Treasurer Joe Hockey has accused those that are complaining of the budget’s unfairness of using “1970s class warfare lines”.
Well the only class warfare lines I can see is from the LNP. Their "Lifters and Leaners" analogy is a disgrace.
So if you are unemployed, disadvantaged for many reasons you are a
leaner and must be demonised. But who are these leaners that Hockey and
Abbott are talking about?
To me the leaners are the people who are on middle to upper salaries and
getting welfare. The big corporations that get taxpayers money or are
paying practically no tax.
Hockey goes on to say, "The average working Australian be they a
cleaner, plumber or teacher - was working over one month full time each
year just to pay for the welfare of another Australian, Hockey said."
But of course it is the "dole bludgers" and poor, disabled,
disadvantaged, all for many reasons are not working or can't get enough
work that he is talking of I am sure, not the big corporations.
His talk of working one month a year by the average Australian to pay for welfare needs to be "Fact Checked" I am sure.
Maybe it will be right when Abbotts Paid Parental Leave scheme gets going.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Increasing inequality brings high social cost: report
The following article is from The Conversation.
It is written by Michelle Grattan.
This is an important report, particularly with the dreadful budget that has been inflicted on us.
The article link.
The Conversation
The land of the fair go is disappearing, argues former Liberal leader John Hewson, on the release of a new report on wealth inequality.
The report warns inequality is increasing rapidly in Australia, posing dangers to community well-being, health, social stability, sustainable growth and long-term prosperity.
Entitled “Advance Australia Fair?”, the report finds that in the wake of a declining resources boom “there is a growing gulf between those in the top range and those in the lower ranges of wealth and income distributions”.
The wealthiest 20% of households now account for 61% of total household net worth, while the poorest 20% account for only 1%.
“In recent decades the income share of the top 1% has doubled, and the wealth share of the top 0.001% has more than tripled. At the same time, poverty is increasing and many of those dependent upon government benefits, including the unemployment benefit, have fallen well below the poverty line,” according the report.
“If we do not pay attention to the problem of financial inequality, current economic circumstances are likely to make it worse.”
Written by Bob Douglas, Sharon Friel, Richard Denniss and David Morawetz, the report from Australia21, in partnership with The Australia Institute and the Australian National University, follows a roundtable earlier this year.
It comes as the Abbott government’s first budget has been widely attacked for being unfair, with the burden falling on lower and middle income earners. It curbs the growth in pensions and family payments, and critics say it will increase inequality.
For most of the last century, Australia was a relatively egalitarian country “and proud of it,” according to the report.
In the half century after World War 1, incomes rose faster at the bottom of the income distribution than the top. “By the end of the 1970s Australia was one of the most egalitarian countries in the world.”
But from the mid-1970s, full time wages for the bottom tenth of the income distribution have grown only 15%, while full time earnings for the top tenth have increased by 59%.
Australia’s unemployment benefit is the lowest of OECD countries, and 20% below the poverty line, and many government benefits “have barely kept place with inflation over recent decades”, the report finds.
Australia is one of the lowest taxing countries in the industrialised world, and its welfare spending as a proportion of GDP is amongst the lowest in the OECD.
Large tax cuts and tax exemptions introduced by both sides of politics in recent decades that disproportionately favoured the rich is one factor contributing to the growing inequality of incomes and wealth the report identifies.
“Other factors include globalisation, asymmetric access to rapid technological change, changes in compensation practices for top executives (including use of bonuses and stock options) and the neoliberal economic policies that have prevailed since the 1980s.
“Another important contributor has been the increasing practice of ‘rent seeking’, whereby wealthy and powerful companies, organisations or individuals use their resources to obtain economic gain at the expense of others, without contributing to productivity.”
As remedial measures, the authors urge promoting “a national conversation” about inequality, taxation reforms, fairer funding for schools, more investment in early childhood development especially for the disadvantaged, and setting all pensions and benefits no lower than the poverty line and indexing them to average wages.
Other actions should include establishing more job creation programs in priority areas, developing new models of employee management and co-operative ownership of business, implementing the World Health Organisation recommendations on the social determinants of health, encouraging an inquiry by the Productivity Commission into the impact of inequality on economic efficiency and growth, and establishing a national research program to monitor progress of interventions.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
It is written by Michelle Grattan.
This is an important report, particularly with the dreadful budget that has been inflicted on us.
The article link.
The Conversation
Increasing inequality brings high social cost: report
By Michelle Grattan, University of CanberraThe land of the fair go is disappearing, argues former Liberal leader John Hewson, on the release of a new report on wealth inequality.
