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Post by latindancer on Apr 11, 2014 12:47:20 GMT 7
JENNY MACKLIN: And remember who's getting this money. These are people who are elderly, who are living on around $20,000 a year. The warped priorities of Tony Abbott will see wealthy women in his budget get $75,000 to have a baby. That's where the cuts should come.
Absolutely and definitely that is where the cuts should come....any fair-minded person would agree. Man, the manure will really hit the fan if they take from the aged and give to rich women. However I would not put it past them to sneak in the changes gradually.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2014 13:14:24 GMT 7
Is all this to cushion the Blow Before the Budget next month
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2014 13:20:15 GMT 7
From Facebook
IMF BLOWS WHISTLE ON HOCKEY’S SPENDING
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has blown the whistle on Hockey’s spending with the release of a report overnight showing he has officiated the fastest budget deterioration anywhere in the advanced world.
Hockey has been busy fiddling the figures and trashing Australia’s economic performance as a poor cover for the savage cuts to come.
This report shows the effect of Mr Hockey doubling the budget deficit, adding $68 billion over the forward estimates in MYEFO, highlighting the Government’s misplaced priorities.
Any deterioration in our long-term position is on Hockey’s hands.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2014 14:31:25 GMT 7
From Facebook IMF BLOWS WHISTLE ON HOCKEY’S SPENDING The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has blown the whistle on Hockey’s spending with the release of a report overnight showing he has officiated the fastest budget deterioration anywhere in the advanced world. Hockey has been busy fiddling the figures and trashing Australia’s economic performance as a poor cover for the savage cuts to come. This report shows the effect of Mr Hockey doubling the budget deficit, adding $68 billion over the forward estimates in MYEFO, highlighting the Government’s misplaced priorities. Any deterioration in our long-term position is on Hockey’s hands. Yes and Hockey will probably make welfare recipients pay the cost of balancing the budget rather then the wealthy and big end of town
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Post by Banjo on Apr 15, 2014 7:18:02 GMT 7
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2014 7:34:48 GMT 7
'Tony Abbot to target asset-rich retirees " Most would vote liberal so l don't see abbott targeting them
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Post by Banjo on Apr 15, 2014 8:59:40 GMT 7
I'd like to know the cost to the tax payer that these self managed superannuation funds gouge. Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs or Do-It-Yourself Funds) are funds established for a small number of individuals (limited to 4) and regulated by the Australian Taxation Office. Generally the Trustees of the fund are the fund members (where there is a Corporate Trustee, the members are the directors of that company). The SMSF sector is the largest sector of the Australian super industry, with 99% of the number of funds and 31% of the $1.6 trillion total super assets as at 30 June 2013Wiki Oh hang on, it's US that's bludging on the system isn't it.
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Post by Banjo on Apr 15, 2014 12:51:04 GMT 7
Cut Super Concessions, Not The PensionLike most of the Coalition's Hockeynomics, the plan to slash old age pensions doesn't match the facts. More than a third of our elderly suffer in poverty, writes Ben Eltham Treasurer Joe Hockey has been busy preparing his first budget. It looks like the razor blades are out. After flagging his intentions in opposition with his infamous speech about the “end of the age of entitlement”, Hockey appears to be hinting at changes to the aged pension. It’s no secret the government wants to slash public spending. Motivated by a conservative fetish for smaller government, Hockey and Mathais Cormann would prefer to solve Australia’s fiscal deficit by cutting spending, rather than raising taxes. That means attacking government spending in all its forms. Scientific research appears to be a prominent target, with rumours of big cuts to the CSIRO. But research only accounts for a small proportion of federal expenditure. The really big bikkies are in benefits. Perhaps that’s why Hockey has this week flagged reforms to the pension. In an interview with the ABC, he suggested the government will move to raise the eligibility age for the aged pension to 70 years. “We’ve got to have a sustainable welfare system,” Hockey told the ABC’s Barrie