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Post by voiceofthevoiceless on Dec 28, 2013 4:21:37 GMT 7
We can't afford to be complacent in opposition to this. Even if you are older and these changes may look like they may not apply to you.
Andrews and Abbott have made no secret that they would like welfare quarantining rolled out across the country. Even the liberal Liberal Malcolm Turnbull told me this is party policy.
So we need to fight this thing from infancy because left unchecked it could just be the first step on a long an oppressive road for those on welfare.
On the plus side, it looks like Tony's support is crumbling in WA. Which means a new senate election there could make it a whole lot tougher for him to pass his LNP (Looney Nazi Party) legislation through the Federal Senate.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2013 4:56:54 GMT 7
We can't afford to be complacent in opposition to this. Even if you are older and these changes may look like they may not apply to you. Andrews and Abbott have made no secret that they would like welfare quarantining rolled out across the country. Even the liberal Liberal Malcolm Turnbull told me this is party policy. So we need to fight this thing from infancy because left unchecked it could just be the first step on a long an oppressive road for those on welfare. On the plus side, it looks like Tony's support is crumbling in WA. Which means a new senate election there could make it a whole lot tougher for him to pass his LNP (Looney Nazi Party) legislation through the Federal Senate. l agree if they can get away with attacking the pensions of the under 40's they will probably move onto the older people in a few years. l bet they would also like to see everyone on welfare except aged pensioners forced onto the Basics card also.
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Post by Banjo on Dec 28, 2013 7:16:07 GMT 7
The whole system was allowed to get out of control by the Howard government for political reasons, it was never going to be financially sustainable with the ongoing promises of tax cuts at every election. Now they will destroy people's lives by reducing their incomes with NO chance of finding them work.
There hasn't anything resembling a genuine job creation scheme in Australia for decades, let alone one for the disabled where we have shown this week that jobs for them have disappeared even in the that bastion of fair employment the Public Service.
It needs genuine pensioner activism, young people, not tired old expats like many of us here, to make the government raise the money to treat the disabled fairly.
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Post by Banjo on Dec 28, 2013 7:36:00 GMT 7
Public service razor gang mustn't single out less ableIt has been 10 days since federal Treasurer Joe Hockey revealed a budget deficit for 2013-14 of $47 billion and a probable deficit in coming years of $123 billion. This massive problem, Mr Hockey said, required immediate action and all options were on the table to address it. The Treasurer did not actually suggest the government's fiscal cost-cutting would equitable, impartial and directed at those best able to bear it, but many observers would have supposed it went without saying. Events since then suggest such hopes may be misplaced. Shortly after the budget update, the government quietly announced that the introduction of the national disability insurance scheme would be subject to further trials and scrutiny. Advertisement "We are determined to deliver the NDIS but it has to be affordable," Mr Hockey said on radio, pointing out that there had been a cost blowout in the pilot program. The reaction from the disability sector was predicable enough, and there were suggestions the government was distancing itself from its pre-election pledge so it could deliver a slimmed-down version of the scheme set up by the Gillard government. A few days later, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews warned of reforms to the disability support pension to end what he said was a culture of handouts for people who did not have permanent injuries. This move appears to be a direct contradiction of the government's pledge made six days before the September 7 election, in which it said it would not change existing pension arrangements. It now transpires that as far back as March, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was canvassing the introduction of a two-tier system similar to one in Britain, which pays people with disabilities different rates according to whether their conditions are permanent. It has been reported that Mr Andrews will also consider subjecting welfare recipients under the age of 40 to more regular checks to determine if they are capable of working part time. Those in the disability sector who argue that disabled people find it difficult to secure ongoing employment, or are harassed and victimised when they do, have reacted to the news with understandable dismay. It is no easy task for the disabled to find and keep a job, no matter how willing they might be, as recent reports in this newspaper attest. These articles found the experience of many disabled people employed in the public service, which is frequently enjoined by the Public Service Commission to be a model employer, is one of lack of support and, in certain circumstances, outright hostility, both from managers and fellow workers. Mr Andrews' assertion that a job is the best form of welfare may be correct, but rhetoric alone will not ensure that work is found easily by those disabled people who want it or who are deemed fit to look for it. The government's enthusiasm for getting more disabled people working is understandable, however. The disability support pension scheme is massive, and growing. About 820,000 people, or one in 20 working-age Australians, rely on disability