Acknowledgement of Country
Fain acknowledges Australia’s first nations peoples – the first Australians – as the owners and custodians of the land never ceded upon which we work and live; the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to Edlers past, present and emerging and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Welcome
Lew Wheeler Co-Chair, Coordinating Committee of Fight Against Inequality Network Inc. (FAIN) Victoria, warmly welcomed and thanked all for coming along.
Eleven apologies were confirmed with nine representing five organisations and two individual members. All sent best wishes for a very successful FAIN Forum and Launch Day.
Launch Day and Thanks
This is FAIN Launch Day. We are delighted to share with you the fact that we have made it to the
jumping-off point.
We are a small band of mostly veteran activist all volunteers and looking to develop new alliances
with many differing groups.
A special acknowledgement to our speakers and moderators who donated their time and shared
their knowledge and experience.
Thank you so very much for your generosity and support of the FAIN Launch Day.
To all FAIN volunteers a very special thank you to very special people without whom FAIN would have no Launch Day to celebrate. There would be no jumping-off point.
A Few Remarks
“Bleed ’em dry until they die” so said Gwyneth Jones in 2017 of the financial exploitation and treatment she received when a resident of a private retirement village and her home at the time.
Gwyneth said her treatment by the operators changed her; “it has damaged my psyche…I’m full of
anger and bitterness about the trauma I was subjected to.” [1]
Gwyneth’s heart wrenching words apply equally to the impact of the callous disregard and lack of
empathy of the choices 1made by our political class: federal and state governments in Australia.
Governments’ treatment of people living around us struggling to survive every day as their governments fail to implement policies to address the widening income and wealth gap each year between the rich and those with the least who remain denied access to opportunities for a fair go for life.[2]
For instance, the wealth of the three richest Australians, Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest and Harry Triguboff, has more than doubled since 2020 at a staggering rate of $1.5 million per hour.
Today is about sharing knowledge, skills, and experience and joining a community conversation about new ways to come together to confront a major challenge of our time: inequality.
The battle to seek a just, democratic, peaceful and Sustainable future for all is being fought on many fronts.
The question is; how do we foster new alliances to strengthen and sustain us through the grimness of these times?
– Lew Wheeler
Endnotes
- Gwyneth Jones, 26 June 2017, “Bleed Them Dry Until They Die“, Fairfax Media-Four Corners Investigative Television Report, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission)
see also; The Age, Editorial, 26 June 2017, The Retirement Racket: Official Probe Needed into Retirement Village Industry, comment
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/the-retirement-racket-official-probe-needed-into-retirement-village-industry-20170626-gwyy2e.html ↩︎ - Oxfam, 2024, Inequality Inc. Report, provides stark findings of the increasing gap between the super-rich and the majority who are poorer. ↩︎
Opening remarks prepared by Lew Wheeler – deputising for Marion Harper – Forum Chair & Co-Chair, FAIN Coordinating Committee Victoria.
Fight Against Inequality Network Inc. (FAIN INC. and FAIN)
Fight Against Inequality Network Inc. 