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.

[boris1gary]

[debra9275]

this is what I was looking for

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s3990964

SAUL ESLAKE: No, that's true, and to be fair, the Coalition government in - under John Howard and Peter Costello also went under their - after their own constituency in the first budget of their term of office. Remember things like the superannuation surcharge and other measures that clearly hit the Coalition's own supporters. Of course, from one perspective, that's a rational political strategy to follow, is to hit the people who'll never vote for you and hit the people who you can be confident will always vote for you, so that you have something to give to those whose votes are, as some would put it, up for sale. That was a key defining characteristic of Peter Costello's first budget and it may be something that Joe Hockey is thinking about as well.

[boris1gary]

heavy lifting....................
  http://www.theage.com.au/national/ian-watt-and-fellow-public-service-chiefs-win-pay-rises-of-up-to-4...

  Ian Watt and fellow public service chiefs win pay rises of up to $42,000

Australia's top public servant will get a $42,000 wage rise in July as industrial strife looms over pay rises for the Commonwealth's 160,000 rank-and-file bureaucrats.

Ian Watt, secretary of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Department, will be on $844,000 plus perks as he and the Commonwealth's 17 other top departmental bosses get pay rises of more than 5 per cent.

Reprieved Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson, who was due to be sacked in July, will instead enjoy a pay rise of almost $40,000, taking his salary to $824,000.

Unions are predicting conflict this year over the government's hardline bargaining position on the wages of ordinary public servants, which will see them offered no pay rises that are not tied to ''genuine productivity gains'' - which might include longer working hours.

Public Service Minister Eric Abetz says a 4 per cent annual wage increase claimed by unions for government staffers is ''out of touch'' with community expectations and is unsustainable.

The minister said on Wednesday the dramatic pay rises for his departmental chiefs were the result of a decision made more than two years ago by the independent Remuneration Tribunal, and had nothing to do with the policies of the Abbott government.

Mr Watt's July pay rise will be his third in 12 months, taking his annual wage from $760,000 plus 15 per cent superannuation and a government-provided car in July 2013 to $844,000 in July 2014.

The defence and foreign affairs bosses, Dennis Richardson and Peter Varghese, will each get $34,000 boosts to their wages, taking them to almost $800,000.

[boris1gary]

so they are saying it has nothing to do with the Abbott govt, these massive pay rises for the already highly paid Public Service bosses, well why not scrap it then, like they have scrapped just about everything else done under Labor. Won't be holding my breath for that to happen. LNP song - Hit the Poor and Hit them Hard.

[boris1gary]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/government-could-save-13-bn-on-mining-fuel-credits-depreci... 

Government could save $13 bn on mining fuel credits, depreciation: Greens

The Abbott government could save $13 billion if it fixed a tax distortion that unfairly favoured Australia’s mining industry, the Greens say.

New costings from the Parliamentary Budget Office show the government could save billions of dollars over the next four years if it abolished so-called fuel tax credits and accelerated depreciation tax concessions for the mining industry.

Both of those measures give a “huge advantage” to the mining industry over the tourism and manufacturing industries, the Greens say.

The costings show the federal budget could be strengthened if the government abolished fuel tax credits for mining companies, which are worth more than $5 billion a year.

The government could also increase its revenue if it dumped exploration tax concessions for the mining industry.

[monman12]

Now for some (obviously) omitted background:

The 1.5%  levy will be upon approximately 3000 Australian companies with taxable incomes greater than $5 million.
So who will benefit from the 1.5% cut in the company tax rate? Small businesses within Australia, over 2 million of them. Thus if you actually think about the changes,  you would realise that the the majority  will now pay less tax, and be better off, than than the more affluent minority.
I would have thought B1G that would be right out of the red hued manifesto.

nɥºɾ

[boris1gary]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/audit-not-privy-to-multibilliondollar-direc... 

Audit not privy to multibillion-dollar direct action plan to reduce emissions

The Abbott government's multibillion-dollar "direct action" carbon reduction plan was not considered by the commission of audit, and key details of the scheme remain unknown.

 The head of the audit of government spending, Tony Shepherd, told Fairfax Media that the commission had not considered the controversial $3.2 billion policy because it was not provided with any details.

The comments come ahead of the imminent release of the government’s "direct action" white paper - expected as early as Thursday - elements of which have been closely guarded by the office of Environment Minister Greg Hunt.

The paper is expected to clarify key pieces of information, including how "direct action" will work and the mechanisms behind the key component of the policy, the $1.55 billion emissions reduction fund.

Mr Shepherd said on Wednesday the commission had been unable to assess "direct action" because there was no information available on the policy during the three months it was conducting its review.

“The Commission of Audit couldn’t really look at it because we didn’t have a policy to look at,” he said.

“If they had a policy and it was out there we would have had a look at it, but in the absence of any detail we couldn’t.”

[boris1gary]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australian-greens-model-millionaire-taxes-f...

  Australian Greens model millionaire taxes for Tony Abbott and his rich friends

Taxing trusts as if they were companies and applying a new top marginal tax rate on incomes of more than $1 million would raise billions of dollars for the Commonwealth budget and alleviate pressure to slash welfare programs for the genuinely needy, the Greens have said.

The country's third political force has commissioned an updated independent costing of the two proposals originally put forward by the Parliamentary Budget Office, as an alternative to a raft of harsh spending cuts being considered by the Abbott government.

The move has been calculated to illustrate the ways that Australia's rich and poor are being cast in the Abbott government's narrative of a budget emergency.

These measures have yet to be announced but speculation is rife in Canberra that the first Hockey budget could contain decisions to tighten eligibility for the age pension, make GP visits more expensive through the application of a co-payment by patients of $6, and even see a crackdown on eligibility for the Disability Support Pension.

The PBO modelling found the move to scrap the generous taxation treatment of discretionary trusts, of which there are some 550,000 in operation at present, would raise some $3.3 billion over the four-year budget period from July 1, this year.

[boris1gary]

http://theaimn.com/2014/04/24/the-omniscient-maurice-newman/

  The omniscient Maurice Newman

Maurice Newman is the head of Tony Abbott’s Business Advisory Council, a group established to meet three times a year with senior members of the government and “help guide programmes and policies that are sympathetic to the needs of both small and large businesses in Australia”.

The 75-year-old former stockbroker, banker and chair of the ABC and the ASX, has apparently also become a self-appointed expert on climate change regardless of the fact that he has absolutely no scientific qualifications whatsoever.

In 2010, Christopher Monckton and James Hansen both toured Australia. Monckton is a fruitcake with no scientific qualifications at all. He is paid by people like Gina Rinehart to promote climate change denial. Hansen is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He is best known for his research in the field of climatology, his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in 1988 that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change.

Maurice Newman was the chairman of the ABC at the time. He believed that climate sceptics and denialists didn’t get a run in the media. Monckton was given extensive national coverage on television, radio and online. Hansen did one interview with Philip Adams. Monckton was discussed 161 times on the ABC while Hansen was only mentioned nine times.

In an interview with the Australian in December last year Mr Newman argued Australia had fallen “hostage to climate change madness”. He said climate change policies have been a major factor in the collapse of Australia’s manufacturing sector. He accused the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of “dishonesty and deceit” as it focuses on “exploiting the masses and extracting more money” in a climate crusade.

“The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling. Global temperatures have gone nowhere for 17 years. Now, credible German scientists claim that ‘the global temperature will drop until 2100 to a value corresponding to the little ice age of 1870’.”

[fourandsixpants]