bmag intrepid reporter Max Moola gets fired up about the new taxpayer-funded marriage counselling – do you agree with his opinion? Let us know…
Okay, that takes the cake, the wedding cake! Now tax payers are forking out for newlyweds across Australia to receive a $200 voucher for marriage counselling. This $20 million trial is the vision of the government to help strengthen Australian relationships and create happy families.
Can I suggest to the government that just because they have our money doesn’t mean they have to find ways to spend it? I would rather have a tax cut or that $200 in my pocket than be helping newlyweds around the country analyse their lives.
Let’s take a good hard look at this. Readers like me who have walked the wedding path (maybe more than once) will know that at that time you are happily wearing your rose-coloured glasses. The future looks bright, you’ve committed to the person you want to walk into the sunset with and the last thing you are looking for or wanting is red flags.
I will put my hand up and say my partner and I (now ex-wife) had to have counselling prior to marriage as part of the conditions of marrying in our church. They ensured we had talked about all the big issues … how we’d handle it if one of us was ill, unemployed or died; do we both want the same things – a family, white picket fence, etc. I can tell you now, even the things we disagreed on didn’t matter because we were in love and getting married.
I feel confident saying the cracks in most marriage are not even visible in those first few years, so is the counselling of any value? I could live with married couples who are in strife getting a counselling voucher (means-approved) as warranted by their doctor or a certified counsellor. But guess what? There are already plenty of counselling services that charge based on the earnings of the couple ensuring that counselling is not out of reach for the family in need.
Add to this, it is now the 21st century … many couples live together before marrying so why are newlyweds needing to know more about being in a relationship with each other?
The voucher is also available to same sex couples, who ironically, cannot legally marry yet. How does that work?
If the government is looking for ways to spend our money, I can help with a list of suggestions. Got a few yourself? I’m thinking I might need a counselling voucher to help me deal with the stupidity of politicians.
This scheme will kick off with a 12-month trial of 100,000 couples starting on 1 July. Forget about saying ‘I do’! I do NOT want to fund this ridiculous idea.
I agree, its an absolute ridiculous proposal….no mention of this in the lead up to the election. Wouldn’t it be better (if there’s money to throw around) to help people on Newstart with extra $$$$$$ to fund transport to their job interviews
I put this in the same basket of crazy ideas as the middle class welfare of paid parental leave for women who bring children into this world, spend a couple of months with them, and then leave them to be raised by complete strangers so they can return to work to fund their McMansions. Perhaps we should be putting the money towards parenthood counselling prior to procreating.
the next thing the government will sponsor – spend our money – is on a dating service for those that fail the wedding test
All the government can think of is how to strip the taxpayer of its money.I disagree with this Policy 100% and sisagree with a lot of other state and federal policies that Abbot and Newnham are suggesting to implement
This is the most ridiculous thing ever. Where are the government getting the money from,probably the pensioners whom in 21st century Australia still live in poverty.
They could kept Holden in Australia.
The most useless Government ever
I agree with Alipal. country run by a mob of blleding hearts who need to wake up. We need to stopo wasting the nations resources on hairy-fairy schemes.
When someone intends to get marriaged, he/she is old enough to think about other consequences, such as having children, losing jobs, or even having another love affair, etc …
If they want to keep their relationship alive, and want to have a counselling service, they would have to use their own money to deal with it.
Some people have to do a shitty job earning bloody money. They deserve a better treatment rather than supporting a stupid policy.
Major thanks for the article.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
insurancewhisper