The report warns inequality is increasing rapidly in Australia, posing dangers to community well-being, health, social stability, sustainable growth and long-term prosperity.
Entitled “Advance Australia Fair?”, the report finds that in the wake of a declining resources boom “there is a growing gulf between those in the top range and those in the lower ranges of wealth and income distributions”.
The wealthiest 20% of households now account for 61% of total household net worth, while the poorest 20% account for only 1%.
“In recent decades the income share of the top 1% has doubled, and the wealth share of the top 0.001% has more than tripled. At the same time, poverty is increasing and many of those dependent upon government benefits, including the unemployment benefit, have fallen well below the poverty line,” according the report.
“If we do not pay attention to the problem of financial inequality, current economic circumstances are likely to make it worse.”
Written by Bob Douglas, Sharon Friel, Richard Denniss and David Morawetz, the report from Australia21, in partnership with The Australia Institute and the Australian National University, follows a roundtable earlier this year.
It comes as the Abbott government’s first budget has been widely attacked for being unfair, with the burden falling on lower and middle income earners. It curbs the growth in pensions and family payments, and critics say it will increase inequality.
For most of the last century, Australia was a relatively egalitarian country “and proud of it,” according to the report.
In the half century after World War 1, incomes rose faster at the bottom of the income distribution than the top. “By the end of the 1970s Australia was one of the most egalitarian countries in the world.”
But from the mid-1970s, full time wages for the bottom tenth of the income distribution have grown only 15%, while full time earnings for the top tenth have increased by 59%.
Australia’s unemployment benefit is the lowest of OECD countries, and 20% below the poverty line, and many government benefits “have barely kept place with inflation over recent decades”, the report finds.
Australia is one of the lowest taxing countries in the industrialised world, and its welfare spending as a proportion of GDP is amongst the lowest in the OECD.
Large tax cuts and tax exemptions introduced by both sides of politics in recent decades that disproportionately favoured the rich is one factor contributing to the growing inequality of incomes and wealth the report identifies.
“Other factors include globalisation, asymmetric access to rapid technological change, changes in compensation practices for top executives (including use of bonuses and stock options) and the neoliberal economic policies that have prevailed since the 1980s.
“Another important contributor has been the increasing practice of ‘rent seeking’, whereby wealthy and powerful companies, organisations or individuals use their resources to obtain economic gain at the expense of others, without contributing to productivity.”
As remedial measures, the authors urge promoting “a national conversation” about inequality, taxation reforms, fairer funding for schools, more investment in early childhood development especially for the disadvantaged, and setting all pensions and benefits no lower than the poverty line and indexing them to average wages.
Other actions should include establishing more job creation programs in priority areas, developing new models of employee management and co-operative ownership of business, implementing the World Health Organisation recommendations on the social determinants of health, encouraging an inquiry by the Productivity Commission into the impact of inequality on economic efficiency and growth, and establishing a national research program to monitor progress of interventions.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Welcome to the brave new world of Malcolm Turnbulls Fraudband.
Welcome to the brave new world of Malcolm Turnbulls Fraudband.
A Fraudband that will be "sooner, cheaper and more afford ably".
Well read this
One of the beauties of Labors NBN was that NBN Co. would install and own
the fibre infrastructure and private enterprise ISPs would supply the
service to the customers. This would create great competition between
ISPs. The ISPs are using and dealing with only one wholesaler for
tremendous ubiquity and conformity. Under Labor, TPG could not be a
wholesaler and retailer, but with Fraudband this will happen with the
customer missing out on competition.
A Fraudband that will be "sooner, cheaper and more afford ably".
Well read this
Quote:
Monday, June 9, 2014
Tony Abbott and the Institute of Public Affairs
Who can forget the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) 75 changes to the Australian Society that they want Abbott to institute when he comes to power.
We now know how radical this Government is.
How it is intent on changing our society to a more greedy, brutal and unfair society.
Where a confected budget emergency was the only way to hopefully sway the minds of the Australian people into thinking what they have in mind for us is for our own good.
What mugs do they think they are dealing with.
What mugs would fall for this radical right wing agenda.
What mugs would believe their lies and broken promises.
I just hope there are not too many "mugs" in Australia to vote these Barbarians back in at the next election.
Abbott is just a puppet for these right wing ideologues, a puppet in the hands of the IPA, Murdoch and the dirty energy/mining lobby.
If you want our society to conform to the 75 points below, then vote Liberal.
I know I won't.
