Australian Politics thread [merged]

[Francois Jackson]

Good on Dan gotta start somewhere

These blokes make me sick. A bloody disgrace they are allowed to get away with waft they do

http://m.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victorian-government-puts-local-councils-on-notice-over-lavish-executive-salaries/story-fnpp4dl6-1227365923352

[1965]

Whack  (just for Chucky)

worth a read 

Focussing on my 'aggression' ignores the budget

By ABC's Emma Alberici

snipped...

This Government is developing a reputation for saying one thing and hoping no one notices when they do the opposite. Mr Abbott promised to be a better economic manager than his predecessor, but has doubled the deficit, hiked the debt, presided over an increase in the unemployment rate and raised government spending and taxes.

The PM didn't provide mothers with 26 weeks of paid parental leave at replacement wage despite calling this his "signature policy". What happened to spending a week a year in an Indigenous community? The draft amendment for constitutional recognition for Aboriginal people is also eight months (and counting) behind what was promised. Where is that Customs ship that was supposed to be sent out to monitor whaling? Mr Abbott pledged no cuts to education, pensions, the ABC or SBS.

Former treasurer Wayne Swan delivered a budget deficit of $19.4 billion in 2012-13. He projected a deficit marginally better in 2013-14 of $18 billion but just three months later in the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO), that figure had ballooned to $30 billion. The Finance Office and Treasury blamed volatility in commodity prices and a depressed global growth environment for the downward revision.

It's the same set of events that keeps punching holes in Joe Hockey's estimates. When in opposition, the Treasurer liked to caution that "if debt is the problem then more debt is not the answer", but that mantra has been mothballed right alongside the pledge to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Given that such truths are somewhat tricky to explain to a restive electorate still bruised by the 2014 budget, it's become easier to deny the truth, confuse the public message and hope the 24-hour news cycle drowns out any attempts to set the record straight.

If, by chance, a pesky journalist has the audacity to bring it up, call them "aggressive" and "biased".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-27/alberici-focussing-on-my-aggression-ignores-the-budget/6499896

[mightytiges]

Talk about being out of touch with reality .

[Francois Jackson]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

[mightytiges]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

Yep they all do it but that doesn't excuse Hockey. It's a rort of the system yet this clown has to ask if there's something wrong with it . These allowances were meant to be compensation for living away from your home while staying in Canberra; not to feather the nest of pollies and their wives/families to pay the mortgages of a property portfolio  . Hockey pays his wife rent on a house he is also co-owner of. So he's effectively paying himself as well as his wife rent so he can claim a taxpayers' allowance. So much for the end of the age of entitlement  .

[Penelope]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

is that really any justification for it?

This is the man who  dishes out lines like double dipping in an attempt to denigrate those using the parental leave system as if they are rorting it, while he and his cronies happily rort whenever they can.

[🏅Dooks]

Talk about being out of touch with reality .

Stunning

[1965]

For those that missed it

Treasurer Joe Hockey faces grilling on Q&A over this year’s budget
May 26, 2015 7:13am

EMILY MOULTON  news.com.au

An audience member asked the Treasurer if he believed it was double dipping when politicians received a $270 a night living-away-from-home allowance, but spent the money on a house owned by their spouse.

“The figures they had was you claimed up to more than $100,000 in allowances relating to that. Did that go into the mortgage?” host Tony Jones asked him.

“Well, Tony, I don’t know. I pay rent,” Mr Hockey replied.

“You pay rent to your wife?” Jones asked.

“Is there a problem with that?” the Treasurer shot back.

Jones then brought the Treasurer back to the original question — whether struggling homeowners would find it acceptable that politicians get a taxpayer-funded subsidy for buying a house.

“Hang on, it is not a taxpayer-funded subsidy because we actually have to rent,” Mr Hockey said.

“So politicians that go to Canberra, they live in their electorates, if they go to Canberra, they pay rent or go to a hotel room.

“I don’t know, does the ABC do that when you travel?” Mr Hockey asked Jones.

