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.
@icyfroth wrote:
@debra9275 wrote:
@*julia*2010 wrote:that's right Icy, I don't need to work, thanks to hubby. I'm pretty much free to do whatever I please
wow, you must really love this
forum.
not as much as Icy does
Our post count tells a different story.
there is only one of me too 
The old ' nothing valid to say resort to off topic personal comments' at play.
Now including facebook quotes
The Courier Mail
PREMIERCampbell Newman was said to be furious during the opening days of the campaign as federal Liberals including Trade Minister Andrew Robb mused publicly about expanding the Goods and Services Tax.
It was a distraction as unwelcome as it was unnecessary, particularly for a Premier trying to get a campaign over and done with during the holiday season before focus again turns to the federal sphere and the performance of the Abbott Government.
One can only imagine then, how incensed Mr Newman must be with the debacle surrounding proposed changes to Medicare – a topic that has hijacked public debate this week.
Even prior to the tide of public anger that erupted over details of Medicare changes that were due to commence this coming Monday and would have seen up to another $20 added to the cost of a doctor’s visit and undermine the bulk billing system, Prime Minister Abbott was a major issue in the Queensland poll.
Certainly this was reflected in recent Courier-Mail Galaxy polling that showed nearly one in three voters were less likely to vote LNP at a state level because of the performance of the Abbott Government.
Labor – campaigning with federal leader Bill Shorten in tow and well aware of voters’ abiding antipathy toward Mr Abbott – have not missed a single opportunity to ask “where’s Tony”, goading the LNP constantly about the Prime Minister’s conspicuous absence from the campaign trail.
Then the Medicare furore erupted, as people realised what was previously a quick visit to the doctor for a referral or to renew a prescription was likely to cost them a lot more come next week.
Mr Abbott, while ostensibly on holidays, took to commercial radio on Wednesday to defend the rebate changes, and tried to lay the blame for any fee increases at the feet of GPs.
But as was the story with the Government’s failed co-payment, doctors had not been consulted about the proposed policy shift – something most reasonable people would think might logically be the first step for formulating policy supposedly aimed at improving the efficiency and sustainability of Australia’s public health care system.
Instead it was delivered as a fait accompli, with details and a commencement date right smack in the middle of what is a fairly tight Queensland election contest, forcing Mr Newman to counter constant questions about what is really a federal issue. The logic behind the timing – let alone the lack of consultation in the process – would almost beggar belief had we not seen it before, with an increase to the petrol excise arriving in the middle of the Victorian election, which for the record saw the defeat of the Napthine Liberal government after just one term.
Like the excise move, the Medicare changes were to be introduced via regulation, opening the Government up to charges of a sneaky tax slug that bypassed the scrutiny of the Parliament.
Putting aside for the moment the fiscal and social equity arguments for and against streamlining Medicare, the politics of the matter have been spectacularly inept. As late as 10am yesterday, Federal Government MPs were defending the Medicare shift in public forums. By lunchtime newly appointed Health Minister Sussan Ley had canned the changes.
It is January. The beaches are packed. Federal Parliament does not resume until next month. Australians certainly don’t need to be enraged by what is widely perceived – rightly or wrongly – as a back door assault on universal health care and their hip pockets.
Much public criticism of the Abbott Government centres on a claim that it is out of touch with ordinary Australians and exists in a bubble world far removed from the rest of us.
That may be open to debate, but the addle-headed mishandling in highly contentious policy areas at a politically delicate time for their state counterparts is an epic fail. Mr Newman has every right to be absolutely livid
