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.

[debra9275]

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-thrown-lifeline-in-fairfaxipsos-po...

Australian voters have thrown Tony Abbott a lifeline just as his internal opponents were shaping to dump him, with a Fairfax-Ipsos poll confirming a pro-government shift is under way.

In a result set to strengthen the Prime Minister's hand in the short term, the Abbott government has staged an unlikely recovery and, while still trailing, is now within striking distance of overhauling the ALP lead at 49-51.

.

However, it represents a 4.5 per cent anti-Coalition swing since the 2013 election, meaning it would have lost as many as 24 seats.

Also concerning for Mr Abbott and his supporters is the finding that more voters would still prefer to see former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull returned to the top, rating him more highly in all 10 of the leadership attributes surveyed in the poll.

not sure how this is even possible but they would need to poll more than 1406 people to convince me

It is the closest the Coalition has come to being competitive since October 2014 (49-51), having not been in front since a brief period last March

that is quite shocking that the LNP have not even been competitive since they were voted in some 18 months ago

[debra9275]

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pm-tony-abbotts-positive-poll-shows-hes-a-dead-man-walking-20150301-13...

Tony Abbott's supporters will claim today's poll as proof that there is life in his prime ministership yet.  

But look a little further. Seventy-two per cent of voters say that Abbott does not have the confidence of his own party

On 10 positive leader attributes, the poll finds Abbott's ratings are "all negative, all at historical lows," reports Elgood.

Worse yet, Abbott rates lower on eight of the 10 than all four of his immediate predecessors.

When he moved a censure motion against Julia Gillard in 2011, Abbott said: "We have a Prime Minister who is both incompetent and utterly untrustworthy."

Today's poll shows that Australia finds Abbott to be less competent and just as untrustworthy.

By his own criteria, Abbott is a worse prime minister than Gillard. "It's hard to see his way back on these numbers," concludes Elgood.

The evidence of the poll is that Abbott's is the prime ministership from the Weekend at Bernie's.

The people propping up his prime ministership may be proclaiming it alive and well, but today's poll results show that the electorate knows otherwise

[cherry*135]

This bit is interesting regarding claims of media hype only about Abbott's leadership issues.

In this game of thrones, Scott Morrison is now key

.....As for the latest outburst of speculation, what is keeping the scent of fresh blood in the air is  destabilising agents within the government. Three Liberal MPs are the primary dissidents. Journalists don't need to contact them, they contact journalists.

One contacted me after Abbott's latest misjudgment when the prime minister scapegoated the chief government whip, Philip Ruddock, after the leadership spill motion three weeks ago.

The dissident told me that three ministers had called him after Ruddock's removal to say they would vote against the Prime Minister should another spill motion be moved.

So intense has it all become that the mere fact that Parliament resumes sitting today has been generating speculation and agitation that another spill could be imminent.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/in-this-game-of-thrones-scott-morrison-is-now-...

[gleee58]

I don't know if you saw this article. I'm posting the first half.

Brandis bared his brand of evil at estimates as he snarled and sneered at every opportunity.  

The chair threw all protocols out with the trash by refusing to leave the chair as he questioned Professor Triggs.

O'Sullivan demonstrated his inner jerk when attacking her over previous comments, that she had agreed to take on notice, then admitted he had not read the corrected information that he'd had since December 10th.  He just wanted to play with a red pen and strike out the answers that she been pressed to give after agreeing to take the Qs (without notice) on notice.  

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/charles-waterstreet-pm-has-thrown-everything-overboard-in-his-treatmen...

When "current" Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared in Parliament that not only had Gillian Triggs lost the confidence of the government, she had lost the confidence of the Australian people, he threw the desperate, fleeing children overboard, he threw the human rights commissioner overboard and he threw whatever little legacy of decency he had left, over the railings of Parliament to save his sinking ship of state.

The government's handling of Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, has been disgraceful, sexist and bullying of the worst schoolyard type.

