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 wrote:Now for the Real World and not twittering.
G58: "You clearly have no idea what twitter is about."
Actually the term 'twitter" has been in use long before the digital age, and as a verb is prominent herein
here's that story AB
as found on twitter 
But the federal education minister, Christopher Pyne, has vowed to find another university to host the Lomborg centre and said he was seeking legal advice about UWA’s decision to hand back the $4m in funding awarded for it.
D9275: " it will be interesting to see if any companies listed on the ASX are turning a good profit this reporting season. "
Research.
Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore upbeat on succession, earnings
Macquarie Group chief executive Nicholas Moore has poured cold water on any suggestion of a reshuffle or refresh of his chief lieutenants at the financial services behemoth, as he signalled profit in 2016 would beat this year's bumper $1.6 billion.
Mr Moore on Friday unveiled net profit of $1.6 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, Macquarie's second-largest profit on record. The result, underpinned by higher base and performance fees in asset management, a lower Australian dollar, advisory fee income and debt capital markets activity, exceeded analyst expectations of $1.51 billion.
Mr Moore characterised the stability and tenure of his executive team as overwhelmingly positive. The last change among those that lead the six key divisions happened two yeas ago when head of Banking and Financial Services (BFS) Peter Maher departed and was replaced by Greg Ward.
"We feel good about the depth of the bench at the organisation, therefore we feel good on the succession planning," Mr Moore said in an interview. "Part of our culture is the retention of senior people … We have a very deep bench behind all these business leaders who again have been ultimately involved with the development of their businesses."
The average tenure of Macquarie's executive committee at the firm is about 20 years.
Acquisition pursuit
Mr Moore also expressed optimism in an economic recovery in the US and said Macquarie would continue to pursue acquisitions despite high asset prices, if they met the firm's risk and return metrics.
"Because the nature of the market is that at times like this, assets are more expensive superficially and less attractive, against that the positive news is that there tends to be more assets being traded," he added.
Revenue from outside Australia accounted for 70 per cent of the group's total income, with the US accounting for the largest proportion at 36 per cent, followed by Australia at 30 per cent.
The overall result was the funds management and investment banking group's best since it posted its highest-ever annual profit of $1.8 billion in 2008. The 2015 result also received a boost from a lower 35.9 per cent tax rate, compared with 39.5 per cent in the previous year.
Along with the usual caveats about prevailing market conditions, the company flagged that the 2016 result would be "slightly up" on this year's profit, as it benefited from a lower tax rate in that financial year as well.
Analysts were re-cutting their numbers on Friday night but at the time of printing expected a profit result of $1.72 billion for 2016.
Arnhem Investment Management's managing partner, Mark Nathan, was upbeat on prospects for Macquarie's earnings on Friday.
"It was a good strong set of numbers. The issue is always how much of it is one-off and how much is recurring," he said. "I think the outlook is still positive."
Investors cheered the result with Macquarie's stock rallying strongly in morning trade before closing 3.5 per cent higher at $79.18 on Friday.
Net operating income across Macquarie's six divisions rose 14 per cent, while total operating expenses increased by 12 per cent as Macquarie increased total headcount to 14,085. However, the compensation ratio fell to 41.9 per cent from 43.1 per cent as revenue grew strongly.
Total assets under management grew 14 per cent to $486.3 billion as at March 31. The asset management unit booked a 9 per cent rise in base fees and record annual performance fees of $667 million, garnered from infrastructure and other investment funds.
Macquarie's three annuity-style businesses, which overall are less reliant on financial markets, saw their combined profit contribution climb 33 per cent over the period. Asset management, corporate and asset finance and BFS are the core of that.
One dark spot was provisions and impairments across several divisions including corporate and asset finance, which includes leasing, and commodities and financial markets. .
The three divisions leveraged to capital markets – advisory arm Macquarie Capital, Macquarie Securities and Commodities and Financial Markets – had a 19 per cent combined increase in profit contribution for the year.
Macquarie's securities unit was the only division to post a decline in profit contribution.
On capital management, Macquarie outlined that it intends to purchase about $390 million of shares on-market to satisfy the employee retained equity plan. Macquarie also said its surplus capital was $2.7 billion and noted that possible changes by the prudential regulator to the amount of capital held against mortgages, while still unclear, would likely impact Macquarie by less than $250 million.
Macquarie declared a final dividend of $2 a share, taking the full-year payment to $3.30 per share. Return on equity rose to 14 per cent from 11.1 per cent.
Across Macquarie's six divisions, it expects profit contribution from its three smallest units, advisory arm Macquarie Capital, BFS, and Macquarie Securities, will be up in 2016. For the three larger units, it expects a contribution broadly in line with this year's result. The BFS unit is still reporting to the corporate regulator on measures taken to improve standards and training within its private wealth arm, despite Macquarie meeting requirements and ending a formal undertaking in January. Mr Moore said of the client remediation process: “It is a very big job … It is very very intensive in terms of the hours going in.”
Methinks a good profit this reporting season !
as I said early this morning - a pleasant surprise from MQG- I'm glad I have them in my portfolio 
really you didn't need to C & P all that. the news came out early this morning.
MQG have turned out to be the star performer so far amongst the financials
a few reports have not been too flash
A3: Actually Twitter is:
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets".
Twitter was created in March 2006
Actually if you research (sorry), you would discover that "twitter" has been around and part of the language long before 2006:
1325-75; Middle English twiteren (v.); akin to German zwitschern.
I do think that this definition is somewhat apt:
Late 14c., twiteren, in reference to birds, of imitative origin. Eureka, that is why there are so many C&Ps sans comments.
verb
1.(intransitive) (esp of a bird) to utter a succession of chirping sounds
2.(intransitive) to talk or move rapidly and tremulously
3.(intransitive) to giggle: her schoolmates twittered behind their desks
"Say no more"
