When do budget twiddles become broken promises?
Updated
Welfare payments have been tightened and foreign aid brutally slashed, while education and health spending has at the very least been substantially rearranged, writes Annabel Crabb.
Budget 2014/15 has a complicated relationship with some of humanity's most ancient themes: birth, life, and growing old.
It gouges more than $6 billion out of the health budget over four years, only to pour unimaginable riches - $20 billion, by the time it's done - into something called the Medical Research Future Fund, in which Australian scientists will be heavily encouraged to eliminate Alzheimer's, or cancer, or heart disease, or preferably all of them.
Meaning that while the downside might be that we all pay $7 to go to the doctor, the upside is that eternal life might be closer than we think.
That is, if we don't die of septicaemia first, from the ingrown toenail we were too cheap to have looked at.
"If we start investing now, this new and historic commitment in medical research may well save your life - or that of your parents, or your child!" Mr Hockey told the House, outlining the upsides and downsides of his firstborn national fiscal document, Budget 2014-15.
Questions of immortality often weigh heavily upon new political leaders. For JFK, it was the dream of humanity's victory over space. Kevin Rudd promised the bionic eye. Tony Abbott's dream of immortality is reflected in his daily exercise regimen. And for Joe Hockey, it seems, Budget Number One tangles with nothing less than the recreation of the movie Cocoon, right here in this wide brown land of ours.
But there is a ticklish policy conundrum here. A life-and-death one. The biggest budget headache Mr Hockey and his ilk have is the ongoing rude health of Australians, and our growing tendency to live to a great age.
We're even killing ourselves at lesser rates; one of the shortfalls listed in the budget is about half a billion less than expected from tobacco excise revenue, which seems an indication that ugly packaging has achieved what years of spousal nagging and nasty coughs couldn't, recent pro-smoking demonstrations by the Treasurer and by Miss Frances Abbott notwithstanding.
And yet, here is the Treasurer, pouring money into a scheme whose success would, if anything, exacerbate his central structural difficulty.
True to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's word, the budget does not cut pensions in this term of government. But it's going through Nana's purse nonetheless: removing her Seniors Supplement ($1.2 billion); removing a range of federally-supported state concessions ($1.3 billion); removing the Pensioner Education Supplement; and of course charging her $7 to visit her GP.
Nana will keep her Clean Energy Supplement, even though Mr Abbott will get rid of the carbon tax that was to fund it. But it will not be indexed - a small-sounding announcement, but one that will net the Government nearly $500 million. The budget is full of these seemingly innocuous but in fact quite lucrative twiddles; indexation freezes, threshold immobilisations, removals of tax offsets here and supplements there.
In one example, the Government saves a hefty $230 million over four years simply by decreeing that new recipients of Parenting Allowance, Widows Allowance and Youth Allowance be forced to wait an extra week before receiving their money.
Only in a few cases does it simply strike a line through an entire area of expenditure; the biggest of these, our foreign aid budget, is simply and brutally stripped of $7.5 billion in one single line in Budget Paper Two. Life and death issues, it seems, grow less urgent with distance.
The Prime Minister's grand celebration of birth - his Paid Parental Leave Scheme - was supposed to be a central ornament to this Budget, but it has been hidden away like the illegitimate child of a Downton Abbey scullery-maid.
Mr Hockey's speech makes a tiny mention of the scheme, but its proud particulars are nowhere to be found in the budget papers. Treasury officials in the budget lockup confided that because negotiations with the states are not yet complete, the Paid Parental Leave Scheme languishes still in the Contingency Fund. A non-suspicious soul would conclude that the scheme will spring to life just as soon as those matters have been concluded. A horrible cynic, on the other hand, might see that $5 billion or so as a great big Stogie for Mr Hockey to smoke after the parental leave scheme gets killed-off by the Senate or by his colleagues, whoever gets to it first.
On broader existential matters, the budget is relentlessly upbeat.
The Government is confident it will stem the march of climate change (not mentioned at all in the speech) with its $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund and its Green Army of tree-planting enthusiasts. So confident, in fact, that it has commissioned $10 million for a new icebreaker in Antarctica.
But what of that other ancient human theme - of truth? How does this document measure up against what was promised? Does a document that carves $6 billion out of health, then pours vast treasure into medical research, technically breach its promise not to cut spending on health? Does a $3.8 billion cut to the education budget, balanced by expansion of loan schemes and the like to diploma and sub-bachelor degree students, count as a fulfilment of the "no cuts to education" promise?
A graph of schools and hospitals spending, included in the budget overview, provides an artist's impression of how spending was expected to grow, and how it will now grow, now that the Government has effectively torn up its predecessor's funding agreements with the states.
Schools were to receive $31 billion a year by 2025; now they will receive $25 billion.
Hospitals were to receive $40 billion; now, it's been revised down to $25 billion.
Perhaps the last word should go to the Prime Minister, speaking on August 22, 2011:
Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards.
Annabel Crabb is the ABC's chief online political writer. View her full profile here.
Topics: budget, business-economics-and-finance, federal-government
First posted
Comments (526)
Comments for this story are closed.
Mervo:
13 May 2014 8:58:04pm
With what I see this doing to older Australians who have built this nation by removing or cutting their benefits, while reducing company tax, is just disgusting. These guys are just pond scum and will be consigned to history as apologists for big business.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 6:56:26am
And yet the elderly were on average big supporters of the LNP.
Personally this budget causes me and my wife little pain but from what I see it doing not just to the elderly, but also families, the young and the battlers it makes me sick.
Time to protest big time and don't let them ever forget what they have done.
When you look at the history of the LNP they are big taxers. I mean how big was the GST? Which it seems they want to make even bigger and placed on more things.
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Sotapanna:
14 May 2014 7:37:38am
It appears that in a community where one is either a leaner or a lifter, politicians are leaners.
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gbe:
14 May 2014 8:16:57am
I agree despite all the hand wringing and Abbott hate on these pages it's a do nothing budget.
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rabbie:
14 May 2014 8:58:12am
gbe, it's a harmful, destructive budget and it does no good.
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burke:
14 May 2014 9:32:48am
It is the budget that Swan should have done. Swan tried five times and failed five times. Well done Joe!
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Benice:
14 May 2014 10:54:11am
Yes, Swan should have done better. He should have fixed the mining tax to keep some of our resource wealth in the country, cut out the superannuation tax concessions to the wealthy, restored the top marginal tax rate permanently, all to fix the revenue crisis we now face.
You see what I'm getting at? The lie in the hard sell of this budget as being economically responsible and cleaning up a mess is there is more than one way of doing it. There IS a way of doing it without making the poor pay more for doctors' visits and prescriptions, without forcing young people and the disabled onto the streets because they can't find jobs that aren't there for them, without destroying a funding model for education that ensures a base of equality between every school student in the country, without making life tougher for our poorest pensioners, without leaving people in developed countries without the assistance we could afford if only we had the integrity as a nation to continue to give.
These cuts did NOT have to happen. They were a choice between two economic approaches. And, true to form, the Liberal party has chosen the path which ensures the rich are relatively unscathed and the poor will suffer. Who thought they would do any different? I certainly didn't.
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Consideredview:
14 May 2014 12:44:55pm
Spot on Bernice.
And this budget goes backward on climate change, as well as increasing social, health and educational inequality.
Entrenches it by selling infrastructure and defunding science and education.
Roads but no trains.
A very sad day for Australia.
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Treetop:
14 May 2014 4:00:26pm
By increasing the standards of the poor , everyone becomes a winner because most businesses would increase their profits by have more customers and higher sales and then the government gets more GST and tax revenue then the government can spend more on improving peoples standards of living and in the process more money filters back into the private sector and the economy and living standards for everyone improves.
Having a policy where a large section of the populations gets less to spend does nothing for the economy .
This current budget is a complete disaster for the Australia economy and only time will show how bad it has been for the Australian economy .
Watch as unemployment gets higher , government revenue starts to decrease and the Australian economy becomes worse in the very near future .
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Anon E Mouse:
14 May 2014 4:38:26pm
Swan should have "fixed the mining tax to keep some of our resource wealth in the country, cut out the superannuation tax concessions to the wealthy, and restored the top marginal tax rate permanently" as Benice suggests, but Swan and Gillard were disciples of the right, regardless of what they claimed.
Arbib, Bitar, Howse, Martin Fergusen, etc etc. all bought and paid for by the Right. The Right wing of the Labor party is in reality the Lib-Lites. So they were never going to undermine their cashed up benefactors.
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Sir Trent Toogood:
14 May 2014 12:16:50pm
No cuts to education, health, the ABC, no changes to pensions, no new taxes.
That's what Tone promised us.
He told us that the biggest deficit was one of trust in the Gillard government.
He lied through his teeth to get into government, does he honestly think people will forget?
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rusty cairns:
14 May 2014 4:38:08pm
Gee burke, if treasury estimations aren't achieved Hockey's budget is blown too.
Sorry mate, Swann expected to return the budget to surplus in 2012-2013, however the glimmer of the world economy improvement shown in 2010 stalled. Recorded facts prove this.
What has Joe achieved so far with his running of treasury for the last 8 months (only 12 months in a year) and increase in the budget deficit is all that has been achieved so far by Joe.
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MD:
14 May 2014 11:33:09pm
Hah! Does anyone believe that you'd have applauded Swan if he'd delivered this? Do you claim that you would have? You would've damned him just as roundly if he had,
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mara:
14 May 2014 11:48:43am
A brilliant budget...if you are a mining company!!
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rusty cairns:
14 May 2014 5:22:36pm
Gday mara
Fixing the budget emergency announced last night has cause State/Territories to call for and urgent emergency GOAG meeting.
It obvious that the so called " open and transparent federal government" were not open and transparent with the budget direction at the last GOAG meeting which happened only 12 days ago.
Yes a brilliant budget, indeed.
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Im Entitled:
14 May 2014 2:13:40pm
Qualifying for welfare on a hundred thousand a year, is hardly the end of the age of entitlement.
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Peter of Melbourne:
14 May 2014 6:30:58pm
no gbe raising taxes and introducing new ones on those on lower/middle incomes whilst allowing multinationals to avoid either their tax bills or paying a realistic price for our non renewable resources is not what australian society is about. if the fuel excise is to be increased for the general public then fuel rebates need to be lowered or abolished. there is another few billion in savings each year.
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patarus:
14 May 2014 8:21:32am
It looks like you have to become a "leaner" - just a few ticks over 60 and yes it is hard if not impossible to get a "job". So you lean on any superannuation you have till you qualify for the "pension". You also lean on friends for a "job" and you try and re-skill to be able to lean on that friend to get the job.
Labor never made the hard yards they were too busy saluting and ingratiating their narcissistic egos. Sure we had a GFC but also had the LFC (Labor Feudal Crisis) which in memory was distinctly acrimonious, negative and economically destructive as their last budget and mini budgets revealed in the post Rudd buyout.
Tony and co. with Hockey the heeler are trying to stop the gravy train from running away. The brakes are being applied by removing our "breaks".
Am I happy - probably not - but then I don't think I have ever seen anyone happy. I am a gripe listener.
Jobs don't make people happy they just delay inevitable anxiety about their meaning in life.
So before you start running to axe Tony just don't forget how incredibly inept Labor was as they lurched from crisis to crisis.
The three problems in life as I once espoused to a work colleague twenty odd years ago are "money, money and money".
Nothing has changed and any changes made to effectively change the three problems in life are about as probable as eternal life in the physical.
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Serenity:
14 May 2014 8:59:18am
"Jobs don't make people happy"
Well, how could you possibly survive in life if you don't have one?
This government has created an underclass. Of course, this will be the start of reducing the minimum wage. I wonder if TAbbott & Hockney will start producing food stamps for those on the minimum wage they will bring in so that people can eat? (look at the US!)
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 9:27:16am
" I wonder if TAbbott & Hockney will start producing food stamps for those on the minimum wage they will bring in so that people can eat."
From what I see my average Australian could do with eating a little less.Then they won't need to see the doctor.Win win really.
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TheWorkingPoor:
14 May 2014 10:06:37pm
You need only to study the situation in the USA to see where the Abbott government's economic "reforms" are intended to take us.
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The Eggman:
14 May 2014 10:21:41pm
""Jobs don't make people happy"
Well, how could you possibly survive in life if you don't have one?"
Well, you can't survive, not unless you have reserves or support to draw on, but let's say that you don't have these things - what happens then? Do you turn to crime? Because that's what plenty of people have had to do in the USA (which provides the economic/political standard our leadership is so keen to emulate). And we know how that ends don't we - it ends with a literally captive workforce with which the USA can compete with overseas slave labour - so much for the land of the free.
Or maybe you create a crisis in youth unemployment/poverty and then hail yourself as a hero when you do something revolting like introduce mandatory national service.
Anyway you cut it you can be sure that this isn't going to end well.
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darthseditious:
15 May 2014 2:10:57am
Patarus is right in a way. More often than not, jobs don't make one happy in the long term. Unless you are doing something you really, really love (and how many of us get to do that?), more likely than not, you are stuck in some soul destroying role, surrounded by petty, moronic work colleagues and management that has no clue about dealing effectively with people. You may get a sugar rush upon first starting a new job, but after a year (if that), you will find your enthusiasm begins to fade. True happiness is using what time you have outside work to do something you enjoy.
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burke:
14 May 2014 9:33:32am
I will be 70 next week. I have a full time job.
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makingtide:
14 May 2014 11:07:49am
Oh, Burke. You're my hero.
So despite being half crippled with arthritis and neural disease in my mid-40s, because you want to work to your grave, so should I? Sorry, look through the lens of the less fortunate to get a view of what a compassionate society could be.
I've voted in the winning party in every election since I was 18, except Abbott. I hope to to be voting him out in two years.
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Lost2:
14 May 2014 11:55:27am
Well you must a have a cushy job which doesn't require too much physical activity, get a job as a bricky or other physical extensive employment and see if you make it to 70.
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Consideredview:
14 May 2014 12:50:34pm
I am a self funded retiree - and this budget stinks.
Why - because I want to live a society that values people, in all their great variety, and doesn't do everything possible to disadvantage people.
I was born in a time when state education was the norm, and university was available on a scholarship to a good percentage of students, later free under Whitlam.
With all the mining wealth etc, education will now be like becoming a hereditary peer - an accident of birth.
Many very bright, intelligent and able people will have wasted lives, and everyone will be the loser.
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favela fella:
14 May 2014 1:49:18pm
Except that most very bright people can successfully educate themselves with no more than a card for their local library and an internet connection.
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rusty cairns:
14 May 2014 4:21:19pm
GDay favela
Are qualifications obtain by internet recognised ?
I see in the future, "My degree was obtained at such and such university and because of the extra cost to obtain it it's worth more than yours which you paid much less for."
Yep just what we need, class divide obtained in higher education between those that obtain higher education.
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Ian:
14 May 2014 11:46:42pm
And just how much is self education recognized? And it is recognician that is required in our society!
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Consideredview:
14 May 2014 12:51:17pm
Perhaps you can take in a homeless young person, who can't get a job.
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Vault:
14 May 2014 9:39:31am
Pat,
Yeah Rudd was a problem for the ALP but that has nothing whatsoever to do with Tony saying one thing prior to the election and doing the exact opposite after.
This turd had the temerity to insult PM Gillard by offering to help make her an "honest woman".
Tony made trust the issue and now he has broken that trust, regardless of how loud you shout look at Labor.
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Cynicmonster:
14 May 2014 11:04:53am
" with Tony saying one thing prior to the election and doing the exact opposite after."
What are you talking about? They had 6 years to learn from the best.
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 9:23:55am
"Personally this budget causes me and my wife little pain."
So whats the problem.
"but from what I see it doing not just to the elderly, but also families, the young and the battlers."
Everybody then.So people are going to have to find another source of income other than the government.My heart bleeds.
"It makes me sick."
Then you need to see a doctor.Don't forget to take $7.:-)
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the yank:
14 May 2014 9:42:32am
Because the world is not just about ME, that is why.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 10:57:42am
That's right, the world is not just about ME, but up to now, all budgets have been about ME.
It is about time that empowerment and responsibility was handed back to the people and that is what I see this budget doing. I was at the dentist this morning and a person at the counter said, "There is nothing in it for me.".
My family would not agree to our children accepting Government benefits. The children were told, "You go on the dole and you do not have a roof over your head." Guess what? They have never been on Government benefits.
