The Abbott Government

[Knobby22]

Yes Knobby, wr must look to the Labor Party for the untainted

Beautifully white-anted. No one wants to talk about it so let's leave it at that.

 

[Julia]

No one wants to talk about it so let's leave it at that.

Knobby, perhaps it's not that no one wants to talk about it, but rather that what has emanated from the Budget is a complex and - at least for me - puzzling picture.

You earlier said that you wanted to live in a society where the aged received pensions and university education was available and affordable for your children. And a few other advantages which I can't now recall.
I don't think there would be anyone in Australia who would not share that desire, but the reality is that we cannot pay for delivery of these, plus the new NDIS, Gonski etc, as the population ages with fewer workers being required to support ever increasing numbers of retirees plus the added burden of health care for this older population as it inevitably blows out.

We are borrowing money to pay the interest on our borrowings.

Although by itself the level of debt doesn’t matter much, it matters for what it does to the annual budget deficit. Once negligible, net interest payments are now about $9 billion. That’s an extra expense the budget didn’t used to have. It is set to climb to $13 billion in two years’ time as more deficits mean more borrowing, which means even bigger interest payments in future budgets.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...is-bleeding-20140503-zr3mo.html#ixzz328TJG8Ii

No one wants to pay more tax. No one wants a cut in services. But apparently there is still an expectation that we can enjoy all the privileges we have thus far, that somehow the government will magically find a bucket of money somewhere that will affect no one.

Much of the disquiet - apart from the confected outrage about the broken promises - comes, as I perceive it - from the inequity involved insofar as who will be most badly affected by the government's proposals.

eg we have high youth unemployment, especially in the regions where in some places it's up to around 40%.
So the stand down and very low payments for people who cannot find work right up to age 30 seem extremely harsh and could see real distress in many young people.
At the same time, I'm all for young people being pushed harder to find work as we see more and more multi generational welfare which is bad for the individuals and bad for Australia.

Then there's the hypocrisy, another trait Australians really hate. How is it possible that our government can be so tough on young people yet ready to provide a still very generous PPL. Wouldn't it be reasonable to let families decide for themselves when they can afford to have children and fund it when they can afford it, rather than see more young people homeless?

And when people are genuinely worried about how they'll cope with the reductions, is it really a good look for Mr Hockey and Mr Cormann to be happily puffing cigars where the media can photograph them? Like it or not, the smoking of cigars when the people have looks of such satisfaction on their faces creates the sense of self satisfaction.

Then Mr Truss hardly helped by criticising pensioners who 'lived the high life on cruises' etc and then accessed the age pension. I wonder how many really intentionally save for their retirement, then decide to blow the lot for the privilege of counting every dollar on what will inevitably be a contracting amount of pension? I don't think too many. And if someone has worked hard for many years, saved diligently throughout that time, then wants to use some of their own money to have a holiday, then it is not the business of the Deputy Prime Minister.

If the government want to preclude what Mr Truss has alleged is happening, then they will need to legislate for some of Super to be taken as an income stream.

So, it's my impression that most people are shocked at the extent of the proposed changes, but even more at the apparent unfairness of where the axe is to fall.
And then there will of course be those who will continue to live in a hazy state of denial, no comprehension of the financial trajectory ahead as designed by Labor, and refuse to believe that any adjustment is required.

 

[CanOz]

Great post Julia...

I wish i were half as articulate as you are..

 

[sptrawler]

Knobby, perhaps it's not that no one wants to talk about it, but rather that what has emanated from the Budget is a complex and - at least for me - puzzling picture.

You earlier said that you wanted to live in a society where the aged received pensions and university education was available and affordable for your children. And a few other advantages which I can't now recall.
I don't think there would be anyone in Australia who would not share that desire, but the reality is that we cannot pay for delivery of these, plus the new NDIS, Gonski etc, as the population ages with fewer workers being required to support ever increasing numbers of retirees plus the added burden of health care for this older population as it inevitably blows out.

We are borrowing money to pay the interest on our borrowings.



No one wants to pay more tax. No one wants a cut in services. But apparently there is still an expectation that we can enjoy all the privileges we have thus far, that somehow the government will magically find a bucket of money somewhere that will affect no one.

Much of the disquiet - apart from the confected outrage about the broken promises - comes, as I perceive it - from the inequity involved insofar as who will be most badly affected by the government's proposals.

eg we have high youth unemployment, especially in the regions where in some places it's up to around 40%.
So the stand down and very low payments for people who cannot find work right up to age 30 seem extremely harsh and could see real distress in many young people.
At the same time, I'm all for young people being pushed harder to find work as we see more and more multi generational welfare which is bad for the individuals and bad for Australia.

