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The Abbott Government

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I believe Tony Abbott to be doing a good job as PM.

The boats have stopped after 6 years of an ALP Free for All on our borders.

The engine room of our economy atm, mining, has some certainty as the Carbon Tax will be removed.

People will be able to work, without Union Heavies hiving off their contributions to have sex and watch porno movies.

The economy will prosper with the surety that stable government brings.

gg
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
I believe Tony Abbott to be doing a good job as PM.

The boats have stopped after 6 years of an ALP Free for All on our borders.

The engine room of our economy atm, mining, has some certainty as the Carbon Tax will be removed.

People will be able to work, without Union Heavies hiving off their contributions to have sex and watch porno movies.

The economy will prosper with the surety that stable government brings.

gg
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Thanks for that GG, my sphincter is relaxing, as I read your reassuring words.:D
 
drsmith said:
The government sticks to its guns on SPC Ardmona and for once, Malcolm Turnbull looks like a team player.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ret-spc-comments/story-fn3dxiwe-1226818293937
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Hope the loony left read it.:xyxthumbs

The choice is, the taxpayer keeps paying and taxes keep going up.
Or the company sells it to someone who can make a go of it,eg a growers co-op. I think I said that a while back .lol

How can a population of 24m pay for a welfare sytem, a pension system, a multi tiered Government and prop up multi national companies. lol
Then be expected to pay a mortgage and or rent, feed the family,run the car, pay the insurances, pay the council rates.
Also not only do you have to do that, but you have to be competitive with countries that don't provide any of the above.
Looks like reality check time has come, Labor throwing money around like goons, has come home to roost.IMO
 
Niki Savva,

THREE political leaders broke through Australia's summer haze. The first was Chris Christie, the second was Francois Hollande and the third was Tony Abbott.

Each managed it for different reasons, yet each in their own way was a reminder of what should be guiding principles for elected officials: keep your mind on the job; remember always why you were elected.

New Jersey Governor Christie, a charismatic figure once touted as a Republican candidate for the presidency, was brought undone because his staff engineered an almighty traffic jam to punish a political opponent.

Christie swears he didn't know they were going to do it. If true, he should have; if not, he is finito. Clearly a culture existed in his office, which he nurtured or tolerated, which let his senior staff believe it was acceptable to inconvenience thousands of commuters for cheap political payback.

It revived memories of last year's Australia Day, when the then press secretary to then prime minister Julia Gillard tried to embarrass Abbott by relaying something Abbott had not said and triggering a riot by Aborigines.

The French President has a quality not shared by most of his countryfolk - the personality of fibro - and is withering proof of Henry Kissinger's oft-quoted line that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

Hollande, who seems to regard loyalty and commitment as traits befitting lesser mortals, say Anglos, would have better served his people if he had kept his focus above his zipper line, rather than devoting time and energy to mapping scooter routes around Paris to meet mistress No 2.

A roue loose on the rues of Paris, closely followed by security detail with fresh croissants to ensure all appetites are sated, is the stuff of Truffaut, not of a politician asking voters to trust him.

Abbott broke through for thankfully more mundane reasons, although the Christie example of what happens when staff run rampant is a sobering one.

Abbott was doing his job, and appeared to have spent his break thinking about it. Since the political year resumed, he has shown he is beginning to get the hang of it. Not completely, not always, but certainly better than before.

His speech in Davos set out an economic narrative for himself and the world. It succinctly, if sketchily, set out challenges and remedies. Detail will have to come later.

His speeches and performance on Australia Day were also good. As Governor-General, Quentin Bryce was always going to be a hard act to follow, but if anyone can do it, his man Peter Cosgrove can.

These were encouraging signs of a maturing Abbott, an impression marred when valid criticism of ABC reporting standards was subsumed by suggestions the national broadcaster should barrack for the home team. The last thing this or any government needs is media cheer squads.

However, we are talking about Abbott, who will never be the PM from central casting, 100 per cent well-behaved, 100 per cent of the time. The inner larrikin will break through occasionally, as he must, lest the contents explode like a malfunctioning pressure-cooker.

Abbott has also benefited from issues breaking his way. Some of it is luck, some of it is luck he has created or helped along.

One issue where the government has absolute control is asylum-seekers. Like it or not - and the Greens and Labor clearly hate it, even though no boats mean no drownings - the policies are working.

