Australian Politics (7 Viewers)

[incentivation]

Rudd stimulus a disaster, says Costa | smh.com.au

Also, where did the 'Buck stops with me' phrase disappear to?

 

[badquinton304]

Indeed, there was no global recession during the reign of the previous government. But to say that there were 'no difficult economic circumstances' is ignorant at best. The two notable issues were of course the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and the economic implications of the Terrorist Attacks in 2001. Each having an impact much less than a global recession, but an impact nonetheless.

I would not call them difficult, more like irritating, minor setbacks, a currency issue in asia which was quickly resolved and the terrorist attacks did not have a lasting effect. Have it as you like but i doubt those two problems were economically "hard to deal with manage or overcome" for Australia. The current crisis fits that criteria but the aforementioned ones do not.

And who the fuck are you to judge?
Don't give me this bullshit that we had to spend big to fight our way out of a recession. We are borrowing money that will have to be payed back eventually - by the taxpayer. The past two stimulus packages have done fuck all compared to their massive cost.
.

The impact of the stimulus is best to soften the impact of the crisis on people, not fight us out of a resscession, the rescession is inevitable.
Paying back the debt should not be a problem, China looks to come out of this recession stronger than ever, what are they going to do next? Infrastructure projects (some of which has already started). What do many of these require? Raw materials. Who has it? Australia. (Explains why they want to invest in our mining. It will be the same as when Japan invested here in the 80's, 100 billion will be easily paid off.

I wont even go into the whole disincentive for ambition, Rudd is a communist crap.

 

[Lentern]

I'm sorry Lentern. Am I too right wing for you?

No I just somehow got the idea you believed in freedom. All that market knows best rhetoric, I'm just a litle confused as to how locking up innocent men and women fits into the world of the libertarian.

And just to make a smart arse point about comparisons between Rudd and Howard:

And the bogan electorate will fall for it. If Howard says now that the refugees are going to overun the country and only a few hundred desperate people do actually seek asylum and they for the large part live law abiding lives the bogans will think that isn't too bad, . This fails to take into account the forty years post holocaust where we have frequently accepted wads of refugees without it meaning the end of civilisation as we know it. Liberal National security credibility = 0. Unfortunately, Liberal voters care factor about national security credibility = 0 also.

Of course we can't say that anymore, not since Peter Hartcher and Paul Kelly began writing politico narratives.

 

[Graney]

In related news, paid maternity leave

Wait on for paid parental leave | The Australian

WOMEN have won the right to an 18-week national paid parental leave scheme but will have to wait until after the next election, under a Rudd government plan to deliver help to most families.

As revealed in The Australian last week, the Rudd Government will promise paid parental leave from January 2011 for families whose primary carer, usually the mother, earns less than $150,000 a year. The scheme will cost taxpayers $260 million a year.

The leave will be paid for 18 weeks at the federal minimum wage of about $544 a week but will be taxed.

Stay-at-home mothers will continue to receive the $5000 baby bonus, as the Government is keen to end the political dilemma of choosing one kind of mother over another for government entitlements.

A stay-at-home mother with a partner on average earnings will continue to receive more than $10,000 in government assistance in the year after the birth of her baby. This is more than the $9792 before tax on offer under the paid maternity leave scheme.

The payment will be delivered on top of any maternity leave payment already provided by an individual company, but there is no guarantee that businesses will not scale back their own payments as a result of what the Government offers.

The Goverment believes it is unlikely big business will stop paying its own maternity leave because businesses that already offer it do so to attract the best workers.

The vast number of women will be able to get the payment, including those who have worked only one day a week over a 10-month period 13 months before the birth of a child.

The Government wants to include women from lower socioeconomic groups in casual and part-time jobs, who are largely excluded from current employer-funded schemes.

But the Government will not take on two key recommendations contained in the Productivity Commission's draft report on paid maternity leave, which called for fathers and partners to receive two weeks' payment, and for business to pay for superannuation while women are out of the workforce.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey warned that businesses would pull out of their private schemes because of the taxpayer-funded scheme.
While proponents of the scheme oppose the means test, it will not take into account the other parent's income, allowing more families to meet the Government's criteria and receive the payment even if a partner earns $1 million a year.

The cost of the scheme falls short of the $450 million in the Productivity Commission report's recommendations.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin said the Government had decided against a universal system in the name of fairness.

"It's got a means test in it but it will apply to the vast majority of families because there are very few families where the primary carer has an income at that level," she said.

Ms Macklin said the scheme would be "transferable between two parents, which means it can be shared between a mother and a father".

"Say the mum takes the first three months off, she could then transfer the rest of the entitlement to the dad or vice versa," she said.

The baby bonus and family tax benefits will continue to be available for mothers who stay at home. Recipients of the parental leave scheme will not be eligible to receive the baby bonus or family tax benefit part B as well.

The Government said the scheme would come into effect "when the economy is expected to be recovering and the economic outlook improved".

Wayne Swan described the scheme as a "very, very important social and economic reform".

"It goes to the core of working family life in this country and the fact that we must value the relationship between a mum and a newborn child," the Treasurer said.

So wrong.

 

[blue_chameleon]

Interesting Poll that The Australian is currently running...

What has caused the Budget Deficit? (Currently)

- GFC (26%)
- Rudd Govt Policy (63%)
- Howard Govt Policy (11%)

772 votes.

