Diary of our stinking opposition

[village_person]

Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh shifts position on previous support for a GP fee

Labor's shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh was once a strong supporter of a compulsory fee for visits to the doctor - a policy now slammed by the opposition as a “GP tax” that would hurt the community’s most vulnerable.

But in a 2003 Sydney Morning Herald article Dr Leigh, then a PhD student in economics at Harvard University, argued a Medicare co-payment was “hardly a radical idea”.

“As health researchers have shown, cost-less medical care means that people go to the doctor even when they don't need to, driving up the cost for all of us," Dr Leigh and co-author Richard Holden wrote.

“But there's a better way of operating a health system, and the change should hardly hurt at all.

“As economists have shown, the ideal model involves a small co-payment - not enough to put a dent in your weekly budget, but enough to make you think twice before you call the doc."

Dr Leigh argued the fee should be enough to deter “frivolous GP visits”, but not enough to limit genuine preventive care. The fee should apply to everyone, including pensioners, except those who are chronically ill, he wrote.

Dr Leigh, who has opposed the proposal in media appearances over recent weeks, told Fairfax Media: "Since 2003, a lot has changed in the health care system, and I've changed my view on co-payments.

 “A GP co-payment was originally a Hawke government proposal led by Brian Howe, a member of the Left faction,” he said.

“As long as it is applied fairly across the community, a co-payment is a perfectly valid policy measure. If Andrew Leigh, before he had to toe the party line, recognised that then I welcome his contribution to the debate. I respect Andrew Leigh as a sensible economist.”

On Saturday, Dr Leigh, a former professor of economics at the Australian National University, distanced himself from an article he wrote in 2004 supporting fee deregulation for universities – another policy opposed by Labor.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-frontbencher-andrew-leigh-shifts-positio...

Yes, it’s the very well respected ALP whey-faced Dr Andrew Leigh who virtually declared his previous books and speeches as mere works of fiction. This brings into sharp focus Dr Leigh's economics degree.

[idlewhile]

He's a union hack, what else do you expect from this type.

He started out with the "single mother"  mantra, then went feral on his lies and scaremongering re poles and wires being "sold off" a complete lie, then he insults a whole electorate. Loser.

Loser

[icyfroth]

THE NSW election was meant to finish off Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Instead, the big Liberal victory threatens Labor leader Bill Shorten.

He’s in trouble because Labor in NSW ran a Shorten-style campaign — dishonest, negative and populist — that backfired.

Now Shorten is under pressure to explain why his own campaign would work any better.

How fast the tables have turned.

Just two months ago, most of the media — egged on by supporters of Malcolm Turnbull — insisted Abbott had to be dumped.

They claimed Abbott was so poisonously unpopular that he could kill the NSW Baird Government.

And so the Sydney Morning Herald, on February 5, claimed: “Federal MPs are under pressure from state colleagues to line up behind Malcolm Turnbull and force a change ...”

Except Abbott survived. And even thrived.

The Government’s poll figures have steadily recovered as Abbott dropped dud policies, talked more of hope, and put oppose-everything Shorten under pressure with a simple question: But what would Labor do instead?

And that last question is why the NSW results hurt Shorten so much.

True, Labor got a swing, but the previous election result was so crazily one-sided — the Coalition holding 69 of the 93 seats — that some correction was inevitable.

That was even more certain after Liberal MPs were caught taking unlawful campaign donations, and after Labor replaced its unelectable leader, John Robertson, with the more personable Luke Foley.

Labor dreamed then of winning back 20 seats, and even of snatching victory. Instead, it won back just 14.

First, in NSW, Labor banked on Abbott being so hated that NSW voters would ignore the real issues just to give him a kick.

“Tony Abbott and Mike Baird, peas in a pod. Both stand for selling off our essential assets,” Foley insisted.

“If Mr Baird goes next Saturday, Mr Abbott goes on the Monday,” he pleaded.

It didn’t work. Policies do count, after all.

Shorten, too, has lazily bet on the mad anti-Abbott campaign pushed by much of the media — a campaign now so unhinged that voters increasingly distrust the diatribes.

Entire Article Here

I thought that “If Mr Baird goes next Saturday, Mr Abbott goes on the Monday," slogan particularly distasteful.

[icyfroth]

Appalled, shocked and sick to her stomach, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she had made the decision which may cost her government, just two months after coming to power.

Ms Palaszczuk wasted no time on Sunday announcing she had asked Labor state secretary Evan Moorhead to expel Cook MP Billy Gordon over his failure to disclose elements of his past, including criminal convictions.

She said she made the only decision she could and had advised him to resign, which could spark a byelection in the north Queensland seat.

Given Labor holds power only through the support of independent MP Peter Wellington, the decision could cost Ms Palaszczuk government.

Entire Article Here

Aren't MP's investigated BEFORE they get positions in government?

[lloydslights]

I'd have thought they would be "vetted" before they were nominated for any election; or position in the Public Service for that matter.

DEB

[watta*drama*queen]

The question I have is:

Exactly when was Palaszczuk 'advised' of this situation ?

Guess we will never really know with any certainty !

[polksaladallie]

Yes, we do.

[idlewhile]

Good work Icy.

[idlewhile]

A police check was done on him and all relevant information re his long rap sheet was forthcoming and provided.

Labor said they did the check and it came up clean.....who's lying here? the police or Labor?? I'll give you three guesses and the 1st  two aren't counted.

What's with her manner of speaking, it's infantile and every second word  is umm.

[crosbystills]

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@idlewhile wrote:

What's with her manner of speaking, it's infantile and every second word  is ummm.

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I'd always assumed you were an Abbott supporter (just a hunch). I guess you've never heard him speak.

[polksaladallie]

           Or not speak.