If Abbott shows the same unswerving commitment and passion to fixing the budget deficit without killing the economy as he has to stopping the boats, and as he will to improving the lot of indigenous people, then he will have a handsome record as Prime Minister.

It remains a big if. So much depends on Abbott and those around him, and whether they have the necessary policy and political expertise as well as the courage.

Abbott has not been truly tested yet on the economy. There are early signs that he is not the soft touch many thought he would be. Abbott as Prime Minister is not Abbott as opposition leader. As one of his colleagues said recently: "He can't be the Tony he was five months ago, or the Tony he was five years ago."

The Abbott of five months ago promised $16 million to one profitable multinational, Cadbury. The Abbott of last week refused $25m to another, SPC Ardmona, owned by Coca-Cola Amatil.

Cracking down on corporate welfare should give the government ammunition to tackle middle-class welfare, although with friends such as Kevin Andrews handing out $20m for marriage counselling, the moral and economic messages get mixed.

More damaging, the right decision on SPC has been undermined by a sloppy sales job. Making the right decision is not enough. It has to be for the right reasons, fully and accurately explained to people and participants.

Sharman Stone, the local Liberal member, has been tempted to take her margin of 19.6 per cent, resign from the Liberal Party tomorrow and sit as an independent. If she thought it would buy leverage, she would do it.

Instead, she has undercut Abbott, who brought it on himself partly by overstating the impact of the union award on SPC's difficulties. Hearing the cabinet decision first from a journalist only blackened Stone's mood.

Stone has been loud and abusive. She will not stop and they can't make her. She is not alone in her disquiet about Abbott's drying-out. "You can be pure and you can also be dead," one cabinet minister observed a few days ago.

As Eric Abetz has made abundantly clear, the government is getting tough on business to get tough on unions but, if it is to succeed, it has to get all its facts right, all the time. There is no margin for error. Just ask the ABC.

The government should have stuck to the simple message of no more handouts for profitable multinationals. It already had the gift of corruption allegations against the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, which has tightly wedged Bill Shorten.

The Opposition Leader's hostility to further probes of union corruption will prove painful and costly.

He had the chance to plot a different course. He could have done what Paul Howes did yesterday - give qualified support and appeal to everyone to surrender their weapons.

Shorten will ultimately regret he didn't, even if polls now show otherwise.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...s-rise-and-fall/story-fnahw9xv-1226818972199#
 
sptrawler said:
Interesting times doc.
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Medieval times; We have a government with out a science minister. We have Maurice Newman who thinks the sun still revolves around the earth.
A deranged faith in neo conservative economic alchemy..."but if we just paint the lead a 'gold'y' colour my liege, until we get it to work"....
A Prime minister that regularly goes off for a pat on the head, for we know from Howard, neither are interested on elaborating on anything. God knows; what back alley's, secret passages and concealed doorways The Abbott now has to jink through to discuss his ecclesiastical bents with his big 'ol' pal Pell, that's Cardinal, chop and change the pedophiles, Protect the Churches Gold, Pell.
We have Brandis Obstructing Justice in The Hague. The 'idea !!!', of shining Light on Lord Downers Black arts in corrupting negotiations with the East Timorese to the benefit of Woodside. From whom Downers New outfit 'Bespoke' now pockets a nice little retainer and the helpers from His dungeon now populate Brandis's office.
How long before Kevin Andrews steps in another Haniff and walks it, oblivious, though the house, costing multi-million$$ to clean it up. But the sort of thing though, that always leaves a stain.
As for Women...'They know their place'... A mouldy Harridan with a cauldron of Kerosene, joyfully flicking burning spoonfuls from her 'belfry'...'ring the bells'. And an envoy so bewitched with her vanity and self importance that little has relevance in her world beyond the hair and the clothes and accessories.
 
sptrawler said:
Interesting times doc.
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More on the SPC Ardmonma entitlements including the point I made earlier about their redundancy entitlement (quoted below).