The Australian's Exclusive Poll | The Australian

 

[whatashotbyseve]

I'm not sure I agree with paid maternity leave. Essentially, it is a lifestyle choice. Why should the taxpayers have to pay for a lifestyle choice?

 

[Graney]

If you can't manage to put away a few bucks to tide you over the 18 weeks post maternity, how responsible are you going to be with the next ~16 years of parenthood?

 

[incentivation]

Once upon a time, couples had to plan to have a child. It was a responsibility. It seems to have evolved into a right. There has been a shift of this responsibility onto government to cater for the apparent 'need' for a female to bear a child. Childcare, maternity leave, child support payments all examples of this shift.

I understand the feminist rationale behind the policy (that is, opposition to formal equality), however don't necessarily agree that the application of the approach is sustainable.

 

[Lentern]

Once upon a time, couples had to plan to have a child. It was a responsibility. It seems to have evolved into a right. There has been a shift of this responsibility onto government to cater for the apparent 'need' for a female to bear a child. Childcare, maternity leave, child support payments all examples of this shift.

I understand the feminist rationale behind the policy (that is, opposition to formal equality), however don't necessarily agree that the application of the approach is sustainable.

Bro never say that out loud in a tutorial. For bravely suggesting the legal system in Australia had no glass ceiling as such a man in my class got the shit berated out of him for ten minutes.

 

[moll.]

The impact of the stimulus is best to soften the impact of the crisis on people, not fight us out of a resscession, the rescession is inevitable.
Paying back the debt should not be a problem, China looks to come out of this recession stronger than ever, what are they going to do next? Infrastructure projects (some of which has already started). What do many of these require? Raw materials. Who has it? Australia. (Explains why they want to invest in our mining. It will be the same as when Japan invested here in the 80's, 100 billion will be easily paid off.

And yet you seem to be forgetting that for the entire duration of the commodity boom, Australia ran a current account and trade defecit, which reached it's peak at the same time the boom did in 2004. In fact, we're in a trade surplus now for the first time in many years because of the recession, and before now our last surplus was in the 2000-01 slowdown.
Check here if you want figures: Australia Balance of Trade
(You may have to fiddle around with the chart options at the bottom of the page to show more years)
So where's all this extra money going to come from in the recovery if we start running trade and current account defecits again? It ain't going to be China, I tell you that much.

 

[Lentern]

Interesting Poll that The Australian is currently running...

What has caused the Budget Deficit? (Currently)

- GFC (26%)
- Rudd Govt Policy (63%)
- Howard Govt Policy (11%)

772 votes.

The Australian's Exclusive Poll | The Australian

Hello? The poll was conducted by the Australian. That's like polling the audience at Qanda and asking them who has the better Asylum Seeker policy, John Howard or Kevin.

 

[blue_chameleon]

Hello? The poll was conducted by the Australian. That's like polling the audience at Qanda and asking them who has the better Asylum Seeker policy, John Howard or Kevin.

Shhhh.

 

[badquinton304]

I'm not sure I agree with paid maternity leave. Essentially, it is a lifestyle choice. Why should the taxpayers have to pay for a lifestyle choice?

The main probem I have with that one is people might have heaps of kids just so they can get paid, then theres those people with four wives who have heaps of children....
Its not really very practical when you look at how many people will abuse the system.

 

[Rafy]

Alcopops tax bill will be reintroduced into the House of Representatives at noon, with the intention of a Senate vote also sometime today.

There'll be two bills now, one to validate the tax already collected, and one to make the increase permanent. The first will past, the second will again rely on Senator Fielding.

 

[Fortify]

Alcopops tax bill will be reintroduced into the House of Representatives at noon, with the intention of a Senate vote also sometime today.

There'll be two bills now, one to validate the tax already collected, and one to make the increase permanent. The first will past, the second will again rely on Senator Fielding.

wow :O

 

[Lentern]

The main probem I have with that one is people might have heaps of kids just so they can get paid, then theres those people with four wives who have heaps of children....
Its not really very practical when you look at how many people will abuse the system.

The average family has less than two kids. Whilst there will be some despicable fiends who try and play the system it won't be to the extent that it tips the balance between practical and not.

 

[moll.]

The main probem I have with that one is people might have heaps of kids just so they can get paid, then theres those people with four wives who have heaps of children....
Its not really very practical when you look at how many people will abuse the system.

I agree.
Would it be legally, economically and politically viable for them to limit it to the first two children only?

 

[blue_chameleon]

The main probem I have with that one is people might have heaps of kids just so they can get paid, then theres those people with four wives who have heaps of children....
Its not really very practical when you look at how many people will abuse the system.

I propose that the paid maternity leave policy is linked with the increase in defence spending.

Chairman Rudd needs more soldiers!

 

[Rafy]

Government has introduced another excise tariff proposal and as such the alcopops tax increase is here for at least another year.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Alcopops tax bill will be reintroduced into the House of Representatives at noon, with the intention of a Senate vote also sometime today.

There'll be two bills now, one to validate the tax already collected, and one to make the increase permanent. The first will past, the second will again rely on Senator Fielding.

Is it an election trigger if it's rejected a second time?

Also, I can't tell if you avatar is a light globe or near-naked girl's backside.