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.

[***super_nova***]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

Good government started yesterday.

What have we had for the last 17 months?

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Well, according to TA:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=385480664966679&fref=nf

[debra9275]

Nova

the adults are in charge now 

[debra9275]

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/why-the-government-is-a-brake-on-the-economy-20150209-13972i.html

When trust vanishes, it's awfully hard to restore. That's because it vanishes slowly. Joe Hockey's first budget was far worse than it seemed on the night in part because he didn't tell us the truth about it on the night. The usual calculations showing the households that won or lost were missing.  The Treasury had prepared them as usual, but the Treasurer withheld them.

And he made up stuff. He said Treasury had told him that fuel excise was "a progressive tax". It hadn't. He said the poorest Australians "either don't have cars or actually don't drive very far in many cases," something many of them know to be untrue. Petrol takes up a much bigger share of a low-income budgets than high-income budgets.  

He said his own wealthy electorate of North Sydney had "one of the highest bulk-billing rates in Australia". It had one of the very lowest in all of Sydney. He said "higher income households pay half their income in tax". They pay nothing like half. Even those on $200,000 pay just 36 per cent. Back from his holidays this January, he revived the claim and went further saying typical Australians pay nearly half their income in tax.

"When Australians spend the first six months of the year working for the government with tax rates nearly 50c in the dollar it is a disincentive. You're working July, August, September, October, November, December just for the government and then you start working for yourself and your own household income after that for another six months, he said.

But Australia's tax-to-GDP ratio is about 30 per cent, including all taxes, state and federal. It simply can't be the case that typical Australians pay nearly half their income in tax. They don't.

And exaggerated claims have eaten away at trust. Hockey said Australia was on track to run out of money to pay for its health, welfare and education systems. The figures put forward by his then health minister suggested otherwise. In ten years the cost of Medicare had climbed 124 per cent, the cost of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme 90 per.... But Australia's gross domestic product - the money we would use to pay for these things - climbed 94 per cent.

The government tells us it's concerned about future generations, but won't release the Treasury's intergenerational report. It tells us it wants a discussion about tax, but won't release the tax discussion paper finalised late last year.

[debra9275]

these poll figures are shocking (if you're an LNP supporter)

[debra9275]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-10/labor-accuses-pm-of-making-up-defence-term-to-win-spill-votes/...

Labor has accused the Prime Minister's office of making up a term about Australia's biggest ever Defence project to win the party room votes of South Australian MPs.

Whether the Government builds its next fleet of submarines locally or overseas is a hot political issue in South Australia, where thousands of jobs could be on the line.

On Sunday night Tony Abbott, in the hunt for crucial party room votes, confirmed the contract worth tens of billions of dollars would be awarded through what he called "a competitive evaluation process".

It appeased South Australian Liberal senator Sean Edwards, but he admits he had not heard the term until now.

"Defence has a way in which they operate and that's the terminology they use," Senator Edwards told the ABC.

"But when I spoke to the Prime Minister and I said 'let me be very clear does that mean ASC (the SA-based Government ship builder) would be able to participate in this process' and he confirmed that they would."

I feel sorry for this SA Senator, because he thought he won something... but in actual fact he hasn't

[debra9275]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/08/us-australia-windfarms-idUSKBN0LC00C20150208

Australian windfarms face $13 billion wipeout from political impasse

(Reuters) - Australia faces a A$17 billion ($13.3 billion) exodus of investment from its windfarm industry because of a political deadlock, threatening to deal the country a major economic blow and kill hopes of meeting a self-imposed clean energy target.

That support hit a roadblock a year ago when new conservative prime minister Tony Abbott ordered a review of the country's target for clean energy use by 2020, which ultimately recommended slashing it by a third, in line with falling overall energy demand. A lower target would mean a lower certificate price.

The center-left Labor opposition, whose support the government needs to lower the target, refused to budge on the higher target it set when in power in 2009, resulting in an impasse that has effectively seen the industry grind to a halt.