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...at-company-says/story-fn59niix-1226819084181#

Not only that, it also accumulates at a rate of 2-weeks for every 6 months of service at SPCA as opposed to 2-weeks for every 12-months of service in the APS (max 48 weeks).

http://www.apsc.gov.au/aps-employment-policy-and-advice/recruitment-and-selection/reengagement

Overall though, I think Niki is right in what she says. The Coalition are in my view framing this in the context of managing the overall age of entitlement debate, but the excesses in the SPCA workplace agreement were to be the simple public argument in this case. That was to help make it distinct from Cadbury I suspect. It's backfired to the extent that the SPCA workplace agreement is not the full story, but that's the problems politicians have to contend with when inconsistent within the broader context. Tony wasn't wrong in his broad criticism of SPCA's workplace agreement, but it was clearly over emphasised. Sharman Stone obviously has made the political optics much worse, but it's interesting that for once Malcolm Turnbull has stood behind his leader. There's a broader economic theme there I suspect Malcolm (and Joe Jockey) is trying to encourage on Tony Abbott.

SPCA's response I suspect directed more at the AFR's specific claims than anything else and in particular, the face value quantum cost of the allowances which do appear on their figures to be token. That's perhaps a lesson for the union though not to have silly things in agreements for the sake of looking good to it's members. There is though also an administrative cost to the company in relation to these elements which of course doesn't form part of the headline figures. In a competitive world, little differences can have a big influence of who survives and who perishes.

By the way Orr, you forgot what will be the greatest failure of this government in the eyes of some. Stopping the boats.

THE vast majority of workers at embattled cannery SPC Ardmona are entitled to lucrative redundancy payouts of up to two years' wages, the union representing the workforce has confirmed.

Confirmation of the entitlements comes amid a bitter brawl between Tony Abbott and local Liberal Party backbencher Sharman Stone, who has implied the Prime Minister lied about the generosity of conditions at SPC in rejecting the company's pleas for industry assistance.

In an SPC media release sent to all Coalition colleagues by Ms Stone yesterday, the company said the excessive redundancy payments had been trimmed back to 52 weeks in 2012. However, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has confirmed that almost all of the plant's more than 400 or so employees were employed under a previous enterprise agreement that provided for redundancy of four weeks' pay for every year of service, up to a maximum of 104 weeks.

AMWU food and confectionary division secretary Tom Hale said that very little hiring had been done since 2012 and all those employed before then would be entitled to 104 weeks' payment if they had the required length of service. He said SPC's workforce comprised mostly long-term employees, with at least 10 or 20 years' service with the company. "There would still be a fairly long-term workforce because it's one of the few jobs in town," he said.

With the federal government last week rejecting SPC's plea for $25 million towards a restructuring package, the company remains in talks to secure assistance, such as tax relief, from the Victorian government with an outcome expected as early as tomorrow.

The partyroom brawl over SPC and its workplace conditions erupted after Mr Abbott said last week that businesses seeking help needed to get their industrial relations "house in order".

"The existing agreement contains conditions and provisions which are well in excess of the award: there are wet allowances, there are loadings, there are extensive provisions to cash out sick leave, there are extremely generous redundancy provisions well in excess of the award," Mr Abbott said last week.

His comments sparked a furious response from Dr Stone, the Liberal member representing the Shepparton-based seat of Murray, who implied her leader was lying about the conditions.

Dr Stone yesterday stood by her comments and continued to press for government assistance for the company, which has joined her in challenging the assertion of "overgenerous" entitlements at the company's plants.

"Recent claims that SPC Ardmona is a 'union shop' or that the cause of its difficulties are because of 'over generous' allowances and conditions to staff are mistaken and need to be refuted by the facts," SPC Ardmona said in its release. However, Mr Hale confirmed that at least 90 per cent of the company's production staff were union members.

But he said the pay rates at SPC Ardmona were "at the bottom pile in terms of organised labour throughout the Murray Goulburn Valley". While penalty rates were slightly above award, the wage structure was not the reason the company was in strife.

Mr Hale backed Dr Stone's assault on Mr Abbott and said the federal government would end up paying more in unemployment benefits than it would save by denying the company $25m to restructure.

Criticism from the government and others of the agreement between SPC and the AMWU has also focused on several obscure allowances paid to workers on the company's three manufacturing sites called the "container", "bright tin" and "wet" allowances.

The company said last night the "bright tin allowance" of 50c per hour was paid to workers moving high pallet stacks of unlabelled tins with forklifts. It said container allowances had been phased out and no one was paid "wet" allowance in the past year.

Mr Hale rejected claims the EBA provided for nine weeks leave a year saying workers received 20 days a year plus 11 public holidays. He said they did get one RDO every 20 days in exchange for working a 40-hour week, but workers had agreed to take these away from peak production times.

