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.
nerowulf....
''When the government says Medicare is unsustainable, it's lying,'' Richardson says. ''The Australian government could spend much more on health if it wished. It's simply a political and social judgment that it doesn't want to.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/is-this-the-end-of-medicare-20140609-39t2b.htm...
"''When the government says Medicare is unsustainable, it's lying,'' Richardson says. ''The Australian government could spend much more on health if it wished. It's simply a political and social judgment that it doesn't want to.''"
It would appear that selective quotes are still in favour, as it would appear that the actual statement was:
"Mr Dutton said Medicare Benefits Schedule spending had grown at a ''rapid'' rate over the past decade and some argued this growth was ''unsustainable''.
Is that statement as reliable as the one from another post that stated: "The health budget is not out of control. As a proportion of GDP, Australia’s healthcare spending has remained constant"?, which is complete nonsense.
Richardson also states: "Health spending probably will rise as a share of GDP, but the economy is flexible". Interesting, when you consider the two statements in conjunction! Which one is the favoured one? (non C&P accepted).
"This budget is unsustainable because the wider implications of its measures haven't been thought through. By knocking back its worst features, the Senate will be doing the Coalition (and the nation) a favour."
Ross Gittins , June 2014
That would be the same Ross Gittins who wrote in May 2014:
"Any experienced voter who didn't foresee that changing the government would mean this year's budget was a stinker, isn't paying enough attention.
Labor supporters want to believe that because Hockey and Tony Abbott are exaggerating about a ''budget emergency'' and ''tsunami of government spending'', we don't really have a problem. They are refusing to face reality.
After running budget deficits for six years in a row, we faced the prospect of at least another decade of deficits unless Hockey took steps to bring government spending and revenue back together. Failure to make tough decisions wouldn't have turned us into Greece, but since when was that the most we aspired to?
The economy is expected to be a lot stronger by the time Tuesday's measures take full effect. This carefully measured approach is what wins Hockey high marks for macro-economic management.
I give Joe Hockey's first budgetary exam a distinction on management of the macro economy, a credit on micro-economic reform and a fail on fairness."
I think Gittins enjoys a "flutter" on the horses occasionally, which makes it easier for selective quotes of either colour !.
Ross Gittins , June 2014
That would be the same Ross Gittins who wrote in May 2014:
His June opinion overides any earlier ones.
Liberal senatorSue Boyce slams Abbott 'sexism'
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is ''a sexist'' and the Coalition has been ''dog whistling'' with its asylum seeker policies, says retiring Liberal senator Sue Boyce in an extraordinary exit interview.
Reflecting on her career in Parliament - she retires at the end of June - Senator Boyce said she thought Julia Gillard's famous misogyny speech was ''powerful'' and, for Ms Gillard's purposes, ''a brilliant speech''. But she thought the former prime minister had used the wrong word to describe Mr Abbott.
''I think it would have been more accurate if she had called him a sexist,'' she said.
Illustration: Matt Golding.
''But singling [Mr Abbott] out as a sexist was not reasonable either,'' she added, saying the Prime Minister was one of many ''subtle'' sexists in federal Parliament.
