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The Abbott Government

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SirRumpole said:
The true face of the LNP double standards and hypocrisy is revealed.
Just another vote grabbing grandstanding promise backed down on.
Hockey backflips on tax laws to target multinational profit shifters
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Apalling inequity.

..dividends from their international subsidiaries are tax exempt yet the interest on borrowings used to grow overseas operations is tax deductible..

.."Following consultation with stakeholders and the Australian Taxation Office, it became very clear that a targeted anti-avoidance provision would be ineffective," he said.
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So taxpayers will continue to subsidize companies to invest offshore. Why?

'Consultation with stakeholders'..really? Which ones were those.

GST - a White Paper is coming in the new year.
 
Logique said:
Apalling inequity.



So taxpayers will continue to subsidize companies to invest offshore. Why?

'Consultation with stakeholders'..really? Which ones were those.

GST - a White Paper is coming in the new year.
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It would be the kind of transparency the Govt promised while in opposition if they provided information on:

* Which stake holders
* What information was provided
* What modelling / testing of the information the Govt performed.

Throw in the fact the ATO is now looking at letting the big 4 accounting firms to propose the tax efficient offshoring of profits, but also give a tick of approval with limited supervision from the ATO - under this External Compliance Assurance Program (ECAP), the tax affairs of multinationals will now be policed by their own auditors, the very firms who tee up their tax haven arrangements. This is likely because of Labor and the Coalition gutting 1 in 5 staff from the ATO over the last few years.
 
some interesting alternatives to the Government's poorly targeted changes to university funding

http://theconversation.com/what-if-pynes-uni-plan-fails-again-some-sensible-alternatives-35364

Cap funded university places

Replacing the cap on funded places would restore certainty to the higher education budget. The government could continue to support an expansion of the university sector through a steady low rate of annual growth. Capping places would also free up resources for other policy priorities, such as addressing skills shortages or increasing educational participation in regional areas.
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Maintain course funding at 2014 levels

Education Minister Christopher Pyne’s fee deregulation proposal will lead to students paying more for their degrees. In 2005, when the Howard government allowed universities to vary student fees by up to 25%, every university charged the top rate within two years. A similar measure in England and Wales in 2012 led to student fee increases of 300%.
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Equalise government subsidy rates

Undergraduate university places are funded by a government subsidy plus a student contribution. In total, government subsidies for student places cost around $5 billion per year, but the value of the subsidy to each student varies by type of course. As shown in the 2014 Funding Table, the government subsidy covers only 16% of the cost of a course in law, accounting, commerce, economics or administration compared to 71% of the cost of a course in agriculture.

The National Commission of Audit recommended that the government subsidy should be 45% and the student contribution 55% of total course costs. Depending on what rate is chosen, pegging government subsidies to a uniform percentage rate in all courses could deliver substantial budget savings.
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http://www.itnews.com.au/News/39889...-quantify-metadata-use-in-investigations.aspx

Australia's police forces say they are unable to actually quantify how helpful metadata is to criminal investigations and convictions, despite today repeating their argument for a two-year period of mandatory data retention by telco providers.
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with 6 months to prepare you'd think they'd have been able to provide a bit more information

But despite asserting that the failure of the bill would throw law enforcement ‘into the dark ages’, the majority of Australia’s police agencies said they couldn't quantify how helpful metadata had been in operations and convictions.
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Pretty woeful preparation. Surely if it's that important they would have been able to show some pretty siginficant stats to back up their claims.

“But when telecommunications users and taxpayers are liable for the cost of ‘everything’, some discipline should be applied to the scope and volume of agency requests, to increase the likelihood that the national cost incurred is reasonably proportionate to the additional national security garnered.”
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The Govt did try to do a bodgey cost calculation by hiring PwC twice and got the response "PwC consulted selected telecommunications industry participants regarding their current data retention practices, as well as their estimated costs of compliance with the proposed obligations. Notwithstanding consultation on the draft data set, consulted providers observed that they did not consider they could provide accurate costings without draft legislation articulating and evidencing the data retention obligations."

Well that was money well spent eh. I wonder what it costs to get such a non answer?

