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The Abbott Government

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IFocus said:
How much of a pay cut did the board and CEO take?
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Probably about as much as a union organiser takes, when he negotiates a poor deal for workers.

To put your head in the sand and say that wages shouldn't follow profitability.

Is the same as putting your rents up, when you can't rent out your properties.

It is childlike ideology.IMO

Fortunately workers are much better informed today, than they were 30 years ago. It will be interesting to see where it all, ends up.
Either way "sunshine and lollipops" are off the menu at the moment, no matter who is in office.
Now some of the issues are on the table, they will have to be addressed.

Can't wait untill the politicians face up to the fact, that they themselves are a huge burden on the public purse.
The cost of Federal and State Governments are huge, the duplication of functions are massive and the inherent belief of self entitlement is unsustainable.

They have privatised large chunks of their portfolios and responsibilties, yet haven't reduced their entitlements or numbers.
Maybe politicians need a strategic review of their roles functions and effectiveness, I think they would get a massive shock.
 
Calliope said:
It's also the union bosses "not so secret slogan". Slush funds before workers.:rolleyes:
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Calliope, you are not supposed to talk about greedy union bosses...only greedy business bosses.

Ah well, I guess the Royal commission will sort the sheep from the goats in the unions.....Not too many sheep I am afraid.
 
noco said:
Calliope, you are not supposed to talk about greedy union bosses...only greedy business bosses.

Ah well, I guess the Royal commission will sort the sheep from the goats in the unions.....Not too many sheep I am afraid.
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So you think it sensible to focus on 1 problem by ignoring another?

I'll freely admit some union members have done great harm to workers and the economy. Some of the ambit claims they have are just plain ridiculous, but then what the BCA tends to go in with each year is often just as bad.

Are you able to take off your ideologically biased glasses and see that business and political leaders have done just as much damage too?

There is no single magic issue that can be resolved to get the country back on track. It's taken around 20 years of lack of ticker in the political establishment to get us close to where we were back in the late 80s ie a near 3rd world country reliant on a couple of key commodities for much of our export income, with near total capitulation for most companies being competitive in the tradeable sectors. Our economy is more like Brazil or Russia than the USA or Germany.

Banks too big to fail using their strength to not pay for the implicit guarantee they get from the Federal Government. Every rent seeker has shown if they shout loud enough and scare enough people that the monopoly style rents they receive are good for the economy and good for those fortunate voters most able to take advantage of it. All the investment distortions are ignored, yet they do more damage than a hundred Craig Thompsons.

It wont matter what the GDP numbers say, because for the majority of us it's going to feel like a recession whether we have a technical one or not, which is generally quite hard to achieve due to the high immigration levels we have. Falling per capita AND real wages are going to hurt. Combined with many more years of above CPI electricity prices and the likelihood of gas prices being 3 to 4 times higher than they currently are are other issues our political leaders have their heads in the sand over. Youth unemployment SHOULD be a national disgrace yet it's not registering in the national conscious.

Getting people to accept we are going to suffer a largish national income fall and be willing to wear some of the hurt is going to be key on how we face the many challenges coming our way. So far Abbott is not sending the right message. You can't coddle up to big business and expect the voters to wear a greater share of the pain. You can't really in good standing lecture workers who are already at the lower end of the income scale that they have to reduce their pay even more, where a year earlier you were defending getting 3 massive pay rises over 16 or 18 months. You can't expect a lot of trust from the voters when you stand up for $5000 2 hour meetings while in opposition, especially when the stench of purchasing an IP was merely incidental.

If Labor is smart they'll start offering some true leadership on these issues with REAL world responses to them. I fear they'll take the Abbott FUD route instead, which will be to the detriment of us all.

If you could wipe out unions tomorrow Noco, do you think the Australian economy would then be able to have a world class competitive tradeables sector? I'm pretty confident in saying no it wouldn't.
 
You are probably right sydboy, after the debacle of the Gilliard government we need leadership and a strong one.
we all need to make high sacrifices and get out of the partisan slogan if we want to avoid the descent to doom (economically)
time to look ahead and stop the race forward with immigration and debt fuelled housing recovery:
Pakistan/egypt have a huge number of houses and high demand too......That does not build an economy
not so sure tony will have the guts..and no hope to come from Labour
 
sydboy007 said:
If Labor is smart they'll start offering some true leadership on these issues with REAL world responses to them. I fear they'll take the Abbott FUD route instead, which will be to the detriment of us all.

