Australian Politics thread [merged]

[🏅Dooks]

[Chuck17]

Go overseas for an extended period and you'll soon realise that despite our faults and problems (and yes we do have them) this is still a fantastic place to live.

Best country in the world 

I used to think that. Whilst still better than most I'm not as certain of that statement these days..and yes I travel a fair bit.

Must be travelling to different countries than me

[1965]

Abbott carried on for three years about Julia's lie (no carbon tax) and yet...

Then and now: the Abbott government's broken promises
 
May 14, 2014 - 4:46PM

On the eve of the 2013 federal election Tony Abbott promised no cuts to education, health, or the ABC and SBS, and no changes to pensions. Fairfax Media looks at how those promises fared in the Abbott government's first budget.

Broadcasting
“...no cuts to the ABC or SBS.” (Tony Abbott, September 2013)

Treasurer Joe Hockey announced $43.5 million in cuts over four years in Tuesday's budget.

Education, health
“No cuts to education, no cuts to health…” (Tony Abbott, September 2013)

Tuesday's budget imposed an $80 billion cut to health and education spending over next decade.
“We are not shutting any Medicare locals.” (Tony Abbott, August 2013)

All 61 Medicare Locals will now be scrapped and replaced with new local health networks.

Taxes
“No one’s personal tax will go up” (Tony Abbott, March 2012)

The Treasurer confirmed a deficit levy would be imposed on people who earn incomes over $180,000.

Pensions
"No changes to pensions" (Tony Abbott, September 2013) 

Tuesday's budget confirmed age and disability pensions will fall behind wages growth from 2017 after they are instead linked to inflation.

Foreign Aid
“From 2014/15, the $5 billion aid budget will grow each year in line with the Consumer Price Index” (Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, January 2014)

The Treasurer revealed foreign aid would be frozen, leading to a massive  $7.6 billion cut over next 5 years.

Indigenous affairs
"The Coalition will continue the current level of funding expended on Closing the Gap activities." (Coalition policy document, September 2013)

Tuesday's budget cut $500 million through the consolidation of 150 programs.

Environment
‘‘ARENA will have over $2.5 billion in funds to manage." (Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, November 2013)

The ARENA (the Australian Reneweable Energy Agency) has been axed.
"The Coalition will promote the use of solar energy by Australian families and households. It will ensure at least one million additional solar homes or community centres by 2020." (Greg Hunt, December 2011)

Tuesday's budget scrapped the government's Direct Action policy to fund rebates for the installation of solar panels and deliver 1 million solar roofs.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/federal-budget/then-and-now-the-abbott-governments-broken-promises-20140514-zrcfr.html#ixzz31fdyfsvf

[Penelope]

LMAO.

But this the man who admitted theer are core promises and promises which its OK to break, not that he makes any distinction as they ooze from his slimy gob.

And blind fools who love everything tea party will bury their head in the sand and think that the just because they vote for them they can do no wrong.

The cutting of funding for the health and education to the states in an effort to get the states to beg for the GST to be raised would have to be the most gutless, evil act of conniving that any government in our history has performed.

As long as the blind followers continue to refuse to hold one party to account while only ever seeing wrong in the other, this sort of contempt by our pollies will only get worse.

if someone shoots abbot or hockey I will celebrate. Low life pigs.

[🏅Dooks]

Conniving, premeditated and ethically appauling.

how many seats would the lieberal party have won if they detailed their budget prior to the election? would be political suicide if they did and the A L P would win in a landslide.

Id rather a redhead than a Fiberal idiot

[dwaino]

[🏅Dooks]

This is a stunning comment:-

[dwaino]

Billions cut from real education but $250mill spent on mythology. Inb4 national prayer day.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/budget-it-will-be-chaplains-not-secular-social-workers-at-schools?CMP=soc_568#comments

[WilliamPowell]

Billions cut from real education but $250mill spent on mythology. Inb4 national prayer day.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/budget-it-will-be-chaplains-not-secular-social-workers-at-schools?CMP=soc_568#comments

Yep I told ya yesterday dwaino, $250mil on Chaplains in school to teach kids amongst other things values.. a John Howard dream it seems, and we all no know that Johnny was Tone's hero.

Interesting I watched some show on ch24 last night (ABC News channel) called "the drum" and they did a quick summary of 3 cases and how the budget changes would effect each. They looked at the increases in the fuel levy, medicare payments, changes to family benefit B etc and other things directly effecting each case

First one was a pensioner - they concluded with the medicare, PBS changes, the one off yearly couples payment then the pensioner was $1548 worse off under this budget

2nd was a couple with kids on $200k-250k a year, they would be $589 worse off -

3rd was a single mother worked out she'd be over $4k worse off

Thought the idea was for high income earners to bare the brunt of this "sharing the pain" mantra

Not quite sure how based on the examples they gave last night you can say that is the case

[Francois Jackson]

Billions cut from real education but $250mill spent on mythology. Inb4 national prayer day.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/budget-it-will-be-chaplains-not-secular-social-workers-at-schools?CMP=soc_568#comments

Yep I told ya yesterday dwaino, $250mil on Chaplains in school to teach kids amongst other things values.. a John Howard dream it seems, and we all no know that Johnny was Tone's hero.