My son-in-law lost his job a week ago. He has accepted a temporary position in Papua New Guinea to keep the dollars rolling in.
My husband and I are on part old age pensions. We don't have superannuation but we have part-time, work from home businesses. We grow our own vegetables and have our own meat butchered (no, we do not live on a farm).
People have forgotten what it was like to be able to get into a doctor easily when they are really sick - or to have the doctor come to their house. Now, you have to plan to be sick because of the number of people who are there just to obtain a new referral because the 12 months has expired or obtain new scripts or they have a cold which a couple of days in bed and some home made broth will benefit.
Come on, look at the pain New Zealand went through and look at where they are now.
Congratulations Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott from me, my husband and my 85 year old mother and her 78 year old boyfriend (who has only just gone from full time to part time working), I just now want to see a broad based GST on EVERYTHING and we will be well and truly geared up for a great future.
And to those who say a broad based tax will be hard on the poor, it will be MUCH MUCH harder on the wealthy and middle class, for instance, all of my 10 grandchildren attend private schools and would be deeply slugged but they also cannot understand GST applying to only some things.
Have a look in the supermarket trollies when you are lined up at the checkout and is mostly the wealthy and middle class whose shopping is majority GST FREE items.
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Consideredview:
14 May 2014 12:56:08pm
Also: nice to know you can tell the social class of people by what they have in their shopping trollies.
Things are about to get a whole lot easier for you now.
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hellmair:
14 May 2014 1:45:30pm
exceopt of course for the women, who pay GST on their sanitary items ......
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Darrenj:
14 May 2014 10:23:40pm
Spoken like a truly clueless right winger . Your story is either made up or you are a fool . Unemployment benefits are paid for by your tax when you work. If you fall on hard times it is there to get you by until you find employment. You seem to have some pathetic excuse for moral superiority regarding the dole. Have you ever thought maybe employment was a lot easier to find before all the low skilled jobs were shipped overseas . Get real !!
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 11:03:16am
ME?.Its your mob that are crying because they are being taken off the government teat.
Why don't you try a novel idea living off your own means.
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allaboutlies:
14 May 2014 6:38:08pm
EVAN<
If you don't like people relying on Govt to ensure that they have money on which to live, maybe you should try voting for a Govt that can give us an economy/society in which people can go to work, get paid for it, and can afford to support their families with a reasonable cost of living and a fair tax system where people pay a fair amount of tax relative to their earnings. That certainly would never happen under the Libs and if Labor were in power the Libs would do everything in their power to stifle them.
Take a company like Westpac for example, $6 or $7 Billion in net profits. How many of their staff rely on welfare payments so that they can afford to live?
Maybe we should privatise welfare payments - of course they would need to be regulated by Govt because, as you know, those big profit companies would be likely to renege on their responsibilities.
You, as an extreme right wing liberal fan club member, should take some responsibility for the inequity in our society today.
I have a feeling that you are oblivious (and a tad shallow)
thanks to your mob it has become absolutely impossible for me to live off my own means.
********
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john1:
14 May 2014 12:12:34pm
And that's why this budget isn't about you Yank, it's about EVERYONE'S sustainable future.
Something you seem incapable of coming to grips with as your partisan viewpoint keeps obstructing rational and objective thought.
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Crow:
14 May 2014 10:58:16am
"So whats the problem."
maybe hes able to view things in terms of a society, instead of the selfish indiviualism that comes from the conservative posters here who screamed blue murder at Gillards broken promises, yet not once mention how many Abbott has now broken himself.
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john1:
14 May 2014 12:19:37pm
And how many times did you whine about Gillards no tax broken promise?
And just how would you go about fixing a budget that is spending more than it earns?
How long do you believe we can keep doing it?
Do you feel that we should continue borrowing and leave the problem to future generations.
And yes there is a large problem, regardless of what any of the usual suspects tell you. It is not necessarily the size of the debt to GDP ratio that is the issue, the issue is the rate of increase as ours is and has been one of the quickest.
This simply means if it is not arrested now, we will be in comparatively larger trouble later on down the track.
Something I don't want MY kids to have to pay for.
We are currently paying somewhere in the vicinity of $12 Billion per year in INTEREST on the this borrowed, this will rise.
Something needed to be done and congratulations to Hockey and Abbott for having the strength to do it, even though they knew it would be unpopular.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 3:21:55pm
Except that this budget still spends as much as the predicted labor budget. With the same incomings...
Basically the only difference is where the money is spent.
Labor was spending at the pointy end where they would get the biggest bang for their buck. Liberals are spending where it won't be noticed.
Labor may not have had the best implementation but you could see the societal benefit of what they were trying to do.
Do you remember how much the Liberals squealed when Labor was trying to means test rebates and welfare? But now the Liberals are doing the sensible thing and means testing welfare? There is a little bit of dishonesty happening here.
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Chobbz:
14 May 2014 6:33:20pm
John1, you are completely missing the point. I think it's well accepted that going further and further into defecit is not a good thing.
The reason this is a terrible budget is because the cuts are so poorly targeted. Once again the attitude is that it's better to tax the poor than the rich because the rich have the means to whinge the loudest. It's unfair and it's disgusting.
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allaboutlies:
14 May 2014 9:33:56pm
I love the way Peter Costello and Joe Hockey always talk about putting in the hard yards. It's not them who are putting in the hard yards. It's the people on low incomes that have to put in the hard yards while the well heeled enjoy ever increasing amounts of prosperity.
It's not a strength, it's a weakness. They are unable to stand up to the big end of town!
*****
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allaboutlies:
14 May 2014 9:38:45pm
I love the way you guys are so concerned about the kids of future generations but not the kids of this generation.
Could it be that you are worried about not being able to control which kids foot the bill in future but at least now you can make sure that kids from lower socioeconomic groups bear the burden.
******
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Punk:
14 May 2014 11:26:01am
You mean an extra $7.
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Sir Trent Toogood:
14 May 2014 12:23:27pm
Clive has said he wont support the broken promise co-payment, so it would seem it wont see the light of day.
What a shame!
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dman:
14 May 2014 12:14:04pm
very good point yank. All those baby boomers wanting to retire or who have retired felt so obsessed about opposing climate change because "they've been around for long enough to know its crap" forgot to actually look at who they were voting for, and more importantly what they were voting for.
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Serendipitous:
14 May 2014 1:59:35pm
Yank, re the gst: on ABC 24 this morning, the SA Treasurer predicted that the whole "budget emergency" rhetoric from Hockey and Abbott, and the severe cuts to the States' health and education funding in yesterday's budget, are about bludgeoning the States (and us) to accept an increase in the gst rate. Watch the space peeps. It sounded credible to me.
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lynne:
14 May 2014 3:37:50pm
Unfortunately yes, the elderly are the ones that vote for the LNP. This happens time and time again, and they are always the first to be ripped off. Why they vote for these private school, religiously educated elite, which is the bulk of the Abbott government, is beyond me. I also note the less-educated in society generally tend to vote for these cretins as well. Of course they will be poorly effected by this budget too. I guess you get what you deserve.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 8:25:04am
Mervo:
People should have organised their future around their own financial resources rather than expect the government and hence taxayers to support them.
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 8:51:25am
Coogara,
People do not organise their finances and future on the basis of Government handouts (sorry, with the exception of the well off who can hire professionals to minimise their taxes and maximise concessions). But Government support is essential to make sure that our society is stable and fair. If you are sick and poor you deserve medical attention, not to be put in the situation of choosing between going to the doctor or having lunch.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 9:14:05am
"If you are sick and poor you deserve medical attention, not to be put in the situation of choosing between going to the doctor or having lunch."
...or a bottle of beer, or a packet of smokes, or a punt on the pokies...
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maritz:
14 May 2014 9:48:57am
and where does one get a $7 lunch except when eating rubbish at MacDonalds? and then you need a doctor more because your diet is so bad. circle goes around and around and what we must understand is that we are basically responsible for our health and diet.
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 11:03:56am
"and where does one get a $7 lunch except when eating rubbish at MacDonalds?".... maritz, go to your nearest supermarket with $7 and you will see how much decent food you can actually eat for lunch with that. My only suggestion is to leave soft drinks out, they are not needed anyway.
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Blue:
14 May 2014 9:57:46am
Clearly you didn't read the line where tobacco excise has fallen. Even the hard bitten smokers are giving it up.
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wim:
14 May 2014 10:11:40am
Mate, you need to spent 7 bucks for a doctors visit, with such a sick mind.
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 9:36:15am
"People do not organise their finances and future on the basis of Government handouts."
Not anymore they don't
" If you are sick and poor you deserve medical attention."
In this world you deserve nothing and that is exactly what Mr Hockey was talking about when he said the age of entitlement was over.
"not to be put in the situation of choosing between going to the doctor or having lunch."
Or having a beer.
Or having a cigarette.
Or Having a Mc Donalds
Or having a bet.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 9:52:37am
"In this world you deserve nothing"
I hope that is the line that Abbott takes to the next election.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 11:08:18am
We are born into this world wearing nothing and having nothing.
There is abundance of food and drink if we want to live basically.
We reap what we sow but most people have forgotten how to sow because it has been done for them.
In Cuba, when petrol supplies to the country were stopped, the people initially suffered hardship because of their reliance of everything that was powered by fuel. However, they then started to ride bicycles everywhere, grow their backyard food, developed commercial organic agriculture, drastically reduced their need for medical treatment and supplies because they became healthier.
Every cloud has a silver lining and it appears to me from your various comments, you only ever look for the clouds and someone to 'give' you an umbrella.
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Aussie Sutra:
14 May 2014 6:30:51pm
I would imagine that if the Liberal vision for Australia was the standard of living of a third world country they should have taken that to the election.
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john1:
14 May 2014 12:23:23pm
Not many countries have the welfare state that we have Yank.
Nothing wrong with that while ever it is affordable.
Alas, it is not anymore to the extent that it has been.
So something needs to be done.
i have yet to hear any of you lefties come up with a viable alternative.
I have heard you whinge, but no proper alternatives.
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Aussie Sutra:
14 May 2014 6:34:55pm
Stop immigration. Just. Stop. It. We cannot afford it.
Tax all movement of money at 1% per transaction.
Have very limited mining and huge royalties paid to the Australian people when it happens.
Tax large corporations instead of letting them take money out of the country that was raised by operating IN the country.
Stop medical tourism from third world countries.
Eliminate all aid to nations that have an increasing population.
And I'm a socialist BTW.
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I think I think:
14 May 2014 9:20:22pm
"I have yet to hear any of you lefties come up with a viable alternative."
Don't blame us for the fact that you can't read. Many times we uave said that a better solution is to fix the mrrt, super rorts or tax consessions on investment properties. You just don't like it so you ignore it.
Giving back your tax bonus due to the carbon tax? No, like all you right whingers, you are silent on that one.
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Peter59:
14 May 2014 10:07:38am
Who puts millions into advertising to ensure as many people as possible use these substances which do clearly effect health and place a burden on society and the budget?
Corporate giants who pay as little tax as possible.
I say make Producer Responsibility more of a priority so the very companies who profit from the sales are also responsible for providing a solution.
And yes, people should be responsible for their actions also.
Brattish comments like yours do nothing to resolve a complex issue or add to community debate.
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me:
14 May 2014 11:00:39am
In this world, I deserve the best that money can buy, you sir may keep your nothing. I want value for my money, and frankly, this government is not value for my money.
You can also keep the complete and utter lack of vision, the lies, and the bigotry.
This government has nothing Australians want. I personally require a refund.
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malb:
14 May 2014 1:55:00pm
Let me know when you find a government that's good value for money.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 3:25:46pm
I pay the medicare levy that is the deal the the government made with the taxpayers of Australia. If it is not sustainable raise the Medicare levy by the 0.1% which is the equivelent of the GP (Blood test, scan, Emergency room) levy.
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seanone:
14 May 2014 9:48:12am
Right on Alpo. This budget is a robin Hood in reverse "take from poor and needy to give to rich and greedy". It will do nothing to improve this Nations economic or social well being. It will massively increase inequality just when the rest of the World is waking up to the fact that this is real issue flowing from following this relentless credo of "low taxes and small government". As usual this mob are out of touch with history as well as the facts. Do we really want to be like the Tea party version of America where the top 1% own 90% of the wealth, those on minimum wage are on food stamps, which the greedy rich also want to remove, and the middle class is rapidly dropping into the poor guaranteed if you get sick over there.
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Rogers:
14 May 2014 9:43:39am
I tried to organise my future but working in the health industry which has predominately low wages for ancillary staff doe not allow you to build up a big nest egg.
Throw in a divorce settlement later in life two retrenchments does not help.
At the wrong side of 60 looking for a job does not give much chance to reorganise your future either.
I am one of many in that dilemma.
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Vault:
14 May 2014 9:57:01am
Coogara,
All well and good when you make good money but not everyone gets well paid.
Youths with no money will break the law and become an additional cost when they get locked up.
I hardly think it is fair to live in a society where pensioners can't afford to eat dog food because it costs too much.
Remember the end of the Howard years and what state aged pensioners lived in, well here we go again.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 12:09:10pm
Vault:
People in other countries have even less. You just have to face the obvious that people are consuming more in government services than what they are providing in revenue. We just have to get back to living within our means. I accept many do not like this but unless there is a windfall in revenue, there are no alternatives.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 3:34:20pm
"Other people in other countries hace less."
This might be true but this is a specific issue in Australia that relates to Australia's cost of living.
"You just have to face the obvious that people are consuming more in government services than what they are providing in revenue."
Raise income taxes or cut tax loopholes. Start at the end where the cost of living isn't a significant factor where budgets are spent to the last cent.
"We just have to get back to living within our means. I accept many do not like this but unless there is a windfall in revenue, there are no alternatives."
Yes individuals should, households should but the government doesn't need to. Besides which this budget is the same $ value as the previous government projections for this year.
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Aussie Sutra:
14 May 2014 6:38:27pm
We are growing our population at the rate of a new Canberra every year. Companies bring in third world people to pick fruit, make hotel beds, and staff restaurant kitchens because they can pay those workers much less than they pay Aussies. What Australia cannot afford is millions more hangers-on.
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Grumpy:
14 May 2014 10:41:22am
"Older Australians" ? What does that mean ?
If you include those who commenced the "boomer" generation by being born particularly from 1946 to 1955, you are largely talking about people who had the benefit of free education as children, grew into free medicare, possibly spent their working lives with one employer, could purchase a reasonable home on one income, saw their working entitlements expand to encompass a 35 hour week, penalty rates, union holidays, more public holidays, and finished their working lives shovelling largely untaxed money into super. Those who own homes in cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are (at least on paper) millionaires.
There are old age pensioners doing it tough. There are plenty of others who have deliberately structured their affairs to access a part pension, to access free medical care, and btw can also travel anywhere in NSW by rail for $2.50.
It is more than time these "older Australians" faced a means test that included their family home, where the tax treatment of family trusts was changed to see thru the ownership of the structure, and where income derived from super fund holding more than $1 million in assets was taxed at the same rate as ordinary income tax.
By all means look after those age pensioners who will have difficulty looking after themselves, but don't be fooled into thinking that the elderly are not capable of self-interest.
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The Skeleton Inside:
14 May 2014 12:05:34pm
The boomer generation also includes women who sacrificed any possible career to have and bring up children; were not able to purchase a house in their own right because they were women; if they did get part time or full time work when the kids grew up it was not highly paid, and they still had all their house work to do as well. Any superannuation they may have received was probably eaten up in fees, and thus a direct gift to the super company.
Paper millionaires who probably bought in unfashionable and cheap suburbs whicha are now fashionable, cannot eat their houses. Do they have to move out to west woop woop to survive?
And nobody seems to consider that the twenty year baby boom will end one day and things will be back to normal. It is not the fault of the boomers that they were born
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Wildfire2013:
14 May 2014 5:01:49pm
Skeleton, perfectly put. In fact, I couldn't add to what you just said. Bout time people who make comments like Grumpy understood what the residential home actually is. And let's not forget that home also, often, houses their adult children whilst they get on their feet and it's there for when they fall of their feet. That house also gets handed down and thus gives the next generation a leg up. My home (worth under $500,000) is for my kids...NO ONE ELSE.
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I think I think:
14 May 2014 10:37:07pm
Thats fine, Wildfire, but surely they don't need the investment perks that come from owning second, third and fourth homes? Or the super perks they are afforded. After all, they are only rorting their own grandchildren. Right?
