This last week in my adopted home-state of Victoria has seen vicious fires rip through the areas to the north, northeast and northwest of Melbourne. Entire towns (such as Marysville and Kinglake) have been all but destroyed, leaving little more than a hotel and several houses – and even those are certainly not unscathed. Thousands of people have been left homeless, over a hundred have been killed with and many more are missing, expected dead.
Of course Australia – and Victoria in particular – is no stranger to the flames. Every summer we hear news reports of small country towns licked by smaller bushfires around the nation, however none with such dire consequences as the recent catastrophe. Even those fires that up until last week were considered our worst fires in history are dwarfed by the fires of February 2009. The ‘Black Friday’ bushfires of 1939 tore through 20,000km of land, leaving 71 dead. ‘Ash Wednesday’ was worse, claiming the lives of 75 Australians across Victoria and South Australia, and leaving many others homeless. The deathtoll from the bushfires of February 7 have already almost doubled these historic disasters, at more than 130 confirmed deaths and approximately 100 more missing and expected dead.
In light of such a terrible catastrophe, it’s awesome to see my country rally together to support the victims of the affected areas. Already, over $45m worth of support has been raised and donated, whether in the form of cash, goods or services. The government is also bending over backwards to assist through sending support teams, providing instant cash relief, and setting up relief funds for a more long-term support solution. Rebuilding the destroyed communities and recovering after such heartwrenching loss is not going to be easy, and it makes me proud to be part of a country so eager to help.
But while we’re on the note of monetary support for the bushfire victims, I’d just like to share my worries about the way that some businesses respond to these disasters. Certainly it’s great to see some of the bigger corporations (Coles, FFA, Hoyts, etc.) pledge support to those in need, but as a Business student, I can’t help but wonder how much is true, benevolant philanthropy and how much is simply using ‘corporate philanthropy’ as a means to boost sales. Take for instance Hoyts’ pledge of $2 from every ticket sold this Sunday (15 Feb). Now, $2 doesn’t seem like much when FFA and Coles are donating all their profits to the cause, and when you consider that a child’s ticket costs $12, there’s still more than 80% of the ticket price to go to expenses and – of course – profit. I know that the cinema industry doesn’t make all that much from tickets, but if this is the case, shouldn’t they be donating from their profits (including concessions) rather than a measly $2 from one day’s ticket sales? It seems like they’d be profiting more from this gesture than they are giving.
Another no-good, self-centered type of miscreant who appear in this type of situation are people like this. People who pose as charity collectors, fuelling their schemes with the misfortune of others, only to line their pockets with the dollars of their more trusting and charitable peers. If this isn’t a characteristic of the most base and degenerate citizens our country has to offer, I shudder to think what is. Most people would agree that this tactic is despicable, it’s not far from the pricing strategies employed by the Canberra building firms after the 2003 bushfires, in which many houses were destroyed. Feeding off the terrible destruction that sparked a vast necessity to rebuild, these firms raised their prices drastically, knowing that the fire-affected would be receiving grants from the government and payouts from their insurers to help subsidise the inflated costs. Of course, this left many families (those with reluctant insurers, those not affected enough to be eligible for grants, and those who were simply building within the next few years) spending much more than they should have been.
What really confounds me is how we, a society willing and eager to help those in need in any way we can, are capable of producing these fiends at the opposite end of the spectrum. Is it just as much a part of our nature to take advantage of a terrible situation as it is to help those affected by it? In any case, I’m sure that the generous and charitable members of society greatly outweigh the more morally devoid characters. I just hope that there are measures in place to prevent any unnecessary cost to those affected, and that those taking advantage of these tragedies for personal gain receive their just desserts.
A flame about flames…
This last week in my adopted home-state of Victoria has seen vicious fires rip through the areas to the north, northeast and northwest of Melbourne. Entire towns (such as Marysville and Kinglake) have been all but destroyed, leaving little more than a hotel and several houses – and even those are certainly not unscathed. Thousands of people have been left homeless, over a hundred have been killed with and many more are missing, expected dead.
Of course Australia – and Victoria in particular – is no stranger to the flames. Every summer we hear news reports of small country towns licked by smaller bushfires around the nation, however none with such dire consequences as the recent catastrophe. Even those fires that up until last week were considered our worst fires in history are dwarfed by the fires of February 2009. The ‘Black Friday’ bushfires of 1939 tore through 20,000km of land, leaving 71 dead. ‘Ash Wednesday’ was worse, claiming the lives of 75 Australians across Victoria and South Australia, and leaving many others homeless. The deathtoll from the bushfires of February 7 have already almost doubled these historic disasters, at more than 130 confirmed deaths and approximately 100 more missing and expected dead.
In light of such a terrible catastrophe, it’s awesome to see my country rally together to support the victims of the affected areas. Already, over $45m worth of support has been raised and donated, whether in the form of cash, goods or services. The government is also bending over backwards to assist through sending support teams, providing instant cash relief, and setting up relief funds for a more long-term support solution. Rebuilding the destroyed communities and recovering after such heartwrenching loss is not going to be easy, and it makes me proud to be part of a country so eager to help.
But while we’re on the note of monetary support for the bushfire victims, I’d just like to share my worries about the way that some businesses respond to these disasters. Certainly it’s great to see some of the bigger corporations (Coles, FFA, Hoyts, etc.) pledge support to those in need, but as a Business student, I can’t help but wonder how much is true, benevolant philanthropy and how much is simply using ‘corporate philanthropy’ as a means to boost sales. Take for instance Hoyts’ pledge of $2 from every ticket sold this Sunday (15 Feb). Now, $2 doesn’t seem like much when FFA and Coles are donating all their profits to the cause, and when you consider that a child’s ticket costs $12, there’s still more than 80% of the ticket price to go to expenses and – of course – profit. I know that the cinema industry doesn’t make all that much from tickets, but if this is the case, shouldn’t they be donating from their profits (including concessions) rather than a measly $2 from one day’s ticket sales? It seems like they’d be profiting more from this gesture than they are giving.
Another no-good, self-centered type of miscreant who appear in this type of situation are people like this. People who pose as charity collectors, fuelling their schemes with the misfortune of others, only to line their pockets with the dollars of their more trusting and charitable peers. If this isn’t a characteristic of the most base and degenerate citizens our country has to offer, I shudder to think what is. Most people would agree that this tactic is despicable, it’s not far from the pricing strategies employed by the Canberra building firms after the 2003 bushfires, in which many houses were destroyed. Feeding off the terrible destruction that sparked a vast necessity to rebuild, these firms raised their prices drastically, knowing that the fire-affected would be receiving grants from the government and payouts from their insurers to help subsidise the inflated costs. Of course, this left many families (those with reluctant insurers, those not affected enough to be eligible for grants, and those who were simply building within the next few years) spending much more than they should have been.
What really confounds me is how we, a society willing and eager to help those in need in any way we can, are capable of producing these fiends at the opposite end of the spectrum. Is it just as much a part of our nature to take advantage of a terrible situation as it is to help those affected by it? In any case, I’m sure that the generous and charitable members of society greatly outweigh the more morally devoid characters. I just hope that there are measures in place to prevent any unnecessary cost to those affected, and that those taking advantage of these tragedies for personal gain receive their just desserts.