time rent increases are becoming obscene, he already pushed a GST onto the most vulnerable of the population, the poor, pensioners, unemployed, single parents. Now food costs more because of petrol prices, and we are all worse off. Except for the rich, they don’t pay rent, can easily afford fuel, eat out at restaurants and then claim it back on tax as a work expense, etc.
Women are being oppressed due to the religious right, Abbot and co, refusing to allow the drug RU816 to be put on to the PBS. Child care is too expensive, and being privatised, just this week in the paper was an article re. ABC child care centres closing down, but the government isn’t filling the gaps. How are women meant to re-enter the workforce after bearing children if there’s no child care available?
Religious intolerance is on the rise, promoted by Howards mob as fear-mongering, muslim scapegoating is being seen more often, even though muslims have lived in australia since the 1800’s. At the same time, the christian right have been given many special benifits in the present government. ‘Exclusive Brethren’, for eg.
The old are being deprived of decent public housing, dental costs have risen since the government stopped funding dental care, the young are now forced to jump through hoops to receive welfare payments, I could go on and on……
To finish this huge whinge, I must add that the only way we can reverse this downward spiral is to vote Howard out asap. Also, don’t trust the Labor Party too much either, they started a lot of the trends we’re seeing now…..
Read the Communist Manifesto, it makes sense and an organised working class is our only hope!!
It depends on what age group you are referring to.
With adolescents, we have binge drinking and designer drinks which is what I wrote a Social Research Analysis report on last year. Then we have alcohol (not that binge drinking and designer drinks are not alcohol, my research project was specific a specific topic) and other drugs.
With gambling, a research project could analyse the introduction of pokies in pubs. In the analysis, you could also look at the age specifics whether more older or younger people gamble and how it affects their families etc. or just stick to why they gamble and did they gamble before the introduction of pokies in Victoria.
We also have poverty, street kids, etc. etc.
You could GOOGLE social issues specific to Victoria, Australia.
hi titch. i did welfare studies. i don’t work in that area now. i was always (and still am) interested in homelessness. it appears a simple topic but when you look into it, it comprises broken families, alcohol, drugs, mental illness, de-institutionalisation. those things together with government policies promoting privatisation of everything all contribute to this dreadful social phenomenon. if that is the sort of thing you are interested in you may find some info at aihw.gov.au. that is the health and welfare gov site. you may also get info on infoexchange.net.au. plus whatever institution you are studying at will have resources. good luck with whatever you decide on.
Students getting nookers to do their homework for them… lol
I think the issue of parenting is one of the biggest social issues of this decade. When did it become the norm for parents to negotiate problems with their kids? When did it become acceptable for kids to swear at their parents? Why is it that children are no longer accountable for their actions? As their parents no longer tell them right from wrong, what chance do complete strangers, welfare workers or even police have? When you drive down your own street and have parents knocking back cans of bourbon with their 15 year old kids and their mates, and then they give you the finger, what can the respectable people in society really do?
Consumerism - The ever escalating consumption of goods has eroded the family by forcing both parents to work leaving children for long hours in childcare on as latch key children, forced people into what is little more than slavery working excesive hours or accepting unfair conditions in the workplace, this in turn can lead to alcohol & drug abuse, gambling, excessive stress, mental illness & violence. People have been indoctrinated so much into believing that wealth and/or the latest new gadget is the great panacea of life. This I believe is one of the greatest social issuses of the western world unless we can find a balance between reasonable economic stability and obscene corporate greed we will continue to chase the carrot on the end of the stick and society will crumble into dispair.
I feel one of the most pressing social problems in Melbourne is the lack of parental supervision and guidance provided to our children as raised by mattl above. My employment takes me out through the city and suburbs at all hours of the day and night and I regularly encounter children in their early teens and younger in large and small groups without adult supervision. Sometimes those that I encounter exhibit anti social behaviour and sometimes not but all are vulnerable and at risk. There does seem to be an enormous lack of responsibility and accountability on the part of the parents or guardians of these children, who, you would assume, would become parents themselves in the future. Consumerism, economic rationlalism, substance abuse, gambling there are many factors that affect how a family functions and the quality of parenting provided to children but there are still plenty of people able to successfully raise children who become assetts to the society in which they belong.
Sorry would like to say more but have to take my children to their basketball match. Our children are the people who carry the baton of our society into the future. But you don’t need a licence to have them.
