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 18-05-2015 11:11 AM
on 18-05-2015 11:13 AM
Last week the ALP found their somewhat cobweb covered leader, I think : Harvey Shorten, and he made a speech, I think!.
Federal Budget reply speech shows Bill Shorten is Labor’s leader of no ideas
ONE of the advantages of being in opposition is it enables a party to formulate policies without the practical distraction of actually implementing them.
That is not meant entirely derisively. It simply means the freedom of being out of government can lead to creative and possibly even advantageous policy ideas for the future.
This works on both sides of politics. It was in opposition that the Liberal Party first conceived of a GST (although it did subsequently destroy John Hewson’s chances of becoming prime minister). Labor’s successful plans for government from 1983 were largely put together during the final years of Malcolm Fraser’s reign.
Current Labor leader Bill Shorten has not followed in this tradition.
His version of an opposition party is exactly the opposite of creative.
Instead it is a curdled and bitter entity that spits negativity at practically anything from the government.
That tone was evident yet again in Shorten’s Budget reply speech, which had a similar quality to a radio interview given by the Labor leader this week when he denied one dozen times Labor’s deficit responsibility.
Take this sneering dismissal of the government’s plan to boost small business investment by allowing work-related purchases of up to $20,000 to be tax deductions: “A giveaway to start a fire sale at second-hand car yards and Australian retailers beleaguered by the internet and low confidence is good … as far as it goes.”
The electorate will recall that Shorten was part of a government that tried to start fire sales with Australia’s surplus. It worked. The surplus was incinerated.
Yet now he derides a genuine initiative to generate retail activity, all through private investment.
Note, too, the snobbishness in Shorten’s line about “second-hand car yards”. That’s your Labor heartland you’re talking to, Bill. The people who can’t afford brand new BMWs. The people who have no choice but to shop second-hand.
The people whose tax is now being lost to the tune of $96 million per day in interest payments thanks to Labor’s financial recklessness.
To be fair, there was exactly one new idea in Shorten’s Budget reply — although it did borrow heavily from an earlier government initiative.To work with me on a fair and fiscally responsible plan to reduce the tax rate for Australian small business from 30 to 25 per cent,” Shorten said to the Prime Minister.
“Not a 1.5 per cent cut, a 5 per cent cut,” he said.
Here’s an even better idea: before asking the government to work with him on this, Shorten should try it with his own party.
Let’s see how he goes trying to get a 5 per cent business tax reduction accepted as Labor policy.
Still, in the absence of any suggested spending cuts, it is good to see that Shorten has recognised that you cannot, in fact, tax your way to prosperity. That 5 per cent cut would be an absolute boon.
Over to you, Mr Shorten. Your defining challenge awaits.
I am sure small businesses would salivate at the thought of a reduction of 5% in their company tax rate, but then perhaps they might reflect on how the government would adjust to the resulting fall in tax revenue, or how any other ALP largesse would be funded, that is of course when the ALP actually present any policies, with funding explanations.
on 18-05-2015 11:14 AM
18-05-2015 11:15 AM - edited 18-05-2015 11:17 AM
18-05-2015 11:17 AM - edited 18-05-2015 11:19 AM
on 18-05-2015 11:20 AM
@am*3 wrote:
Who is Harvey Shorten?
Gerry Harvey? He is a little shorty, isn't he?
on 18-05-2015 11:21 AM
on 18-05-2015 11:32 AM
I know you read the Drum as i noticed you post an article from them not long ago, to prove a point
Two post-budget opinion polls have thudded onto our electronic doorsteps this morning, heralding good news for the Prime Minister and Treasurer on their "save our jobs" budget.
Yet the man feted only a week ago as the master budget salesman, Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, has suddenly gone in missing in action.
According to the Newspoll and Ipsos surveys, voters are considerably happier with this year's budget than they were with the 2014 economic omnishambles.
This will undoubtedly come as a relief to PM Abbott and Treasurer Hockey, who have both had to abandon any attempt at budget repair to restore the Government to voters' good graces and thereby drag their political futures back from the brink.
The kicker in this morning's polls however is that the budget doesn't appear to have been embraced by women.
on 18-05-2015 11:35 AM
How the rise of the lobbyist is corrupting Australia's democracy
There are 266 lobbying entities registered in Canberra with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. On top of these "third party" lobbyists, there are the special interests who conduct their own lobbying. These lobbyists encompass a range of interests including mining, clubs, hospitals, private health funds, business and hotels, that have all successfully challenged government policy and the public interest. Just think what the Minerals Council of Australia did to subvert public discussion on the Mining Super Profits Tax, or the activities of Clubs Australia to thwart gambling reform, or the polluters over an Emissions Trading Scheme and the Carbon Tax.
I estimate there are more than 1000 lobbyists, part time and full time and of all shapes and sizes, operating in Canberra. Secret lobbying is pervasive and insidious
this is just an interesting article to read
on 18-05-2015 11:45 AM
You keep mentioning Rowan Dean and an article I supposedly posted from him, so present it, because I really can not remember doing so, and it should be easy to find. As for Bolt, I guess you have memory problems ALSO!
Haha I see you're still reading and quoting the daily telegraph.... Full of RWNJ biased nonsense as always. Didn't you read the article Bella posted about people on welfare earning more than workers? LOL
I did indeed see BA's post, and a copy of the same from A3:
BA
A3
Haha I see they're still reading and quoting the daily telegraph.... Full of RWNJ biased nonsense as always. Must have something of interest if they C&P it, even more so in duplicate, and BA added some comments! CHUCKLE