Diary of our stinking Govt.

[boris1gary]

As it's more than 100 days now, it has been suggested that a new thread was needed.  The current govt has been breaking promises and telling lies at a rate so fast it's hard to keep up.

This below is worrying, "independent" pffft, as if your own doctor is somehow what? biased, it's ridiculous. So far there is talk of only including people under a certain age 30-35, for now. Remember that if your injured in a car, injured at work or get ill, you too might need to go on the DSP. They have done a similar think in the UK with devastating consequences.

and this is the 2nd time recently where the Govt has referred to work as welfare???? So when you go to work tomorrow (or tuesday), just remember that's welfare.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-20/disability-pensioners-may-be-reassessed-kevin-andrews/5400598

Independent doctors could be called in to reassess disability pensioners, Federal Government says

The Federal Government is considering using independent doctors to examine disability pensioners and assess whether they should continue to receive payments.

Currently family doctors provide reports supporting claims for the Disability Support Pension (DSP).

But Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews is considering a measure that would see independent doctors reassess eligibility.

"We are concerned that where people can work, the best form of welfare is work," Mr Andrews said at a press conference.

[boris1gary]

I think I read somewhere that the 5 who came up with the 5kilo "recipe for a poorer, nastier more brutish Australia were paid $1500 each a day.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/01/freeze-minimum-wage-for-a-decade-says-commission-of-aud...Freeze minimum wage for a decade, says Commission of Audit

Level should be reduced to 44% of average weekly earnings, or $486.20 a week, from its current $622.20, says report

The minimum wage should be frozen for a decade, reduced to 44% of average weekly earnings and vary between states and territories, according to the Commission of Audit.

The current minimum wage is $622.20 a week, or $16.37 an hour, about 56% of average weekly earnings. Reducing it by 44% this year would see it fall to $486.20 a week.

[monman12]

B1G do you ever review your numerous C&P posts (research even?) ?

"Mr Shepherd stepped down as chairman of Transfield Services upon his elevation to the Commission of Audit. Transfield, a construction and services firm, won a string of contracts in recent years worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including the contract for maintenance and support services at the Nauru detention centre."

Agency CategoryContract PeriodContract Value (AUD)Description

CN1210852-A1

Department of Immigration and Border Protection

Management support services

1-Feb-2013 to 28-Feb-2014

$302,263,702.00

Operational and Maintenance Support Services for Nauru Regional Processing Centre

Oh gosh, that contract was awarded when the Poor Me  and Rudd Circus was in town, and the ALP Caucus Clowns were  "centre-ring"

nɥºɾ

[boris1gary]

---

@monman12 wrote:

B1G do you ever review your numerous C&P posts (research even?) ?

"Mr Shepherd stepped down as chairman of Transfield Services upon his elevation to the Commission of Audit. Transfield, a construction and services firm, won a string of contracts in recent years worth hundreds of millions of dollars, including the contract for maintenance and support services at the Nauru detention centre."

Agency CategoryContract PeriodContract Value (AUD)Description

CN1210852-A1

Department of Immigration and Border Protection

Management support services

1-Feb-2013 to 28-Feb-2014

$302,263,702.00

Operational and Maintenance Support Services for Nauru Regional Processing Centre

Oh gosh, that contract was awarded when the Poor Me  and Rudd Circus was in town, and the ALP Caucus Clowns were  "centre-ring"

nɥºɾ

---

do you ever remember that it is 2014 and the current government is the LNP, the PM is Abbott and there is no body by the name of Poor me.

[monman12]

"do you ever remember that it is 2014 and the current government is the LNP, the PM is Abbott and there is no body by the name of Poor me."

Thankfully true,  Poor Me was judged by the Caucus Clowns and the electorate as  a political nobody,  and as such, became one.

Yes the Circus has left town, and the contracts awarded are/were:

"Transfield Services was responsible for managing the facilities, transport, staff accommodation and the complex logistics chain and subcontracting security to Wilson Security solely on Nauru. The Company was asked to establish that facility by the previous Labour Government in late 2012. Awarded under the succeeding Coalition Government, this new contract extends the scope of our work to Manus as well. "

What were the naughty ALP doing contracting with the "evil" Transfield Services?

nɥºɾ

[lakeland27]

A nail in Brandis dream     http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-01/nsw-victoria-oppose-coalition-changes-racial-discrimination-la...

there go Bolts political aspirations . a good day.

[boris1gary]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/joe-hockey-risks-allowing-voters-budget-... 

Joe Hockey risks allowing voters' budget fears to run rampant

The Abbott government has unleashed the jabberwocky.

The cage was opened by the government-appointed Commission of Audit when it released its report on Thursday afternoon.

Out sprang a fearsome creature that wants to do dreadful things to most of the Australian public.