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Grandpa of NW Qld:
14 May 2014 8:02:53pm
You obviously see nothing. What is the budget doing to pensioners? Absolutely Nothing. The budget will only affect those aged 49 and younger because it comes into affect in 2035 when the average age of death will be approaching 100. With the carbon tax coming off PENSIONERS will be better off. As for reducing company tax - look at any graph linking company tax with unemployment and you will find a near perfect correlation. For example, Howard dropped the company tax from 37% to 30% and unemployment dropped from 8.1% to 4.5% and Australia prospered and all this happened before the mining boom commenced late in 2005. To state the obvious - Companies employ our children and grandchildren! With your head buried so far in the sand you make my 78 year old blood boil which is no good for my heart. At 78, I am still working a 50 hour week on my citrus farm (mostly on a shovel) - no handouts ever. Just stop being a sook and be greatfull for what you have.
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CJB22:
13 May 2014 9:07:11pm
How many times did Tony Abbott tell us before the election that the MRRT is a useless tax as it raises no revenue. Now when he ditches it it becomes a tax saving of $3,400 million for the big mining companies? How many pre election lies has Tony been found out on? This budget highlights the true values liberals stand for and that certainly doesn't include support for the majority of Australian households. It is all about big corporations.
The problem I have is that both of the major alternative parties are useless as well.
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Northern Blue:
14 May 2014 7:37:45am
The Mining Tax was linked by the Labor government with associated expenditure. They did their numbers very badly (surprise?) and as a consequence the mining tax raised annually has never come close to mathing the money given out annually. So by ditching this combined clump of "reform" the current LNP will actually save a lot of money. That is where they get their "big saving" from when they say ditching the tax will save money - it actually does do what they say but only if the package is completely rolled back.
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havemysay:
14 May 2014 9:38:03am
Up to now the big mining companies have managed to write off just about all they could against the mining tax. Write offs in future would be much less and therefore the tax would bring in the expected revenue. Instead of this happening Two Faced Tony (Two-Tone) is scrapping it and letting them off the hook.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 9:48:43am
And small businesses around the country get shafted.
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Vault:
14 May 2014 10:03:21am
Blue,
The LNP joyfully joined the miners in opposing the mining tax in both forms.
We have our own version of "Dutch Disease" thanks to the political opportunism of the LNP and the greed of the corporate miners.
We missed the opportunity to have a fair dinkum tax that would have driven down the dollar, saved manufacturing and gave us a fair return on our mineral wealth.
Treasury does the figures. They underestimated for Howard and overestimated for Rudd and Gillard, simple fact. How will Treasury go this time at trying to make an educated guess? Who knows what the world economy will do so who knows?
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Mango:
14 May 2014 12:17:35pm
You have it backwards Northern Blue. The $3.4 billion is revenue forgone. The biggest fault with the MRRT was that it allowed too many deductions up front. Its abolition relresents a cost to the budget, and a saving to mining comapanies.
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Sotapanna:
14 May 2014 7:54:20am
Around mining operations the companies vehicles are evident driving on the roads, using untaxed diesel. This exemplifies that mining companies' do use the roads, illustrating that the assumption used by Hockey is a fallacy.
The government is far more afraid of mining companies than the electorate.
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Tator:
14 May 2014 8:20:38am
Sotapanna,
the small vehicles from mines use a pittance of diesel compared to the plant used within the mines, plus the fleet of 4wd's that mining companies use would probably have a separate fuel cost centre within the company as are probably fuelled offsite using fuel cards whilst the big mining dump trucks, loaders and excavators which never see a road except on the back of a load platform being hauled by a prime mover or 2 chew through more diesel in an hour than what the 4wd fleet would use in a 24 hr day.
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Peter59:
14 May 2014 10:25:41am
On road vehicle use is recorded and reported and levies paid by the miners.
My issue is, fuel costs are a fully deductible expense so fuel rebates are straight profit benefits to the miners. The investment pipeline has ended according to most reports so why is there a need to offer ongoing inducements.
Any inducement offered to business must have a net benefit to the country through a better budget outcome.
I think with such a greatly expanded production capacity it is time for the large miners to contribute just a little bit more.
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john1:
14 May 2014 12:29:18pm
Nice theory, however in the age of international competition, they will then start investing their money in other countries.
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rusty cairns:
14 May 2014 3:23:02pm
GDay john1
They invest their profits in other countries now.
Gee mate BHP share price dropped under $10 in the mid ninety's when they invested in mining in the USA and else where.
Only taxation paid by mining companies guarantees money they make stays in the country where the taxation is paid.
If the government of another countries offers no taxation on mining should our government do the same, so we are competitive, so we don't lose their investments ?
The only advantage Australia has is 'home ground advantage', being good quality easily accessible ores, relatively flat easily to transverse landscape. No 4000 meter high mountain ranges, huge fast flowing rivers are needed to be calculated into the cost of infrastructure when investing in mining in Australia. Australia has a healthy, educated workforce and the big advantage 'stable governments'.
Mining companies staff don't get shot at by snipers, don't get taken hostage in Australia. Why is this? It's because Australia governments collect taxes and distribute those taxes fairly equally to the entire population. It's not new investment in iron ore mines we need now, oversupply has already driven down prices.
The iron ore not being mined in Australia this year, will still be there next year.
The Australian people need to get a bigger percentage of the profits made (just by moving) these non replaceable resources.
If the mining companies aren't prepared to pay more let them go else where because one day they will be back and there will also be others willing to do so.
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john1:
14 May 2014 12:28:02pm
Sotapanna.
You do realise they have to keep records of BOTH rebated diesel and diesel used for vehicles used on the road don't you?
Maybe you didn't, well now you do!
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Jim:
14 May 2014 8:29:41am
Yes, the major parties are dinosaurs ripe for extinction and the only way this will happen is when a majority of people start voting Greens and other progressive Independents. If you vote how you've always voted, you'll get what we've always got...
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 9:17:32am
Vote Green, you say Jim...
Think for a moment of the previous Tasmanian government. Think the Gillard/Brown alliance. When the Green movement gains influence the citizens pay.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 9:52:13am
Pay what Craig? The '$500 per year carbon tax"? The citizens around the country will be paying a lot more now with this mob than they ever were with the carbon tax.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 10:57:16am
I should rephrase that slightly, Johnny, so you understand. The carbon [dioxide] tax was just one extra cost, which was never going to achieve it's mandate - to reverse 'global warming'.
The citizens pay more for all the failed Green schemes and corruption, like Rudd handing $90m to Flannery's Geodynamics - that $90m would pay for 12,857,142 visits to the GP under the new co-payment!
The governments who allowed the Greens to influence them (Giddings, Rudd and Gillard) have also paid.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 11:42:58am
I read just last week the AFR that the 'Direct Action is like in a decade to cost US the tax payer $40 billion a year.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 12:38:24pm
Seems madness, hey yank!
History will look back at this period of environmental alarmism and the money wasted in pursuit of a non-existent remedy for a non-existent problem. Abbott is acquiescing to the naive in his party with the Direct Action Plan. Hopefully he goes to the next election with the intent to scrap it.
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Alfie:
14 May 2014 10:06:24am
If the MRRT was correctly developed and implemented, we would still have it.
The fact is: it was another Labor botched-up policy on-the-run. Like dropping your dinner on the floor, no point in trying to pick out the good bits - throw the lot in the bin.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 11:45:01am
Better to replace it with the worst sort of socialist program the "Direct Action Tax"? With its 'Green Army'?
As I noted above it will end up costing $40 billion a year to meet its goals.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 3:39:18pm
It's horrifing that the department of education has a green army website up and running and looking for projects and participants
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maz:
14 May 2014 11:51:52am
Why do so many Australians only ever look at the two major parties? Start thinking out of the 'norm' people. We do have alternatives.
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Milp:
13 May 2014 9:07:25pm
Through "Restart" Hockey just made me unemployable and condemned my disabled partner to a life of pain.
We're over 50 and currently eke out a meagre existence where my partner works 2 days a week, the maximum that the pain allows. My previous employer went bust. Because we're just over the benefit threshhold I can't get the dole.
I have an IQ over 150 but all prospective employers see is the 50 bit. Now thanks to Hockey any prospective employer will hire somebody who will attract the $10k bonus.
In essence that @#%&% bastard just killed my partner.
Not happy Joe.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:19:04am
While I lament your personal situation I don't think you get it.
It was not LNP who racked billions in debt - it was the Labor party. The LNP are trying to fix mess.
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 8:39:38am
It's not just Labor, it's also Howard's structural deficit. Most of the stuff that Hockey winding back are Howard govt policies.
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malb:
14 May 2014 8:53:20am
That may be so, but we could afford the tax cuts etc back then. We clearly can't now.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 11:46:52am
If we hadn't had those tax cuts the budget would be in surplus.
The LNP are THE worst handlers of money of anyone. Just think about the largest tax of them all the GST. And now we have a entire new raft of taxes and hidden taxes like the 'Direct Action' plan.
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malb:
14 May 2014 1:58:02pm
The budget WAS in surplus last time the LNP were handling it.
To even suggest that the ALP are better handlers of money is so ridiculous it is laughable.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:26:53pm
So Yank, are you putting your hand up to pay higher tax than you do now?
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Mr Q:
14 May 2014 4:28:33pm
We could only afford the tax cuts at the time?
Then ask yourself this: why weren't the tax cuts temporary, like the plan for the "deficit levy". Did the Howard government really think the boom would run forever?
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rabbie:
14 May 2014 9:00:14am
Merlin, the Liberals are not fixing a mess; they are creating one.
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UnKnown:
14 May 2014 9:44:09am
'It was not LNP who racked billions in debt - it was the Labor party."
AFTER the LNP gave all the sale money, 'privatise everything', to the big end of town in tax cuts in the leadup to that little thing known as the GFC.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:27:34pm
You seem to forget, it was Keating who started privatising with Telstra.
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Styvo51:
14 May 2014 9:51:58am
Actually, Merlin, I don't think you get it.
If your spouse or child was ill would you delay treatment until payday at the end of the month or pull out the credit card and have it sorted immediately?
The likely cost-saving in the latter makes it a no-brainer, even for those who believe that anything that cannot be shown as value on a balance sheet is intrinsically worthless.
'Balancing' the budget is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 12:24:03pm
Of course I would get out the credit card. But I wouldn't then go and buy a TV, fridge and a computer.
I would start paying off the credit card debt off straight away so I didnt get charged as much interest.
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Milp:
14 May 2014 9:54:57am
With respect Merlin, all I want is a level playing field. You know, equal opportunity.
I'm upset because Joe has either been too generous in offering $10k to hire those over 50 on the dole, or not generous enough in making that offer available for all.
And he has all but guaranteed that I'll go on the pension after my partner dies.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:29:26pm
Joe Hockey is saving money by offering $10,000 to employ the over 50 and get he/she off the dole. In doing so, the over 50 will be putting more money back into the economy. A no brainer.
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Theos:
13 May 2014 9:12:15pm
I've watched both Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann interviewed tonight. They both denied that any pre-election promises were broken. It astounds me that such blatant and obvious lies can be told by people maintaining a straight face. Is it no wonder that politicians are viewed as compulsive liars.
I agree with a number of their plans, and disagree with others. Winding back middle class welfare is necessary and prudent in my view. But, I just can't get past the ridiculous and obvious lies of politicians trying to argue that black is white and up is down. I agree with Tony Abbott, the trust deficit is more important than the budget deficit.
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Ted:
14 May 2014 8:20:23am
I could not agree more. Its one thing to have a budget which breaks promises, but far worse to be treated like idiots and be told over and over that what has just happened has not just happened.
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aussieinjapan:
14 May 2014 12:12:28pm
This government is about the BIG, RICH organisations.
Although it may be that there are places which need to be cut why does it seem as if the SMALL people and businesses are the ones which get hit first.
It seems as is this is a BIG, RICH run-away gravy train.
I wonder how much the boss of the Australian Business Council is crying. I think that he will be getting lots of pats on the back from his BIG mates for a job well done.
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Craig of Bathurst:
13 May 2014 9:12:29pm
Quite a balanced appraisal, Annabel. However, "...stem the march of climate change..." is a contemporary oxymoron. I thought you were better informed than that.
"Nothing could...alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to...say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards."
Everyone here, including me, have their own biased opinion. But it's all to do with priorities. At this point in time the priority, in my opinion, is to reduce our debt and our reliance on government handouts. One can hope this budget will achieve something like that.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 7:17:08am
Tell that lie to those that have commented on this page on how this budget will hurt them and hurt them bad.
If this budget doesn't send us into a downturn economically it will at the very least hurt those that can least afford it. Shame that you can't see and experience that pain for yourself.
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gbe:
14 May 2014 8:18:58am
Come on put the broad brush away who is it hurting and Why ???
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the yank:
14 May 2014 9:01:39am
Read the comments and you will read about plenty of pain. That is if you are willing to look with both eyes.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:20:41am
Better still - tell it to idiots who created the situation in the first place.
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John:
14 May 2014 8:49:58am
The "situation" you are referring to needs to be tested before you buy such "stuff".
Do we have an emergancy? Most (if not all) economists and finacially estute recognise and many have stated in the media, that there is no crisis ecopncomically. One of the lowest debt / GDP ratio's in the developed world, low unemployment, inflation and through the GFC we avoided recession.
Last budget forecast pre election had $30b deficit then LNP gets in, changes assumptions and cuts/add policies and all of a sudden we have a $60b deficit and an "emergancy" or "crisis"
Some basic assumptions need to be questioned before we go down the road of "they are fixing the previous government's mess".
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 9:09:16am
Do we have an emergancy? Most (if not all) economists and finacially estute recognise and many have stated in the media, that there is no crisis econcomically.
Agree 100%. Ask the same economists does Australia have a structural problem with its budget before last night and all of them would agree. You can't keep spending more than you earn - it is that simple.
$86m in interest. Its a lot
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GJA:
14 May 2014 9:56:59am
This budget does nothing to adjust any structural problems. It simply goes for the throats of the poor, sick, and elderly. It's that simple.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 9:00:43am
You mean of course Howard for throwing away the mining boom money and or the US banks for their acts of bastardy?
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 9:54:18am
You mean Howard?
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Theos:
14 May 2014 7:49:49am
"...stem the march of climate change..." is a contemporary oxymoron.
I don't think "oxymoron" means what you think it means.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 9:31:00am
"I don't think "oxymoron" means what you think it means."
Oxymoron: a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly : something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements.
Yes, I do know what oxymoron means and it precisely represents Annabel's statement.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:22:49am
I urge you to investigate the state of the Australian economy. Do not take the Liberal Party's "budget emergency" at face value. Check out OECD, IMF, Credit Suisse reports on the Aus economy and you will find that the $667 billion is a confected and future projected lie. Do not take my word for it either - dig a little.
Reducing debt is a good thing. Hurting the people with the least, the ones that we should be looking after, to achieve this when it is not necessary is criminal.
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seanone:
14 May 2014 9:56:38am
Thank you David H I could not have put it better myself.
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Stuffed Olive:
14 May 2014 11:31:08am
Exactly. Please write some more David H - you're good at it.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 12:55:29pm
"Hurting the people with the least, the ones that we should be looking after, to achieve this when it is not necessary is criminal."
Hmm, criminal hey. That's a little emotive hyperbole. Let's see, petrol is going up 1c per litre - in an average car that's 50c a tank. But Rudd introduced petrol watch and a petrol commissioner didn't he? How effective, and a waste of money, was that?
Yes, Australia's economy is good in comparison - it's all relative, my friend. But it seems you won't be happy until our economy is a basket-case like others - then will you allow others to call a spade a spade? Those on the left bang on about climate change risk and the need to act before it's too late - take your own medicine.
The insulation scheme, luring people to their death at sea, union/politician corruption and the Gillard/Wilson slush fund is criminal. Let's put things in perspective.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:33:05pm
'David H',
Do you really believe those organisations? It is the likes of them that got us into the GFC in the first place. It is the Balance Sheet accompanied by the Profit & Loss Account that you take notice of.
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Stuffed Olive:
14 May 2014 11:29:15am
Except that they have not done that. By using false projections to increase the figure they think that this budget is fixing things when in reality it does nothing of the sort. A totally useless, deceitful budget full of pain and hurt to the vulnerable. There is nothing good to be said about this load of manure they have the nerve to call a Budget.
