There was a report – Poverty in Australia – released over the weekend by the Australian Council of Social Service, which brought the reality of our lying federal government home- 1 in 6 Australian’s are living below the poverty line (which itself is a very low hurdle for an advanced nation to have to clear). I will dedicate a separate blog to that in the coming weeks. But the Federal government needs to face facts and stop adding to the despair of millions of Australia as part of its ideological and political obsession with budget surpluses. This brazen disregard for the most disadvantaged citizens probably qualifies the Government for a Nobel Peace prize, although I was thinking of nominating the IMF and the OECD to be joint recipients for 2013. They would join the current recipients, the EU and a host of other “deserving” winners over the last several years. I guess in awarding this year’s Peace Prize to the EU, the Nobel Prize Committee is trying to bring their main prizes into line with the rogue Economics Prize in terms of quality and deservedness of the winners.