payments, and there is no requirement for them to look even for part-time work. That number is expected to hit 1 million in the next decade. Take-up of the pension has accelerated in part, some believe, by the fact that at $800 a fortnight, it is substantially more than the $500-a-fortnight unemployment benefit. One-third of all disability pension recipients suffer from psychological problems, including depression, and Mr Andrews believes that with advances in treatment, a good proportion could make the transition back to the workforce. Evaluating fitness to work would require the Department of Human Services to employ more trained assessors, however. Australia's total welfare bill exceeds $130 billion a year, some of which is clearly aimed at well-off voters. Of efforts to rein in this middle-class welfare, however, little has so far been heard. Having declared this to be a budget emergency, the Abbott government needs to show that its cuts will be fair and equitable, and not confined to the more vulnerable members of society. Read more: www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/ct-editorial/public-service-razor-gang-mustnt-single-out-less-able-20131226-2zy74.html#ixzz2oj20s4KA
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Post by Banjo on Dec 30, 2013 18:00:57 GMT 7
Government promises crackdown on public service sickies PUBLIC servants in regional areas could have their work records put under the magnifying glass as the Federal Government vows to look closely at the number of sickies being taken by workers. Up to 60% of Federal staff work outside of Canberra and with the Department of Human Services that includes Centrelink and Medicare having offices in almost every town, regional centres will not be immune. Figures in the latest State of the Service report suggest absentee rates had increased by half a day in the past 12 months. Senator Eric Abetz, as Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, said taxpayers had the right to expect their tax dollars were not being wasted on too much sick leave. "Where agencies or departments have problems in this regard, agency heads should be taking steps to reduce sick rates," he said. A Community and Public Sector Union spokesman said the union was yet to be told of any focus on sick leave. www.ballinaadvocate.com.au/news/government-promises-crackdown-public-service-sicki/2127011/
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Post by Banjo on Dec 30, 2013 18:03:02 GMT 7
What a load of crap, if they are entitled to sick leave and are taking it legally that should be an end to it. Maybe the people that make up the politicians pays should have a bit more time off, that's what I'd be doing.
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Post by Banjo on Jan 1, 2014 7:42:56 GMT 7
Fears Tony Abbott will change disability support pensions hosed downPrime Minister Tony Abbott has no plans to sign off on changes to the disability support pension even though the $15 billion-a-year payment has been targeted for cuts by two of his senior ministers. The pension is being reviewed for Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, by the government's cost-cutting Commission of Audit, and for Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews by the former Mission Australia head Patrick McClure. ''The Prime Minister has always made it clear that all election promises will be honoured; the Prime Minister has said this many times,'' a spokeswoman said. ''There is a review currently under way but there are no recommendations before the government to make changes to the [disability support] pension at this time. ''When recommendations are made [by the reviewers] the government will respond to them … but it will be keeping all of its [election] commitments.'' Symonston resident Jacqui White, who has multiple sclerosis, has accused the government of planning to break a pre-election pledge not to make changes to pensions. Speaking on the ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, September 1, just six days out from the poll, the Prime Minister promised the disability support pension would not be touched. ''I want to give people this absolute assurance: no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to pensions and no changes to the GST,'' he told host Barrie Cassidy. The Commission of Audit and McClure reviews into the pension are expected to be completed within the next month. Mr McClure previously reviewed the disability support pension in 1999. His recommendations then formed the basis for a raft of Howard government reforms to it that were blocked in the Senate in 2002. Mr McClure had been publicly critical of the Howard government's proposal to restrict the pension to people unable to work for 15 hours or more, not the 30-hour benchmark that remains in place to this day. Mr Abbott's spokeswoman said that obviously there would be some changes to pension arrangements in the normal course of events. ''Some pensions will go up as from January 1,'' she said. ''Naturally there will be some changes.'' The spokeswoman concurred when it was put to her most people would take ''no change'' to mean no attempt to make the pension harder to access or to force people receiving the pension back on to the Newstart allowance. Mr Abbott has supported both of these propositions until recently. He was critical of the disability support pension's failure to move people with disabilities back into the workforce in an address to the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry in March. Read more: www.canberratimes.com.au/national/fears-tony-abbott-will-change-disability-support-pensions-hosed-down-20131231-304j6.html#ixzz2p6RyGCVm
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Post by voiceofthevoiceless on Jan 1, 2014 8:24:34 GMT 7
Tony's unpopularity might be our saving grace here after all.