If you could wipe out unions tomorrow Noco, do you think the Australian economy would then be able to have a world class competitive tradeables sector? I'm pretty confident in saying no it wouldn't.
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If Labor were smart they would have offered true leadership on these issues, six months ago, when in office.:D

If you could wipe out unions tomorrow, you would have a stronger Labor Party and the shouted down members would be able to put forward their opinion.
Rather than be threatened with a ' bag of bolts on the head' if they don't toe the line. fact not fiction.lol
 
I know this isn't Abbott related, but it is Liberal Party related.
Some would have us think, that Liberal is all about 'diving to the bottom' with wages and conditions.
That is a stupid arguement, both parties have kids, that have to work.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/21646299/minister-appalled-by-mcdonalds-shifts/

To think that one party, embraces draconian measures, while the other wants to bring down companies, is crazy.
Both want a better Australia, it is just dependent on the politicians, putting Australia first.
Not themselves.

That big pay rise a couple of years ago, doesn't stand them in good stead.
It smells of insider trading, they knew what was coming.lol
 
Question time today would have been worth watching.

In Question Time, the Minister responded to Opposition queries about the flow of information by saying that on Saturday it became "essential to correct the record".

He told Parliament the Immigration Department's inquiry into the matter will look at "all of the issues that relate to this incident", including those stemming from Labor's time in government.

"That will include how this centre was specified, and who set it up and how it was set up," Mr Morrison said.

"It'll go into the performance of the service contractors that those opposite contracted, it will go into the security arrangements that were put in place and left to the Opposition when we formed government.

"It'll go into all of those and it'll go into the conduct of myself and those on this side and our handling of these issues since we took over responsibility for these centres."

Mr Morrison also launched a counter-attack on Labor, criticising former immigration minister Tony Burke for his handling of last year's riot at the detention centre on Nauru.

"It took him a full week to front the Australian people to announce the review into the Nauru processing centre that burnt down on his watch - it was a melt down on your watch," he accused Mr Burke in Parliament.

Mr Burke, now Manager of Opposition Business, protested that it was not relevant to the question.

"There are no end of opportunities for political point-scoring - we are dealing with an issue where a man has died," he said.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-...sure-to-resign-over-manus-island-riot/5279714

"The manager of opposition business (Tony Burke) once boast he could build a 10,000 man camp on Manus Island," Mr Morrison told the chamber.

"I just shudder to think how something like that could have been run safely."
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...r-for-pm-shorten/story-fn3dxiwe-1226835958663
 
Scott Morrison's performance in Parliament today in response to questions from Labor's Richard Marles as judged by today's Fairfax's Pulse's column closing summary,

5:59pm: Before we ride off into the Monday sunset, what did we learn today?
•"I'll take that on notice" is not an all-encompassing get out of jail card. Particularly if Penny Wong is on the committee;
•Celebrations take many forms (see: the bonfires lit for George Brandis' elevation to Attorney-General);
•The rains/ pours thing really is true. Craig Thomson now needs to keep a concerned eye on the privileges committee;
•As Christopher Pyne tells us, MPs might "gild the lily". But this is very different from deliberately misleading parliament; and
•If at first you don't succeed ... Try and try again. Even if it's just a crockery set;

Thanks for tuning in. Andrew Meares, Alex Ellinghausen and I will see you tomorrow for MORE estimates.
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Manus didn't rate a mention.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...ics-live-february-24-2014-20140224-33b4v.html
 
Singing like a canary in a cage.