Interesting I watched some show on ch24 last night (ABC News channel) called "the drum" and they did a quick summary of 3 cases and how the budget changes would effect each. They looked at the increases in the fuel levy, medicare payments, changes to family benefit B etc and other things directly effecting each case

First one was a pensioner - they concluded with the medicare, PBS changes, the one off yearly couples payment then the pensioner was $1548 worse off under this budget

2nd was a couple with kids on $200k-250k a year, they would be $589 worse off -

3rd was a single mother worked out she'd be over $4k worse off

Thought the idea was for high income earners to bare the brunt of this "sharing the pain" mantra

Not quite sure how based on the examples they gave last night you can say that is the case

Not sure you have given enough detail to pass judgement. i.e what income is the single mother earning. 100/150k? Cant see how she would be worse off by 4k unless she has lost some entitlements along the way, and if that's the case maybe she doesn't need welfare.

As for those figures of a couple earning 250k i would say its right given the levy is only for amounts over 180k which works out to be barely nothing. I don't agree with that at all

[WilliamPowell]

Not sure you have given enough detail to pass judgement. i.e what income is the single mother earning. 100/150k? Cant see how she would be worse off by 4k unless she has lost some entitlements along the way, and if that's the case maybe she doesn't need welfare.

As for those figures of a couple earning 250k i would say its right given the levy is only for amounts over 180k which works out to be barely nothing. I don't agree with that at all

Oops

Should have said single mother is on less than $45k a year and is about to lose Family Benefit B because one of the kids is about to turn 6 or something

[Francois Jackson]

Not sure you have given enough detail to pass judgement. i.e what income is the single mother earning. 100/150k? Cant see how she would be worse off by 4k unless she has lost some entitlements along the way, and if that's the case maybe she doesn't need welfare.

As for those figures of a couple earning 250k i would say its right given the levy is only for amounts over 180k which works out to be barely nothing. I don't agree with that at all

Oops

Should have said single mother is on less than $45k a year and is about to lose Family Benefit B because one of the kids is about to turn 6 or something

fair enough

yeah i agree that's wrong. Someone on 200k shouldn't be better off than someone on 45k from this budget.

[1965]

A bit of Tony bashing (more exciting than the Footy ATM)

Tony Abbott's name is mud
 
May 15, 2014

Mike Carlton 

Well, I can understand why just at the moment politicians aren’t much trusted because we’ve had too many politicians who say one thing before an election to win votes and then do the opposite after the election…

Tony Abbott, Newcastle radio, June 13, 2013.

The Prime Minister is a liar. There is no point mincing words. We have never seen anything like it.

With this budget he has shown himself to be cynically dishonest on a scale unprecedented in modern politics. Although Abbott is not the first political leader to break an election promise and will not be the last, no prime minister in memory, Liberal or Labor, has come even close to his contemptuous deception of the electorate he sucker-punched on Tuesday.

To a point, this is not surprising. All my adult life I have been lied to by the Tories, from the Vietnam war on down to John Howard's invention of the non-core promise. I was therefore expecting duplicity from Abbott. It's what people like him do, how they think, how they govern.

But it was genuinely shocking to see his wholesale abandonment of the bargain of candour to be expected between leader and people. Almost every significant commitment he made in the election campaign last year has been flung overboard or distorted beyond recognition.

No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS.
 Tony Abbott, SBS NEWS – September 6, 2013

 There are five separate betrayals in that lot alone. The most heinous is his full frontal assault upon Medicare, with even the poorest families forced to fork out a $7 "co-payment" – as the euphemism goes – to see their GP, to get a pathology test, to have a CT scan, to fill a prescription. It's a tax from a government that promised no new taxes. Pay it, or join the ever-lengthening queue at your local hospital's emergency department, where Abbott has given them the green light to charge you as well.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-name-is-mud-20140515-zrd9w.html#ixzz31xDehDZ8

[1965]

Disgraceful, how anybody can continue to support this behindhole I will never know.

Labor giving green light to budget's deficit levy
 
May 17, 2014

Mark Kenny, Heath Aston
 
Labor is set to wave through Tony Abbott's controversial deficit levy on high-income earners as shadow ministers argue they must pick their fights and make the government ''carry the can for breaking election promises''.

It comes as modelling by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling for the opposition found the top fifth of income earners got off extremely lightly in the budget, losing just 0.3 per cent of their income - even with the debt levy - compared with the poorest fifth, which loses nearly 5 per cent.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-giving-green-light-to-budgets-deficit-levy-20140516-38fgd.html#ixzz31xMygTmZ

[Diocletian]

As alleged "socialists", I would've thought a levy on higher income earners is one measure Labor(sic) would support.