Qanda - Balance of power

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• published: 20 Jun 2016
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Monday 30 May, 2016 Audience: Coalition 45%, ALP 35%, Greens 12%, Other 8% Discuss the Questions Here are the questions our panel faced this week. Tell us what your answer would be or what you think our panellists need to say. RISK AVERSE POLITICIANS DONNA BYRNE asked: When I first voted there were federal politicians like Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser, and in Queensland Joh Bljeke Petersen and Tom Burns - you might not have liked them but they told you what they thought, they made mistakes and we all moved on. Now politicians have image consultants, media training, speech writers, media advisors and chiefs of staff. Now they are so worried about making a mistake that they won’t even have a genuine leader’s debate. How are we going to get real people to represent and tell to us what they really think when most of our politicians come through the party system and are so risk averse? WORKING POOR RICK JOSEPH asked: I applaud the drive for jobs and growth, but what will be done to help the working poor of this country? Families are struggling from pay cheque to pay cheque with ever increasing prices for electricity, food, rent. The decision to feed your family or attend to medical issues is a constant battle, let alone striving to save enough to have a house of their own. Put yourself in the shoes of these people and actually think - what it is like to have a single constant thought in your mind “how am I going to make ends meet”, not just from the moment you wake up, but during the night because you can’t sleep because you are sick with worry. Please stop and actually think what that might feel like. What are you doing to fix this? PENALTY RATES – CHEF David Carter asked: I've worked as a chef for over 17 years. The Productivity Commission recommended a cut in Sunday penalty rates for people like me in the hospitality industry, but hospitality workers are some of the lowest paid workers in Australia. Steve Ciobo: Why are Sundays more important for those who work in other industries than those who work in hospitality? I give up my weekends to serve others too! PENALTIES COST JOBS RYAN WEBB asked: A recent study by Restaurant and Catering Australia has found that unifying penalty rates across Saturday and Sunday’s could create 40,000 across new jobs in Australia, with almost 9,000 right here in Queensland. With youth unemployment at 13.5% nationally and peaking at well over 20% in regional areas, it’s clear that double-time rates on Sundays are locking tens of thousands of young Australians out of the workforce. If we’re serious about creating jobs and opportunity, wouldn’t ending Sunday penalty rates be a great place to start? PUT MINOR PARTIES LAST? HARRY SPICER asked: My question is for all the cross benchers. Given that you put a gun to the Gillard governments head which resulted in horrendous policy outcomes for Australia, and given that you've now spent the last 3 years being openly hostile to any reform in the senate, as well as regularly being patently unreasonable in negotiations, arguably holding our very democracy to your self interest, why should Australians ever consider putting you above dead last on their ballot papers? HUNG PARLIAMENT PATRICIA BALCHIN asked: In the event of a hung Parliament which party would you choose and who do you think would make the better Prime Minister ? GREENS & PREFERENCE DEALS HANNAH TAYLOR asked: There has been ongoing discussion of preference deals between the Liberals and the Greens in a mutual attempt to undercut Labor seats. Wouldn't any such preference deal, whether formal or informal, be a complete betrayal of the values of both of your parties? TRICKLE DOWN TAX CUTS? NATHAN SCHOLZ asked: Steven Ciobo: My wife and I own a small business, a coffee shop here in Brisbane. The proposed corporate tax cut means we will get an extra $8 a week next year. Given it means everyone in this room, including potential customers, will have to pay more for them and their families to go to the GP, couldn't we cut out the middle man? You keep the $8 and protect bulk billing so my customers will have more money to spend in my shop? QUEENSLAND GHOST TOWNS KRISTY HARLING asked: I have lived in Central Queensland which encompasses towns such as Emerald, Blackwater & Moranbah for a number of years, working in the local mining industry. Today, we see the aftermath of the mining boom after 21,000 jobs have been lost in the region. It breaks my heart, to see local families struggling to put food on the table & to see hundreds of houses empty because of foreclosure with no one to fill them. The people