Then there's the hypocrisy, another trait Australians really hate. How is it possible that our government can be so tough on young people yet ready to provide a still very generous PPL. Wouldn't it be reasonable to let families decide for themselves when they can afford to have children and fund it when they can afford it, rather than see more young people homeless?

And when people are genuinely worried about how they'll cope with the reductions, is it really a good look for Mr Hockey and Mr Cormann to be happily puffing cigars where the media can photograph them? Like it or not, the smoking of cigars when the people have looks of such satisfaction on their faces creates the sense of self satisfaction.

Then Mr Truss hardly helped by criticising pensioners who 'lived the high life on cruises' etc and then accessed the age pension. I wonder how many really intentionally save for their retirement, then decide to blow the lot for the privilege of counting every dollar on what will inevitably a contracting amount of pension? I don't think too many. And if someone has worked hard for many years, saved diligently throughout that time, then wants to use some of their own money to have a holiday, then it is not the business of the Deputy Prime Minister.

If the government want to preclude what Mr Truss has alleged is happening, then they will need to legislate for some of Super to be taken as an income stream.

So, it's my impression that most people are shocked at the extent of the proposed changes, but even more at the apparent unfairness of where the axe is to fall.
And then there will of course be those who will continue to live in a hazy state of denial, no comprehension of the financial trajectory ahead as designed by Labor, and refuse to believe that any adjustment is required.

+1 well explained.
I'm not happy with the budget, but as you say the more it unfolds the more the criticism can be directed acurately. It will be interesting to see which parts get dropped and which parts get blocked in parliament.

I think the government will have to come up with a very good tax package, that enables them to tone down the cuts, in the very near future

 

[CanOz]

I think the government will have to come up with a very good tax package, that enables them to tone down the cuts, in the very near future

This is a great point...

 

[SirRumpole]

Yes good post Julia, no one doubts something should be done,but as well as the hypocrisy you pointed out there is also the blatant lying.

Apart from the nasties people have to endure, I wonder if genuine Liberal party supporters are privately shuddering that this militant extremism by Abbott may have made their party un-electable in the future. Abbott is a fool if he thinks that people will forget this blatant fraud.

Just one issue to chew on, the following report points out that Australians pay the highest cost for medicines in the Commonwealth. Why isn't this government doing some work to find out why and bring them down, instead of just jacking up prices for those who have no alternative but to pay ?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-...-14-times-more-for-prescription-drugs/5128028

 

[Knobby22]

Thanks Julia.

Firstly, there was the point that the right wing think tank called it a high taxing, high spending budget. Which it is.

The Australian - hardly the Government's harshest critic - estimates the overall spending for 2013-2014, a fiscal year in which the Coalition has been at the helm for nine of the 12 months, at around $410 billion - an increase of nearly $50 billion over the previous, supposedly profligate, year of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. And why not? Revenue collected by Tony ("our taxes will always be lower") Abbott will rise from 23 to nearly 25 per cent of GDP.

No one wants to discuss this with me. It has been studiously avoided.

Secondly, the savings made are quite small. It is about social engineering.

Sorry, but I believe in helping people who need it.
For instance, my parents ran a business for years and then went bankrupt unfortunately near retirement. They did manage to start again and saved some money but need the pension to survive, at a pretty average standard. now the government is effectively reducing the pension over time.

They worked in the period where there was no super except near the end of their working lives. Now they are not going to get discounts on their electricity, gas, water etc. They will be in big trouble.

Another family member is the opposite. Earns $700,000 a year, negative gears the income and gets a sports car subsidised by taxpayers every two years. Nice guy and he is renting out a place cheap for my parents. The point is that he is hardly touched, while the poor are hit badly.

BTW, he is happy as the company tax rate got lowered by 1.5% further increasing his income.

This budget is not about paying back the debt. It is about changing Australia to be less equitable. To bring us closer to the USA model. I personally believe in Australia's model. This is not to say that we shouldn't make changes. I am happy to do that. But the basic aim that everyone has an equal chance should still be aimed for.
I believe in laissez-faire, I also believe changes have to be made. But they have to be equitable.

 

[noco]

Knobby, perhaps it's not that no one wants to talk about it, but rather that what has emanated from the Budget is a complex and - at least for me - puzzling picture.


