Swine Flu

My father-in-law has a weekly ritual whereby every Friday he will either ring or write to a politician or Government Department to either complain, complement or offer a useful suggestion. As a long term pontificator and frequent letter writer to newspapers, I have started to do the same and it really is quite fun.

As Swine Flu is all the rage, I wondered if the government provided some sort of pension, for those who end up in quarantine. As a large part of the Australian population is now employed as a casual, its reasonable to assume that someone who has been placed in Quarantine, who has no sick pay and perhaps children to feed, would potentially lose any form of income. As society dictates they should be locked away for the greater good, isn't it in society's interest to see that they are justly compensated?

I rang the Health Department, who had no idea if there was some sort of pension. They suggested I call the Swine Flu Hotline. (yep - there really is a hotline). They also had no idea, and suggested I call Centrelink.

After assuring all these call center operators that no, I do not have Swine Flu and please stop tracing this call, I rang Centrelink. After navigating their automated menus and waiting on hold for another 10 minutes, I finally spoke to a human. I assured her that I didn't have Swine Flu and that this was just a general enquiry.

Anyway, the good news is that if one were to get Swine Flu, and be quarantined, they are eligible for a Sickness Allowance! Hooray! Its actually quite generous coming in at somewhere between $450 - $500.

My mum, never one to miss a trick, declared that that is more than she gets on the pension, and is now hoping to get Swine Flu.

So rest assured Australia - your Government is looking after you!