Why do we need an Australian Men's Party ?

What most people fail to realize is that males, particularly males who serve the community as parliamentarians, have been conditioned for birth to be protective of the needs of women and children. They have NOT been conditioned to be protective of men. The small number of males, mainly farmers, doctors, lawyers and business men, who serve in parliament, regularly put the needs of children first, the needs of women second, and the needs of men a distant last.

Hence, the majority of people mistakenly believe that because 0.1 % of men have political power, ALL men benefit from this power. This couldn't be further from the truth. If men are the main beneficiaries of the male dominance in parliament :

Why is men's health almost completely ignored as an issue.This despite the fact that men are dying at almost twice the rate of women at all age groups below 75 years of age ?

• Surely, if men have all the power, they would be receiving the lion's share of medical research funds for heart disease and cancer.
  
• Currently, money specifically spent on men's health research is less than 1/10 th that specifically spent on women's health research. In addition, the Australian Governement has started a 20 year longitudinal study of the health of 30,000 Australian women but it has no intention of studying the health of Australian men.
  

Why are divorced men regularly denied access to their children and treated as little more than sperm bank and cheque book by the Family Law Courts ?

• Surely, if men have all the power, the Family Law Courts would ensure that men would end up with the primary physical custody of their children 90 % of the time. [Currently, the situation is the other way around.]
  

Why is violence against men almost a non-issue ? This, despite the fact that men represent 2/3 of all of the victims of violent crime.

• Surely, if men have all the power you would expect the police force to have strategies to help male victims of violent crime. [Currently, most police departments almost exclusively concentrate on strategies to prevent violence against women.]
  

Why are men twice as likely as women to be sentenced to prison for committing similar types of crime and why are women twice as likely as men to receive mitigated or therapeutic sentences when convicted.

• Surely, if men have all the power, women would go to prison in proportion to the rate at which they commit crime. [Current estimates indicate that women commit roughly 12 - 15 % of all serious crime but they represent less than 4 % of the prison population.]
  

Why are men the only ones required to serve in most of the combat positions in the Australian military ? This despite the fact that military experts have long since recognised that women can effectively fill 20 % of ground combat roles and most of the combat positions in the navy and airforce.

• Surely, if men had all the power, laws would be passed to ensure that men's lives were no less expendable than women's lives. With laws like these in place, women would finally be asked to fully share in the burden of defending their own freedoms.
  

Why is only lip-service given to an educational strategy for boys ? This, despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that boys desperately need help is such basic areas as literacy and numeracy.

• Surely, if men had all the power, an educational strategy for boys would be tattooed on every teacher's forehead.
  

Finally, if men have all the power, why aren't there Departments of Men's Affairs at both Federal and State level ?

• Think about it - and then get up off your backside and help us fight the incredible levels of discrimination against men in our society.If you won't who will ?

Ian Wilson - 2000

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