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Mark James:
13 May 2014 9:15:43pm
"There is one fundamental message that we want to go out from this place to every nook and cranny of our country: There should be no new tax collection without an election." - Tony Abbott, August 16, 2011.
It is quite ironic that, having built his success on poisoning the well, Abbott now finds himself having to drink from the same tainted water.
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Charles NSW:
13 May 2014 9:18:35pm
What a disgraceful budget based on one big con! They should be put back in as Opposition urgently before they wreck this country. In regards to the doctors I guarantee that I will not pay $ 7.00 to see a doctor, no matter what.
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Graham H:
14 May 2014 7:04:49am
Well - there's some health savings right away.
Thanks Charles.
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Jilleene:
14 May 2014 7:45:14am
yep - the intention is working already
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 8:52:26am
It's working? when Charles get sick and don't go to the docs, guess what happens, he might pass his sickness on another person, and that person pass on another. Then overall it will cost more to the economy won't it? Short sighted policies.
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E:
14 May 2014 9:45:04am
Not to mention possibly ending up in the hospital.
I have first hand experience of this with my chronic illness - delayed seeing the doc and ended up in hospital twice (before I copped onto myself and went to the doc immediately) costing everyone more.
We should be encouraging people to seek early and preventative medical attention.
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lynne:
14 May 2014 3:48:10pm
Yes guess you are fine with the fact that if Charles gets very sick due to not going to the doctor he may eventually pass away? Sorry Charles, but I am just using you as an example. This type of scenario is going to occur due to this budget, as it has done in the past before medicare was ever introduced. You liberal lot cannot see outcomes of these horrendous policies can you? Use your intelligence (?) and think ahead.
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Charles:
14 May 2014 11:15:25am
I have just been diagnosed with a major illness. No worries they can put me in hospital when I am too sick to move. I do not care anymore. The cost to treatment would have been far cheaper than when I am on my death bed.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:35:04pm
Oh good, that means one less person who really isn't sick.
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Gratuitous Adviser:
13 May 2014 9:19:38pm
Some will complain about the Conservatives 2014 philosophical flat tax (and vindictive) budget and I will be writing to my local member (a conservative in Western Sydney, no less) about the broken Abbott promises, I cannot help thinking what a disaster the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd Government was for the ordinary people of Australia.
I commented before and I will write again that the disgrace that the last Labor Government (AWU controlled), will leave the ordinary Australian to suffer for a generation. On that note and consistent with his and the NSW right principles, Arbib did indeed slink through the back door entrance to the give evidence at the Royal Commission a few days ago.
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:15:24am
@ Gratuitous Adviser,
The Righteous Right, still blaming everything on the Rudd/Gillard Governments.
It was not Rudd or Gillard who won the last election on countless lies which they knew they had no intention of keeping from the get go. They can argue that it only became evident after office how bad things were, but this would only demonstrate their incompetence, not to mention how old and repetitive this strategy is given the previously elected state gov singing the same song.
It was howard and Costello who left this country in the mess it is in, every economist knows it, the LNP know it, and I am sure you know it. I am no fan of the Rudd/Gillard gov, their lack of discipline and cohesion leaving Australia with the greatest missed opportunities in my lifetime. A real shame yes, but this current gov, with their rear view mirror outlook will leave Australia so far behind while the world economy re-invents itself, creating economic opportunities, growth and wealth for all, which we will never realize.
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amphetimine annie:
13 May 2014 9:20:39pm
I've only this to say, "$7.00 ( one and a half cups of coffee), is an absolute rip-snorting bargain, to go and see a doctor of the quality that we have in Australia. If you can't afford that you are doing something drastically wrong; spending money on booze, ciggies or cheesecake, perhaps?"
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PW:
14 May 2014 7:17:56am
It's not so much the co-payment, Speedy, its the fact that they promised no new taxes.
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G.Willikers:
14 May 2014 7:47:34am
Glad to see you're doing well Annie.
Unfortunately there are some people like myself who don't smoke, drink or eat cheesecake who have chronic health problems.
I already struggle to pay for medicines, their extra cost and an extra payment for the doctor will have a serious effect on my tight budget.....I just don't know how to fit it in.
It seems I'll be going to the doctor less often even though I'm advised to visit regularly.
I've struggled to think what it might be that I'm doing drastically wrong to be in such a situation and I can't find what it is.
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malb:
14 May 2014 8:57:00am
If you are so poor that you can't afford $7, I would imaging that you will have a concession card, and that you will get your first 10 doctor visits a year for free.
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lazarus:
14 May 2014 12:48:29pm
Dude, my wife & I both work and for the last week of the fortnight we could not go to the doctor if there was a $7 co-payment.
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LaFire:
14 May 2014 2:36:19pm
Perhaps you need to go to one of the welfare organisations and get help with organising your budget.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 3:55:18pm
Get a chronic condition management plan from your gp. It means you get a HHC.
I will be.. Immuno suppressed. Last time I was ill I went to the dr's twice. Once was the after hours dr at the hospital not emergency (though ironically I would have been seen faster and not paid $90 - but I needed the dr but it wasn't an emergency). Once was the bulk billing clinc...for a medical certificate/ Everyone else who had it wasn't as sick for as long or as sick.
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G.Willikers:
14 May 2014 8:10:30am
I forgot to mention I've never had a $4.50 cup of coffee either.
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PW:
14 May 2014 10:44:24am
"I've never had a $4.50 cup of coffee either."
If people are really paying as much for cups of coffee as is being suggested on blogs, I can understand why they are having to work more and more years before retiring without two bob to their name and then putting their hand out.
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Anubis:
14 May 2014 8:24:15am
If you think this $7 co payment is such a bargain,lets see how satisfied you are when every future budget under this rabble sees the $7 inflate to $10..$15..until you are paying so much they decide to slide right out of Medicare altogether.
This co payment sham is the initial incision in the death of Medicare.
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PW:
14 May 2014 10:47:12am
"This co payment sham is the initial incision in the death of Medicare."
If the Liberals win the next election and the one after that, I'm sure you are right.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:27:58am
People on a very limited budget do not enjoy the luxury of a cup of coffee while out of the house. If you have never had difficulty in finding $7 when you need it, then you would not comprehend the extent of the problem.
I hope you are never in that position.
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whatif:
14 May 2014 8:30:24am
No Annie don't drink don't smoke don't gamble don't buy coffee as I cant afford to go out just battling cancer and wondering why I got it as I have led a clean healthy life, maybe pollution has some thing to do with it, you know planes flying over filling the air with vapour from the petrol. I am wondering whether I should see the doctor or just book my funeral , by the way what does a cheese cake taste like???????
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 11:27:16am
Iam sure we could fill the pages of the drum with bleeding heart stories if we really tried.
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:03:58pm
I think they are.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 8:31:27am
Annie:
Certainly it's small change but it will force people to think twice before seeing a GP, thus saving substantial funds for government. They have also introduced the potential for charging at emergency departments in hospitals. These departments are usually clogged with people who could easily see a GP.
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rabbie:
14 May 2014 6:44:18pm
"These departments are usually clogged with people who could easily see a GP."
How do you know? Are you there clogging up the place?
And how do you know they could easily see a GP? Do you diagnose the people in the waiting rooms?
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crackerjack:
14 May 2014 8:32:15am
Try living on a seniors pension mate and have 1 partner with serious heart conditions and the other with cancer. we do not smoke or drink or go out or gamble or any of the things you suggest we spend our pittance on.
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Craig of Bathurst:
14 May 2014 9:33:54am
You may not, crackerjack, but a good proportion do. Check out the local RSL or Bowlo on pension week.
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Elizabeth Crockett:
14 May 2014 8:32:16am
No knows what it islike if you have not experienced it how a parent feels to look at a sick child and. Have to decide between the risk of hoping the child will be OK or even buy some medicine.when you have spent your last dollar on the necessary. Not on smokes alcohol or cheese cake. You can be thankful you can afford OE and a half cups of coffee, some can't
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iiii open:
14 May 2014 8:49:53am
It just shows their affluence when $7.00 is seen as cups of coffee, where as to the unemployed and some retired people and others it's the
COST OF A MAIN MEAL.
Please take your head out of the sand and look around.
I hear about middle class welfare. how about mega rich welfare, avoiding paying income tax means you don't need a refund.
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 8:58:03am
It might not be just $7 Annie, let see you go see the doc first visit $7, then maybe you need tests eg blood, X-rays etc another $7, then you have to re-visit the doc for the result another $7 so far total $21.
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Treetop:
14 May 2014 4:06:09pm
And don't forget that after the doctor's visit in most cases pharmaceuticals are also needed so the extra government fees on that also has to be added to the total bill .
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Matthew:
14 May 2014 9:02:02am
Don't you already pay the Medicare Tax, this is a tax of $7.00 per visit on the poor.
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Jude:
14 May 2014 9:18:28am
Do your sums Annie - that $7 is on top of the rather large gap that many doctors charge. My GP charges $20 but some charge as much as $50.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:02:46am
It's only a co-pay on visits to bulk-billing doctors. Those who don't bulk-bill won't charge the co-pay, although they may well increase their fees accordingly. Nevertheless, the objection to the co-pay is well-founded: its purpose is the elimination of bulk billing and the next big step towards the elimination of Medicare.
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The Skeleton Inside:
14 May 2014 12:26:28pm
$50? I wish... try $70
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John:
14 May 2014 9:49:13am
Hope that attitute comes to the fore when the bi-annual fuel excise increase starts to bite......a cup of coffe and slice of cheese cake on top of a tank of petrol?
Just like the government, you are not understanding that its not the dollar amount but the obvious lack of need to impliment this increase in the first place that is urking people.
Does your outlook change when it comes to interest rates increasing .25 percent? I mean, if you can't afford that you have obviously miss-managed your money haven't you?
That is what you sound like!
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 11:35:15am
"Just like the government, you are not understanding that its not the dollar amount but the obvious lack of need to impliment this increase in the first place that is urking people."
No Iam sure the government has a bottomless pit of money to dip into to keep the population to a standard they have become accustomed to.
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John:
14 May 2014 3:31:12pm
No Evan, I mean that multi billion dollar profit making mining companies could forego the diesel rebate instead of mum and dads paying extra at the GP.
I totally understand there is no bottomless pit of money. I am simply saying there are bigger and more appropriate sources to dip into before the aged, the ill, the students etc.
Oh....No I am sure the government has a bottomless pit of money to dip into to keep big business to a standard they have become accustomed to.
For example, diesel rebate, corp tax rate of 30%, capitl investment rebates, R&D rebates, bank deposit guarantee and tax deductable donations to political parties just to name a few.
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 6:13:21pm
" I mean that multi billion dollar profit making mining companies could forego the diesel rebate."
Farmers get the diesel rebate to should they forego it too.
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The Skeleton Inside:
14 May 2014 12:23:01pm
As I don't live in a major metropolitan area, when I visit the doctor it costs me $70, of which I get about $36 back; I suppose now it will cost $77.I have never found a doctor's surgery that bulk bills as a general rule, although some have done so for those on a health care card.
I will manage that extra $7 with little difficulty. There are many people for whom it will be a great difficulty. Of course they are the sort of people who never save, who never invest in Australia's future, and who spend every cent they get on wasteful things like rent, food and power, so they need to end their sense of entitlement and suck it in for the good of the corporations who operate in this country.
This is a budget for the rich at the expense of the most marginalised in our society. Add to that the broken promises...
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Paco:
14 May 2014 7:34:06pm
Hey AA
Not everyone who has trouble making ends meet does so
Because they are squandering the money they get.
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rabbie:
13 May 2014 9:25:33pm
It is not a question of whether Tony Abbott has lied to the Australian public; it is a question of whether he has ever spoken the truth in regard to any promises or commitments.
Abbott and Co enjoy using military terminology. Well this budget represents a war against the poor; a war against the unemployed; a war against the young; a war against education; a war against jobs; a war against those who rely on old age and disability pensions; a war against access to medical treatment; a war against public transport... I could go on.
This budget is blind economic vandalism and ignorant social destruction. I hope that its perpetrators pay a price commensurate with the price they are making others pay and for the damage they are doing to so many people's lives.
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Brian Francis:
14 May 2014 9:12:18am
Rabbie
Whatever way the Government would like to sell this Budget , it will need to contend with the obvious appearance of an outright lie.
The problem however is not with the Government it is and always will be, with the people.
The people blindly voted Mr.Rudd into power on a wave of hysteria and celebrity envy and paid the price of being lied to and disappointed at every turn. Mr. Rudd left the voters as the classic 'Jilted lover' and are still hurting.
The fact that this Government may or may not have lied is really neither here nor there. What really counts is the engagement of a lazy public that once saw their role as chasing autographs and selfies with a smiling prospective PM and then, over a latte, decide the future of the country on popularism.
The present Government was always going to be liked and dis-liked. It has little choice in the way people ultimately view them, but what it can do is re-engage the people in debate and interest in their own futures.
I think this Government has succeeded in motivating the people to consider their voting beyond the obvious. How good looking a politician is, how the smile is liked, what the promises might be, if they can be trusted.
By focusing the light on what Ms.Gillard did and what now seems to have become the norm of modern politics, ie: telling porkies, we the children have had to grow up and understand that the world is filled with obstacles and there will always be snake oil sellers. All we can do is engage in important decisions and make those decisions over and above personal needs.
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Reinhard:
14 May 2014 4:31:11pm
Brain Francis, so what you're trying to say is, it's ok for Abbott to tell lie after lie because it teaches us not to be so trusting..
Twisted logic if ever there was...
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Treetop:
14 May 2014 8:50:32pm
If you went to buy a car and everything that the dealer told you was a lie '' would you go back and buy a second car of the same salesmen ?
The trouble with Mr Abbott is how will he go into the next election with any policies that you can believe are true ?
It was not just one policy but a whole string of his policies where he said one thing but has done the exact opposite .
Credibility is the most important thing that a politician can have .
I sorry but Mr Abbott deserves zero out of 100 for misleading the Australian public just to get into office and there is no way to recover from this , the government is going to get one of the biggest shocks in Australian political history when the next opinion polls are released and it will be only all down hill from then on .
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gnome:
14 May 2014 9:31:57am
I can't figure out how this budget represents a war against jobs, but congratulations for being the first (only ?) one here to mention jobs.
Of course to the ABC crowd, welfare is far more important to jobs, so the huge infrastructure job creation enabled by this budget
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rabbie:
14 May 2014 9:47:51am
gnome, did you not read about the thousands of jobs that are being cut in the public service? Cutting jobs, cutting pensions and reducing incomes at the lower end and increasing charges all result in less spending in the economy. Ask the retailers what they think about this budget.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 11:02:12pm
They are predicting the unemployment rate to rise before returning to the current level in 3 years time
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Brian:
13 May 2014 9:26:23pm
A well balanced financial plan for the next 5 years +
Well done Joe...and of course Tony
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Alfie:
14 May 2014 7:47:57am
Agreed. It was a very balanced budget.
Both the 'lifters' and the 'leaners' copped an equal slug. However, I am betting that it will be the 'leaners' who will squeal the loudest.
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:45:25am
@ Alfie,
And by the leaners you are referring to those who voted for these clowns right?
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:31:12am
Brian,
Yes, a great job done, but only if the senate stops this from going through so we can have that DD. Then we might, just might have some people back in charge, who represent the people, not the corporations masquerading as a political party.
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 9:01:38am
It's not balance, it's a budget for the corporations.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 9:59:42am
Very well balanced - if you're a mining company or carbon polluter.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:04:48am
Balanced on the backs of the young, the poor, the sick, and the elderly. Oh, yes, well done. Anyone else among the vulnerable we can hurt? Wait until next year.
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the yank:
13 May 2014 9:28:33pm
Pain for me and my wife? A little but nothing that we will lose sleep over. However for those on a tight budget I suspect there will be some considerable pain.
Having once been on the more down and out side then the high life I realise how a few dollars less really hurts and from the look of this budget there are going to be hurting young people, families and elderly.
I can't see the deficit tax as a big hurt to the likes of the wealthy but a family with kids needing doctors care or needing to drive a car ... well I do feel for them but at least they have some chance.
What chance do the elderly have? There are no more work opportunities for them. You can all cut so much when there isn't a lot there to begin with but then Abbott drew a lot of votes from the elderly. Question to those kind old folks ... did he or did he not break a promise to you?