There are many problems in society today and probably the biggest is that we are becoming a society that is dependent upon government agencies to solve our problems, people are always looking for someone else to pick up the tab, or take the blame. One of the biggest misconceptions of todays society is that health care and education is free. How can comodities that cost billions of dollars be free. I know people believe that governments are supposed to provide these services but as far as I am aware the governments money tree is you and me, so we have to pay taxes. The more that people expect to get for “free” the more tax we have to pay. People blame Howard for the GST but the Keating government wanted the GST but did not want to take the flack. I am a supporter of the GST I look at it like this. For years the rich managed to use good accountants to get out of paying tax, they manage to hide income and assessts which then entitles them to have a Health Care Card and get further services for “free”. I have a relative that one minute would brag about having a business that turned over $5,000,000.00 a year yet they had a Health Care card and took full advantage of the benefits that were available. Stupid me I have always worked for a living and paid tax, I couldn’t afford the accountant to hide income so I pay and I pay. When the GST was introduced my relative was then no longer able to avoid paying tax to the extent that they had been. Everytime they shopped, took a trip, went out for dinner they paid tax. As I am careful with shopping and mainly buy items that do not attract the GST, don’t take frequent holidays and only accasionally go out for dinner I am actually better off with the GST. I have had my income tax reduced and so I have more money in my pocket and more people are paying more tax to support the health and education system, (I am also a full fee paying Uni student and I don’t mind paying my way). So what is the problem with society today too many people think that they are entitled to a free ride and that reduces the number of truley needy people that can be supported properly. The elderly are a group that have worked the hardest, paid the most tax, gone without the most luxuries so that we could have a better standard of living there shoud be more available for them.
All of the above and student poverty : )
well all of the above for me im a 55 year old man i have served the public for 34 years and was thrown on the scrap heap by the new coles myer butcher programme of gas flushed meat now im stuggling to get a job each interview i go isee it in there eyes hes to old for us and yet the centre link tells you that you have to look for work or you are cut of the dole now i dont like the dole and yet i do my 20-30 interviews with no job yet so i whent back to school and now im working on a project for my self called big fella tours australia and in this project is a film show called the convicts over the fence and we are slowley geting there my gripe is the over fiftys that cant get a job gambling drinking young people killing them selves with drugs and speed in cars the world is in a down spin and it will not pull out so do something right mate show us what you can do and lets get some people with a can do not lets look into that and mate you have to do this for im not here much longer but im willing to help if you can see that us fiftys people can still help
Not so funny that hey Lionel, the Austudy allowance is a supplementary support for students while they study full t ime and work part time, that is IF they are lucky to get a job, apparently there are “so many jobs available”??? Once you spend another exhausting time attending interviews if you get any, writing the letters, coping with rejection. etc
It can grind you down, while there are so many negative things about life as we know it, try to focus on what we can do and what we want to achieve and minimise it getting you down. I have lost hope in the past, and felt the gloom and doom, now i spend my energy doing something about it…and am confident that it will all be worthwhile. Good luck with the big fella tours, it’s important to focus on spending your time doing things that you believe in (while doing no harm, of course!)
Thank you all very much… I am not trying to get you to do my homework for me of course! It is essential that the communties themselves are asked of what issues are our prime social problems, and let’s not leave it to the beaurocrats (or those insulated from common life) to define them for us. .
Cheers folks.
Keep em coming. . .
Oh God, there are so many.
I still don’t understand why the government allowed
so many gambling venues to operate.
We already had alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness etc.
Apart from all of those, I’d like to mention the special
brand of apathy that greedy rich people seem to share.
Things like four wheel drives in the suburbs and air conditioning units
going all the time are just another sign of general disregard
for the planets welfare.
Hey Titch,
homelessness - a plague on all our suburbs that is no longer the realm of “old deroes'’ hugging their brown paper bags on park benches. Whole families, abused kids, teenagers, men and women from every age group have been sucked into the homeless underbelly of Melbourne by, among other things, soaring rental prices. Lots of competing research though I would think.
Methadone - this program was introduced more than 20 years ago to help heroin addicts kick their habit. It is an unmitigated disaster and not well researched. Well worth considering.
By the way, I read on another nook that you’d started Bill Brysons short history….. Stick with it. A great read.
Fossil
Thanks again everybody - I really appreciate your contributions.
All of these topics are very worthy and interesting. . .
I might just be a dog, but to me the answer is simple.
Respect.
Respect for yourself and your fellow person
theshadow aka john