on 20-04-2014 10:21 PM
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.
on 29-08-2014 10:57 AM
on 29-08-2014 12:01 PM
The Abbott Government has backed away from its draconian plan to require unemployed jobseekers to apply for 40 jobs a month in order to receive the dole, admitting the plan would have created a “meaningless” burden on employers that would have had to sift through piles of sham job applications. From The AFR:
“It is clear that, overwhelmingly, people say that if you’re unemployed, your full-time job should be job seeking,” he said.
“On the other side, there is the view – and I think it’s a legitimate view – that getting people to apply for 40 jobs in a meaningless way will achieve no purpose and, what’s more, be a real burden to small businesses especially in regional areas.
“So, we are factoring in all that community feedback.”
Now we just need to reduce the 457 visas.
Get real jobs happening.
Look into SMSF loopholes.
comment:
Abbott & Hockey are the masters of oppressing the least blessed in our society with repression that actually harms both business and the less blessed person.
Ideology gone mad!.....
on 29-08-2014 12:06 PM
In all seriousness though, I think this point is really important. There is far too much discussion on the partisanship of politics and not nearly enough public recognition of the overwhelming bipartisanship that runs the show.
It is not accidental. It is core in legitimising government through making the public think team red and team blue are two different things. In reality they’re identical in almost every way of import, with the majority of their differences being the ways they are marketed. It is a perfect illusion of choice.
Politics in the West is like arguing whether coke or pepsi is better for you. And we just lap it up.
I agree
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2014/08/five-reasons-to-prepare-for-australian-recession/
29-08-2014 02:11 PM - edited 29-08-2014 02:11 PM
It's sort of like that, but in principal it is always ALP that tries to do the best for ordinary people while keeping the business community happy & the economy going. The LNP would prefer to get totally rid of Medicare, minimum wages, free school system; the only thing that keeps them back is that if they said what they really want for this country, they would not be elected.
29-08-2014 02:51 PM - edited 29-08-2014 02:53 PM
What did we do to get such a loony **bleep** as PM?
He just wants a fight, fight, fight or war, war, war!
and this is the biggest lie of all. He no more wants this referendum to succeed than he did the yes/no one.
Abbott added that he wanted to see the success of a referendum to recognise Indigenous people within the constitution.
PS. the bleep was not a swear word. It was something that uses the letter t twice with a w and a to keep them apart.
on 29-08-2014 03:01 PM
Tony Abbott has nominated the arrival of the first fleet, along with the launch of Rupert Murdoch’s Australian newspaper and the publication of The Lucky Country, as defining moments in the nation’s history.
I've got an idea he hasn't clicked onto what the lucky country is actually about.
on 29-08-2014 03:29 PM
"I've got an idea he hasn't clicked onto what the lucky country is actually about. "
He certainly is not alone where the pink myopics are concerned. However, leaving aside the ever constant bleating "gimme gimme", the real indicator of a country's standing is not "luck", but its economic standing, so I give you a year of this rose scented "Govt" as encapsulated by our very own XJO
on 29-08-2014 05:02 PM
shock
Vertigan's NBN endorsement will leave Australia a broadband backwater
The Vertigan panel’s cost-benefit analysis favours the Coalition’s NBN plan, but only by using some questionable, conservative methodologies
As expected, the Vertigan panel’s cost-benefit analysis of the NBNsupports the Coalition’s multi-technology mix (MTM), concluding that over the 15 years from 2025 to 2040, each Australian household will be better off by a total of $1,600 compared to Labor’s proposed fibre to the premises (FTTP) system.
On the surface, this looks like a big a nail in the FTTP coffin, but a closer look at the Vertigan report reveals that its analysis and methodology have resulted in a conservative view of future bandwidth demands and internet usage, rather than a forward-looking assessment of what capacity will be needed for the future.
To estimate the benefit of the NBN to households and small businesses, Vertigan surveyed two groups of internet users on how much they would be willing to pay for higher-speed broadband.
This “willingness to pay” survey approach is a well-established analysis technique but fails to account for the possibility of new broadband applications that have not yet been identified. Responses from the surveyed groups of users are surely biased by their knowledge of what the internet can provide today.
on 29-08-2014 05:15 PM
The ludites in our government do not comprehend how fast demand for more and more bandwidth grow. Few year ago I as happy with 5GB, now I have 200GB per month allowance.
on 29-08-2014 05:29 PM
The willingness to pay question is stupid when applied to communication technology. These technologies are more liekly to decrease in cost as demand grows, not increase.
It's not that long ago we were willing to pay $5 per hour to use the internet and had no choice but to pay according to distance for our phone calls.