IPA 75 point plan.
1 Repeal the carbon tax, and don't replace it. It will be one thing to remove the burden of the carbon tax from the Australian economy. But if it is just replaced by another costly scheme, most of the benefits will be undone.
2 Abolish the Department of Climate Change
3 Abolish the Clean Energy Fund
4 Repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act
5 Abandon Australia's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council
6 Repeal the renewable energy target
7 Return income taxing powers to the states
8 Abolish the Commonwealth Grants Commission
9 Abolish the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
10 Withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol
11 Introduce fee competition to Australian universities
12 Repeal the National Curriculum
13 Introduce competing private secondary school curriculums
14 Abolish the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
15 Eliminate laws that require radio and television broadcasters to be 'balanced'
16 Abolish television spectrum licensing and devolve spectrum management to the common law
17 End local content requirements for Australian television stations
18 Eliminate family tax benefits
19 Abandon the paid parental leave scheme
20 Means-test Medicare
21 End all corporate welfare and subsidies by closing the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
22 Introduce voluntary voting
23 End mandatory disclosures on political donations
24 End media blackout in final days of election campaigns
25 End public funding to political parties
26 Remove anti-dumping laws
27 Eliminate media ownership restrictions
28 Abolish the Foreign Investment Review Board
29 Eliminate the National Preventative Health Agency
30 Cease subsidising the car industry
31 Formalise a one-in, one-out approach to regulatory reduction
32 Rule out federal funding for 2018 Commonwealth Games
33 Deregulate the parallel importation of books
34 End preferences for Industry Super Funds in workplace relations laws
35 Legislate a cap on government spending and tax as a percentage of GDP
36 Legislate a balanced budget amendment which strictly limits the size of budget deficits and the period the federal government can be in deficit
37 Force government agencies to put all of their spending online in a searchable database
38 Repeal plain packaging for cigarettes and rule it out for all other products, including alcohol and fast food
39 Reintroduce voluntary student unionism at universities
40 Introduce a voucher scheme for secondary schools
41 Repeal the alcopops tax
42 Introduce a special economic zone in the north of Australia including:
a) Lower personal income tax for residents
b) Significantly expanded 457 Visa programs for workers
c) Encourage the construction of dams
43 Repeal the mining tax
44 Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states
45 Introduce a single rate of income tax with a generous tax-free threshold
46 Cut company tax to an internationally competitive rate of 25 per cent
47 Cease funding the Australia Network
48 Privatise Australia Post
49 Privatise Medibank
50 Break up the ABC and put out to tender each individual function 51 Privatise SBS 52 Reduce the size of the public service from current levels of more than 260,000 to at least the 2001 low of 212,784
53 Repeal the Fair Work Act
54 Allow individuals and employers to negotiate directly terms of employment that suit them
55 Encourage independent contracting by overturning new regulations designed to punish contractors
56 Abolish the Baby Bonus
57 Abolish the First Home Owners' Grant
58 Allow the Northern Territory to become a state
59 Halve the size of the Coalition front bench from 32 to 16
60 Remove all remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade
61 Slash top public servant salaries to much lower international standards, like in the United States
62 End all public subsidies to sport and the arts
63 Privatise the Australian Institute of Sport
64 End all hidden protectionist measures, such as preferences for local manufacturers in government tendering
65 Abolish the Office for Film and Literature Classification
66 Rule out any government-supported or mandated internet censorship
67 Means test tertiary student loans
68 Allow people to opt out of superannuation in exchange for promising to forgo any government income support in retirement
69 Immediately halt construction of the National Broadband Network and privatise any sections that have already been built
70 End all government funded Nanny State advertising
71 Reject proposals for compulsory food and alcohol labelling
72 Privatise the CSIRO
73 Defund Harmony Day
74 Close the Office for Youth
75 Privatise the Snowy-Hydro Scheme
We now know how radical this Government is.
How it is intent on changing our society to a more greedy, brutal and unfair society.
Where a confected budget emergency was the only way to hopefully sway the minds of the Australian people into thinking what they have in mind for us is for our own good.
What mugs do they think they are dealing with.
What mugs would fall for this radical right wing agenda.
What mugs would believe their lies and broken promises.
I just hope there are not too many "mugs" in Australia to vote these Barbarians back in at the next election.
Abbott is just a puppet for these right wing ideologues, a puppet in the hands of the IPA, Murdoch and the dirty energy/mining lobby.
If you want our society to conform to the 75 points below, then vote Liberal.
I know I won't.
IPA 75 point plan.