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Graham H:
14 May 2014 7:11:02am
Definitely broke promises Yank.
I disagree with moving the goalpost on CURRENT retirees.
They already planned for the system as it was.
All those retiree sorts of changes should only be for 5 years time.
But overall, our kids might thank him in 20 years Yank.
One remark on the 180,000 thing. Good point made last night by a business leader. A single on 185,000 cops the extra tax. A couple - each on 150,000 - don't. So watch for income splitting of its a loophole.
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the yank:
14 May 2014 7:27:51am
Maybe you missed these few points ...
Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders will lose the Seniors supplement, which currently sits at $876.20 per year for singles and 1320.80 for couples
? Pensioners will also be hit by the return to indexing the fuel excise, with lower income earner spending a higher proportion of their income on petrol.
?The Seniors Health Card will be harder to qualify for, with the untaxed superannuation of new applicants now counting toward the income test.
?And the Commonwealth will dramatically cut its support for various state and territory based seniors' concessions, eliminating $1.3 billion in spending in what the Government described as a decision taken "to repair the budget".
Nobody thank my generation for paying off WWII, the Korean War and the mess in Vietnam debts.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:27:18am
All true - but with the baby boomers (a significant demographic in or population) about to retire, we can not afford to keep going
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the yank:
14 May 2014 9:03:05am
That comment it made over and over again but I just don't buy it. If we can't afford to help our retirees then we cannot afford to spend $24 billion on airplanes to fight an imaginary enemy.
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Drew:
14 May 2014 11:30:54am
You need fighter planes if you want to be the hegemon of the South Pacific, or the hegemon's little buddy anyway.
The warplanes can be partly paid for by the aid we wont give our developing neighbours, which was an instrument of Soft Power...something that clearly mystifies Abbott.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 10:01:20am
Airplanes that may not even work properly.
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whatif:
14 May 2014 8:36:18am
Hi Yank, he didn't break a promise to me, I saw through the bludger from the start and didn't vote for him, but for those who did, well you reap what you sow, Only the gullible fools who believed the carbon tax was a big scary thing that abbott successfully sowed and tilled to perfection, now they have his lies to contend with for the real abbott is showing his hand at last, dig deep or dig your grave, that's abbotts message to the people of Australia,
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burke:
14 May 2014 9:52:00am
I will be seventy next week. I have a full time job. I pay about $35 for a visit to the doctor, because I can.
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Chris Clarke:
13 May 2014 9:30:09pm
Spot on - and we'll have massive staff cuts to the tax office and programs designed to stop corporations avoiding tax.
An extreme right budget - aimed at pleasing corporate sponsors and cutting support for those most in need.
Our tax revenue continues to be eroded whilst sensible taxes on corporations - on mining windfall profits and polluting industries - are replaced with taxes on pensioners, students, the unemployed and people on disabilities.
Not one shred of integrity.
Class warfare in deed.
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Robster:
13 May 2014 9:32:01pm
I could maybe forgive Abbott and Hockey for breaking promises, if only they would actually admit that they broke them. By trying to resort to technicalities to deny the obvious, they just make themselves look very dodgy.
Not that anybody should have really believed them - the first budget of a new Liberal government is always a bloodbath as they clean out all those socialist initiatives (including Medicare).
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:28:28am
Agreed - it not like didnt have a reason.
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Fed up senior:
13 May 2014 9:33:37pm
This budget is a travesty of fair government by an ideologically driven group living on obscenly large salaries and vbenefits paid for by us poor plebs
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bob:
13 May 2014 9:34:21pm
Perhaps the new and exciting medical research will help Mr Abbott understand that a cure for cancer that kills the patient is of little use.
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Cephalopod:
13 May 2014 9:36:39pm
Double dissolution time and lets get rid of "Two Tongue Tony"
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Alfie:
14 May 2014 7:53:22am
In your dreams. I can already see the polls turning for the coalition. They have the guts and determination to rectify Labor's mess.
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aussieinjapan:
14 May 2014 12:18:28pm
Clive might actually do us a favour with his threats! Then again with this budget I think he would get a fair few votes (if he could put his own interests out of the way).
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geofftn:
13 May 2014 9:36:51pm
I have to say as a 65 year old and still working
this has been an exhausting experience - press release after press release - what on earth is the coalition about!!
I believe in treating people in a decent way and not playing games.
The approach with this budget is not one that I warm to and that is what I will remember at the next election.
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amphetimine annie:
14 May 2014 7:29:41am
The problem is that if The Coalition don't say (herald) anything the press and Willie Shorten & Co, accuse them of sandbagging and secrecy.
It's tough for both parties with the modern 24 hour media scrambling to out do each other./
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Serenity:
14 May 2014 9:10:35am
Are you the ghost of the girl in the GD's song?
You are still insane then!
We have only heard about what is happening with refugees from the countries that these idiotic politicians have been dancing with.
Did Morrison tells us about the deal with Cambodia?
No. The Cambodian government let us know.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:32:53am
No you won't.
As the Budget position improves, the LNP will have enough $$ to give out some sweetners in the budget before the election. They will be then able to claim (rightly)
- we stopped the boats
- we fixed the budget
- and heres some money.
It has been their plan all the time.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:35:44am
I think there have been more "leaks" than ever before as the spin-doctors attempt to gauge public reaction to potential actions of the Government.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:10:26am
But leaks are how they can be praised for ending the doorstep interviews Labor employed to communicate. Instead of facing up to the press, they just leak the information. Ingenious.
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Noel:
13 May 2014 9:37:48pm
There are many reasons to hate this budget.
I am still thinking of one reason to like it.
The medical research facility sounds grand, it will be "the best in the world." It raises the question, why is Australia committing $20b to lead the world in medical research, when the poorest cannot afford to see a doctor?
It is important to note that the "co payment" will raise the $20b for the medical research facility by 2020, after that, all of that lovely dosh will go straight into the government coffers. So the future sustainability of the budget is based on taxing the sick.
Taxing the sick. And cutting foreign aid, hospitals, schools, pensions and benefits. But wait, we are going to increase defence spending.
We are going to increase defence spending. Who are we fighting? Who are we at war with? Why do we need these 58 fighter planes worth 12.8b dollars?
I know labor has supported these toys for boys, but lets not think this is a Liberal/labor divide thing. Plenty of us out here don't support either or any party. All we want is good governance and honest politics.
The depth of the duplicity here is mind boggling. I support the taxation increases, but Tony Abbott did promise "NO tax increases."
We want politicians we can believe in, and we don't want to be charged to go to the doctor. It is called universal health care for a reason. Prescriptions are going to go up by sixty percent. A sixty percent increase in prescriptions. We are taxing the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the most vulnerable.
We don't need the best medical research facility in the world, certainly not twenty billion dollars worth, and so we don't need to tax the sick every time they see a doctor or buy a prescription.
The unemployed are already suffering, they don't need to be further persecuted.
People are living to an older age now, but it doesn't mean that at 70 they are fit and able. let us look at the capacity of people to work before we deny them benefits.
I'ma gonna go smoke a big fat Cuban Cigar right now and reflect on my many privileges as a middle class middle aged white male.
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malb:
14 May 2014 6:58:01am
The poorest can afford to see the doctor. 10 times a year, in fact, without charge.
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Justin:
14 May 2014 7:53:39am
The average Australia sees the doctor 5.x times a year - the commission of audit misrepresented Medicare line items as visits, when this is not the case.
Lie after lie...
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Pollyanna:
14 May 2014 8:04:22am
Please pay attention. The first 10 are chargeable. It is free after the first 10 per person as fas as I understand it.
We have friends with 4 children. 3 have chronic illnesses and the mother has cancer. The father left his permanent job to look after his family at home and works part time to make ends meet. Even with the cap at 10 visits the family will have to pay a few hundred dollars just to visit the GP each year. These are the people that the budget is targeting hard.
Class warfare indeed...
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:35:49am
malb,
The 10 time a year is just another mistruth pulled out of the hat like a rabbit by the HAND picked independent CoA spin machine.
Also, I think you will find that Noel is referring to not being able to afford it AFTER the budget changes.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:37:51am
You can bet your last $ that any big cure found by Aus public funded research will be sold cheap to a large pharma corporation.
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down but not out:
14 May 2014 9:00:25pm
I agree with most people that this budget has done nothing for families and the disadvantaged in this country, for people who have had good circumstances and feel that everyone that is on welfare wants to be on welfare let me just say, 8 years ago I owned a home with my husband, I worked hard as a cleaner, my husband worked hard as a maintenance man, in eight years I have lost my husband to cancer been diagnosed with cancer myself raised a sad lonely angry boy on my own, lost a step son in a car accident, have been traumatised by the unfairness of my circumstances, have had one medical condition after another diagnosed, studied hard at tafe to get some sort of qualification so that I could better myself only to be told that I am too old and don't have enough experience to work in my qualification, I have always tried to contribute to society I now volunteer 8 hours a week of my time to charity, what im trying to say is that not everyone who finds themselves on welfare wants to be there, to those people that have financial security, that don't have to worry about how to make there pension stretch till the next one I would just like to say please consider that life is not black and white in many cases it is grey and punishing the poor in this country will serve no purpose but to increase crime rates, because the gap in this country between the wealthy and the working poor is getting wider , why do governments only think about punishing the mostly genuine low income and pensioners in this country , and let multi billion dollar companies get off with paying very little when you look at the bigger picture, something is really out of balance might be joe hockeys thinking I think.
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Mitor the Bold:
13 May 2014 9:40:39pm
I hope I get in before Abbott's pom-pom girls start telling us that this is all the lefties' fault. His pants are clearly ablaze - I only hope Shorten is as relentless at pointing it out every Question Time as Abbott was.
He's cut education, healthcare and family support, yet left wealthy new mummies with $50K for their Italian spa convalescence, given Gina back some money (she's doing it tough, don't you know), and bought some new guns for the army to shoot more potential asylum seekers with. Stop 'em at the source, eh?
Our democracy is in utter disrepute, while Abbott is the personification of disreputable leadership in a supposedly modern democracy such as ours. I'm ashamed to be represented by him. Ashamed and embarrassed.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:35:49am
"Our democracy is in utter disrepute,"
Well not really. There was an election and Labor lost.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 9:50:19am
Merlin:
Agreed and he promised to stop the boats and he did!
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John:
14 May 2014 4:03:14pm
Well technically he didn't....he is simply turning them around. Which by-the-way, is in direct violation of our obligations under international law as we make no effort to acertain if they are assylam seekers, we simply turn them back.
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aussieinjapan:
14 May 2014 12:23:33pm
It is in direpute when our elected politicians don't do what they are there for- to represent our interests rather than those of a rich elite.
There needs to be a legal challenge as to how far a politician can go without being held to count for what he said before an election.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:40:25am
My foreign friends cannot believe what our current Government is doing to us. My Aus friends living overseas regularly relay foreign media reports. Australia with our current Gov are laughing stocks on the international stage.
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:13:41pm
I find it hard to beleive that anyone on the "international stage" could give a stuff about our budget.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 4:04:30pm
A lot of Liberal supporters seem not to understand the standing Australia actually has in the world. Yes we are a small country but we have a stable democratic government and there many countries that watch our social policies. Our standing in the G20, OECD and UN demonstrate this.
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:40:53am
I agree with you Mitor
I do question whether shorten has the talent, energy or resolve to be a legitimate contender. We have the same problem in Qld, a truly despised state gov, but really don't know what the opposition has to offer.
Someone needs to step up and take it to them, the like of Hawke or Keating.
Disclosure, I am not a Partisan voter, just wish there were some actual leaders to vote for.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 9:18:58am
I don't think Shorten will make it. Sure he's a nice guy and made a good entry at Beaconsfield, but the Labor brand has taken an absolute beasting. Labor said the Coalition could not stop the boats but they did. Notice how Labor has absolutely nothing to say on the subject these days?
Kevin Rudd absolutely stuffed Labor almost single handedly. Barring a catastrophic LNP failure, they will be opposition for the next two terms.
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lynne:
14 May 2014 4:02:35pm
We do not know if "they stopped the boats" as due to their policy we are not allowed to know anything. So, how can you say they stopped the boats? So far the minister has lied through his teeth and has been caught out a few times. He then changes his statement in a somewhat twisted way and the media fails to hold him accountable. How you would know what is going on is beyond me as there is never a mention in any media outlet concerning boats. (except when we are "told" by this dictative government that they are doing such a good job as the boats have stopped) Abbot and co. have just finished telling lie after lie about what they will or won't do with the budget and as we have just discovered, they have lied through their teeth. So, once again, where is the proof about boats, arrivals, departures, sending back, etc. etc. etc. And if so, it is still a heartless, mean, cruel way they have gone about it. But you would not expect anything less from this horrific lot.
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Ted:
14 May 2014 12:06:03pm
I am in the same boat Blue Pill, but I refuse to allow these people to have another term. Lets hope someone steps up, but if not, go with what we've got.
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Jim:
14 May 2014 8:42:47am
My sentiments exactly!
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Alfie:
14 May 2014 9:45:38am
"Our democracy is in utter disrepute"
I didn't hear you bleating about "democracy" when Labor politically assassinated two Prime Ministers in a row.
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Robert:
13 May 2014 9:43:09pm
Extraordinary events best summed up by the quote from Tony Abbott made on August 22, 2011 that finished the article. And they also say they want respect from those that are forced to vote for them...it is hard to ignore the lesson in the story of the boy who cried wolf...
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Adelaide Rose:
13 May 2014 9:45:03pm
Never before have we had such a deceitful government. Not only are they deceitful, they are so for no reason. There is no budget emergency, the economy needs us to proceed carefully, but not with panic. I can only foresee that this budget will cause damage, long term, irreversible damage to Australians who are already suffering and long term damage to the economy.
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EVAN:
14 May 2014 11:50:57am
" long term damage to the economy."
You get a chance in 2.5 years to return to the land of free money if that is what you want.
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 9:11:57pm
What free money? That is a rubbish line thrown around to cover the fact that you have no idea and no counter position. If we take 1 part of the budget, the six month welfare roller-coaster for young people, we can foresee the challenges it presents.
A huge number of long term unemployed youth live in areas of disadvantage. They live there because that's all they can afford, and very likely, all their family can afford. There is almost no chance that they can afford to move elsewhere.
Chances are, they went to a public school which was starved of resources and incentive. These disadvantaged areas have little to no employment opportunities, they were the communities that lost all the work when the factories shut down.
Now, with income for only 6 month of the year, they have few options. They can't get a job, there are none so they turn to crime or, they have a baby, the only way to ensure that they have income security.
Now we have another generation of welfare dependence, only this time it will be even worse. There s not only no incentive to do something different, the government has put mountain size roadblocks in the way, deliberately. No incentive for employers to employ the young, the incentives are for the hiring of those over 50, and education and training just got a whole lot more expensive.
Good job Abbott and Hockey, while you are smoking cigars and dancing a happy jig, you created an underclass that won't be able to dig their way out.
You have created the new America!!
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Chard:
13 May 2014 9:47:08pm
Here Here! Actions speak louder than words.
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Oldie:
13 May 2014 9:53:49pm
Thanks Annabel. Astute as always. I think I was born in the wrong era. Every time there's a handout or a freebie, I'm not in that demographic. Every time they take something away (our Medicare) I'm guaranteed to cop the brunt of it. You name it. Guaranteed that's the way it will be. And here we go again. And still my cynicism reigns supreme. This lot are barking mad, insane, misguided, delusional. Don't they get it that we can see through it (even if we can't express it as lucidly as you have). And do you reckon that 49% tax isn't an exceptionally high incentive to dodge that tax? Calling Kerry Packer! Calling Ke------
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Mike:
13 May 2014 9:54:33pm
Well you got what you all votes for! Or what the big donors paid for you get to choose. I'd certainly rather be owning mines than needing to go to the doctor, find some education or a few other things. I'm glad I'm not that young anymore, no help for under 30's just a push to education that now will cost you even more.
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:42:15am
If you own a mine you can buy all the Doctors you want.
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custard:
13 May 2014 9:55:01pm
Hockey gets top marks for this budget.
The best thing about it is, it makes it an absolute certainty, that the GST will need to revisited in an adult discussion (that the former government wouldn't discuss) and taken to a subsequent election, and hopefully will result in a broadening of the base, no change in the rate, abolition of state payroll taxes and state stamp duties (to name but two targets) and how about a personal tax cut to boot.