“They do, but the hotel is not owned by my wife,” Jones replied.

http://m.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/television/treasurer-joe-hockey-faces-grilling-on-qa-over-this-years-budget/story-fnihmoiz-1227369005759

[Francois Jackson]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

is that really any justification for it?

This is the man who  dishes out lines like double dipping in an attempt to denigrate those using the parental leave system as if they are rorting it, while he and his cronies happily rort whenever they can.

Im not saying i agree with it Albert. The exact opposite in fact and yes he sounded like a massive tool Monday.

Just thought id mention it to MT in case he forgot that he is not alone in ripping us off.

[1965]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

is that really any justification for it?

This is the man who  dishes out lines like double dipping in an attempt to denigrate those using the parental leave system as if they are rorting it, while he and his cronies happily rort whenever they can.

Im not saying i agree with it Albert. The exact opposite in fact and yes he sounded like a massive tool Monday.

Just thought id mention it to MT in case he forgot that he is not alone in ripping us off.

He did say “Is there a problem with that?”

 

[🏅Dooks]

You do realise all politicians do it MT?

It's a loophole that they all take advantage of.

is that really any justification for it?

This is the man who  dishes out lines like double dipping in an attempt to denigrate those using the parental leave system as if they are rorting it, while he and his cronies happily rort whenever they can.

Im not saying i agree with it Albert. The exact opposite in fact and yes he sounded like a massive tool Monday.

Just thought id mention it to MT in case he forgot that he is not alone in ripping us off.

Would it make a difference if he was or wasn't alone in ripping us off?

[1965]

The worst PM in my memory (and I go back to Menzies)


Tony Abbott's national security scare campaign hides the truth: he's making a hash of the economy
 
Date June 30, 2015

Ross Gittins

The Sydney Morning Herald's Economics Editor

Am I the only person who isn't cringing in fear, looking for a rock to hide under and hoping Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton will save us from the tide of terrorism surging towards our shores?

As is their wont, the media are enthusiastically indulging our desire to dwell on all the gruesome details of a spate of terrorist acts in faraway countries of which we know little.

But this seemingly innocent nosiness is leaving us with a quite exaggerated impression of the chances of our ever coming into contact with such an event.

Apparently, all you have to do to be in mortal danger is attend the making of an ABC current affairs program. It's a field day for any attention-seeking nut of Middle Eastern background.

Would you say our Prime Minister is seeking to calm our overblown fears or is playing them for all he's worth?

Precisely. And I'll tell you why. Because he's discovered he's not much chop at leadership - at inspiring us with a vision of a better future, at explaining and justifying necessary but unpopular measures - but he is good at running scare campaigns, to which the Aussie punter seems particularly susceptible.

But, above all, because he wants to divert our attention from the hash he's making of managing the economy.

In opposition, and facing a Labor government that lacked all confidence in its own ability as an economic manager, Abbott assured us the Liberals had good management in their DNA. I thought he had a point, but what we didn't discover until too late was that he and his chosen Treasurer just didn't have that gene in their bodies.

They started by telling us that, apart from the immense damage being done by Labor's carbon and mining taxes, the economy's big problem was the budget, something they, being Libs, could fix in a jiffy.

They had one go at fixing the budget, got themselves into terrible trouble in the polls, then gave up. Pretty much the sole purpose of this year's budget was to reverse their poor political standing by ditching or modifying many of their unpopular policies.

From that day to this, we've heard little more of the evils of debt and deficit. Almost all of what little improvement in the budget deficit is expected will come from bracket creep.

Fortunately, the budget deficit and the still-small level of public debt to which it has given rise was never the central, pressing problem for the economy the oppositional Abbott & Co made it out to be.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-national-security-scare-campaign-hides-the-truth-hes-making-a-hash-of-the-economy-20150630-gi16ie.html

[Tigeritis™©®]

No posts about Shorten........




......interesting.

[Stalin]

Yep Australia Greece mk2


And captian Tony (puppet) keeps pumping out the team Australia, death cult, Muslim fear mmongering tripe

How much debt we up to 500 billion? Not enough money in Australia to pay it back either




      
    MORE DEBT THAN MONEY IN AUSTRALIA
Individuals and Businesses
Cash notes   $50 billion
Bank deposits   $1 000 billion
Bank loans   $2 000 billion

Whoops....