FORMER Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has praised the Abbott government for maintaining funding for a program designed to educate children in the world's poorest countries.
Gillard, speaking in Washington DC on Monday at the Brookings Institution, said she was pleased the change of government in Australia did not lead to a cut in the financial support for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
Gillard will take up the role of chair of the GPE's board next month.
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http://www.news.com.au/world/breaki...government-in-us/story-e6frfkui-1226836490765

Tony Abbott has flagged a reduction in the rate of spending growth in health and education, but insists he will keep his election promise of no cuts in those areas.
In a speech to the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum on Monday night, the Prime Minister backed his Treasurer, Joe Hockey, in preparing Australians for a tough budget and for inevitable curtailing of government programs.
''We will keep our pre-election commitments to maintain health spending and school spending but we must reduce the rate of spending growth in the longer term,'' Mr Abbott said.
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The Prime Minister's warning about health and education spending follows media appearances last week by Health Minister Peter Dutton, and Mr Hockey, in which they suggested that the current rate of government spending was unsustainable.
Delivering the first in a series of major speeches on the Coalition's health agenda, Mr Dutton said last Wednesday that one of the Abbott government's important tasks was ''to grow the opportunity for those Australians who can afford to do to contribute to their own health care costs''.
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Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...on-spending-20140225-33du9.html#ixzz2uHj5BJid

Let the toecutting begin in earnest I say !
 
The Manus situation is looking more like "children overboard" .

At least Morrison had the guts to correct himself, but we'll see what comes out from now on.

Manus is looking shaky as a detention centre, so next we turn to Cambodia.

North Korea is looking good too.
 
from the Australian

Assistant Immigration Minister Michaelia Cash will announce the inquiry with a pledge to ensure the integrity of the program while scrapping any unnecessary red tape that holds business back.

The terms of reference to be issued today highlight the importance of the program to employers that experience skill shortages and the potential of the workers to boost the economy…

Senator Cash is expected to commit to “evidence-based productivity reform” as part of the announcement…

There were 90,780 workers in Australia under the scheme at the end of last year, up 8.3 per cent on the previous year…

The toughening of the 457 visa program cleared the parliament on June 28 when Labor gained the support of the Greens and crossbench senators Nick Xenophon and John Madigan.

Strange the Government thinks it's an onerous condition to actually advertise a job before applying to fill the role via a 457 visa.

Considering unemployment is already at 6%, underemployment is increasing, hours worked decreasing, participation decreasing, why would you want to make it even easier to import foreign workers?

This seems to be all about depressing wages and possibly goosing the housing market with increased demand.
 
Grubby politics and the public know it

Coalition's break with precedent takes political use of parliament to new level


Another day, another unprecedented use of the resources and powers of government to pursue politics.

Before it has even met, the government has announced the parliament will apologise, something that has previously happened only in relation to matters such as the stolen generation, forced adoptions or British child adoptions. Pyne says these comparisons are unfair, but concedes this apology is setting a precedent.
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On Monday we discovered the prime minister ordered cabinet documents from the previous Labor government be handed to the royal commission into the home insulation scheme, one of two highly political royal commissions set up by the government (the other is into union corruption). This is also unprecedented.

The cabinet handbook states “the convention is that cabinet documents are confidential to the government which created them and not the property of the sponsoring minister or department. Access to them by succeeding governments is not granted without the approval of the current parliamentary leader of the appropriate political party.”
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Whether these unprecedented and blatantly political tactics are effective remains to be seen, but it is possible the best way for a government to “put behind it” three years of a hung parliament is to get on with governing.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/25/coalition-precedent-political-use-parliament
 
On Cardinal 'hold your nose against the smell' Pell's appointment as the vatican economic overlord.
Both Hitler and Stalin modelled intrinsic elements on the organisation of the church, orthodox and catholic.
Abbott By his own admission doesn't understand much about economics, and doesn't care to much or understand much about science either, but he does understand Brutalism .

Intergenerational institutional Brutalism is what the church has served up to untold thousands of children and families, note how many are the powerless, protected by it's infiltration of governmental structures and institutions. And... Institutionalised Brutalism is what is being served up to asylum seekers, the powerless... If history is your guide Brutalism is what is in-store for a particular group of you. lets see what the 'jackboot' feels like when it's on your neck.

Separation of church and state... LOL
 
AAA said:
Shorten unreservedly supported this motion.
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From the Liberal Daily

Manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, said his party would not oppose the motion, but accused the government of attempting to wedge Labor on the issue.

“We are deeply, deeply offended by what happened’’ with Thomson, Mr Burke said.

“We’re not going to play some game ... I expect it will be dealt with pretty quickly.’’

Amid claims of political pointscoring, Leader of the House Christopher Pyne defended the move, saying Thomson had defamed individuals under parliamentary privilege with what appeared to be lies.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...n-apology-motion/story-fn59niix-1226836658403
 
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