It also recommended the Government reverse its decision to include the proposed dataset in supporting regulations rather than the main legislation, in order to “guard against unforeseen future scope-creep through the broadening of the types of data required to be created and/or retained”.
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So the senate is being asked to vote on legislation where the cost of implementation is unknown, the benefits for police and security agencies so far unknown, and where the minister of the day can change the scope of the legislation with a simple regulations change.

Seems no napkin was required in getting the Coalition to this point.
 
Gives an idea of how the budget got to be the mess it is, and the herculean task of getting it balanced

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2014/12/gerard-minack-on-why-in-2015-australia-runs-out-of-luck/

note that in over a decade it was only Labor budgets that improved the structure of the budget.

budget pudding.PNG

Through the 2000s new policy measures costing 1%-plus of GDP were introduced each year, but were more than offset by economic revisions. The result was a run of headline budget surpluses, despite significant discretionary loosening of fiscal policy. Note that these numbers capture only the impact on the current year budget. Many of the new policy measures had a long-tail: the costs – either in terms of revenue foregone or committed spending – increase over time. The mis-match between a front-end loaded revenue boom and back-end loaded spending measures and tax cuts is now apparent.

The magic pudding is gone. Economic revisions are now worsening the forecast budget balance by around 1 ½% of GDP per year, matching the size of the beneficial revisions in the prior cycle. The cumulative downgrades are less than the aggregate upgrades that went before, suggesting more downgrades to come.

Real GDP did not measure the boom. GDP averaged around 3 ½% through the last cycle, lower than in the 1990s cycle. Just as real GDP did not capture the boom, real GDP will not capture the bust.

The measures that did capture the boom were national income (which adjusts GDP for the impact on real income of terms of trade changes) or real domestic demand. Exhibit 4 shows that real domestic demand persistently grew 1-2% faster than real GDP through the last cycle. The important forward looking point is that as the boom recedes, domestic demand will run persistently below GDP for an extended period.
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domestic demand.PNG
 
for those who'd like to take a step around the proposed metadata laws, the below offer might appeal

PIA are offering 20% off their usual yearly rate - works out around $40 AUD

They've just added an Aussie server, as well as Japan, along with the usual USA Canada UK etc. HULU seems to have started blocking their US based server IPs, but netflix still works.

With the addition of an Aussie server it means you can pretty much have all your internet traffic encrypted with no speed impact. Not sure if they'll have to shut the server down if the metadata laws get through the senate.

I've been with PIA for a couple of years now and find them reliable with good tech support. Definitely something you should have if you use free wifi when out and about. They have desktop and mobile clients to make it pretty easy.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/holidays/affiliate
 
noco said:
Dole bludgers beware....Morrison stopped the boats and now he will stop the dole bludgers.

Get off your back sides and do some work for a change and if you can't work get educated....No excuses.

No doubt the Green/Labor left wing socialist party will have plenty to say...I am waiting for the blast....BRRRRUUMB.:);)
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Yes, with 6-7 unemployed people for every job vacancy it's only laziness that sees them unemployed.

So ship them off to wonky courses, or force them into debt servitude via HECS now that the Govt is allowing so many more courses to benefit from Govt loans. Heck, they could probably becoming church ministers under the new funding initiatives by the Govt. Maybe they'll be forced to work in the green army??

Why demonise the unemployed when the majority of them want to work? The economy is slowing, the ToT is still relatively high and has further to fall, the income recession is slowly filtering through the economy with more to come, and the Federal and State Govts are withdrawing demand from the economy at a time when the private sector is withdrawing too.

15 years of economic mismanagement is now coming home to roost. We come through the largest resource boom in history with a structural deficit for the budget, $700B infrastructure deficit, hollowed out manufacturing sector, over investment in I/O and LNG to suppress prices for a decade or more, some of the highest mortgage debt in the world, land prices leading to a near complete lack of competitiveness, and the Govt is telling woman they should be thankful for the $550 cheque in the mail due to the removal of the carbon tax, oh and we've been promised 2015 will be a much better year for all Australians, though how rising unemployment, further falls in real incomes and the loss of purchasing power through the AUD falling can be spun into a positive is beyond me.
 
noco said:
Dole bludgers beware....Morrison stopped the boats and now he will stop the dole bludgers.