Bill Shorten said yesterday that workers had "tightened their belts" and the company was willing to spend tens of millions to save SPC but the Abbott government was refusing to listen.

Mr Abbott said yesterday the government would not be revisiting its decision on SPC.

The Victorian government will meet SPC executives again today to flesh out the assistance to the company following Victorian Premier Denis Napthine's meeting with the company on Tuesday night. The Australian was told that this could clear the way for an outcome on Friday.

Aid options include a relief from payroll tax, a common form of state assistance to employers in difficulty, but there is also talk of a contribution from local councils as well. One option could be for the local council to exempt the company from rate payments for a period of time.

In a win for the fruit and vegetable processing company yesterday, the federal government's trade protection authority backed the case for action against canned tomato importers that are dumping their products at below cost in the Australian market.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane could act on those findings to impose barriers on some of the importers, in effect putting up their prices to help Australian competitors like SPC.
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noco said:
Lincoln's cannots

You cannot strengthen the week by weakening the strong,
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
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Even Paul Howes of the AWU is starting to realize the truth of the above quotes, by admitting that union-brokered workplace agreements are pricing workers out of the market.

At long last we have a union leader who’s starting to open his eyes and realize (without actually admitting it in so many words) that businesses like Ford and Holden, Toyota and SPC Ardoma, are simply unable to operate profitably because of unrealistic wages and conditions forced on them by unions.
Well done Paul – I’ve always disliked this bloke, but now it’s pleasing to see him showing some character by speaking the truth that many unions and workers don’t want to face up to.

Shorten did some ducking and weaving when a reporter confronted him with what Paul Howes said. Weak-kneed as always, Shorten ducked away from giving a straight answer by attempting to turn the heat back on Abbot and attacking him for not bailing out SPC Ardmona.
 
bunyip said:
Even Paul Howes of the AWU is starting to realize the truth of the above quotes, by admitting that union-brokered workplace agreements are pricing workers out of the market.
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I wonder with Paul Howes whether there's an element of retribution in relation to Julia Gillard.

He has also suggested the family home should be in the assets test for the age pension and that pensioners affected could borrow against this asset as a top up.
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
I believe Tony Abbott to be doing a good job as PM.

The boats have stopped after 6 years of an ALP Free for All on our borders.

The engine room of our economy atm, mining, has some certainty as the Carbon Tax will be removed.

People will be able to work, without Union Heavies hiving off their contributions to have sex and watch porno movies.

The economy will prosper with the surety that stable government brings.

gg
Click to expand...

Well said, Garpal.
After six long years of hopelessly incompetent ALP government, Australia is now back on track.
I'm particularly pleased to see how quickly the Abbot government has been able to get on top of the illegal boat people problem.
This must be extremely galling to the left who delighted in putting up headlines such as 'Abbot's 'turn back the boats' policy is now in tatters!'
I distinctly remember our old pal IFocus predicting on another thread that Abbot wouldn't be able to stop the boats.:)

Well done Tony Abbot and team for the methodical way you're going about fixing the problems that Labor created.:xyxthumbs
 
orr said:
Medieval times; We have a government with out a science minister. We have Maurice Newman who thinks the sun still revolves around the earth.
A deranged faith in neo conservative economic alchemy..."but if we just paint the lead a 'gold'y' colour my liege, until we get it to work"....
A Prime minister that regularly goes off for a pat on the head, for we know from Howard, neither are interested on elaborating on anything. God knows; what back alley's, secret passages and concealed doorways The Abbott now has to jink through to discuss his ecclesiastical bents with his big 'ol' pal Pell, that's Cardinal, chop and change the pedophiles, Protect the Churches Gold, Pell.
We have Brandis Obstructing Justice in The Hague. The 'idea !!!', of shining Light on Lord Downers Black arts in corrupting negotiations with the East Timorese to the benefit of Woodside. From whom Downers New outfit 'Bespoke' now pockets a nice little retainer and the helpers from His dungeon now populate Brandis's office.
How long before Kevin Andrews steps in another Haniff and walks it, oblivious, though the house, costing multi-million$$ to clean it up. But the sort of thing though, that always leaves a stain.
As for Women...'They know their place'... A mouldy Harridan with a cauldron of Kerosene, joyfully flicking burning spoonfuls from her 'belfry'...'ring the bells'. And an envoy so bewitched with her vanity and self importance that little has relevance in her world beyond the hair and the clothes and accessories.
Click to expand...

