Melbourne mother Kaye Stirland writes open letter to Treasurer Joe Hockey about the Federal Budget 2014

TO JOE Hockey, the $7 fee to visit a doctor, introduced in the Budget, is just “two middies of beer”. But for this Melbourne mum it is nappies or fuel, and she can’t afford both.

LAST week, Treasurer Joe Hockey dealt an end to free medical care by including a $7 fee to visit the doctor in the Budget.

It’s one of a raft of measures like $5 prescription fees, an increase in fuel taxes and a reduced threshold for welfare benefits that make this Budget the harshest in a more than a decade.

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Mr Hockey went on to justify the fee by saying the fuss over $7 “astounds” him, likening it to “two middies of beer” or a third of a packet of cigarettes.

The debate struck a chord with Melbourne woman Kaye Stirland, who has three children aged 7, 11 and 13, and remembers a time when $7 meant everything.

The Federal Budget struck a chord with one Melbourne woman over the value of money.

“It was not so much the budget as people’s comments,” she told news.com.au. “[It was] this underlying assumption that people in receipt of benefits are bludging. One of the comments was ‘if they can’t afford $7 they shouldn’t have kids’.”

A spokeswoman for the Treasurer said the Budget does provide a “safety net as part of the co-payment process for those who are vulnerable and in need”, with concession card patients and kids under 16 years only having to pay for their first 10 visits a year.

However, Ms Stirland said watching Mr Hockey’s eyes light up when speaking about his son on Budget night compelled her to write a personal piece to the Treasurer “because it’s his responsibility to understand everybody’s circumstances when making policy”.

At the last minute she posted the letter on her Facebook page where it’s been shared more than 2000 times.

Read her full letter below:

Dear Mr Hockey,

I am going to do my best to write to you in an apolitical manner. I am going to write to you as a mother of three children, and as a parent yourself you will understand that being a parent is more than love and physical protection. It is a giving of the soul, a deep empathy that knows no equal, that gives you courage to try to fly and the tears to fill a river when you fail and fall.

I am also going to talk to you about seven dollars.

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When my children were 2, 6 and 4 my marriage broke down. My then-husband left us in a half-renovated home where there was no plaster on the walls. We had a mortgage to the Commonwealth Bank, I was working ten hours a week and as my husband was not working I was not in receipt of child support. His business had failed, there were creditors banging on the door and I was left to deal with it.

Treasurer Joe Hockey likened the charge to a couple of beers.

As the weeks went on it became clear that I was not going to get a job with more hours, the house wasn’t going to sell in its current state, the Bank was not going to refinance the loan before I went into arrears and my husband was not going to support in any way for various reasons. Thank goodness for Parenting Payment or we would have starved.

So, I picked myself up, enrolled in a degree off campus so I could make myself more attractive to future employers, joined a community group that shared hints and stories on how to save money (did you know that powdered milk is really, really cheap?) and set about teaching myself how to sand floors and plaster walls so I could finish the house.

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As the months went by, I slowly fixed up the house. I would get up at 5am to paint a bedroom because I had to work later in the day, and an assignment was due for my degree (and its hard to paint with a toddler awake and wanting to help).

One day, I received a Notice to Quit from the Bank. Unless I could either pay a huge amount or sell the house, we were going to lose the house. My one asset, my one source of security for me and my kids was going to go and it seemed there was nothing I could do about it. The stress levels were intense. Despite all my efforts to find more work, to improve myself, to fight tooth and nail to keep that roof over my kids’ heads, I was going to lose it all. I was going to be bankrupt and live in public housing.

Kaye’s letter, says at one point she had to decide between spending $7 on nappies or petrol.

Later that day I realised I had $7 in the bank. My dilemma was whether to spend that $7 on nappies for my son, or petrol in my car which was running on empty. I decided on nappies, and for a few days we cycled everywhere.

That night, sleep evaded me yet again as I went over numbers again and again and again. Trying to get blood out of a stone, and realising that soon I would have to face the humiliation of selling a house for a loss and file for bankruptcy. Hating that every week I counted and recounted my dollars, looked under the couch for spare change and made humiliating calls to my son’s day care to hold off paying for child care for a week until I got paid.

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But Joe, do you know what upset me the most? I had dreams for my kids. I dreamt of them going to dance classes, playing footy, joining Little Athletics, taking them to the beach in summer and the snow in winter. I wanted to buy my children new school uniforms from time to time instead of going to the second-hand shop every term.

I wanted to stop stressing when my son grew out of his shoes because I couldn’t afford a new pair. I wanted to stop hoping beyond hope that the funny noise the washing machine made did not mean it was about to blow up. I wanted to stop worrying about birthdays and Christmas and just enjoy them with my children. I wanted my children to stop holding their tongues about asking for things because they knew the answer would be “no, we can’t afford it”.

Treats like wine, ice cream and trips to the pool were out of the question.

I wanted something as simple as take them to the local pool on a hot day, but when you have to make a choice between that and a new box of washing powder, then you have to make do with playing with the hose in the back yard. I wanted to stop running numbers through my head when my three kids asked for an ice cream from the ice cream man, because that would cost the equivalent of a carton of milk and a loaf of bread.

I wanted to stop standing in a supermarket queue, feeling hot and cold and red in the face as I tried to work out which essential we had to go without that week with $7 in my bank account.

I did sell my house. I finished it. I fought the Commonwealth Bank with the Ombusdman and I won. I moved to Melbourne and found work that gave me a larger salary. I am continuing my degree. Financially I am much better off. But it was a very hard fight, fought over years. My children are compassionate and thoughtful children who know the value of money and have empathy to those in need.

But does it have to be this way? My kids hurt and I hurt. As a woman, as a mother I hurt.

I see the humanity in your eyes. Please stop hurting those that need help.

Yours sincerely

Kaye Stirland

Treasurer Joe Hockey is facing pushback from the states and territories over $80 billion worth of cuts to health and education.

The letter comes as state and territory leaders host an emergency meeting over the $80 billion of cuts to their schools and hospitals over the next 10 years included in the Budget.

Tomorrow, Ms Stirland will join a series of marches in capital cities around the country. She said while she understands the need for sound economic policy, the Treasurer needs to consult with those it is affecting.

“If I was still in that situation not knowing what to do, where to go, it would have been foodbanks and public housing,” she said. “It would have been more of an imposition on the community as a whole. I’m not sure how that makes any economic sense.”

Ultimately, she wants Mr Hockey to rethink the $7 payment and understand people who need help don’t want their lives that way.

“We want to contribute. He’s Treasurer. He’s a clever man, he can work it out. If he wants us to contribute to society, help us.”

What do you think of Kaye Stirland’s letter? Comments have now closed, but continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ

Kaye’s letter was originally published on Facebook and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as Melbourne mother Kaye Stirland writes open letter to Treasurer Joe Hockey about the Federal Budget 2014