Oh yeah ........ Carnarvon in Western Australia was damaged pretty bad too. I wonder if they will get any flood levy money?? Naaahhhh ......
...Me thinks Joolya Gizzard is doing a wonderful job of politicising the Flood Levy all by herself without our help....
And here's another reason to not let current Labor governments get their hands on any sort of relief funds.
In the Sunday Mail today it tells of over $700,000 donation funds that the Qld government still hasn't distributed to the 2006 cyclone Larry victims...
If this goes ahead and there's another unexpected significant drawdown on the budget (another natural disaster for example), the ALP will be crucified at the next federal election as there will be no alternative but to extend the levy or sacrifice the 2012/13 surpless.- If there are really no government programs left to cut, no funds to spare and no alternatives to a tax hike - then the decisions taken over the past few years, which have placed the Commonwealth budget in such a dire fiscal situation, need to be scrutinised more than ever.
This thread is an embarrassment to the whole forum....you people should be ashamed of yourselves....politicising a disaster relief levy.
...and once again the left, faced with the utter failure of its own non-logic, indulges in futile attempts to claim the high moral ground.
Play the ball SC.
The Prime Minister claimed that "the great majority of Australians are ready to contribute". As she was specifically excluding that very same majority from contributing a single dollar.
This was perfectly if unwittingly captured by The Age's political correspondent Michael Gordon, who wrote that it was a levy most punters would be happy to pay. Quite so: most people would happily pay nothing.
The floods are a disaster yes. I am more than happy to do my bit to help with this national disaster.
HOWEVER, a great many people have commented over the past few years that this government was failing to set aside money "just in case" something bad happened. That comment has been made on various threads on ASF over the years and elsewhere.
As anyone with a bit of sense knows, sooner or later something goes wrong. You just don't get a run of constant good luck.
If it hadn't been a flood in Qld then it could have been an earthquake in NSW, fires in Vic / Tas / SA, some sort of disaster involving key critical infrastructure, terrorism, drought or whatever. Sooner or later, something is pretty certain to go wrong and that is why you put money aside to be able to cope when it does.
I'm happy to help the people in Qld just like I would be happy to help the people in NSW, ACT, Vic, SA, WA or NT and hopefully the favour would be returned if something drastic ever happens here in Tas. But I object absolutely to being asked to bail out a government which failed to plan for the inevitability that sooner or later, some sort of disaster would happen somewhere in Australia.
Floods, droughts, fires and so on are things that we all know happens from time to time and for which money should already have been set aside.
Sails, Ms Bligh responded to this on the radio lunchtime news.And here's another reason to not let current Labor governments get their hands on any sort of relief funds.
In the Sunday Mail today it tells of over $700,000 donation funds that the Qld government still hasn't distributed to the 2006 cyclone Larry victims...
Indeed.Exactly. Irrigators in SA had to suffer through a huge drought over the last decade and what was the gov's response? Cut their water entitlements (IE income) by 75% with no compensation. Isn't a drought classed as a natural disaster?
Brilliant idea...thought i doubt the ASF right will see it that way, i mean GG cant even take the "candy" options out of a poll and see it for what it is.
--------------------------------
This thread is an embarrassment to the whole forum....you people should be ashamed of yourselves....politicising a disaster relief levy.
Today's Poll
34267 votes since Jan 26 2011 Are you prepared to pay a flood levy?
Yes 23% 7995 votes
No 77% 26272 votes
Sails, Ms Bligh responded to this on the radio lunchtime news.
She said that $700K represents interest on the donated funds and by law cannot be paid out until all claims are settled. She said one claim remains to be settled and when that occurs all remaining money will be dispersed.
THE Commonwealth Bank is offering $57 million to assist with Queensland flood relief, with most of it going to insurance holders.
Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ralph Norris, joined by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, was in Brisbane today to announce the measures, which includes a $50 million "compassionate fund".
It will be directed to the bank's CommInsure home insurance customers, particularly those who were not covered for riverine floods under its policy.
Exactly right. Along these lines in the cyclone thread I quoted Bob Katters's comments on this amongst his insistence that we need a permanent disaster fund from which people experiencing catastrophic loss, wherever they are, and no matter how few the numbers, can draw.Indeed.
And if the creek near me flooded a dozen houses, then you can be pretty sure that the Australian Government won't be introducing a flood levy to help a dozen families in Tas. No, they'll be left completely to themselves apart from any help from locals.
It all comes down to politics. Yes the situation in Qld is a disaster that is for sure. But how many of those same people have lived through personal disasters over the past few years? Individual houses burnt or flooded, loss of income and so on? No doubt there's quite a few and yet nothing was done to help them.
But when you've got a million people affected, then something gets done. That's because it's not about helping people per se, it's about politics. We can't leave a million people to fend for themselves, but governments are quite happy to see smaller numbers suffer.
Either we are socialising losses, in which case there is no point in anyone having any insurance whatsoever, or we are not. End this nonsense where sometimes the loss is socialised, other times the same loss is not. It reeks of politics and game playing.
Ms Bligh has today stated that interest will be transferred to the flood fund.Thanks Julia - I had only read the article and hadn't heard her response. I wonder what happens to the interest on those donations
Yes, exactly the moral hazard I referred to above.I wonder what CBA's customers who have paid higher premiums for flood coverage think of this "compassion"?
http://www.news.com.au/money/bank-offers-57m-to-flood-victims/story-e6frfmci-1225997007883
No, I dont agree with a Levy
Unbelievable, says it all.
I'm sure if any handouts in any state (regardless of who is in power) weren't means tested, there'd be a thread on here in a heartbeat.Anna Bligh did a great job during the disaster and was well commended for it by both sides of politics (no politicising). But then Anna started to show her true colours again it by terribly stringent means testing before people could apply for donation fund.
I needed to remember why we are taxed in the first place. From the Aus. Gov.No, I dont agree with a Levy
Unbelievable, says it all.
Why we pay tax
Tax is money that people and businesses pay to the Australian Government. The money we collect helps pay for services including:
# health
# education
# defence
# roads and railways, and
# social security and other payments from Centrelink.
I'm sure if any handouts in any state (regardless of who is in power) weren't means tested, there'd be a thread on here in a heartbeat.
The income test has been set at $930/week for couples plus $51 for each dependent or $704/week for individuals plus $51 for each dependent.
Asset tests are also likely to rule out people whose earnings alone may qualify them.
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