Rising unemployment on a rising trajectory..............
 
drsmith said:
Do the Libs see Bill Glasson as a real chance of getting over the line this time ?

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Abbott speak....This will be an election about the performance of this bad, divided government.

Any thing less than a resounding win by this bad government will be a resounding loss.

I am getting better I think. ;)
 
Cadbury workers get sweeter deal than SPC counterparts

Cadbury's parent company Mondelez granted more generous conditions to its employees than SPC Ardmona, including more than twice the redundancy pay, 10 days a year paid leave for union delegates for training, and even a dust allowance.

Mondelez's new Suttontown production agreement struck with the union United Voice stipulates that employees at its Mount Gambier plant can cash out their accrued sick leave in some circumstances.

The potentially embarrassing revelation comes within days of the Abbott government confirming that Cadbury's Tasmanian plant will receive $16 million while SPC Ardmona has been denied a requested $25 million to stay afloat.
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Rejecting the SPC Ardmona bid, the government had slammed management for allegedly caving in to union pressure, depicting the Shepparton-based fruit processor as badly run and financially irresponsible. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and several senior figures pointed to chronic employee feather-bedding in the SPC Ardmona enterprise bargaining agreement as a central reason for rejecting the plea for assistance, despite fears the fruit processing works would close, costing 756 jobs directly and decimating the regional economy in the Goulburn Valley.


Federal Liberal MP Sharman Stone has resorted to open warfare with her own party over the decision.
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ounterparts-20140207-327ee.html#ixzz2si3GmvgB
 
IFocus said:
Abbott speak....This will be an election about the performance of this bad, divided government.

Any thing less than a resounding win by this bad government will be a resounding loss.

I am getting better I think. ;)
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It's a pass on style.

On substance though, it fails to take into account the history of incumbents winning by-elections.
 
I wonder if Abbott will withdraw the funding to Cadbury's?
One point, the report seemed to be talking about the eba at a plant in Mount Gambier, wasn't Abbott talking about a plant in Tasmania?
 
sptrawler said:
I wonder if Abbott will withdraw the funding to Cadbury's?
One point, the report seemed to be talking about the eba at a plant in Mount Gambier, wasn't Abbott talking about a plant in Tasmania?
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I don't believe that will happen, this purely about tourism and jobs in a State that has the worst unemployment figures in Australia. And a State that has suffered greatly from the Labor / Green Government.
The days of forestry are dead and unless tourism takes over , we are stuffed.
From a personal perspective I was lucky enough to be part one of the very last tour groups to go through Cadbury before the work place health and safety shut them down. Apparently things like stairs , railings and floor surfaces were not up to new standards. Not unexpected for a site that has over 18 heritage listed buildings on site , the conching machines that are used to mix and break down the raw ingredients are pure granite and are the only ones in existence are over 60 years old and still in use today. Perhaps why when used with milk from the place on earth that has the purest air on the planet ( Nth West Tas ) that Tasmanian chocolate is one of the best going around. The Cadbury visitor centre is still open , but for interpretation tours only and to buy some cheap non saleable chocolate ( wrong weight or incorrect packaging ect ) .
Just not the same as going through the actual factory, as those who watched the upteempth repeat of Willy Wonka last night on television. It's every kids dream and turns adults and grown men into kids again :)
It may be hard to get where I'm coming from , but you have to be here on Island to appreciate what we have to offer tourist and really it's only chance . About one third of the last tourism Australia awards came from down here . It is happening , the Mona museum is now the number one destination for arty foody types from all over the world. It's put Hobart on the map , not a day goes past that I sit here watching fully laden high speed catamarans go back and forth every twenty minutes. Cadbury is perfectly located less than a kilometer from all this action , also the original Claremont golf course put there for Cadburys early work force is being totally redeveloped into a resort course and all the trimmings that would go with such a complex. The course is right there next to the factory and when playing golf there all you can smell the waft of fresh chocolate .
I can't wait for the upgrade to happen , I suggest you all watch a few episodes of the Gourmet Farmer on SBS get excited about Tasmania and come and visit . You might just like to wait till Tony dips his hand in pocket first if you want the Cadbury experience as well . :2twocents
 
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