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.

[cherry*135]

Not just my opinion... It was a dumb scheme and has been proven so. ( over 50's employment incentive)



Aps wrote: former Goth now Christian business-class-flying cougar-queen'

Sussan Ley

"As a high school student in Canberra in the 1970s, Ley walked around with no shoes, black lipstick, spiky purple hair, a dog collar, and a nose piercing connected to the razor blade in her ear.

....But she hated high school in the nation's capital and her punk-rocker side soon emerged.

[cherry*135]

Another one of the employment schemes that struggle to meet targets.

"Meanwhile, another job-creation scheme has also struggled to gain traction. The Tasmanian Jobs Programme, which offers $3250 to employers in an effort to revive the state's sluggish labour market, has created 114 jobs in its first year. The government said it would employ 2000 Tasmanians over two years."

[aps1080]

Stop the eco terrorists and Greens and get the logging industry back on track

and you'll have your 2000 jobs in 3 months !

[cherry*135]

Doubt it.

[aps1080]

Am

And contrast what both of them had done since ?

Sussan Ley anyday.

BTW, did you ask Susan if she has relinquished all her ties with Nigeria where she was born ?

[aps1080]

'AM

Why do you say that ?

Employ a hell of a lot more than the Greens ever will.

[cherry*135]

I remember Gunn's being one choice (of three companies) at Uni for an assignment on Corporate Social Responsibility ( all bad examples).
The other choices were James Hardie & a tobacco company. (2007)

[debra9275]

from what I've read, Gunns illegal practices destroyed the reputation of the logging industry in Tas

[aps1080]

To be honest, 2000 jobs in the Timber industry might be a bridge too far for one industry but a fair few could be created.

[cherry*135]

wiki

Gunns Limited is a major forestry enterprise located in Tasmania, Australia. It has operations in forest management, woodchipping, sawmilling and veneer production. The company was placed in voluntary administration in September 2012.

The company employs over 1,200 people and has suffered a dramatic turnaround in revenue in recent years, going from a turnover in excess of A$600 million in 2006, to a loss of over $350 million in 2011.

Tasmania

Gunns operated sawmills across the state. It operated a total of three woodchipping mills in Tasmania alone in Longreach; near Bell Bay, Triabunna and Hampshire; near Burnie. The company was forced to close all three of these woodchipping mills and most of its sawmills in 2011. After being placed into voluntary administration in 2012, the Longreach mill was reopened and began exporting woodchips once again.

In 2008, operations at a sawmill in Scottsdale were restructured, resulting in the loss of 70 jobs. The sackings broke an agreement with the federal government, leading to the cancellation of substantial funding assistance.

In the same year, around 135 workers at another Auspine sawmill at Tonganah lost their jobs after a softwood timber contract had gone to a competitor.

Criticism

The company has been the focus of criticism from environmentalists, primarily for its four woodchip mills which produce 4 million tonnes of chips for export annually. Green groups claim that native forests are harvested specifically for woodchipping, whereas Gunns claim that the majority of their chips come from residue from their sawmilling and veneer operations.

Gunns' major customers are paper producers in Northern Asia, mainly Japan, including Mitsubishi, Nippon and Oji Paper.

Gunns has also been criticized for its logging operations in the Styx Valley and for its use of 1080 poison to kill wildlife including protected species (baiting and particularly aerial spraying of forest prior to clearfelling.

In 1989, the chairman of Gunns, Edmund Rouse, unsuccessfully attempted to bribe a Labor member, Jim Cox, to cross the floor, which would have allowed the pro-logging Tasmanian government of premier Robin Gray and the Liberal Party to resume power.

A Royal Commission followed and convicted Rouse. Robin Gray became director of Gunns Limited on 21 February 2000. He retired from the position in 2010.

Further allegations of corruption appeared when Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania, had his heritage home renovated by a Gunns-owned company at the height of Gunns' push for the Bell Bay Pulp Mill. Lennon refused to disclose how much he paid for the renovations.