[cherry*135]

Bad cop Credlin wields power at Abbott's command

Credlin has been so central to Abbott's personal rise, and Abbott is so indebted to her, that the prime minister refuses to do without her.
In the prelude to Monday's spill motion in the Liberal Party room, the Financial Review's Phillip Coorey reported that Abbott's supporters were urging him to dump Credlin to save himself. One unnamed MP reportedly said: "If Abbott offers up Peta Credlin, he will buy himself some very, very valuable time."

Abbott refused to yield to the pressure, but he did seek to assuage some of the criticism by granting ministers some more freedoms.
Last week ministers were told they could now choose their own junior staff without reference to the Credlin vetting committee known as the "star chamber".

Ministers could now travel overseas with two aides instead of one. And so on.

And last week, for the first time, the cabinet met without Credlin in the room. But even as MPs walked from the party room after Monday's vote, they were muttering darkly about her. Fairfax Media's Latika Bourke reports that "several MPs expressed disappointment that the Prime Minister did not make any concessions regarding his controversial chief of staff Peta Credlin, whom many MPs want removed.
"'It doesn't mean jack if his office doesn't change," said one MP immediately after the meeting. '[Credlin] has to go,' said another."

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/bad-cop-credlin-wields-power-at-abbotts-command-20150209-139...

[cherry*135]

Why the government is a brake on the economy

Abbott says we’re on the right path, but the numbers paint a different picture. Such exaggerated claims have eaten away at the public’s trust.

Here's what's missing: trust. Not just between Abbott and his backbenchers, but also between Abbott and us. If anything, the leadership contest has made things worse.

...Take a moment to consider the achievements and the direction in which things are heading. That year began with a quarterly rate of economic growth of 1 per cent. After the budget, it slid to 0.5 per cent, and then to 0.3 per cent. It's falling, rather than rising. The direction is down

Unemployment is worse than it was at the peak of the global financial crisis. The Reserve Bank expects it to get worse still.

Hockey and Cormann will tell you that while unemployment is growing, employment is too. But it's not, really. The number of hours worked per month grew barely at all throughout 2014. More people may have been employed at the end of the year than the start but on average they've been working less, some shifting to part-time work and others to fewer hours of full-time work.

None of these facts would surprise anyone in business or anyone looking for a job. What would surprise them would be to hear from the team at the top that things are "heading in the right direction". It would make them think they were being lied to.

When trust vanishes, it's awfully hard to restore. That's because it vanishes slowly. Joe Hockey's first budget was far worse than it seemed on the night in part because he didn't tell us the truth about it on the night. The usual calculations showing the households that won or lost were missing.  The Treasury had prepared them as usual, but the Treasurer withheld them.

Without trust we lack confidence. We are neither spending nor investing what we should. Business and consumer confidence has been sliding since September.

Specific businesses are at a standstill. Universities don't know what fees they will be allowed to charge, students enrolling don't know what fees they will eventually be asked to pay, doctors don't know what will happen to their incomes, big businesses don't know whether they will be hit with the 1.5 per cent paid parental leave levy and what it will be used for.

If they applied themselves, Abbott and his ministers could methodically work through each of these issues. But they wouldn't be trusted.

The government itself has become an impediment to economic growth. It had the ability to make a fresh start. On Monday it didn't take it.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-the-government-is-a-brake-on-the-economy-20150209-13972i.html

[cherry*135]

Poll: Do you think Tony Abbott will lead the Liberal Party to the next federal election?

Yes -13%

No  - 87%

Total votes: 26889.

Poll closes in 10 hours.

[monman12]

From the pink tinged Guardian: Peta Credlin has become a lightning rod for discontent driven by fear

You would have thought the Libs would have learned from history,  sorry A3,  taken a leaf out of the ALP manifesto and hired an overseas media adviser on a 457 Visa.