Get off your back sides and do some work for a change and if you can't work get educated....No excuses.

No doubt the Green/Labor left wing socialist party will have plenty to say...I am waiting for the blast....BRRRRUUMB.:);)

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...top-the-bludgers/story-fnii5s41-1227163795658
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That's all very well in theory, noco;

but where are the jobs? Since 1996, possibly even earlier, the entire Australian manufacturing industry has been killed by successive governments of all persuasion. Liberal supporters may blame it on the unions and fair wage demands, but facts remain that the distribution of disposable income has become increasingly lop-sided.

If Howard hadn't squandered Billions on upper middle-class welfare/ bribes, if he hadn't sold off the farm - Telstra, Qantas, Commbank, ... - to secure the Future of ex-pollies' perks, even Labor would've found it hard to create a deficit that you accuse them of.
 
pixel said:
That's all very well in theory, noco;

but where are the jobs? Since 1996, possibly even earlier, the entire Australian manufacturing industry has been killed by successive governments of all persuasion. Liberal supporters may blame it on the unions and fair wage demands, but facts remain that the distribution of disposable income has become increasingly lop-sided.

If Howard hadn't squandered Billions on upper middle-class welfare/ bribes, if he hadn't sold off the farm - Telstra, Qantas, Commbank, ... - to secure the Future of ex-pollies' perks, even Labor would've found it hard to create a deficit that you accuse them of.
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Agree in principal, pixel, one small correction.
I think you will find Labor sold off the Commonwealth Bank, just to keep it balanced.
We can't blame Howard and Abbott for everything, can we?
Also, don't Labor ex pollies get perks? I thought the 30% payrise a couple of years ago, secured a pretty good pension for all those that 'jumped ship'.
 
pixel said:
That's all very well in theory, noco;

but where are the jobs? Since 1996, possibly even earlier, the entire Australian manufacturing industry has been killed by successive governments of all persuasion. Liberal supporters may blame it on the unions and fair wage demands, but facts remain that the distribution of disposable income has become increasingly lop-sided.

If Howard hadn't squandered Billions on upper middle-class welfare/ bribes, if he hadn't sold off the farm - Telstra, Qantas, Commbank, ... - to secure the Future of ex-pollies' perks, even Labor would've found it hard to create a deficit that you accuse them of.
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The Australian manufacturing industry was killed off by the communist dominated unions in the 50's,60's and 70's and we have been seeing this decline in the past two decades., so don't blame the Liberal Government...Fair wage demands, you mean excessive wage demands, increase in annual leave from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, 17.5% leave loading, long service leave, penalty rates, 38 hour weeks and you don't believe it all adds on to the cost of manufacturing....No wonder companies have gone off shore to stay competitive.

The Common Wealth Bank was sold off by Labor...Not sure who sold off Qantas....Beattie and Bligh sold the Golden Casket in Queensland for a measly $599,000,000......the Golden Casket paid for all of Queensland's health system.

The billions you refer to that was squandered by Howard.......do you have a link with some details to back up your statement?

Now you say where are the jobs?.....Do some research and you will note there is 200,000 plus jobs being taken up by 457 visas......jobs the unions say should be filled by Australians....Some skilled jobs that no city dweller wants and is not prepared to go to some remote places.....Dole bludgers who could be trained into those skilled jobs instead of bringing in overseas people.

There is also plenty of work available for those energetic enough to mow lawns and gardening to earn an honest dollar or two.

There are agencies always looking for distributors like Home Care who distribute catalogs to homes and collect orders and paid on a commission..We get the Home Care Catalog delivered every 8 weeks and their products are of good value and on a 12 months unconditional warranty.....I believe Home Care also work on a points bonus system for those who are prepared to put in the effort....It is great exercise and I believe one can work his/her own hours...there is no outlay to get started...you use your own car and phone....Home Care have a moderate delivery charge to cover those expenses.

The increase in real wages were the lowest under the Hawke/Keating Government...remember Hawke got the unions to agree to a pay freeze to avoid the recession we had to have..Can you imagine the corrupt unions agreeing to a pay freeze under a Liberal Government.....the Abbott Government reduced the pay increase to the ADF and public servants to a limit of 1.5% and certain people are screaming from the roof tops....never heard them complaining about the wage freeze under the Hawke/Keating Government.