Bully Baldy Brandis is chief bully boy who threw the first eggs in the egging of Triggs. Brandis said he received numerous texts and visits from dozens of members of the government who expressed that Triggs had "fatally compromised" her position as human rights commissioner.

How could a report critical of both governments, over the treatment of children in mandatory detention, become a capital offence? Professor Triggs may as well join the Bali two on Nusakambangan island and be character-assassinated by a firing squad of government secretaries and back-channellers for daring to print and publish the truth.

Brandis' thin-lipped, mean-spirited, faux respectful, patronising, pathetic summation of her evidence before the Senate's Estimates Committee as "inconsistent and evasive" was like Marc Antony's funeral speech; Brandis came to bury Triggs, not to praise her.

The Forgotten Children Report hit Brandis' desk in November 2014 giving him 15 sitting days under section 46 of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 before he had to table it in Parliament, so he didn't have much time to get the eggs out of the hen-house and into the hands of the The Australian to begin the egging of Triggs.

As Triggs noted in her extraordinarily well-researched and erudite report, "Australia is the only country in the world that mandates the closed and indefinite detention of babies and children when they arrive on our shore". It is embarrassing that the commissioner in fulfilling her statutory duty to investigate and report is dealt with so cruelly by this team of brutal character assassins.

[debra9275]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/palmer-united-party-senators-to-abstain-fro...

The Palmer United Party's two senators, Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang, will abstain from voting on government legislation indefinitely, according to party leader Clive Palmer.

In a statement released on Monday, Mr Palmer said it would be irresponsible for the party to vote on any legislation until government "chaos" had ended.

"The government's proposals seem to change daily," Mr Palmer said.

"The policies are not consistent, party infighting and conflict is ongoing and as a result our party has decided as a bloc to abstain from voting on any legislation proposals."

[cherry*135]

The government's proposals seem to change daily," Mr Palmer said.

Fair comment.

[cherry*135]

More fibs

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's 'absolutely crystal clear' claim shattered

Contracted cleaners at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection are receiving $2 an hour less, even though Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Employment Minister Eric Abetz said this would not happen. 

The annual wages of cleaners who work at the department's buildings in Canberra will this year be reduced by thousands of dollars, according to pay slips obtained by Fairfax Media.

The wage reduction has exposed the cleaners to an increasingly insecure industry in the nation's expensive capital.

Almost a year ago Mr Abbott and Senator Abetz said the scrapping of guidelines affecting some cleaners would not hurt the pay packets of workers. 

"I want to make it absolutely crystal clear that no cleaner's pay is reduced," Mr Abbott said in question time last June.

On the same day Mr Abetz issued a press release which said: "No cleaner will have their wages reduced as a result of the guidelines ceasing to apply."

..."Unfortunately the department chose to accept a reduced pay rate which the contractor has now passed on to us."  

The cleaners asked Mr Dutton to reverse the decision and said "until very recently" they were paid enough to cover rent and other bills on time.   

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/public-service/prime-minister-tony-abbotts-absolutely-cryst...

[gleee58]

Senator Wong has moved a Censure Motion against Senator Brandis.

Affirmative.  35-32

[debra9275]

this is a copy of the censure motion that was passed today

[debra9275]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ministers-ditch-the-doom-and-gloom-to-talk-...

While the numbers and projections seem to paint an ever worsening picture of Australia's budgetary position, the government's rhetoric appears to be growing more positive.

According to Department of Finance figures released at the end of February, Australia's net government debt was at $252 billion in January – more than 40 per cent higher than at the end of 2013.

Leaked figures from the upcoming Intergenerational Report reportedly show that, without significant change, net debt would reach 50 per cent of Australia's economy within 20 years, compared to the roughly 15 per cent it is now.

Wind back the clock and the government's tone reflected this. A "budget emergency" with "debt and deficit stretching out as far as the eye can see" was used to justify many tough and unpopular budget measures such as university fee deregulation, the Medicare co-payment and changes to welfare and pensions.

But now, in the lead-up to the Abbott government's second budget, even after key measures have stalled and revenue streams such as the carbon and mining taxes have been abolished, the tone has changed.