1 Repeal the carbon tax, and don't replace it. It will be one thing to remove the burden of the carbon tax from the Australian economy. But if it is just replaced by another costly scheme, most of the benefits will be undone.
2 Abolish the Department of Climate Change
3 Abolish the Clean Energy Fund
4 Repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act
5 Abandon Australia's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council
6 Repeal the renewable energy target
7 Return income taxing powers to the states
8 Abolish the Commonwealth Grants Commission
9 Abolish the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
10 Withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol
11 Introduce fee competition to Australian universities
12 Repeal the National Curriculum
13 Introduce competing private secondary school curriculums
14 Abolish the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
15 Eliminate laws that require radio and television broadcasters to be 'balanced'
16 Abolish television spectrum licensing and devolve spectrum management to the common law
17 End local content requirements for Australian television stations
18 Eliminate family tax benefits
19 Abandon the paid parental leave scheme
20 Means-test Medicare
21 End all corporate welfare and subsidies by closing the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education
22 Introduce voluntary voting
23 End mandatory disclosures on political donations
24 End media blackout in final days of election campaigns
25 End public funding to political parties
26 Remove anti-dumping laws
27 Eliminate media ownership restrictions
28 Abolish the Foreign Investment Review Board
29 Eliminate the National Preventative Health Agency
30 Cease subsidising the car industry
31 Formalise a one-in, one-out approach to regulatory reduction
32 Rule out federal funding for 2018 Commonwealth Games
33 Deregulate the parallel importation of books
34 End preferences for Industry Super Funds in workplace relations laws
35 Legislate a cap on government spending and tax as a percentage of GDP
36 Legislate a balanced budget amendment which strictly limits the size of budget deficits and the period the federal government can be in deficit
37 Force government agencies to put all of their spending online in a searchable database
38 Repeal plain packaging for cigarettes and rule it out for all other products, including alcohol and fast food
39 Reintroduce voluntary student unionism at universities
40 Introduce a voucher scheme for secondary schools
41 Repeal the alcopops tax
42 Introduce a special economic zone in the north of Australia including:
a) Lower personal income tax for residents
b) Significantly expanded 457 Visa programs for workers
c) Encourage the construction of dams
43 Repeal the mining tax
44 Devolve environmental approvals for major projects to the states
45 Introduce a single rate of income tax with a generous tax-free threshold
46 Cut company tax to an internationally competitive rate of 25 per cent
47 Cease funding the Australia Network
48 Privatise Australia Post
49 Privatise Medibank
50 Break up the ABC and put out to tender each individual function 51 Privatise SBS 52 Reduce the size of the public service from current levels of more than 260,000 to at least the 2001 low of 212,784
53 Repeal the Fair Work Act
54 Allow individuals and employers to negotiate directly terms of employment that suit them
55 Encourage independent contracting by overturning new regulations designed to punish contractors
56 Abolish the Baby Bonus
57 Abolish the First Home Owners' Grant
58 Allow the Northern Territory to become a state
59 Halve the size of the Coalition front bench from 32 to 16
60 Remove all remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers to international trade
61 Slash top public servant salaries to much lower international standards, like in the United States
62 End all public subsidies to sport and the arts
63 Privatise the Australian Institute of Sport
64 End all hidden protectionist measures, such as preferences for local manufacturers in government tendering
65 Abolish the Office for Film and Literature Classification
66 Rule out any government-supported or mandated internet censorship
67 Means test tertiary student loans
68 Allow people to opt out of superannuation in exchange for promising to forgo any government income support in retirement
69 Immediately halt construction of the National Broadband Network and privatise any sections that have already been built
70 End all government funded Nanny State advertising
71 Reject proposals for compulsory food and alcohol labelling
72 Privatise the CSIRO
73 Defund Harmony Day
74 Close the Office for Youth
75 Privatise the Snowy-Hydro Scheme
Friday, June 6, 2014
NBN 101
The NBN explained for the simple minded.
This is very funny, but sadly it is so true.
How come the Conservatives have buggered up a brilliant project and turned it into a very expensive white elephant.
This is very funny, but sadly it is so true.
How come the Conservatives have buggered up a brilliant project and turned it into a very expensive white elephant.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Abbott busted deceiving the people once again.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has courted controversy by linking a
commemoration of the 70th anniversary of D-Day to his government's
policies.
The original press release can be seen here.
This is not on the Government web site anymore.
Worst prime Minister ever.
The original press release can be seen here.
This is not on the Government web site anymore.
Worst prime Minister ever.
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