The Gillard Government

[drsmith]

All is not well between this government and the public service.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act...ters-and-ps-20130213-2edml.html#ixzz2KrCVAiuj

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

All is not well between this government and the public service.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act...ters-and-ps-20130213-2edml.html#ixzz2KrCVAiuj

If even the left wing toadies in the Public Service in Canberra are turning against Gillard, she is stuffed.

gg

 

[Logique]

If even the left wing toadies in the Public Service in Canberra are turning against Gillard, she is stuffed.

gg

Generally it was the Kerry O'Brien 'O' Meter that foretold the end. When Kerry turned, you were finished. But the Fed Public Service is a reasonable facsimile. However this seems like a qualified response from them.

 

[dutchie]

Robert McClelland to resign.

Speaker will decide whether a by-election will occur.

 

[sptrawler]

Robert McClelland to resign.

Speaker will decide whether a by-election will occur.

It appears to be coming apart at the seams.
I wonder if some are getting as fed up with Gillard, as they were with Rudd?

 

[drsmith]

Robert McClelland to resign.

Speaker will decide whether a by-election will occur.

Watching parliament this week I get the impression Anna Burke is not enjoying being speaker.

It appears to be coming apart at the seams.

MRRT failure laid bare in Senate economics committee.

Dr Parkinson said the two big variables it did not take into account - and which resulted in the tax raising only $126 million in its first six months - were the value that the mining companies put on their assets (the starting base for the tax) and the share of the profits that is attributable to downstream operations not covered by the mining tax…

Dr Parkinson’s testimony highlights the concessions given by Mr Swan and Mr Ferguson, and signed off by the new Prime Minister, when they renegotiated the tax one week after the overthrow of Kevin Rudd in mid-2010.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

 

[moXJO]

MRRT failure laid bare in Senate economics committee.



http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

So labor is too stupid to understand its own policies, what a surprise.

 

[drsmith]

A problem for Labor is that it might actually believe its own BS.

After the 2010 election, Julia Gillard had broken her core election promise that "there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead". Her credibility has never recovered from that moment. But I have never regarded this breach as a lie because I have never believed that she didn't believe every word she solemnly uttered at the time.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...e-case-and-often/story-fnfenwor-1226578236993

 

[drsmith]

Some interesting graphics on our budget position from Michael Smith's site.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/more-charts-this-time-from-barry-the-numbers-man.html

They would be better on a log scale but even so, the first graph shows that while revenue has come back to trend (2007), expenditure has essentially remained at the higher level.

 

[moXJO]

WHEN top accounting firm BDO warned Wayne Swan in 2011 that his mining tax could fail to collect much revenue, the Treasurer reacted by accusing it of "substantial errors" and "distorting the public debate".

More than a year later, John Murray, the BDO partner who crunched the numbers and issued what now appears to be a prophetic warning about the design flaws of the tax, describes the impact of Mr Swan's public attacks on him as "horrific".
In an angry response to BDO's modelling, Mr Swan took the unusual step of releasing a confidential Treasury minute attacking Mr Murray's work and published a letter he sent to BDO accusing it of making "utterly unrealistic" assumptions.

Stupid and nasty, nice one Swannie.
How many figures have labor fudged?
Because there are a lot that look a little suss at the moment.

 

[Macquack]

Stupid and nasty, nice one Swannie.
How many figures have labor fudged?
Because there are a lot that look a little suss at the moment.

I was all for the Federal government benefiting from a mining tax, however I believe it should have been royalty based on volume mined and nothing to do with profitabilty.

If a federally imposed mining royalty disadvantages smaller miners, bad luck for them. If it is not profitable for the smaller companies to mine, then leave the stuff in the ground.

The current system (Minerals Resource Rent Tax) has proven to be a failure.

Keep it simple, the bigger the hole in the ground, the bigger the revenues to governments.

 

[sptrawler]

Wasn't it Malaysia, we had a special relationship with and were going to trade refugees?

Well it looks as though the friendship has turned somewhat sour.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/16159434/xenophons-deportation-stymies-mps-visit/

Poor old Nick Xenophons has been deported.

 

[bellenuit]

I was all for the Federal government benefiting from a mining tax, however I believe it should have been royalty based on volume mined and nothing to do with profitabilty.

Since mineral resources are the property of the respective state, I don't think the Federal Government can impose royalties. The states already do that.

 

[Calliope]

Wasn't it Malaysia, we had a special relationship with and were going to trade refugees?

Well it looks as though the friendship has turned somewhat sour.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/16159434/xenophons-deportation-stymies-mps-visit/

Poor old Nick Xenophons has been deported.

It's good to see a do-gooder get done after sticking his nose into another country's affairs.

 

[moXJO]

I was all for the Federal government benefiting from a mining tax, however I believe it should have been royalty based on volume mined and nothing to do with profitabilty.

If a federally imposed mining royalty disadvantages smaller miners, bad luck for them. If it is not profitable for the smaller companies to mine, then leave the stuff in the ground.

The current system (Minerals Resource Rent Tax) has proven to be a failure.

Keep it simple, the bigger the hole in the ground, the bigger the revenues to governments.

I was for a mining tax and NBN.
Libs seem to have wedged themselves into getting rid of it. And its too close to the election cycle for labor to cop it from the miners. So I wonder if it will be tweaked or dumped?
Surely labor can get good advice to roll out at least one project

 

[drsmith]

Mr Mining Tax is now preaching to the G20 on the virtues of debt.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...-recovery-at-g20/story-fn59nsif-1226579897299

 

[sptrawler]

Mr Mining Tax is now preaching to the G20 on the virtues of debt.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...-recovery-at-g20/story-fn59nsif-1226579897299

He never fails to amaze me, hide of a rhino.

 

[sails]

And now Ross Gittens blames Abbott for the mining tax failure because...get this...Abbott was polling better and because labor were afraid of what Abbott would say. Goodness, that's never stopped them before from passing carbon tax, running up massive debt, losing control of our borders and any other laws generally unwanted by the majority of Aussies.

Wasn't Abbott just doing his job as opposition leader? Unbelievable "the dog ate my homework" excuse..totally lame...

An excerpt from the link below:

It was fear of what Abbott would say that prompted Labor to delay the release of the Henry report until it could rule out most of its controversial recommendations.

It was the success of Abbott and the miners' joint campaign against the tax that, added to his loss of nerve on the emissions trading scheme, made Rudd vulnerable to his enemies within Labor.

And it was Abbott's strength in the polls that made Gillard so anxious to square away the miners at any cost and rush to an election while her (as it turned out, non-existent) honeymoon lasted.

I am still shaking my head in disbelief - does Gittens really think Aussies are so stupid?

http://www.smh.com.au/business/abbott-must-share-the-blame-for-tax-stuffup-20130217-2el60.html

 

[drsmith]

I am still shaking my head in disbelief - does Gittens really think Aussies are so stupid?

The kindest thing that can be said about that article is that perhaps he thinks that there should have been bipartisanship on the issue.

How though can there bipartisanship when the government negotiated with the big three miners purely from the context of its own political survival ?

Perhaps Ross just doesn't like a strong opposition.

 

[dutchie]

I am still shaking my head in disbelief - does Gittens really think Aussies are so stupid?

http://www.smh.com.au/business/abbott-must-share-the-blame-for-tax-stuffup-20130217-2el60.html

More importantly, the whole of the ALP think Aussies are stupid.

Why else would they continue to spin, spin, spin. Everything is Abbott's fault. They are not to blame for anything!

(At least Paul Howes admits his mistake)