Changes like this could not possibly be visited under the former govt because they are unable to even acknowledge the magnitude of what must be done or that there is even a problem.
They are irrelevant in this debate.
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Fedallah:
14 May 2014 7:16:15am
Nice try custard, but no, as they say, cigar.
At least you had the courage to post those sentiments here.....
rather than at Catallaxy, where you would have received disdain and vitriol the likes of which
you've never seen.
The only irrelevance in this debate is the future promise(s) of Abbott and Hockey.
Political capital extinguished overnight.
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custard:
14 May 2014 8:24:16am
You should go and take a look at Catallaxy, it's there. How do you think I would go at table talk ?
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custard:
14 May 2014 8:28:24am
BTW how do you think the electoral prospects of the other mob are given that they still want to roll back border laws, keep a stupid carbon tax and still want a mining tax that spends more than it raises?
How does that position look?
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Fedallah:
14 May 2014 8:47:19am
Oops, almost forgot custard,
are you referring to that "useless mining tax that raised no money""
Is that the same one that Joe said would bring him 3.5billion?
Yeah, you're right.
Useless.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:48:19am
Hockey and Abbott. Two politicians who extinguished their political capital overnight to do the right thing by the country.
I'd take them over a spineless Rudd who wouldn't/couldn't deal with anything hard.
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Fedallah:
14 May 2014 9:14:26am
My reply to custard didn't make it Merlin, so I'll try again;
1. How is it the "right thing" to INCREASE expenditure after deadening this country for over three years with the dull mantra "cut spending"?
2. Singling out the pensioners, the unemployed, and the great heaving bulk of Australian middle class and poor, for two NEW taxes is hardly the stuff of courage.
You were lied to Merlin.
Last night's budget is a confirmation of those lies.
Hard for you to hear,
but true nonetheless.
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Pollyanna:
14 May 2014 8:09:30am
Except revisiting the GST won't be an adult discussion...it will be coerced because the commonwealth has just ripped 80 billion out of the States income. Money they can not raise any other way. This is not an adult basis to discuss tax reform. It's about as adult as Boko Haram discussing education policy with the Nigerian govt while they hold hostages.
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Fedallah:
14 May 2014 8:29:00am
Well said Pollyanna.
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aussieinjapan:
14 May 2014 12:24:59pm
100%
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David H:
14 May 2014 8:46:45am
Custard, check your sources for numbers involved in the state of the Aus economy. Try getting figures from internationally respected economic forums, and check them out. It is a very different story to that pushed by Hockey.
Multiplying the truth by eleventy gives you a $667 billion dollar headache.
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 9:03:39am
Hi David H,
Not much chance of that, custard and those who defend the indefensible only get their info from those that agree with them, anything else requires thought which leaves them with a headache.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:14:17am
You do understand that "broadening" the GST means a tax on food, don't you? As for the elimination of any state taxes, well, you must be dreaming.
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Drew:
14 May 2014 11:57:21am
Understands that perfectly well, no doubt!
There's only so much a fat cat can eat. GST ON FOOD would represent a huge percentage of low income family's budget. But it is used as an input credit of fringe benefits. Notice no increase in FBT btw.
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floss:
13 May 2014 9:59:20pm
I guess we have to be first at something: we will have the highest qualified group of road construction workers and tree planters in the world.
This will be the natural outcome of forcing young people to remain in educational institutions until 25 years of age. Although I'm not sure how their parents will feel about having dependent children for this long. It is delaying the time when young people have to stand on their own two feet and take responsibility for their own lives.
Eternal youth, anyone?
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Goriti:
13 May 2014 9:59:41pm
This government's approach is to continue to say one thing to get into power and then say oh the other mob were no good we "are the adults" they were rabble - but this budget will seriously impact on the Westies and the lower income earners, what will be those voters think now
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FlapDoodle:
13 May 2014 10:01:13pm
What was the budget to be about? I am confused - but probably less so than Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey.
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Fedallah:
14 May 2014 7:20:16am
It was to be about 'Budget Emergencies" and "cutting spending".
Which is why they've just increased spending.
By about 5%.
Hockeynomics.
It's a beautiful thing to see.
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Graham27:
13 May 2014 10:05:46pm
Good on 'em. At least they are telling us we "can't have it all". About time. Nothing is free; it comes from tax and some one is paying. The more lobbying groups who whinge about the budget makes me think it is a good budget. Brings spending and revenue more in line. Especially education, it is one of the area's of spending that needs a refocus to value for money. It is a nonsense that spending more gets better results. Let Australia set its own standard on a budget and let the rest of the OECD go drown in debt. Think we have a demographic problem... nothing compared to Japan and Germany but at least we do something about it tonight. There is more to be done, especially on the negative gearing rort but maybe that is for another day. I hope so.
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Andrew:
13 May 2014 10:05:51pm
Anyone who voted for this mob cannot whinge about the result. This budget however is absolute proof of either intentionally misleading the public or outright lying. It's a sad day for a lot of people who will struggle. But maybe you should have thought more about the policies than the 3 word slogans and petty politics.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:51:10am
Voted for them - still cheering for them. Even harder after last night. Having seven kids - this budget will hurt me probably quite a bit.
But it needs to be done. Too many are 'getting'.
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chris:
13 May 2014 10:08:17pm
Bah humbug.There was no emergency just anti-socialist sentiment.
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 8:04:10am
Nope, there's plenty of socialism in Abbott/Hockey world, it's just that it benefits the rich. I saw it written in a comment some where..."socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor". That just about sums it up perfectly.
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Andrew page-Robertson:
13 May 2014 10:08:40pm
They don't have to worry about the oldies fighting back. This is designed to kill us off, "toot sweet' as my mother would have said it. Not by chipping way at supposed "benefits", as though we'd been doing sweet F.A. all our lives and were for sure not entitled, but killing us just by them being so God-awfully depressing! What a bunch! What a miserable sanctimonious bunch. Would you care to have any one of them in your home for a meal? NOT! As my grandchildren would say. I hope, as time passes, once their over-fattened heads have perhaps shrunk back to human size, they will look in the mirror and see who they actually are. How sad for them. How sad for us.
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robert:
13 May 2014 10:11:16pm
Well done Joe Hockey. A great Treasurer. Finally we have a government that tackels the hard things.The axe is going through all those lefty progams set up under Labor and Greens. This will gut the political correctness that was so evident under Labor and for this I give this government full marks. labor and Greens take note your influence is over!
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Sharynl:
14 May 2014 7:45:51am
Apparently you do not believe in Government for the people. I did not see too many cuts to mining subsidies, in fact is seems the sick are being asked to help build the rail and ports for the benefit of multinationals.
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:52:25am
Apparently you do not believe in Government for the people.
Ummm they were ........ elected.
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Helvi:
14 May 2014 9:43:06am
What's wrong with you Aussies, you actually elected this heartless lot.
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 9:12:59pm
Not all of us did!
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NewSpeaker:
14 May 2014 2:57:50pm
And if you say you'll do one thing before an election then get elected and do the opposite of what you said before the election are you doing what the people who voted for you, voted for?
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Greg:
14 May 2014 9:41:59am
Even School Chaplains get 254 million over 4 years.
And it was not pomissed!
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Peter from tweed:
13 May 2014 10:11:32pm
To the many fools who voted these spivs in that have found themselves on the losing side of the ledger I find absolutely no joy in saying the words 'I told you so! Suck it up!"
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MJLC:
13 May 2014 10:15:12pm
"...something called the Medical Research Future Fund, in which Australian scientists will be heavily encouraged to eliminate Alzheimer's, or cancer, or heart disease, or preferably all of them"
Screw Alzheimer's et al - on the basis of what I've just read the fund needs to pour all of the dough into finding a cure for political memory loss which, if I'm not mistaken, is an entirely separate budget line item to that of old people forgetting all sorts of handy information like their child's name as the shutters come down at the end of a long innings. Old duffers losing the plot is one thing - folk still able-bodied enough to be able to hand out how-to-vote cards on polling day who then end up as dribbling, inconsistent messes not being able to remember what they said yesterday is quite another. To make matters worse, I hear the poor bastards even had to take a pay freeze.
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Helvi:
14 May 2014 9:41:52am
I don't hear my sixty year old bricklayer friend with back problems rejoycing.
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Redgiraffe:
13 May 2014 10:16:54pm
From now until the election Labour should say one thing and one thing only:
So. You really thought they would be looking out for YOU?
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kiwicaz:
14 May 2014 9:05:37am
And then on election day labour will eat their words because Australia will be back at work, which is what happened in NZ all those years ago.
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DethLok:
13 May 2014 10:17:31pm
"...the Prime Minister, speaking on August 22, 2011:
'Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards."
I think that says all that needs to be said.
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John Tuck:
13 May 2014 10:19:07pm
Quoting Tony Abbot's 2011 words provides a sobering touch. Such contrast.
To see our prime minister smirking and engaging in conversation with Julie Bishop as the treasurer delivered the budget did nothing to support the government's argument that our country is in a dire financial position. They appeared to be revelling in their power.
$7 co payment for GP and some other medical procedures should not apply to pensioners, nor young people out of work. The politicians pay freeze is tokenism and will be seen as such.
Some prominent commentators have applauded the budget. I fear they are heartless.
A wealthy country slashing its Aid Budget is very upsetting. The recipients of our aid will be spared the news from Australia, probably just as well.
I suspect Sky News will put a good case to the Government to fund a replacement service.
Now why would I suspect this?
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Nova4avr:
14 May 2014 7:53:51am
@John Tuck.
Yes, I also thought his behaviour while Hockey was delivering his speech was disgusting. Smirking & talking to someone behind his hand & obviously trying to say something to Julie Bishop, who fortunately had the good manners to try & avoid him, even though she looked embarrassed.
Hopefully somewhere in the near future he will get his just deserts & be sacked from the party.
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Drew:
14 May 2014 12:18:08pm
They won't sack him because they need a bully to follow while they strut around the playground in their little blazer and prefect hat that DADDY'S (not Mummy's) fat cheque book bought them.
They can see no problem in being privellaged, because those that are not are clearly inferior; people on low incomes are obviously stupid.
If you didn't put away a million in super you must be lazy, it will serve you right to work to 70. If you had a child at 17 you must be immoral and probably will become a prostitute soon Welfare to Work in the last tory govt). If you are Aboriginal it would be better to take your children away and raise them properly (white). Children will benefit from religious indoctrination in public schools (so much for evidence informing practice) .
There are endless tory assumptions. Abbott is a wonderful figurehead to lead them.
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health is wealth:
13 May 2014 10:19:13pm
Tomorrow I will try to calculate the thousands my family will lose.
Our main expenses are health, urban rent and food. Do not own a car although will hire when long distance/important transport is necessary. Its cheaper to hire a car than pay for taxis.
Of utmost importance is health as my family and I love life and want to live as long as possible. Sometimes life hits one sideways - the unexpected certainly is the unexpected.
My partner can no longer work due to multiple sclerosis which requires constant medical attention, visits to our family GP, specialists, blood tests, x-rays, prescriptions and I have a physically/intellectually disabled son employed casually paid well below the minimum wage topped up by the DSP who also requires quality medical attention - family GP, specialists, X-rays & prescriptions.
I'm a glass half full, responsible, caring self-employed, educated, low income earner. Obviously their chronic illnesses affects my adaptability in todays constant state of flux. By the way, a basic home mortgage is not available due my fluctuating income and my partners illness. Square peg in a round hole.
Abbotts mob have scrapped Labors small super co-contribution to low income earners which affects my son & myself.
Although active, engaged & experienced I just fall into the ageism bracket. Perhaps I can apply for the $10,000 incentive to employ myself.
The Medical Research Future Fund is smoke & mirrors, deliberate trickery to detract from the inequity and harshness of Hockeys budget for the big end of town.
Don't forget, ideologue Abbott voted against stem cell research and refuses to recognise 'real time' climate change, is removing environmental protection and perceives the poor, disabled & old as a burden.
The temporary deficit tax on the richest is meaningless when my family and millions of Australians will be permanently hurt.
'You Can All Go To Hell' Hockey & rorter Abbott do not care; because we would never, ever vote for Abbotts mob & their arrogant, self-interest, backward-thinking destructiveness.
Australians must reject this illegitimate government.
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Babsie:
13 May 2014 10:20:31pm
What i would like Mr Abbott to explain is why the lower income Australians are being targeted and Mr Hockey made a point of telling the Mining Companies " No i won't be reducing your $8 billion dollar fuel rebate " I can't wait for the next election, surely the average Australian workers and Pensioners are not going to forget this Budget in a hurry
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Lovetoread:
13 May 2014 10:21:45pm
I can't swallow the huge cuts to the health budget. Particularly in Western Australia, which has experienced a huge population influx. You simply cannot cut and maintain services with the rate of population growth. I am worried that the growing cost of a tertiary education will prove a huge discentive to my children who will therefore be saddled with debt. I don't want to work until I am 70. And I believe that the natural resources belong to all Australians and the huge wealth going to the mining tycoons needs to be taxed and put back into our health, education and social system for the greater good. Surely the good luck and opportunity of flying over iron ore and spotting it does not entitle all future descendents to strip a country of it's wealth. A future government needs the vision to develop a social insurance scheme to reframe our perception of the social safety net so that the much maligned " welfare " recipient can retain some dignity. The deficit levy can stay. Why is the only progressive tax initiative temporary? A small cost to the better off in our society but huge costs to the young unemployed, families and pensioners. The costs in terms of crime and antisocial behaviour will be huge as we have vastly increased numbers of young people living on the streets.
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gray:
13 May 2014 10:24:20pm
imagine what tony would say if it was labours budget, i have no respect for the man , hypocrite
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 8:57:58am
Labor would never deliver a budget like this because their budgets were alway very light on the detail.
And were based on mythical assumptions.
(Never got that surplus did you Swanny?)
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Koel:
13 May 2014 10:24:45pm
Message to pensioners
Go and die while we find in time, a cure but let me raid your meagre funeral funds savings.
Message to single family support.
Noodles and vegemite isn?t that bad.
Message to Uni students.
Take up ballet.
Message to the unemployed youth
We have a job planting trees and stint in the armed service will train you to serve the nation but not if you were born in a foreign country.
Message to rural people
Every extra kilometre is going to cost you in fuel and inflation on every bit of service and food you think you need.
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GreenCactus:
13 May 2014 10:29:38pm
Uncaring and heartless. Tax on mining super profits is "bad" co payments at GPs good, for some bizarre reason.
Please, please, please senate, show some courage and block this deceitful and ignorant work from Hockey and co.
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Jimbo:
13 May 2014 10:30:58pm
When Mattias Corman announced before the budget that we should 'trust' them, did he have a straight face, and were his fingers crossed behind his back?
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Hummockyforge:
13 May 2014 10:32:28pm
Brilliant! If we don't laugh we'd cry.
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dutchy:
13 May 2014 10:33:25pm
all i can say of tony abbot that he lifted up his standards to be a liar and a cheat. he put the working man back 100 years maybe we should put kids back in mines and other work to pay off the deficit
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sleepykarly:
13 May 2014 10:34:28pm
Is anyone surprised? We have here a man who raged against anything that even hinted at a broken promise by the previous administration, but has no qualms about breaking his own.
Perhaps these changes are necessary, perhaps they are not. But the sheer brazenness of promising one thing before an election ("no surprises!") is breathtaking.
I can forgive his trashing of the concept of supporting those who are 'down on their luck'; but I cannot forgive his glib deceit in order to achieve that end.
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 9:48:49pm
There's a broken promise in pretty much every sentence!
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aelious:
13 May 2014 10:34:46pm
Well..punters if you can't see this "budget" as a far right wing nut case economic & political coup you never will.
Now you know why the far right MSM gave Abbott such a dream run!
Abbott & co have broken the whole meaning of their pre-election promises....YOUSE WAS CONNED BIG TIME!
But ...punters...wait this is but stage one in their ideological campaign to destroy our society as we know it & our forefathers/mothers saved for & fought for.
What are you going to do about this attack??? Sit there & cop it ???
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Dandelion:
13 May 2014 10:37:52pm
Don't blame me, I didn't vote to be part of an experiment in austerity. Good luck and enjoy the ride.
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Jerry:
13 May 2014 10:40:15pm
As expected a budget focussing on maximising current debt and deficit to form an excuse for a number of ill thought though cuts. Cutting health at a time of documented increasing need is sheer madness. Playing games with climate change passes another burden onto our children.
