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]

 a little bit of past history

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-21/swan-named-best-treasurer/2908654

Swan named world's best treasurer

Treasurer Wayne Swan has been awarded the prestigious finance minister of the year award for his handling of the Australian economy.

The award is judged by leading European banking and finance magazine Euromoney on advice from global bankers and investors.

Each year the award honours the finance minister, treasurer or central bank governor whose decisions "have directly benefited both the performance and perception of their country's economic and financial achievements".

Australia survived the global financial crisis without suffering the recession that crippled most Western economies and has registered strong growth during the latest downturn which has hit other countries hard

how odd that there are no Australian LNP  treasurers on this list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euromoney_Finance_Minister_of_the_Year

[cherry*135]

Row over UOW donations to Liberal Party functions

Coalition winner from Wollongong Uni’s $26,000 in donations

The University of Wollongong has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the Coalition in the past four years, nearly five times as much as given to Labor, despite the potential for a conflict of interest for people closely connected with sitting state and federal MPs.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show 82 per cent of $26,175 in donations since late 2010 have flowed to Liberal candidates.

This included $1000 for a private dinner with the NSW state MP for Kiama, Gareth Ward, whose staffer sits on the UOW’s governing council.

Canio Fierravanti, the brother of Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, is the university’s director of government relations.

His signature appears on earlier contribution disclosures,in 2009, made for Liberal fundraising dinners. The Australian is not suggesting he signed off on subsequent donations.

Mr Fierravanti was named as representing a potential conflict by Senator Fierravanti-Wells in the Senate register last year.

UOW said the “conflict of interest” had been fully declared by Mr Fierravanti, who referred The Australian to the university’s media office when contacted yesterday. Grattan Institute analyst Andrew Norton said he was not aware of universities ever directly donating to a political party, although there was the occasional attendance of fundraisers to gain access to politicians, with the fee appearing in campaign records.

A UOW spokesman said attendance of political events was “entirely dependent on the relevance of the speaker and the topic to the university”.

A list of functions attended shows a number of donations to state MPs far from the Labor-dominated electorates surrounding the UOW campus.

UOW donated $800 for a lunch with former Liberal member of Terrigal Chris Hartcher, and gave $2200 to the South Australian branch of the Liberal Party for an event with Joe Hockey when he was opposition Treasury spokesman, as well as $2000 for a dinner with Christopher Pyne when he was opposition education spokesman.

There were donations made for events co-ordinated for Sydney’s upper north shore electorate of Bradfield, and others for events held in the Davidson state electorate, also in Sydney’s north.

Graeme Orr, a professor of electoral law at the University of Queensland, said the donations appeared to be corporate networking contributions to buy access to ministers. “It’s inappropriate for them to make any outright political donation, and any party fundraising should be very occasional and not skewed,” he said.

The UOW said: “The distribution of political donations is simply a result of the fact over this period that invitations from the Coalition far outweighed invitations from Labor.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/coalition-winner-from-wollongong-unis-26000-in-dona...

[cherry*135]

The National Tertiary Education Union’s national president Jeannie Rea said she was “astounded” to hear of “effective donations made to political parties”.

“Universities are public in­stitutions and publicly-funded institutions, and politicians are already well paid on the public payroll, it’s their duty to attend to uni­versities,” she said.

Ms Rea dismissed any similarity between the NTEU’s pol­itical spending, and said it was money from union members that was used for campaigning but not donated to any political party.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/row-over-uow-donations-to-liberal-party-functions/s...

[polksaladallie]

Andrew Laming just got thrown out for 24 hours, on a vote.  I had the sound muted and missed the reason. It was following speeches about the air crash, (black clothes and grim faces),   Anyone see it?

I will watch Ch 2 later, hoping House of Reps will be on rather than the senate.

[debra9275]

I saw it polks- it was something about pouring oil or fuel out of a bottle in the Federation chambers last night. It sounded as if he had been in some sort of discussion with a female minister- weird stuff

[gleee58]

[polksaladallie]

---

@am*3 wrote:

25 March 2015

Mr Hockey said he hoped to have the Budget back in surplus “as soon as possible”.

---

This is how far ahead Hockey can see.

 

[cherry*135]

Strange thing to do.  Another nutter?

Andrew Laming ejected from Parliament after pouring fuel on himself in chamber

Liberal MP has been thrown out of Parliament and scolded by the Speaker for bringing a jar of black "bunker" fuel into the chamber and pouring it out onto his hand, in protest at the pollution left by cruise ship liners.

Last night, the member for the Brisbane-based seat of Bowman Andrew Laming was speaking in the Parliament's Federation chamber, calling on cruise ship operators to "clean up their act", when he presented a container of the fuel to back his argument.

"This stuff should not be burnt close to where people live, this stuff is revolting" he told the chamber, pouring the fuel onto his hands, rubbing them together and spilling the fuel on the desk and floor.

Speaker Bronwyn Bishop has taken the Government backbencher to task over the "reckless" and "serious" incident and suspended him from the House for 24 hours.

"In his remarks the member himself acknowledged the dangerous nature of the material, setting aside the member's own offence in making use of props it is highly disorderly to bring dangerous and flammable substances into each of the chambers," she said.

"I consider the member's actions to be totally disorderly, disrespectful of the house and the Federation Chamber and potentially dangerous to the health and safety of members and staff of the Federation Chamber."

Ms Bishop asked him to apologise.

"I do apologise," he told Parliament.

Attendants were seen to try to help Mr Laming clean up the fuel spill and the Speaker confirmed the chamber had been damaged.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/liberal-mp-andrew-lamining-ejected-parliament-bringing-fuel-in...

[polksaladallie]

He might have been drinking it before the incident. 

 

[debra9275]

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/julie-bishop-looks-to-get-australia-back-on...

my , my, how things change  does everyone remember how the LNP scoffed at Labor for winning this seat in the first place

Australia is looking to get itself back on the United Nations Security Council just months after finishing a tumultuous two-year term that covered the MH17 crisis and the emergence of the Islamic State terror group.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop revealed in a speech on Wednesday night to the United Nations Association of Australia that she was keen for another term on the world's foremost multilateral decision-making body.

"I am currently scoping the opportunities for our next term on the UNSC," she said.

Australia ended its two-year term – which was secured by the former Labor government in spite of only lukewarm enthusiasm by the Coalition – on December 31.