Is Melbourne Fair?

Fair. What is fair? A word meaning not exhibiting any bias, dishonest and injustice and therefore reasonable or impartial. The question asks if Melbourne is fair. I believe that Melbourne, a city overpopulated with sexism, racism, ageism, financial imbalance and much more, will probably never be fair. However, compared to the rest of the world, Melbourne is considered pretty fair. Many points contribute to the fact and the answer may be yes or no, depending on which side you see it.

The Government. Unlike many other countries, Australia is capitalist. In 2010, we elected our first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. However, many Melbourne citizens (and Australian for that matter) decided not to take a liking to her. The first and foremost thing they insulted her on was her gender. She was a female, and 'females will never do as well as men'. Another thing was about the way she dressed. The Daily Telegraph and many other newpapers fired countless insults at ther clothing, and one raincoat in particular. Seriously, shouldn't we be judging people on their policies, and not on how they dress? Another problem is, if you are a child/ teenager living in Melbourne, you barely have any say. Your opinions aren't taken seriously and you are often ignored. Everything mentioned above is definitely unfair. However, there are some countries, like Saudi Arabia where women have no rights at all. They are not allowed to drive, vote and go anywhere without male approval, let alone run a country. Afghanistan's women live up to and average of no further than 45 due to domestic violence and war.  The reason children's opinions may not be taken too seriously is maybe because they have 'less experience'. They (we) haven't experienced the world as 'adults' have and therefore have less knowledge of the world. Luckily for us, unlike other nations, we have the AYCC: Australian Youth Climate Coalition. The AYCC is an organisation where 'young adults' can push their beliefs onto politicians, can question things, can petition, pressure the government.... On Wednesday, I went on a trail to an AYCC office and the people who talked to us also agreed that though Melbourne is unfair, compared to the rest of the world, Melbourne is in one of the top 10 because of the reasons listed before.

The law and the way it is handled. On Friday, I was fortunate enough to be in a group that was randomly selected to go to the Magistrates' Court. At the courts, we got to wander around to different courts designed for different things. Listening to the case at the last court I visited, I came to the assumption that Indigenous people had less government support than other races. However, when I went home to do my own little reasearch, I found out that Aboriginal people actually received no less (and no more) government sponsorship. (Link: http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/get-involved/learning-tools/mythbusters) Another 'fairness point' was that in one of the cases where a man being accused of driving without a license. When asked how many children he had, the reply was that he had 6, all aged between 3-20 and living with him. The magistrate was quiet for a moment, then said something along the lines of, "Obviously, all of your children depend on your income, which depends on the fact that you need a license. Because of that, you will only be fined $500 and not have your license taken away. " That was one of the many things I witnessed that day that made me think, gee, Melbourne is quite fair. Magistrates give people a chance to defend themsevles even when it is obvious that they are guilty. They can also be sympathetic and, of course, fair, unlike those of other countries such as Syria.

Financial (im)balance/ distribution of wealth. Did you know that a shocking 10% of household wealth is owned by the bottom 50% bread-winners? Other than that, Melbourne also has one of the highest rates of low-income households out of developed countries! If divided into ten wealth groups, the three lowest parts of Melbourne earn no money at all!!! On the bright side, I think every country suffers from this. In fact, in United States, the richest 1% of Americans get 34.6% of wealth whilst the poorest 40% of the population earns 0.2% of wealth. Considering that, Melbourne's distribution of wealth is probably one of the best on the world.

Therefore, yes Melbourne is unfair. However, isn't it unfair everywhere else? Afghanistan has 87% of its women experiencing domestic violence, many countries are being dictated in an unfair government and the distribution of wealth between classes are so far apart. Therefore, whether you are rich or poor, young or old, male or female, Melbourne will always be unfair, but in comparison the rest of the world, Melbourne is seen as fair.

http://www.reference.com/motif/society/which-countries-are-ruled-by-a-dictator

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/326354--ten-worst-countries-for-women

http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home/get-involved/learning-tools/mythbusters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/julia-gillards-technicolour-coat-shows-prime-minister-needs-an-allowance/story-e6freuy9-1225888233550

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/reminder-woman-are-not-allowed-to-vote-in-saudi-elections/

Trails

ME :)