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.
The fair go is going….going….gone?
http://theaimn.com/the-fair-go-is-going-going-gone/
Despite rising unemployment, the Coalition plans to expand the 457 visa program, remove existing controls on employers, abolish any training obligations and open the program up to more semi-skilled workers.
In his 2012 IPA Address, Abbott said that ‘under a Coalition government, 457 visas won’t be just a component but a mainstay of our immigration program.’
More than 60 per cent of the 3323 457 visas granted since November last year and subject to labour market testing went to foreign nationals already in Australia.
In skill level 3 occupations, which are mostly trades, 45 per cent of all 457 visa granted were in occupations not on the national shortage list.
In a move that is becoming increasingly common, ministerial advisers encouraged federal officials to “massage” their economic forecasts to match Tony Abbott’s vow to create one million jobs over the next five years amid concern the original estimates would fall short of his target.
Asking department experts to adjust their figures, the advisers to Employment Minister Eric Abetz sought to add 160,000 jobs to the projections brought out in March.
Joe Hockit breaks into song.......
"Waltzing Matilda
I'm gonna *bleeping* drive ya
Up the Aussie Creek
With my rotten mean streak!.....".....err.......*sorr-y
Meanwhile sitting in the front row.......
Poor Australians spend 3.4 times as much on fuel as rich Australians (as a % of their income). This graph is divided into 5 equal groups (‘quintiles’), by how much they earn per week, before tax. The ‘Lowest’ quintile represents the poorest people. "before tax" ?
The Australian Tax Office’s tax statistics for the 2010–11 financial year, show that the top 5 per cent of income earners pay 34.1 per cent of net income tax and the top 25 per cent of income earners pay just over two-thirds of net income tax.
In 2010, only the top 40 per cent of households paid net tax. For every dollar a household in the lowest quintile earned privately, for instance, it received more than $6 in welfare
ALMOST 13 million Australians file a tax return each year, but only the top fifth of households really contribute to Australia's vast and complex social-security apparatus.
For the other 80 per cent, the value of cash welfare payments and social security in kind - health, education and housing, for instance - typically exceeds their total tax payments, even incorporating indirect taxes like the GST and tobacco excise.
I suspect that ratios might be a problem 007 as opposed to rhetoric, however I will let you calculate what it would be for the 45% paying no tax to those in the top 25% paying 67% of net income tax. Alternative question: calculate a few ratios for quintile net tax paid, and also welfare benefits received compared within quintile distribution.
And still we hear a constant bleating from the flocks: Gimme, gimme (yours of course).