He can't afford to get too much more unpopular with the public and i think him going after the pensions and medicare too much could be political suicide and he'd be aware of that.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2014 8:54:59 GMT 7
Tony's unpopularity might be our saving grace here after all. He can't afford to get too much more unpopular with the public and i think him going after the pensions and medicare too much could be political suicide and he'd be aware of that. l wonder why they released the DSP crackdown news and medicare over the Christmas holiday period, maybe they though less people would be taking notice of it, either that or they are just scrooge bastards that want to ruin Christmas for the less well off. Maybe ABbott is taking the view that the next election is years away so its best to get all the unpopular stuff like attacking the DSP and medicare over with now rather then leave it closer to an election. l know one thing for sure, by the time of the next election in a few years l'm going to be a lot poorer and GIna Reinhart a lot richer.
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Post by Banjo on Jan 1, 2014 9:16:09 GMT 7
What we have to fear is that Abbott may have been deliberately installed as a one term Prime Minister to do the unpopular work, trash pensions and the Public Service, cut public spending in general and hand over more of the country to the rich. Then a new more sympathetic Prime minister comes in before the next elections. People have short memories.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2014 9:56:45 GMT 7
What we have to fear is that Abbott may have been deliberately installed as a one term Prime Minister to do the unpopular work, trash pensions and the Public Service, cut public spending in general and hand over more of the country to the rich. Then a new more sympathetic Prime minister comes in before the next elections. People have short memories. Yes Abbott and his mates seem to be our version of the AMerican right wing tea party nutters . l think abbott is our George bush, they want an AMerican style economic system, survival of the fittest, greed is good, where the corrupt greedy few grab hold of all the nations wealth and then send it broke , just like what happened in AMerica in 2008 with the banking and corporate collapse. USer pays health care, where the doctor is more interested in your credit history then medical history and little or no welfare system, l guess the basics card will be abbotts version of AMerican food stamps. l blame Gillard and Rudd for their stupid childish leadership battles, otherwise l doubt mainstream Australia would have voted abbott in. The large corporations and top wealthy few don't view Australia as a society they view it as an economy, they see the billions spent on welfare as wasted money and it should be spent elsewhere and don't care about the human cost of cutting welfare.
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Post by Banjo on Jan 1, 2014 11:19:46 GMT 7
The wealthy and the poor now see themselves as a global entity, only the middleclass still have a concept of patriotism.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2014 12:28:14 GMT 7
Abbott is wrong from an economic view point also because welfare spending actually helps the economy, most of the money from newstart and the DSP is spent by people soon after they get it and it all goes back into the economy when we buy things like food, clothing, rent, petrol and so on, if they cut welfare spending the economy slows down and jobs go. ASlo cutting welfare costs money from the social cost like increase in crime, family breakdown, increased burden on charities, homeless shelters. Newstart is around $11,000 per year but its costs $6,000 to put someone on newstart on income management with the basics card, so why does Abbott want to roll it out to all the unemployed when it costs a fortune?, it seems the liberals are driven by anti welfare ideology rather then what makes economic sense. The same with work for the dole it costs a fortune and does absolutely nothing to help people get a job.
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Post by prodius on Jan 1, 2014 23:16:19 GMT 7
Tony Abbott, Kevin Andrews, and some of these agencies calling for welfare reform to my knowledge profess to be Christians but they contradict Christian virtues of compassion and social responsibility. You would think they would be an advocate for the less fortunate but instead claim big payouts from the government for their so called employment agencies. The government and agencies cannot find a job for all those in need, and then they blame the disabled and unemployed by saying they are not trying hard enough. The truth is most employers don’t want to employ the disabled… which are held by people without. The problem is not the laziness of the poor in our nation. The market economy has never been good at guaranteeing fair access to the basics of life for all the disadvantaged people. Governments must do what the private cannot and it’s a sad time when we see the government here treat people who are living in poverty considered as a free kick.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2014 3:53:19 GMT 7
[Yes most of them seem to call themselves christians, Abbott even trained to become a priest, but they seem to have a different interpretation of christianity then the mainstream , maybe more like the American religious right. l don't see Jesus towing back the boats or taking away the disabled pensions or making the unemployed slave for the dole, or making the sick and poor pay to see a doctor. l think their real religion is money and greed.
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