Then Mr Truss hardly helped by criticising pensioners who 'lived the high life on cruises' etc and then accessed the age pension. I wonder how many really intentionally save for their retirement, then decide to blow the lot for the privilege of counting every dollar on what will inevitably be a contracting amount of pension? I don't think too many. And if someone has worked hard for many years, saved diligently throughout that time, then wants to use some of their own money to have a holiday, then it is not the business of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Julia, I know of two cases where these couples are on the aged pension and who as claimed 'lived the high life on cruises' etc......they did it by reverse mortgaging their houses......it is called a SKI holiday.......spend the kids inheritance.....you don't pay back until you both die....it then comes out of the estate.

I believe those who live in million dollar houses should do the same to live on instead of bludgeoning on the welfare.....Reverse mortgage their home for $100,000....problem solved.

 

[noco]

Yes good post Julia, no one doubts something should be done,but as well as the hypocrisy you pointed out there is also the blatant lying.

Apart from the nasties people have to endure, I wonder if genuine Liberal party supporters are privately shuddering that this militant extremism by Abbott may have made their party un-electable in the future. Abbott is a fool if he thinks that people will forget this blatant fraud.

Just one issue to chew on, the following report points out that Australians pay the highest cost for medicines in the Commonwealth. Why isn't this government doing some work to find out why and bring them down, instead of just jacking up prices for those who have no alternative but to pay ?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-...-14-times-more-for-prescription-drugs/5128028

Abbott did not do it to get the popularity vote like the comrades of the Greens.....he had guts to fix the Labor Party mess...he has done in the best interest of the nation......The interest of the nation is something Bill Shorten falls short on.

 

[IFocus]

Speaking of telling lies I find this really unconscionable behaviour from an Australian PM.

Abbott has always operated in this way hence my complete dislike of the man at any level but even I expected he would change gears once elected.

Tony Abbott now admits $1.8bn in hospital cuts will begin from July


Prime minister backs down on claim that cuts to public hospital funding agreements would not take effect for three years

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/19/hospital-cuts-begin-july-tony-abbott-admits.

 

[noco]

Speaking of telling lies I find this really unconscionable behaviour from an Australian PM.

Abbott has always operated in this way hence my complete dislike of the man at any level but even I expected he would change gears once elected.

Tony Abbott now admits $1.8bn in hospital cuts will begin from July


Prime minister backs down on claim that cuts to public hospital funding agreements would not take effect for three years

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/19/hospital-cuts-begin-july-tony-abbott-admits.

So what is your opinion of Juliar......'THERE WILL BE NO CARBON TAX UNDER A GOVERNMENT I LEAD'.

 

[SirRumpole]

So what is your opinion of Juliar......'THERE WILL BE NO CARBON TAX UNDER A GOVERNMENT I LEAD'.

Get this noco, GILLARD IS GONE. We have to deal with what remains, as Phony Tony will have to deal with what remains of his budget after the Senate trashes it.

 

[noco]

Get this noco, GILLARD IS GONE. We have to deal with what remains, as Phony Tony will have to deal with what remains of his budget after the Senate trashes it.

Wow....sorry Rumpy if I ruffled your feathers......It is Gillards past that 'phony Tony has to deal with.......so now I hope YOU get it?

 

[Calliope]

Sorry, but I believe in helping people who need it.

I assume you mean you believe the taxpayer should help people who need it, particularly your children and your parents

You said earlier;

I want my kids to have the opportunity to go to Uni. I want my parents to be able to live off the pension.

I don't think the budget puts either of these issues in jeopardy. If you play your part as a responsible parent and a son, and with a little help from my taxes, I think we will be able to look after them.

So cheer up.

 

[noco]

One has to admit, Abbott has more guts than Rudd, Gillard, Swan and Shorten all rolled up in one.

In respect to the polls.....I believe the question was asked,"do you believe you will be worse off as a result of the budget".......A large percentage including myself would have responded with ...yes we would......but that should in no way assume that the same percentage would vote against it......these polls are in some cases a manipulation into swaying the Government into changing it's mind on it's budget decision.


http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...ott-after-budget/story-fnihslxi-1226922196566

 

[CanOz]

There was a call for a more balanced coverage of the budget too, i saw this morning on a website somewhere....that would be refreshing.

One thing that has startled me is how emotional people feel about entitlements. I started planning a long time ago so that we wouldn't have to rely on anyone but ourselves. If i felt that was jeopardized by living in Australia then we'll have to find someplace else to live. I can understand the emotions involved though.

 

[noco]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...-over-the-budget/story-fni0ffxg-1226921866450

FAR worse than anything in the Budget is the class war that reckless politicians and journalists are waging against it.

Labor leader Bill Shorten, Greens leader Christine Milne and so-called billionaire Clive Palmer have disgraced themselves in inciting real hatred.