This is an ideological game that proclaims that Australia is a mean and narrow minded country in the hands of bad leadership.
With Gillard we had a lie of expediency, with Abbott we have multiple systematic and pathological lies.
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Tombo:
13 May 2014 10:41:07pm
OK, Here's a conundrum. Now that the government is aiming to ensure everyone is working, how are we going to stop the Reserve Bank from raising interest rates every time the unemployment rate gets below 5% to "Cool" the economy.
Plus How are we going to stop the Petrol Excise from being treated as an inflationary measure as it inevitably causes a rise in the cost of living due to it's impact on everything from labour to food.
So if we're serious about getting full employment, are we changing the Reserve Banks parameters ?
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 9:53:23pm
"Full Employment" i no desirable, we need a certain amount of flexibility in the labour market that can only come from having a percentage of people unemployed at any given time.
What we do need is to reduce the number of long term unemployed, however this budget will do more to increase their inability to find employment.
There are no winners in this budget, except of course for the miners and road builders, both of whom will no doubt bring in a lot of overseas labour so that they spend less on their labour force.
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gerard oosterman:
13 May 2014 10:42:19pm
Amazing that the low income , pensioners, the sick are now supposed to carry the bucket.
I can hear the rolfing and lolling of the rich popping the champagne tonight.
There is just no hope for Australia ever to come to understanding empathy or sharing fairly.
My poor parents were right to return to Holland some years ago.
It was all just getting too cynical for them. ( Australia; the best bloody country, for the rich.)
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 9:57:54am
gerard;
it's not about rich and poor. It's about developing self reliance rather than dependency (or entitlement as the Treasurer would call it). Too many people are supported by hard working taxpayers. There is therefore only one way to improve the discrepancy between revenue and expenditure and that was to reduce expenditure in those areas rapidly getting out of control such as pensions, welfare and health.
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gerard oosterman:
14 May 2014 11:10:18am
Our so called 'generous welfare' does stack up pretty poorly against most of the OECD countries. You seem to be impressed with a US style economy. Let them rot in trailers and jails.
'Self reliance' till a lonely forgotten grave. Hard working tax payers indeed but most of the burden on the low income earners. Joe and Mattias whooping it up on cigars.
May the pensioners of Australia rise up and slap both of them with the rank condoms of discontent. Go on everybody, lay into them!
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Tator:
14 May 2014 1:06:14pm
What burden Gerard, prior to this budget, 50% of families paid NO NET TAX, therefore not even contributing as all of their tax is churned back to them in cash benefits, leaving people like myself who receive basically only the PHI rebate and still pay around $25k in tax whilst trying to raise a child with additional needs and having to pay top dollar for treatment as due to a late diagnoses of autistic spectrum disorder, he needs the therapeutic treatment to enable him to have a productive life in society sooner rather than when the taxpayer can fund him which is years away. We get slugged for everything without support but that is ok, but according to you, we can still pay more tax to pay for those who are starting out in life because we are wealthy, but we aren't, we live pay to pay, with an average mortgage with no McMansion but an average ex housing commission house in an average suburb. We use two 10+years cars and rarely eat out apart from the odd takeaway. Even with two incomes, life isn't that easy, yet we see people who earn less than us able to afford newer cars because of government benefits and having healthy normal children.
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gerard oosterman:
14 May 2014 2:13:51pm
Even those with no net tax pay tax pay GST 10% for starters. If people are below the taxable rate of course no tax.
In many European countries everyone gets a basic pension, rich or poor and is not 'means tested'.
Even though I am an Australian I get a part Dutch pension for having worked there for almost 3 years. ( PS;This Dutch pension is topped up by a holiday loading)
Of course, here in Australia my pension got promptly deducted by the amount of my part Dutch pension.
"Mean". You bet!
Of course they have not been groomed against paying a solid tax that brings greater benefits to all.
A simple 10% tax increase on any income above $170.000.- would have been much fairer.
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gerard oosterman:
14 May 2014 2:18:05pm
If children with special needs are not given enough support it could be because Australia just doesn't raise enough revenue. For years government after government bangs on about the evils of taxation. Of course lowering taxation brings misery when support cannot be given. It is just so plain obvious. Taxation is good.
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Adelaide Rose:
14 May 2014 9:58:01pm
I would happily pay more tax if it was spent providing opportunity for the young, the ill, the disabled and the pensioners. What really sucks is paying tax to see the government rip off Australians and waste money supporting mining companies and the very well off, when those are the few that can afford to pay a fair share but are never expected to.
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Rhonda:
14 May 2014 10:46:18pm
Is that right Coogara? There is another way - end the fossil fuel subsidies, increase the tax on diesel to the mining companies and scrap the deluxe PPL Scheme. Also, leave the MRRT and Carbon Pricing in place.
Quite a lot of savings there, without single mindedly focusing on the disadvantaged. Some on low incomes are going to cop hits on fuel, doctors' visits and pharmacy scripts - a triple whammy, while the punishing new rules for the young unemployed, could see the youth suicide increase (a return to the Howard years, when it was at an all-time high).
It's time Gina et al were called on to do their share of the 'heavy lifting'.
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Stephen P:
13 May 2014 10:42:26pm
Awestruck, dumbfounded. I know there will be plenty of good economic analysis but the core of good government, trust in our democracy and faith in politics is crushed by the most ideological hell bent government on a cause that in itself we will recover from. But will we ever trust anyone in politics again..
A whole new level of broken promises and distraction from good governance that is beyond belief.
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dasher:
13 May 2014 10:44:40pm
Annabel, the conversation has now changed. Labor and the Greens have yet to engage. The Greens are activists with no chance of leading and they never will get with the movement of the times. Labor must and eventually will come kicking and screaming to the party. Frankly I don't care about nickel and dime promises, they have started the movement to a sustainable budget position (a great deal yet to do) and I will surprised if the Australian people don't take there medicine and accept the reality of the situation (it may take a while). Overall the budget we had to have.
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Crow:
14 May 2014 11:16:37am
uh the budget increased spending and increased the debt that so worried the conservatives here, gutted spending on the less fortunate, and dismantling the social contract in favor of the rich end of town..
how exactly was it something we 'had to have' since it makes things worse?. had this budget been handed down by Labor, the same cheerleaders like Custard, GBE etc who are applauding it would be howling it down.
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whogoesthere:
13 May 2014 10:46:23pm
They have made Gillards carbon tax lie look like a tiny little fib. The hypocrisy is absolutely breath-taking. I look forward to Jones and his 'caravan of no confidence' descending on Canberra.
We have an unpopular Government that lies through it's teeth, should we start demading an election now ?. Well, no because that would be stupid, wouldn't it ?.
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Brian Francis:
13 May 2014 10:50:23pm
The Budget was rumoured to be 'The' most viscous of recent times.
All in all, it was a bit of a yawn.everybody seems to be having to make some adjustments but day to day not a lot of difference really.
Yes we'll have the outrage from the usual sources and of course the Labor Spin Squad will be in over-drive about broken promises - talk about broken records.
Voters will make their choice in good time as to whether this should have been a bigger change or a lesser one, but for now all that can be done is to deal with the situation as it stands and give up this eternal negative talk about who did what to whom.
Already the ABC are getting personally involved in their interviews. They have forgotten how to interview and begun fighting for the good cause.
The news is that this Government is in charge for now and that is the fact.
Maybe we should all put our heads down for a while and actually work to get the country going ahead rather than spending so much time and energy arguing minor points of contention. It's going to be a long time in opposition for a Labor Party that doesn't actually assist in the financial growth of the country.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 10:44:53am
All through the GFC they made sure the country's financial growth did not go negative.
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Brian Francis:
14 May 2014 11:40:46am
Honest Johnny
'They' actually had little or nothing to do with the shielding of Australia from the GFC.
The Mining Industry got us through the GFC, and the retailers, the contractors, the manufacturers and anyone who actually did something to produce in this country.
The Government of the day cushioned the public by using up every last cent in savings instead of actually inviting them to realise that the 'Free lunches' may well have been a thing of the past.
To the credit of this current Government, they at the very least have called it how it is and are forcing us to front up to the 'Real' situation and not a controlling a social outcome that would make the Government of the day popular.
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Rhonda:
14 May 2014 11:07:58pm
Brian F, in Qld, at the first hint of trouble looming with the GFC, there were mining companies who didn't hesitate to sack many of their workers, yet they went on to make handsome profits.
The mining industry looked after themselves, they didn't even try to support their workers, which their subsequent profits showed they could well have done.
While the mining companies played a part in getting us through the GFC, they were far from being the major player. The economic stimulus is what really helped to keep the economy afloat, ensuring those 'retailers, contractors and manufacturers' you name, kept operating.
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experientia docet :
13 May 2014 10:50:33pm
A truly nasty peice of work.
It hurts the most vulnerable and it brings to the for lies told by the Primeminister before the election
Just spoke to a woment who is bringing up a grandchild while on a disability pension. She was in tears devastated she will be it looks like thousands of dollars worse off.
The poorest are being hurt.
But the lies told is the biggest part.
The line the other week by the Primeminister that its "what we meant not what you thought we meant" sits so poorly. Can we do the Liberal party for false advertising.
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Muso:
13 May 2014 10:51:15pm
There's broken promises here which is disappointing. Wish there was a breed of politicians to have the guts to say..."Well, I don't want to reduce spending in health and education, but if we have to do so in order to bring our budget back to surplus we will."
How do we get away from trying to promise too much to too many?
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Radical Transparency:
14 May 2014 10:17:45am
"How do we get away from trying to promise too much to too many?"
This'll do (I like to see a good question before commenting).
We've lost the ability to be in and undecided state. Somewhere along the way we have built an emotional connection that says a "quick" decision is a "better" decision, which is more often than not an inaccurate premise.
Remember what John Maynard Keynes said "When the data changes, I change my mind. What do you do sir?", a sentiment that has been degraded over time.
Pollies, in order to survive must speak off the cuff and answer any question in a definitive way or they will be perceived as somehow weak or indecisive. Methods for achieving this perceived "strength" usually involve regurgitating the party-line, even if it completely fails to answer the question.... just so long as it carries the "determination", "forthrightness" and "strength" as part of it's emotional delivery. This is Spin 101, people will respond to the emotional context more than the conceptual content, ie it's "how" you say something, not "what" you say.
But occasionally, in this mindset of being "strong" they will inadvertently make promises.
Then the data changes and promises are broken, which means the politician has effectively changed their mind. They are "backflipping" or "flip-flopping" when they do, and if they don't have a position they are "fence sitting", which is perceived as weaker. Of course these are fallacies of argument that appeal to the same emotional context of perceived strengths vs weakness.
This "weakness" then needs to be countered with more "strength" so the responses end up being quicker (because we continue to wrongly associate "quick" with "better").
It's a positive feedback loop which is spiralling out of control, and society is loosing it's ability to be mindful. For a person to increase mindfulness, they can undergo personal therapy. So to answer you question (ish), society needs a bit of therapy.
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Max:
13 May 2014 10:55:12pm
There needs to be some sort of consequence for the parties breaking their promises otherwise there is never really an incentive for them to keep their promises. They can just make the next big promise at the next election to grab the necessary votes and then ignore that promise.
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Radical Transparency:
14 May 2014 10:43:36am
First a bit of history.
In ancient Greece, people would write a persons name onto broken bits of clay and cast them into a pit where they would be counted. If the same name appears many times (I seem to recall it was 6000) then the person would be forced from the city state for ten years. The broken bits of clay were called "ostraka" and this process was called "ostracism". Crucially this process had no relation to any other judicial system, there was no crime, or defence, it was simply the peoples will.
So the clay is replaced with a suitably modern technology and the 6000 with a figure more relative to our population, and the physical deportation with a court order to not say anything to any media outlet (makes it hard to campaign for re-election)... but the concept is the same.
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Radical Transparency:
14 May 2014 10:58:11am
Another idea what I call "Voluntary reciprocal taxation."
And another bit of background. In psychological research there is an experimental set up called the "common goods game" (originally from Game Theory), which exposes the concept of the "tragedy of the commons".
In this game participants are given money to invest over a number of rounds. They can invest all their money or the minimum into the common pool. This pool is the doubled and divided EQUALLY between the participants. What develops is an eventually reduction to the minimum investment over subsequent rounds. Three types of people emerge, approx 25% are "saints" who invest the most and try to encourage everyone else to do the same in order to maximise the pool. Another 25% are "knaves" who typically use deception and invest the least in order to maximise their individual return, and the remaining 50% are "moralists" who accept what the system predicts and follow in it's wake (ie: that the Knaves will dominate).
When experimenters introduce an alternate round of "punishment" things change. In the punishment round anyone could put an amount of money from their pool against another player, who then had to match that amount. The punisher and the punished would then loose that money. Importantly this is a reciprocal process and infers a kind of fairness because the punisher will also suffer.
Like ostracism, this same concept could be adapted to the modern world through our taxation system. Now amounts here are only for explanation purposes, as is the 1:1 ratio. If I see a politician has lied I could voluntarily add an amount of money to my tax, say a maximum of $100 in any year. The politician designated would loose a similar amount. By myself it would have little impact, but collectively the amount could be massive.
Obviously minimums to which the politician could be reduced would need definition (say the median or average Australian income). Initially any politician (federal, state, local) could be targeted in this way, but what's to say it could not also be expanded to their political donors, registered lobbyist, and even media identities, who all hold a degree of power in their own right.
Anyway, just a thought.
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:32:48pm
Here's another great idea - an "election".
Every three years or so, you could have the opportunity to vote them out if you are not happy with them.
Actually, I think we did that at the last "election".
Do try it.
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Alpo:
13 May 2014 10:59:55pm
... and after your article, Annabel, I suggest that Prime Minister Tony Abbott calls for a double dissolution and an early election. You have just sunk the future of this Government, there is no way back for them and I thank you for that!
But of course, I like to take a proactive stance and not just watch how the master gladiator slaughters the beast on her own. So rather than just showing my thumb down, please allow me to put on my helmet, take my gladius and join you in the arena.
Let's start with the lies: "no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS."
1) $43.5 million in cuts to ABC/SBS
2) $7 Upfront fee for visit to GP
3) Extension to 70 year old for pension (into the future, but the commitment is already there, in black and white)
4) Liberalisation of University fees = pay more or just stop educating yourself... a cut by any other name as far as students is concerned.
No new taxes? What about the nice little deficit tax for those earning more than $180,000?... Oh, but wait a minute, shouldn't I be happy because the tax is targeting high earners? Nope, because it only lasts 3 years.... ergo, it's just a token gesture. So, we may rename this a "token lie" perhaps?
Increased costs of fuel, hurrah why should the average workers pay less for fuel when they can pay more? But wait, there is more: 16,000 public service jobs to go (on top of those already gone)... C'mon guys, be happy and grateful, you are now free to pursue the fulfilment of your dreams in life... Tony told us so, remember?... But I guess it all makes sense: if you are unemployed you won't drive as much and therefore the increase in fuel costs won't affect you.... Gees, I knew that Joe was a genius.
In short, this is a budget where the heaviest personal lifting is going to be done by those down below, to the great satisfaction of those up above....
.... More to come in future posts.
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Alan:
14 May 2014 8:56:53am
Alpo, is the levy on the nett or gross income, if it is the former I cannot see where they will raise the expected amount. If it is on the latter then it will raise more than expected, such is the gulf between reality and fiction!
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 9:18:03am
Very good question, Alan. My understanding (but I am happy to be corrected) is that the levy is on the gross income.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 10:50:02am
And what happens when this temporary tax, sorry, levy is removed and the revenue is taken out of the budget.
My guess is they have calculated the States will have been forced to push up the GST by then so removing the levy won't matter.
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 2:03:37pm
HJ,
The States are already reacting negatively to this Budget, they have obviously seen the trap there for them. Victoria and Queensland are the next ones to face the electorate, if they capitulate to Abbott and Hockey.... their political head will inevitably roll...
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michelle:
13 May 2014 10:59:56pm
It's time to hang our heads in shame.
How is it that the only winners in this budget are the military, mining and infrastructure? Why is it only them that do not need to bear the pain of cutting back?
It seems to me that if you are poor, young, elderly, part of a family or suffering from ill-health - then our federal government just cast you to the scrapheap.
I hope there is one thing this disgrace of a budget is good for - getting rid of a bunch of men who have lost touch with reality and humanity.