Cassidy. “It may be the case that my generation has to work for an extra three years.” Hockey points out that the United Kingdom has moved to raise the pension age to 70. “We need to have a health and welfare system that appropriately deals with the changing demographics of the nation.” There’s no doubt that Australians are living longer. In the early 1900s, when the pension in Australia was first introduced, life expectancies were in the high 50s. Better public health and nutrition has meant that Australians now enjoy a life expectancy at birth of nearly 82 years (79 for men, 84 for women). In this context, a gradual rise in the age at which you can access the pension is not unreasonable. And indeed, during Wayne Swan’s tenure as Treasurer, Labor already raised it to 67, although the change will not kick in until the 2020s. But, as both Labor and the Council on the Ageing have noted, better health and longer lives do not necessarily mean Australians will want to retire later, or indeed will be able to. The increasingly demanding modern workplace is not a very nurturing environment. Most workplaces have few dispensations for workers who fatigue more easily, have eyesight or hearing difficulties, or suffer from mobility issues. Ian Yates from the Council on the Ageing told the ABC yesterday that “Age discrimination is alive and well, regrettably, in Australia.” Sadly, many older Australians know this only too well from personal experience. Yates points out that there are 150,000 older Australians on Newstart alone, with hundreds of thousands more on the disability pension, which the Coalition has also made noises about reforming. “Newstart is not liveable,” he told the ABC’s Louise Yaxley, “and we're going to extend that for another three, four, or five years?” Better health overall doesn’t mean that all are healthier. Many Australians are still working in physically demanding occupations, from contract cleaning, to labouring, to nursing. How realistic is it to expect a male blue collar worker, who has been working in factories and on building sites since he was 15, to work until he is 70? In any case, does Australia’s aged pension really need reform? As so often occurs with the Coalition’s scare campaigns on public finances, Hockey’s warnings about the sustainability of the aged pension aren’t backed up by the facts. Australia’s aged pension is far from an unaffordable indulgence. In fact, we have one of the most sustainable public pensions in the western world. The graph below shows public spending on cash benefits for seniors for a range of rich, western economies. newmatilda.com//2014/04/15/cut-super-concessions-not-pension
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2014 14:15:48 GMT 7
Yes the liberals going on about how they can no longer afford to pay pensions and welfare, that's a total load of bull, if things are so bad why are all the bloody banks, mines and large companies making record multi billion dollar profits. The liberals just don't want to make wealthy individuals and large companies pay tax to fund welfare spending, cut welfare then they don't have to tax the rich.
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Post by latindancer on Apr 15, 2014 18:01:23 GMT 7
Thanks Banjo....both those graphs in your link are very revealing.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2014 9:56:14 GMT 7
The way things are going with this Liberal government do you think within three or four years from now everyone on the DSP under 55 who has some work capacity will be forced into doing some sort of compulsary mutual obligation. For example if someone has a work capacity of 10 hours a week they will have to apply for a part time job of 10 hours or do 10 hours volunteer work or training. It seems even with the labor government over time they keep making things tougher for DSP's.
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Post by dani on Apr 20, 2014 4:43:17 GMT 7
The way things are going with this Liberal government do you think within three or four years from now everyone on the DSP under 55 who has some work capacity will be forced into doing some sort of compulsary mutual obligation. For example if someone has a work capacity of 10 hours a week they will have to apply for a part time job of 10 hours or do 10 hours volunteer work or training. It seems even with the labor government over time they keep making things tougher for DSP's. There's an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today stating that Kevin Andrews wants people with "episodic illnesses" to bring in certificates into centrelink every month to show they cannot work and that people with got the DSP before 2011 will be reassessed. Can someone pls post, I'm on my iPhone and can't do it.
