'Dear Barnaby: Crying poor shows how out of touch you really are'

Barnaby Joyce has announced today that welfare recipients need their payments boosted and quick sticks. Oh, and not because they barely receive enough to survive but because he can relate to their #struggles.

Yep. The former Deputy Prime Minister says he feels the pain of those on payments such as NewStart because he, too, finds it difficult to get by on his salary - a mere $212,000 per annum.

I’m going to give you a minute to just take that in.

The man earns $212,000 a year and he’s finding it tough to survive. Cue tears here.

I have worked since I was 17-years-old and hard too. Damn hard.

Long days, long nights. I have a Masters too. So, I’m no slouch.

And I am now 49-years-old and likely earning as much as I might ever bring in.

And there’s absolutely no way my pay comes even close to half of what Barnaby is weeping over.

Not. Even. Half. And, more to the point, not even close.

I work on a freelance basis too so, no sick pay, no super, no support system.

Oh, and I’m a single parent raising two teens. Just for added stress - both financial and emotional.

I receive not one cent from the government and never, ever have. EVER. Although lord knows I have tried but my last visit to Centrelink left me sobbing in the street - but that’s another story.

Let’s just say they’re not exactly empathetic in that hint.

And before you ask, I don’t get maintenance of any kind from the father of my children either.

Do I consider life a struggle financially? Damn straight I do.

Am I deeply aware that many, many other people do it much tougher than me? YES, yes and more yes.

So why is Barnaby, now a back bencher after he broke ranks with the government so damn oblivious to real life?

Why does he think that for one second, one tiny, sliver of a moment, that his #struggle allows him to relate to the rest of us - those who are genuinely doing it tough?

I can’t answer that.

But I can tell you that he needs to pull his head in if he thinks that having to turn the heater off at night means he is on par with those of us who are selling personal items on eBay to get by.

Because that is exactly what we’re doing. Or at least it’s what I am doing. And I know damn well that compared to many, I am well off. I have a house to live in and it’s a safe, inner-city suburb.

Accordingly, I wouldn’t dare to compare my own difficulties to those who are legitimately unsure as to where their next meal is coming from or how they will pay for their children’s school shoes.

That is honest to goodness poverty and while it should not exist in a country such as ours - the shameful truth is it absolutely does.

There are plenty of folk in this country doing it tough. Really tough. And the very idea of a man such as Barnaby, who is, again, just to remind you, earning a massive $212k a year, suggesting that he gets it because he’s living it is nothing less than offensive.

By way of background, the current NewStart payment is $555.70 a fortnight for a single person without children, or $40 a day.

Try living on that.

It will barely allow you to feed your family and pay for power and other such necessities and you will be forced to watch every single cent. Obviously, it’s no picnic.

Yet - plenty of people are doing it and they are not complaining. Well, not as much as Barnaby is. And again - because frankly I cannot imagine earning this coin - he rakes in $212k a year.

I can honestly say I dream of a wage in that bracket.

Just writing it makes me well up.

Because that kind of money would completely change my life.

Would I be rich and living large?

No. But I would be able to buy my kids clothes because they want them - not just because the pants they have are worn out. We could take a holiday maybe.

And I could skip those early morning hours lying wide-eyed and panicked wondering how on earth we will get by. God that would be nice - to sleep a night through without even worrying. I can’t imagine.

But that’s how life would look if I earned more than $200k.

Because I would know that on $212k (damn - even half that much!) we would be absolutely fine, no matter what they world threw at us.

I will say this. I appreciate that Barnaby is calling for NewStart to be boosted.

It should be. And immediately.

In fact, it should have been raised many, many years ago.

So, in truth - he’s doing a good thing. But in comparing his own #struggle to those of Australians genuinely in need, he is only showing us just how out of touch he really is.

And that, my friends, is very, very out of touch indeed.