So there is plenty of ways to make an honest living instead of relying upon the Government to find it for them.
 
I continue to be surprised by how bad Abbott's poliitical instincts often are. He always seems to know the wrong thing to say:

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been forced to defend the Prime Minister's views on women after Tony Abbott nominated repealing the carbon tax as his biggest contribution for women in 2014.

Mr Abbott was asked on breakfast television on Monday morning to nominate his biggest achievement as Minister for Women.

He replied: "Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households. As many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average family".



In opposition, Mr Abbott spruiked his anti-carbon tax campaign by claiming the "housewives of Australia" would benefit from a repeal because it would lower electricity costs associated with ironing.
 
banco said:
I continue to be surprised by how bad Abbott's poliitical instincts often are. He always seems to know the wrong thing to say:

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been forced to defend the Prime Minister's views on women after Tony Abbott nominated repealing the carbon tax as his biggest contribution for women in 2014.

Mr Abbott was asked on breakfast television on Monday morning to nominate his biggest achievement as Minister for Women.

He replied: "Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households. As many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average family".



In opposition, Mr Abbott spruiked his anti-carbon tax campaign by claiming the "housewives of Australia" would benefit from a repeal because it would lower electricity costs associated with ironing.
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Your left wing socialist just love to NIT PICK on such trivial things....Nothing better to do I guess but try to discredit the Prime Minister.

Never heard you NIT PICK on Shorten when he said," I don't know what Gillard said but what ever she said, I agree with her".
 
noco said:
The Australian manufacturing industry was killed off by the communist dominated unions in the 50's,60's and 70's and we have been seeing this decline in the past two decades., so don't blame the Liberal Government...Fair wage demands, you mean excessive wage demands, increase in annual leave from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, 17.5% leave loading, long service leave, penalty rates, 38 hour weeks and you don't believe it all adds on to the cost of manufacturing....No wonder companies have gone off shore to stay competitive.
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So noco do you believe that all those conditions are excessive? Do you believe that we should all be working 50 weeks a year with no prospect of long service leave? Do you believe that those that work weekends shouldn't be compensated with penalty rates for being away from family and friends for this time?
I don't think we need all these perks (leave loading, RDO's) but I'm sure grateful the unions fought for the others, I don't live to work.
 
noco said:
Your left wing socialist just love to NIT PICK on such trivial things....Nothing better to do I guess but try to discredit the Prime Minister.

Never heard you NIT PICK on Shorten when he said," I don't know what Gillard said but what ever she said, I agree with her".
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Not trivial when it will be the only Tony Abbott soundbite on the news tonight.

As for Shorten I think he's an amoral POS.
 
noco said:
Your left wing socialist just love to NIT PICK on such trivial things....Nothing better to do I guess but try to discredit the Prime Minister.

Never heard you NIT PICK on Shorten when he said," I don't know what Gillard said but what ever she said, I agree with her".
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Trivial?

If you think Abbott's repeated demonstrations of contempt for over 50% of the population are trivial, I'd hate to see what you think is serious. Abbott has shown himself to be lazy, ignorant and smug. He's utterly unfit for the job of PM. I'm ashamed that he was elected and disgusted that he hasn't been thrown out.

Thank you, I feel better now.

But I won't feel well until Abbott is out of parliament and blackballed from any position of influence in the affairs of the nation.
 
I notice no one has commented on the new ministry.

The number of women on it has increased by 100%! The Libs sorely needed the reshuffle and though I agree with some of the junior talent going up, I think more of the senior ministers should have gone. Hockey for one.
 
If Morrison can clear up some of the rorts in the disability support pension, we should all be grateful for the saving of taxpayers money.

I have a feeling that this in an area where there is gross abuse, compliant medicos and systematic ethnic based scammer rings with insiders in the Department of Social Services who hand out largesse to their own groups, possibly with the aid of a few backhanders.

How many of these people who caused terrorism scares, including the latest idiot were on DSP ?

It's a situation let run for too long. People who really need this pension are being squeezed out by the backsliders, and it needs a thorough overhaul.
 
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