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.

[monman12]

“That fund will not be spent but invested, generating a regular return."

"Labor finance spokesman Tony Burke stepped up attacks on the key budget proposal by noting the fund would not cut a dollar from the interest payments on commonwealth debt.  i.e. not general revenue!

“But it also has absolutely no impact on the interest payments the government makes. Establishing a separate fund doesn’t retire a single bond, so the interest bill the government pays is … unaffected.”

I suspect Burke was not thinking when he said that,  considering the majority of the interest bill accumulated when the Circus was in town.

"Earnings from the investments will be added to budget revenue each year. Those earnings will be used to fund medical research projects by universities and others, adding a similar dollar figure to expenses each year."

I think this sums it up for the Myopics:

"While I can acknowledge some wider economic benefits from establishing such a Fund – particularly by boosting the nation’s intellectual property, allowing opportunities for commercialisation, and potentially weaning us off the US pharmaceutical industry (who, let’s face it, are renowned for gouging)."

I would suggest that a Lib scheme to invest in medical research would be somewhat more fruitful under the worst conditions when compared with Rudd's "pink batts" scheme and its resulting outcomes:

Ian Hanger, QC.

“The reality is that the Australian government conceived of, devised, designed and implemented a program that enabled a very large number of inexperienced workers - often engaged by unscrupulous and avaricious employers or head contractors, who were themselves inexperienced in insulation installation - to undertake potentially dangerous work,” Mr Hanger said in his report. “It should have done more to protect them.”

I await the timing of the forecast economy weasel "POP" (not that I expect one). Any suggestions P007

The XJO is not looking like going "POP" at the moment, bad bad XJO, and all during this Govt's"malodorous term. Recorded in the "diary" I would hope ??.

[boris1gary]

the warm fuzzy humanitarian LNP

Syrian asylum seeker sent back under government's voluntary program

The Abbott government has sent one asylum seeker back to Syria and several others back to Iraq throughvoluntary return packages last month.

In his now-monthly written briefingsImmigration Minister Scott Morrison said 412 asylum seekers from Australian detention centres and the offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru had been returned, including one asylum seeker from Syria, six Iraqis and 48 Iranians.

Yet on Sunday, Mr Morrison warned of the dangers in both Syria and Iraq when discussing Australia's role in fighting increasingly real terrorist threats.

It comes as 33 asylum seekers who have been found to be refugees on the tiny Pacific Island of Nauru have been employed as dental assistants, gardeners and teachers in the Nauruan community. Of the 179 people who have been found to be genuine refugees, a further 12 asylum seekers have applied for business licences, the statement said.

But last week Fairfax Media spoke with 50 asylum seekers who had been resettled claimed they had been abandoned to "live like animals in the jungle".

The refugees told Fairfax Media they don't have enough clean water, food, or work to sustain themselves and that they can't afford phone calls to their families back home.

There are currently 2393 asylum seekers who are being held in Manus Island and Nauru.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/syrian-asylum-seeker-sent-back-under-governmen...

[fourandsixpants]

..... will go 'pop' according to all the indicators, okay, maybe not tomorrow or next week......

[debra9275]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-slaps-down-joe-hockey-after-sto...

here we go, the back stabbing has begun

[boris1gary]

less money for our contrived debt emergency blah blah and the right are cheering, I don't get the logic but what has logic got to do with anything when the govt has a purely ideological agenda to ruin our country and pay back some favours to big big business.

[boris1gary]

The vote is tomorrow, below is a link so you can email the cross benchers to vote no, 100,000 and counting have emailed so far

http://www.australianunions.org.au/stop_tony_abbotts_anti_worker_laws

Fair Work Amendment Bill is a recipe for exploitation

Imagine a job where your boss could choose how you were going to be paid. And then imagine if he didn't have to tell anyone about what he'd done. Didn't have to register those arrangements with anyone. Didn't have to get the all clear.

Didn't have to worry about minimum conditions or wages.

Now, that might work perfectly well if you are in a job where there are skills shortages. Where you have experience. And when you don't feel as if any discussion with your boss about your wages and conditions will end up with you having your head bitten off. Or worse, dismissed.

Remember the furious response to Work Choices before the 2007 election. The Australian electorate got mad and then got even.

And this is why I am completely baffled by the silence over the Fair Work Amendment Bill.

On Wednesday, the Senate votes on this bill. And Australians barely know a thing about it.

Rae Cooper, associate professor in employment relations, at the University of Sydney's Business School, says of the failed WorkChoices laws: "There was a massive outcry about the effect of AWAs, particularly on those most vulnerable in the labour market."

She says there are more protections in the present Fair Work Act than under the WorkChoices arrangements. But there are still some challenges. Sure, employees have to put in writing that their flexible work arrangements will leave them better off. But, seriously, unless you are a person with a great deal of power in your workplace, how are you going to argue with your boss?

"Frankly, how will a mother seeking flexibility to fit with care arrangements and who is desperate for her job manage to genuinely negotiate on an individual basis?" Cooper asks.

