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.

[***super_nova***]

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@gleee58 wrote:

So you're being precious if you don't want your bum whacked or groped by your colleagues?

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Only if you are woman.  If you are a man and another man is flirting with you, that is a sexual harassment (even if you initiate the flirting).

[gleee58]

That government members think a woman should react like that “She has a giggle and keeps going,”  when colleagues grab their butt cheeks is astonishing.  Does he react the same if his wife, mother, sister or daughter get their bum grabbed?  

I'm staggered that anyone finds it acceptable.

And yes, they do rather look after their own males, until one refuses to fall into line.  Then it's "get out or get destroyed".

[debra9275]

this is a very funny story

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/assistant-treasurer-josh-frydenberg-...

Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg shifts his work super into union-backed industry fund

Josh Frydenberg nominated busting the grip of unions over Australia's $1.9 trillion superannuation industry and giving a leg up to retail super funds as one of his first priorities upon becoming Assistant Treasurer.

But the star recruit of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's recent cabinet reshuffle has not exactly put his own hard-earned money where his mouth is on creating a level playing field for commercial and industry super.

An update to Mr Frydenberg's pecuniary interests register shows the Kooyong MP has switched his work super out of an AMP super fund (retail) into Australian Super (industry).

He retains a super account with Mercer (retail), according to the register.

[gleee58]

Unbelievable

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/18/labor-objects-to-george-brandiss-staffer-overs...

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told Guardian Australia he had complained to Brandis after the attorney general instructed his staff member be present when Dreyfus met Triggs late last year, not long after the commission delivered to government its final report on children in detention. The meeting was not about the report.

Triggs had informed Brandis that Dreyfus had asked to meet her as a “usual courtesy”. When Brandis’s deputy chief of staff, Josh Faulks, turned up at the commission’s Sydney office at the appointed time for the meeting, both Dreyfus and Triggs asked him to leave. Faulks refused, saying he was acting on the instructions of the attorney. The meeting proceeded with Faulks watching.

“Independent statutory agencies ought to be free to consult with anyone in Australia, including the opposition, without being supervised or overseen by a ministerial adviser,” Dreyfus told Guardian Australia.

“It is appropriate for ministerial advisers to be present at security briefings provided to the opposition, or when the opposition is receiving a briefing from a government department, but it is not appropriate for ministerial advisers to oversee meetings with an independent statutory agency.”

While it is demanding that staffers sit in on meetings between Triggs and the opposition, the government is refusing to meet her. Guardian Australia understands the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has refused requests for meetings, and Brandis has been unable to find time in recent months.

[monman12]

"Unbelievable"

I agree,  why would  Triggs ("I see armed guards but there is no one there")  worry about, and feel the need to have a "secret" meeting with an opposition minister?

"independent statutory agency." like the Guardian perhaps ?,  or even a BIG favourite: AIMN

[gleee58]

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@monman12 wrote:

"Unbelievable"

I agree,  why would  Triggs ("I see armed guards but there is no one there")  worry about, and feel the need to have a "secret" meeting with an opposition minister?

"independent statutory agency." like the Guardian perhaps ?,  or even a BIG favourite: AIMN

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There were armed personnel there. They were not guards but there were armed personnel that were clearly visible in the photos.  Her error was in calling them detention centre guards when they were defence personnel.  

It wasn't a secret meeting. It was a meeting requested by Dreyfus who did not expect to find a Brandis employee there to listen in.

Why do you think the Guardian is a statutary agency?  It's not. It's a news outlet.  

[debra9275]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-19/funding-cuts-put-future-of-australian-medical-research-at-risk...

One of the country's leading scientists says funding cuts are putting the future of medical research in Australia at risk of a slump that could take decades to reverse.

Professor Robert Graham from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute said Australia could become a "scientific banana republic" if more money was not pumped into research.

Professor Graham said jobs would be lost and talent be pushed overseas

so what's the point of the GP payment for building a scientific research centre in 20 years?. It doesn't make sense if we have no scientists or researchers

[Anonymous]

There were armed personnel there. They were not guards but there were armed personnel that were clearly visible in the photos.

which photos?

[cherry*135]

Fears Tony Abbott has damaged Bali nine diplomacy

Some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's senior colleagues are concerned that his tough talk with Indonesia may have undermined a carefully crafted strategy to save the lives of two Australians on death row.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been leading what officials describe as a "massive" private and public diplomacy campaign to persuade Indonesian leaders to halt the execution of drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, convicted of trafficking heroin.

The strategy involves showing respect for Indonesia while outlining deep flaws in the legal and diplomatic policy processes, as excessive pressure could prove to be counterproductive.

Faint hopes of clemency have been kept alive by Indonesian leaders agreeing to delay the executions and hold a press conference to face questions, which appeared to demonstrate that Australian concerns have been taken seriously.

On Wednesday, however, Mr Abbott appeared to depart from the diplomatic script to promise an "absolutely unambiguous" response if the executions went ahead. Mr Abbott linked the threat to Australia's generous humanitarian aid program following the Aceh tsunami of a decade ago.

Mr Abbott's comments not only attracted a heated response from Jakarta but have also caused dismay at senior levels of the Australian government, including inside cabinet.

"It's awful," said a senior source, requesting anonymity.

"It undid a lot of the good work," said another.

 http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/fears-tony-abbott-has-damaged-bali-n...

[cherry*135]

Dumping Tony Abbott has fringe benefit of ending unpopular policies

Leadership chatter has not stopped. It may all come to a head sooner than you think.

Desperate Liberals weighing up a switch to a more popular leader are increasingly awake to an even more durable benefit: a plausible escape from unpopular policies to which the current leadership remains mystifyingly welded.

Think for starters the GP co-payment – now called somewhat comically, "a value signal in health" and university cuts. Both have driven MPs to distraction because from the get-go they've been disasters, and yet remain strangely unkillable through multiple defeats and backflips.

....This is the signature political failure of the Abbott project and a testament to Labor's success in portraying Joe Hockey's first blueprint as an ideological document – a wilful attempt to make life easier for the well off at the expense of the poor. Politically, the budget was doomed the moment it contained broken promises, but the absence of tough medicine for the rich, beyond a small and temporary budget repair levy, denied the government the cover of demanding sacrifice from all.

...But for Hockey the  question now must be whether he lasts long enough to deliver a second budget. He is as welded to Abbott as Abbott is to him. Liberals say they'll go down together.

Chatter in the government shows no signs of abating and could yet manifest itself in a sudden move to replace Abbott with Malcolm Turnbull as early as the first full sitting week beginning March 2.

If that happens, the IGR will still be an important document because the long-term problems aren't going away. But don't expect to hear much about university deregulation or the toxic GP payment, no matter what Orwellian name it has acquired by then.

Mark Kenny is Fairfax Media's chief political correspondent.

 http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/dumping-tony-abbott-has-fringe-benefit-of-ending-unpopular-p...