It wants to savage the pensions of the elderly, charge frighteningly large sums for a trip to the doctor, snatch big sums from the pockets of uni students, and put the lowest-paid workers on a long and painful wage freeze, for example.

These are among the 86 recommendations in the Commission’s report to the government.

The Treasurer, Joe Hockey, was standing by and could have put the beast to the sword. But he did not.

He made plain that it was not his jabberwocky – “it is not a report by the government but a report to the government”.

He embraced its overarching message, that government spending was out of control.

It “proves that we have inherited a mess,” said Hockey, with projected deficits running unchecked for another decade leaving Australia with net debt of some $440 billion.

But he refused to accept or reject any of its recommendations. Australia would see the government’s response in the federal budget on May 13, he said.

In other words, he wants the thing to run rampant. He wants to scare us.

Why?

He is conducting what the military calls “psyops”, the psychological operations to unsettle an enemy and allow easier conquest in the engagement to follow.

If the government allows these fears to run unchecked, it runs the risk of overdoing it.

Consumer confidence has already taken a hit, down by 4.4 points to 111 last week according to the ANZ-Roy Morgan index.

“This is likely to have been driven by news flow around the upcoming government budget,” said the authors, with speculation of spending cuts and rising taxes.

Now comes the jabberwocky to give consumers a real scare, with “jaws that bite, the claws that snatch”, as the flaming-eyed monster is described by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass.

But the creature was a fiction in a nonsense poem. Eventually, Hockey will put it back in its cage. He will deliver a much more modest set of cuts to government spending, hoping that he will win plaudits for his reasonableness.

And the Commission of Audit’s report does indeed hold a good deal of nonsense.

Its most dramatic idea, for instance, the recommendation that the federal government give the power to tax incomes to the states.

As proposed, this would actually increase overall government spending and the tax burden in Australia by $5 billion a year, according to the report.

How would that help governments live within their means?

The report claims that if states had the power to tax incomes, they would compete with each other to offer lower taxes.

But the states already have a number of tax powers and there is no conspicuous tax-cutting contest among them.

The net result of the Commission of Audit?

It would produce a much more unequal Australia, and a less efficient tax system.

This frightening construct won’t be the blueprint for the government, but it does have scare value. Labor and the Greens plan to make the most of it.

[bella_again]

Don't know if this one was posted 'Commission of Audit: Doctors, seniors, students brace for budget cuts'

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-01/commission-of-audit-doctors-seniors-brace-for-budget-cuts/5424...

Wow that is just frightening if they do decide to adopt some of the changes.  The minimum wage thing is of concern as are cuts to pensions, medicare co payments and the list goes on.

If you take away payments from the poorest how will they afford to access medical care or other necessities.  They are barely surviving now.  Who will care when the rate of poverty and homelessness increases.  Shame on you Abbot when you and your minsters as soon as you are out of a job will access pension payments.  Shame on you for sparing the rich in our country that continue to rape our land and abuse our resources without giving much back yet you pick on the poorest.  What happened to the principal of fairness.   It's disgusting and I hope very few of your reforms get through the senate.

[fourandsixpants]

I heard the threat to privatise Australia Post has been recommended .....

this would create HUGE and MASSIVE price hikes for postage .....wouldn't it?

Still think this 'panic' media gushing for a week already and another two weeks of this carp to go..... is to deliberately stage the budget to sound worse than the actual budget will be. For fiberal brownie points-to gain followers and ultimately build future support and their voters bank.

It's old boys school tactics *yawn

...............so that once we find out what exactly IS in this budget we all sigh a big sigh of relief, pat ourselves on the backs, buy our mates and friends a beer or a latte or whatever .....and (fiberals are hoping!!) declare ...."Libs aren't that bad afterall!"

*wow 

[fourandsixpants]

I agree with all you say bella_again especially where you direct foll comment to Abbott :

"I hope very few of your reforms get through the senate".

 .....but we have come to expect that when the ALP are in they spend and when Libs and Libs and Co get in they rob from the poor and give to the rich. Gets monotonous and boring but predictable.

It's all the blatant, incessant soap opera bs of late, in these conjured up media conferences (notice on TV that the media are not great in number though!!-how embarrassing for fiberals) that we have to listen to that chokes me up.......in fact got to go and get a tissue right now......cos when I see someone cry it makes me cry too............ (the fiberals-not you bella_again)

*sob

For directions, press once.

For rescue, press twice.

To cry wolf, press repeatedly at press conferences.

[debra9275]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

A nail in Brandis dream     http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-01/nsw-victoria-oppose-coalition-changes-racial-discrimination-la...

there go Bolts political aspirations . a good day.

---

 it is an election year in Vic and we do have a large multicultural population, however it's good to see some common sense prevail.

it is not OK to be racist, that's one of the first things we teach our kifds, shame some of our adult politicians don't know any better