"The disparity of power regardless of signatures on contracts is still significant."

She is also particularly concerned about young people, particularly those working in service industries.

The difficulty here is that so many people with no power try to represent themselves. Solid unionisation is low and individuals have few bargaining skills and little leverage. The big unions, with significant bargaining experience, have been able to ring fence particular issues through the bargaining process (and some believe they've done too much).

But I swear, I'd rather have someone overprotecting me in the workplace than throwing me to the dingoes of downtown. These changes will make it possible for employers to offer individual contracts that will cut take home pay and go below the award minimum. Basically, offering pizza for pay.

Pizza won't pay the rent. Pizza won't pay the bills. And pizza won't feed the kids every night.

Why are these changes an attack on women?

More women are paid at the award minimum than men. Women are the ones who work in the cafes,  community workers, childcare workers, cleaners.

Now Eric Abetz, the monster who claimed abortion was linked to breast cancer, claims these changes are good for women.  He says women will be able to trade their penalty rates for flexible working hours.

When Abetz was trying to sell this concept last year, he said: "It stands to reason that [a mother] would be trading up by sacrificing penalty rates two days a week for the non-monetary benefit of spending time with her children."

So, we are more poorly paid, we are more likely to work at award rates, and less likely to have the opportunity to advance. And somehow, now, we are expected to make another financial sacrifice.

If this gets through, no one will be monitoring these arrangements. As Cooper points out, "What we really need is to protect employees, we need some mechanism for lodgement and review of content.

"You can't have protection unless you have compliance and overview."

Sounds like a recipe for exploitation and victimisation. Michele O'Neil, the national secretary of the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, says she believes it's worse than WorkChoices. She says the concept of having to reveal that you have invited the union, one of the proposed changes, into your workplace is terrifying.

Now, I belong to two unions and I'm a pretty strong person. But imagine if you didn't have that kind of personality and you were wanting to invite the union into your workplace. If you are worried about being bullied by your boss, there's the recipe right there.

"We saw that the workers identified with the unions were the ones that were punished," she said.

O'Neil is also concerned about the path these changes pave for low-paid workers to lose money.

"We have already seen K-Mart vouchers for work on a Saturday. This is exactly the sort of trade-off that companies will try and impose on workers."

She says her union's experience is that these conditions are imposed on workers and the implication is that employees will lose jobs unless an agreement is made.

So cutting the minimum wage and offering vouchers and food for work. Sounds like income management to me. From the very people who can't manage their own business costs in the first place.

I'm with the Unions Australia campaign. Write to the crossbench senators right now and tell them to vote no on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/fair-work-amendment-bill-is-a-recipe-for-exploitation-20140901-10b1...

[boris1gary]

wow, fingers crossed 

http://nofibs.com.au/2014/08/31/morrison-and-abbott-named-in-international-criminal-court-submission...

Morrison and Abbott named in International Criminal Court submission on #refugees: @jansant reports 

THE International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is currently considering a submission calling for an investigation into Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers.

The submission was officially accepted by the ICC on May 19, 2014, it names senior members of government.

No Fibs has now seen the full submission, however, after advice from experienced investigators, we decided against publishing the document. The advice was publication could harm any possible future investigation. We have published the executive summary (below).

The submission was prepared by lawyer and migration agent Tracie Aylmer, who also does volunteer work in a legal capacity.

Tracie told No Fibs she prepared the submission to ensure international law was upheld and to return humanity to those who have been persecuted.

The submission names:

• Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
• Minister for Immigration and Border protection Scott Morrison
• Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Michaela Cash
• Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop
• Former Chief of the Defence Force General David Hurley
• Commander of Operation Sovereign Borders Lieutenant General Angus Campbell

[boris1gary]

I signed this a little while ago, it's pretty poor that this kind of thing is going on....with job losses everyday...link to petition below

http://www.change.org/p/australian-government-award-defence-contract-to-australian-company-rossi-boo...

Award defence contract to Australian company Rossi Boots

Australian manufacturers are struggling, with unemployment on the rise we as a nation cannot afford to have more businesses going bust. The government has recently awarded a major contract against an Aussie company Rossi Boots which has been making boots here for over 100 years.

http://www.rossiboots.com.au/australian_made

The government elect are selected by us to govern in our best interests, it is unacceptable that the government award government contracts to overseas manufacturers who make no contribution, financial or otherwise to Australia.

[boris1gary]

more of our humanitarian government

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/red-cross-to-lose-500-jobs-after-coalition-cuts-asylum-...

Red Cross to lose 500 jobs after Coalition cuts asylum seeker case load

Chief executive ‘deeply disappointed’ over immigration department’s decision to slash assistance and support programs

[boris1gary]

so the cutting of the two income generating taxes have gone, not in time for Coles it seems - "we are open for business..." ant time soon there will be sooooo many jobs we won't know what to do

Coles to cut up to 600 head office jobs in Melbourne

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/retail/coles-to-cut-up-to-600-head-office-jobs-in-melbourne-20140902-...