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Post by pactrpo on Apr 20, 2014 5:09:57 GMT 7
Disability pension attack
Date April 19, 2014 - 11:59PM
Exclusive Kevin Andrews
Kevin Andrews: Keen to steer people away from welfare dependence. Photo: Andrew Meares
Thousands of disability pensioners would be examined by independent doctors to see whether they are still entitled to their pensions, under dramatic changes being considered by Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews. Mr Andrews, who is overhauling the $15 billion-a-year disability support pension – which he considers the most troublesome welfare entitlement – also said changes to the pension could begin as soon as the May budget.
"Potentially we could say, right, back to a certain point we'll just reassess people," Mr Andrews said. "The question then is how far back would you go in doing some reassessments of them?
"You could probably go back a couple of years," he said, "[but] if someone's been on the DSP for five or six years, the chances of them being assessed again as being capable of working is fairly remote." Illustration: Matt Golding.
Illustration: Matt Golding.
Under Mr Andrews' mooted change, disability pensioners who were assessed by their family doctors – before Labor tightened the system in 2011 – would be re-examined by medical experts at the Department of Human Services.
The minister is also considering giving a fixed higher payment for the most disabled pensioners, with lower payments for people with less restrictive disabilities, who might be able to work part time.
The aim, he says, is to catch as many people as possible before they become entrenched on the disability pension.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said the Abbott government was "punishing some of the most vulnerable people in society" by tightening checks on the disability pension.
Regarding the minister’s idea to reassess recipients, Mr Innes said: "To effectively move the test back a few years, it just seems a cruel way of penalising people who’ve been in receipt of a benefit.
"Introducing a quarterly or six-monthly check is just adding more complexity both for the Centrelink system and for people with disabilities," he said.
But he praised Mr Andrews for "his understanding" that the government must intervene earlier and "incentivise" people with disabilities to help them stay in the workforce rather than become reliant on pensions.
Having spent several days in New Zealand last week, Mr Andrews said there were many features he would like to borrow from the neighbouring welfare system, which "invests" in people before they become entrenched on welfare.
He said one idea he took from New Zealand was that pensioners suffering "episodic" illnesses such as depression were given monthly or quarterly medical certificates rather than getting two-year "set and forget" pensions. This idea, he said, was particularly important given there were now more disability pensioners suffering from psychological conditions than suffering musculoskeletal problems.
Mr Andrews said he was concerned disability pension costs would blow out by many billions over the next decade. More than 830,000 Australians receive the pension now. Singles on the pension were paid as much as $766 a fortnight compared with $510 for singles on Newstart. The payment rate had been growing faster than Newstart, which he said provided a "perverse" incentive for people to qualify as disabled rather than unemployed.
Mr Andrews has told Patrick McClure – who is overseeing the Abbott government’s review of Australia’s welfare system – to "have a good look" at several New Zealand-inspired ideas.
Mr McClure has already given Mr Andrews his interim report, which will be made public shortly. His final recommendations are due in August.
The minister said he did not have specific goals for saving the budget a certain amount of money or getting a certain number of people off the disability pension.
"I don’t have a number and I don’t have a target," he said. "This is not about targets ... it’s about a better system that will actually help people because we think work is the best form of welfare."
Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said she would support any measures by the government to "invest" in disability pensioners to help them return to the workforce.
But she was concerned that subjecting disability pensioners to more regular assessments could end up "exacerbating their mental health condition".
"We don’t have a welfare crisis in this area, we have a jobs crisis," Dr Goldie said. "We all want to work on decent reforms which will improve people’s pathways back to being well and getting paid work."
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Post by pactrpo on Apr 20, 2014 5:12:05 GMT 7
thats just dandy.
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Post by dani on Apr 20, 2014 5:38:20 GMT 7
Imagine having to bring in a certificate every month. Depression doesn't just magically go away. My mother was diagnosed with depression nearly 30 yrs ago, the depression jst progressed and got worse until she had a psychotic episodic ended up in hospital and was diagnosed with bipolar. The aim is to get her help so she improves, the chances for a total recovery are not highly likely, not my words but the psychiatrists. The article is correct, this will cause alot of stress for people with mental illness.
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