The worst PM in my memory (and I go back to Menzies)


Tony Abbott's national security scare campaign hides the truth: he's making a hash of the economy
 
Date June 30, 2015

Ross Gittins

The Sydney Morning Herald's Economics Editor

Am I the only person who isn't cringing in fear, looking for a rock to hide under and hoping Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton will save us from the tide of terrorism surging towards our shores?

As is their wont, the media are enthusiastically indulging our desire to dwell on all the gruesome details of a spate of terrorist acts in faraway countries of which we know little.

But this seemingly innocent nosiness is leaving us with a quite exaggerated impression of the chances of our ever coming into contact with such an event.

Apparently, all you have to do to be in mortal danger is attend the making of an ABC current affairs program. It's a field day for any attention-seeking nut of Middle Eastern background.

Would you say our Prime Minister is seeking to calm our overblown fears or is playing them for all he's worth?

Precisely. And I'll tell you why. Because he's discovered he's not much chop at leadership - at inspiring us with a vision of a better future, at explaining and justifying necessary but unpopular measures - but he is good at running scare campaigns, to which the Aussie punter seems particularly susceptible.

But, above all, because he wants to divert our attention from the hash he's making of managing the economy.

In opposition, and facing a Labor government that lacked all confidence in its own ability as an economic manager, Abbott assured us the Liberals had good management in their DNA. I thought he had a point, but what we didn't discover until too late was that he and his chosen Treasurer just didn't have that gene in their bodies.

They started by telling us that, apart from the immense damage being done by Labor's carbon and mining taxes, the economy's big problem was the budget, something they, being Libs, could fix in a jiffy.

They had one go at fixing the budget, got themselves into terrible trouble in the polls, then gave up. Pretty much the sole purpose of this year's budget was to reverse their poor political standing by ditching or modifying many of their unpopular policies.

From that day to this, we've heard little more of the evils of debt and deficit. Almost all of what little improvement in the budget deficit is expected will come from bracket creep.

Fortunately, the budget deficit and the still-small level of public debt to which it has given rise was never the central, pressing problem for the economy the oppositional Abbott & Co made it out to be.

http://www.theage.com.au/comment/tony-abbotts-national-security-scare-campaign-hides-the-truth-hes-making-a-hash-of-the-economy-20150630-gi16ie.html

[1965]

and a bit about the Shorten royal commission witch hunt...

The lawyers for the government are earning $25 million for their troubles.

And guess which firm was awarded the contract?

"But the biggest winner is possibly law firm Minter Ellison, Attorney-General George Brandis' former employer."


Lawyers enjoy $25 million windfall from unions royal commission
 
Date July 11, 2015 - 4:21PM 

Adam Gartrell

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten emerged battered and bruised from the royal commission into union corruption, facing questions about his credibility and the future of his leadership.

But if Mr Shorten is the inquiry's biggest loser, who's the biggest winner? Tony Abbott? George Brandis​? Eric Abetz​?

No – it's the lawyers, of course.

Barristers and solicitors are raking in about $25 million of taxpayer cash for their work on the commission – and that doesn't include their expenses.

It's well known that counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar​, who came under fire from Labor figures this week for his tough grilling of Mr Shorten, is getting paid $3.3 million for his efforts.

But he's not the only barrister taking home a big pay packet.

An analysis of government contracts published on the AusTender website shows at least four other Sydney-based silks have been contracted.

Michael Elliott is getting $1.3 million, Richard Scruby​ $960,000, Sarah McNaughton $866,000 and Fiona Roughley​ $831,000.

But the biggest winner is possibly law firm Minter Ellison, Attorney-General George Brandis' former employer.

The firm was originally awarded a $2 million contract but that figure quickly grew to about $8 million.

It has now ballooned to $17 million.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/lawyers-enjoy-25-million-windfall-from-unions-royal-commission-20150711-gia0wo.html#ixzz3fZ6EdQcZ