A warning. On Friday, screaming Leftist students in Sydney physically attacked Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, pushing and grabbing her.

Unless the hate-speech is dialled back, god knows what more we’ll get.

Even before the Budget, the demonisation of Prime Minister Tony Abbott was out of control.

Labor under Julia Gillard had already smeared Abbott as a woman-hating bigot and incited a mini race-riot against him on Australia Day.

After his win, Facebook pages — one created from within the Geelong Trades Hall — urged Abbott’s assassination. And a same-sex marriage rally in Brisbane featured a banner showing him hanged by the neck. A Fairfax columnist sold

T-shirts with the slogan “F ... Abbott”.

In the March in March rallies, a sign urged Abbott be killed. In Newcastle, the Trades Hall secretary preached hatred of rich Australians, and urged Qantas boss Alan Joyce be shot “somewhere in the back of the head”.

But the past week has been worse still — not just because the political rhetoric is more extreme, but the country’s future is now at stake.

For some, the Budget may seem too harsh in restricting welfare handouts and adding a $7 charge to free visits to the doctor.

For others, it is actually too soft, with spending still soaring by an extra $57 billion four years from now, giving us yet more deficits.

All that deserves debate. Yet politicians and some journalists have instead painted this Budget as simply rich Liberals having fun belting poor battlers.

Have we ever seen such stupid appeals to class envy?

First there was the fake outrage when a TV camera caught Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann smoking cigars.

Sure enough, Shorten — unwilling even to admit to the financial disaster left by Labor — seized on this distraction to pander to the peanuts who think smoking cigars shows you hate the poor.

Confecting outrage, Shorten repeatedly stormed at “cigar-chomping, out-of-touch Liberals”, claiming they’d “never lived from pay cheque to pay cheque” and now pretended there was a Budget crisis to put a “tax on the sick”.

Milne last weekend added it was obscene that “rich” Liberals would crack “champagne” and “gorge” themselves at a function to hear Abbott gloat over hurting the poor.

Palmer, meanwhile, claimed the Liberals just invented our debt problem “to make our pensioners and others suffer”.

“Do we really hate people so much?” he bellowed. “It’s just about ideology and about smashing someone.”

Shorten, Milne and Palmer together could block Abbott’s rescue plan in the Senate for the next three years, and a healthy media would kick these craven populists for denying there’s even a problem to fix.

BLOG WITH ANDREW BOLT

A healthy media would also be horrified at their idiotic class war talk. Instead, many outlets have joined the Labor game.

After beating up the great cigar scandal, newspapers mocked Hockey’s wife, a successful banker, for wearing a moderately expensive dress when she went to Canberra for his Budget speech.

“Cutbacks? What cutbacks? Joe Hockey’s wife attends Budget announcement in $749 Carla Zampatti dress,” sneered the Australian edition of the Daily Mail, as if her dress showed Liberals were heartless.

Channel Nine’s Laurie Oakes, doyen of the Canberra press gallery, even started his post-Budget interview with the Treasurer with three questions attacking him for dancing with his wife in his office on Budget night.

“The unemployed, the sick, the welfare recipients hit by the Budget, they’re not going to be dancing are they?” lectured Oakes, as if he’d caught Hockey dancing on a carpet of starving pensioners, when he’d in fact been celebrating seeing his family after three weeks away working on a Budget to save us.

Meanwhile, the ABC portrayed the Budget as the cruel work in part of a foreigner unable to understand Australian values.

Interviewer Matt Abraham asked Belgian-born Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who’s been here for 20 years, whether “you don’t know as much about the Australian mindset and culture as perhaps other politicians who have either been born here or been here a lot longer”.

This stuff isn’t just infantile but dangerous.

What unpredictable hatreds are being stoked? More importantly, how does this savage rhetoric help us to fix what’s broken?

The country is running dangerously short of money, and claiming this is just a con by the rich to torture the poor is a lie that could ruin us.

Shame on the guilty.

 

[SirRumpole]

FAR worse than anything in the Budget is the class war that reckless politicians and journalists are waging against it.

Bwwwaaaaa !!!

Class warfare ? Who started that I wonder ?

 

[CanOz]

That's a worry Noco...the opposing parties are capitalizing on the sentiment, adding fuel to the fire. This could get very bad.

 

[sptrawler]

Bwwwaaaaa !!!

Class warfare ? Who started that I wonder ?

Well it's do remember, the last Government having something to say, about a certain rich large lady and a certain rich large man.
Funnily enough they are now trying to climb in bed with the large man,lol