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Helvi:
14 May 2014 9:14:19am
I can see the youth suicide numbers going up, I can the jobless desperate fathers of four stating to bash up their wives, I can see alcoholism increasing, young people with no money , no hope, no chance of good education....
Once more, I cry for you, Australia.
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Rae:
14 May 2014 7:38:43pm
We are a resilient bunch Helvi.
We also have a social contract amongst ourselves that many of the new chums don't quite get. Abbot and Cormann included.
Don't cry for Country quite yet because this isn't over.
Times have been far worse than this. I can't see doctors turning away the sick and the poor or the Salvos not feeding the hungry.
My overseas charity will however be pulled back home.
Fortunately not all wealthy people are overcome with greed nor believe the sick,poor and aged are in someway sinful.
The current ideology along these lines doesn't fit into historical context of how societies truly function.
Even in Babylon the indebted slaves were redeemed ever seven years or so as the greed of the usurers simply stuffed the place up.
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Honest Johnny:
14 May 2014 10:51:52am
Even in his budget speech Hockey said "roads and railways". This is crap as there are no railways anywhere in this budget.
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JGSydney:
13 May 2014 11:01:11pm
There you have it. All the pre-election lies exposed.
Do you know how you can tell when Abbott and Hockey were lying? Simple. They were opening their mouths.
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hows your father:
13 May 2014 11:01:28pm
So more infrastructure ports,roads,etc,got to get the resources out of the country quicker for the few to make a big buck,educate the the few that can afford it,okay,and then make the majority pay for it,fantastic.
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JamesH:
13 May 2014 11:03:17pm
Budget number one the Horror movie of the death spider rapt in its cocoon. Right on Annabel Crabb. Well there is nothing it this budget for me but cutbacks to my miserable life existence at the bottom of the rung in this not so lucky country.
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Frank:
13 May 2014 11:07:52pm
I'm thinking slash and burn, and grab all it can from those who's bleats are so far removed from Canberra they wont care. No mention in your analysis Annabel about any cuts to Politicians lurks and perks or numbers..........Just the old heave ho and perhaps some allocation should have been made to euthanasia (because the Government has taken a heartless approach to the elderly). Labor no doubt will start crowing about the pain of it all, yet they are of course tottally responsible for the budget mess. A senate block on some things will surely bring Abbott/Hockey back to earth, but more than that this will (in my view) lead to the rise and rise of Malcolm Turnbull......People have had a gutful of liars and Tony Abbott has just joined the club.
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L J:
13 May 2014 11:11:24pm
There will only be one assured outcome from this budget
Abbot and Hockey will not be running the country after the next election. Indeed it's doubtful Abbott with his very long list of broken promises that will now dog him, will see the year out as PM. As history shows, the last time an Australian government served up a budget as severe and ruthless as tonight's, it was kicked out at the next election.
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whohasthefish:
13 May 2014 11:15:20pm
List of winners and losers says it all:
Winners
Defense - read look out for those reds under the beds
Medical Research - read foreign owned research institutes
Infrastructure - read Member of North Sydney Forum
Mining - read LNP movers and shakers
Neutral
High Income Earners - they are so elite they get their own category
Losers:
Foreign Aid - bloody foreigners (except those with money)
Families - broken promise
Senior Citizens - broken promise
Education - broken promise
Health - broken promise
Public Service - reduced services
The Unemployed - read 'dole bludgers'
Young People - read unable to get the dole 'bludgers'
University Students - read Uni is only for the elites
People with a disability - broken promise
Disgusting to say the least.
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Benice:
13 May 2014 11:15:38pm
Lots of pain for low income earners while the well off won't even miss the loose change lost in the deficit levy. Meanwhile mining companies get our finite resources for a steal because the poor and the sick need to prop up these delicate, muktinational companies.
But we are a wealthy country and many of the worse off among us will still be better off than those abandoned by Australia through sickening foreign aid cuts. Hockey talks about saving lives yet women in third world countries are dying in childbirth and xhildren are contracting polio and malaria and starvation and preventable diseases.
Make no mistake. Our aid dollars were making a difference in the developing countries and the loss of this aid will hit hard. If one of the richest nations in the world with one of the best performing economies can't help those in need, God knows who will.
And whether all these cuts have been made to politically justify the alarmist pre-election rhetoric of the LNP or whether it's based on cold hard right ideology, it is sickening.
I don't like to wish bad on anyone, but given what they have sone, I hope the architects of this budget are woken in the night by their consciences, that they're haunted by the suffering of those less fortunate than themselves and feel true remorse for abandoning them.
Not in my name. Don't pass this budget. Double dissolution now.
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p. neilson:
13 May 2014 11:16:06pm
When is a budget crisis not a crisis?
When is a sprinkle of bull-dust not a lie?
When is a levy not a tax?
Politicians don't care Annabel, when taxpayers are picking up the tab.
We are stuck with this mob for at least two more budgets, then we get the choice between the current clowns or the remnants of the previous clowns.
You can't polish a turd Annabel, and as Wil Anderson said, if you think this government is crap, wait till you see the next one.
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 7:21:30am
"We are stuck with this mob for at least two more budgets"... That's at the most... but I am looking forward to the period of negotiations for this budget. It's impossible that there won't be demands to tone the cuts down in the Senate. We already know what Labor and Greens will oppose, which is probably a bit too much to swallow for Abbott and Hokey. So, now we have to wait to see what Clive Palmer says. If he does come in defence of the hard workers of Australia, who will suffer the most under this Neoliberal Budget from Hell, then Abbott is in deep troubles and he may as well go for a DD.... interesting times ahead.
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Doc:
14 May 2014 11:51:49am
Very perceptive Alpo - I'm surprised other commentators didn't see that one coming. There have been promises made by Labor not to block supply BUT Clive and his PUP are a different story altogether. He's said publicly that he will oppose the co-payment measure (that Labor will also oppose). Unless the government separate that (or anything else Clive may oppose) out from the Budget in an amendment it will mean that the budget won't be passed by the Senate, thereby handing Abbott the trigger for a double dissolution. Given he has now been seen by many to have broken a number of his promises made prior to the election - another one on this basis will be no sure thing. Clive Palmer is nobody's fool and I doubt he will back down from his stance unless the government offer a compromise - which itself is highly unlikely at the moment as they claim given the result of the last election, they have a mandate to do what they're doing. We may all be in for a hjelluva ride ahead.
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Berela:
13 May 2014 11:22:24pm
What a sad sad day for Australia! I am so ashamed to be an Australian right now when Mr Fat Cat Cigar Smoker Hockey and others think that his budget is good ! Yep, the rich get richer and the poor poorer. And, I do not for one minute believe anything will come of this new medical research thing (whatever it actually is), when money has been ripped away from CSIRO, and many university research centres. Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey and his crew (including that drooling 'I love you Joe' Ms Bishop) are just a bunch of liars.
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Nell:
13 May 2014 11:23:49pm
Age Pensioners (those with no alternative or supplementary income from super or shares or any other thing) do not buy cups of coffee, do not buy newspapers, do not have the money for any such incidentals.
The idea that the doctor tax is no more than an incidental cup of coffee is the language of the comfortably employed.
This tax impacts most on those who are most sick, typically the elderly. They do not have extended lives because they are in robust health necessarily but rather they are the beneficiaries of a robust and accessible national health service.
Pensioners and beneficiaries of all kinds operate on a fortnightly cycle, their payment cycle. They operate on very tight inflexible budgets. Recognising this several agencies private and government have arranged over time to allow for fortnightly payments on utilities, council rates (monthly), insurances (house and car - monthly). Telephony costs are usually charged monthly. Car registration paid half yearly.
A trip to the doctor often requires tests to be undertaken. Often the doctor will request the patient to return within a couple of days for the results or perhaps the following week. This is commonplace, usual and necessary. Treatment or further referral is then arranged. It is perfectly common for pensioners to have two attendances and possibly one or two prescriptions (eg antibiotics) and possibly dressings, pain relievers, cough linctus etc within one fortnightly cycle. That would represent:
Initial consultation: 7.00
Follow-up consultation: 7.00
Prescription: 10.00
Total: 24.00
plus any non-prescription requisites.
It is not clear whether the co-payment would get charged additionally for some of the tests if they need to be conducted by another doctor?
The pensioner will be paying more for petrol and more for food (the additional excise will cause food prices to rise). There are to be cuts in state concessions on utilities at a time when the cap on the prices charged by power and gas companies have been lifted. There was a major price rise in both power and gas as of the start of 2014 in Victoria.
John Falzon of the St Vincent de Paul was right when he described this budget as cruel.
Middle-class, middle-aged Australians will be having to provide additional financial support to their elderly parents and now also to their twenty-something unemployed or student children and for those who do not have family support the consequences are unthinkable.
Nobody will escape this extreme abandonment of the elderly and youth.
As to the 20 billion dollar Medical Research fund - what are the details. Surely it's not a big fat handout to Big Pharma? Will these amazing all-Australian medical breakthroughs be subject to patents that will
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Brad:
13 May 2014 11:25:05pm
The days of foolishly spending money we don't have on programs we don't need are over. It's time for you people to go out and work for a living instead of latching onto the taxpayer like useless parasites.
And the days of the ABC broadcasting lies and anti-coalition propaganda into SE Asia are also over. That was the sweetest news of all. So long Australia Network.
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neil:
13 May 2014 11:28:04pm
WOW! a plan for the future not the next election, we haven't seen this since the Howard and Menzies days.
Could we be returning from incompetent Labor popularist policy to solid financial planning for our future?
Could we finally be reclaiming our destiny after Labor wasted Howards surplus on pink bats and solar panels while China saved us from the GFC?
Tony Abbott is a two plus term PM and guess what our next PM is called Joe.
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Dandelion :
14 May 2014 8:57:24am
Just out of interest, which part of the Carbon Tax, MRRT, means testing the Health insurance rebate etc. do you consider to be "popularist".
I thought the problem with Labor was they keep going against the popular majority.
Btw, pink batts and solar panels are saving me heaps of money, so I'm not really sure that it was wasted. I didn't realise people were now removing insulation from their roofs.
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Jess:
14 May 2014 11:44:22pm
So nbn - fttp will take 10 years to install and last for 50 vs fttn 9 years to install and replaced in 15.
Education lifting the lowest achievers vs pastoral care provided by religious unqualified persons.
Ets - early tech advantages vs pay trading partners with gets in 2020 cos we don't have one...
NDIS targeted at early intervention services which means high needs children can participate with mainstream education and work when they are older vs retesting DSP recipients in a one off medical consultation.
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Kirch:
13 May 2014 11:29:28pm
I am totally disgusted - This government has ripped the guts out of the poor in Australia and pretended to cause some 'pain' to the well off. Thatcherism at its worst. I thought Abbott was a christian. I wonder what Christ would think of the actions of his and his right wing tea party cronies led by smoking joe? We need to remove this government now!!
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Jim:
13 May 2014 11:34:07pm
Tony Abbott has given out ruthless political exploitation of his opponents' weaknesses. That's how a less than talented macho man got the top job in Australia.
It will be just desserts to see him get the same, dished up in spades.
One Term Tony.
After 2016 we can start to clean up the mess left by these ruthless servants of Australia's richest, who are selling out the assets of middle and poorer Australia for their own selfish benefit.
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Dionisos:
13 May 2014 11:37:08pm
In my view, the whole thing is very dangerous and could easily backfire against the community because it would push millions into poverty. Poverty means high levels of crime and lawlessness. Is that what we really want for this country ?
Another problem is lack of vision and lack of strategy for the nation's future. Australia today does not manufacture anything. We have no electronics industry, no automotive industry of our own, no nothing. How could you generate growth without creating genuine, viable jobs ?
By the way, Japan has huge external debt problem many times bigger than Australia's and still Japan cares for its people, young and old and does not outsource Japanese jobs overseas.
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Kathryn Barnsley:
13 May 2014 11:42:36pm
I am a student in medical research and it is wonderful to have the promise of more money. But it is pointless if you ignore the results of research most if which show that prevention is worthwhile. Abolition of preventive health initiatives will add to health expenditure in both the short and long run.
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Alpo:
14 May 2014 7:47:15am
Kath,
One of the major problems of this medical research initiative is that it will be mainly funded by the $7 upfront fee for visits to a GP, whilst the MRRT will be eliminated. So, medical research will be funded by greater pain suffered by the sick (with real consequences for the health of the poor who may decide not to go to the GP because they don't have the money), whilst our big mining companies will pocket more money for themselves and their investors.... I suggest that Medical Research Institutes themselves and also Universities campaign against this initiative that goes against the Hyppocratic Oath:
"I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.".... Harm will be caused, real harm to real People.
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red13:
13 May 2014 11:47:25pm
From tonight onwards I'll sit on my front verandah, coolly and calmly waiting for the next federal poll with a cricket bat in my hand.
Tonight you hurt me Mr Abbott, directly in more ways than one, you also hurt my loved ones as well.
In spite of your promises, you have lied, lied and lied.
I intend to repay your deceit, and pain caused, by ensuring that my and my families votes are cast against your candidate in this seat.
Do not sleep well Ross Vasta, you are in your end times as a member of parliament
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Merlin 23:
14 May 2014 9:03:46am
Why don't investigate the reason why we needed this budget...................
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Maria Schmidt:
13 May 2014 11:54:34pm
No Opportunity Poverty. I am worried my sons cannot have the opportunity to go to university. Health management is more difficult, almost Dickensian. Yes this Liberal/National coalition government has broken its promises and is charging the poor unjustifiably. Do not pass this budget2014 through the Senate. Needs amendments. I do not always agree, but agree with "Kochie" Budget 2014 is political re-election "101" recipe. Do agree with David Marr, Questions And Answers, that this is embarrassing and it is becoming more embarrassing. We are not in a war rationing situation. Dissolve this LNP Government now. Do Double Dissolution now. Thank you for opportunity for my comment.
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Rob:
13 May 2014 11:57:46pm
Joe Hockey's budget is just another swing of Abbott's wrecking ball of everything that is Australian and the conversion of the country to a US style society of the survival of the fittest under the guise of 'self reliance"
Putting aside the heavy burden put on families and pensioners lets look at just two of the more far reaching "nation building" measures.
The $80 Billion cut to heath and education. Hockey as much as admitted the full responsibility for these will be passed to the States- commentators are saying this is a ploy to get the States to call for a rise in the GST rather than the Federal Government. That is probably true but I reckon it is much more insidious than that.
The objective to to change the way our Federation works to one more akin to that of the US-its a bloody mess there so why would you copy it?- other than for reasons of pure ideology.
The allowing of Universities to set their own fees- cutting the earnings level at which Students have to start repaying HEX and charging a higher rate of interest.
In the US student loans amount to over a TRILLION with quite high default rates.
One of the reasons given for the high figures is "the self inflicted causes is the consistent decline in State funding"
As John Hewson says- he does not believe that policy is sustainable,
Yet- there we go again, copying the US.
I am beginning to think this lot has a perverse mind set and will not be satisfied until 30% of us live below the poverty line and in need of food stamps- happy to accept any job even with a non livable wage and become sacrificial lambs on the altar of the Abbott creed.
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Bill Johnstone:
14 May 2014 12:01:34am
A despicable budget! A swath of broken promises.
This is not a COALTION GOVERNMENT.... It is a DEMOLITION GOVERNMENT.. Tearing down the very fabric of society that so many Governments before this one have worked towards making fairer and more just!
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Rhonda:
14 May 2014 12:01:49am
Good article Annabelle. What we've seen is weasel words from a weasel government. They are now trying to convince us they haven't broken ANY election promises, there really are no surprises and no adverse changes and that the Tooth Fairy really does exist.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" (Gina Rinehart et al exempted).
Lest we forget...
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Johnny2:
14 May 2014 12:09:46am
And the Minister for Defence will continue to use air force jets to get he and his LNP colleagues from Perth to Canberra and back at taxpayers expense. The only bonus seems to be that if he catches these flights Don Randall wont end up in Cairns. So much for sharing the pain.
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barsnax:
14 May 2014 12:13:45am
Thanks Annabel. Your article has all the truth and sarcasm I expect from you but I feel there is an underlying anger in your words.
"But it's going through Nana's purse nonetheless"
Not my Nana but my mothers and it annoys the hell out of me.
Tony Abbott is a liar and no amount of spin can change this.
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burke:
14 May 2014 11:50:08am
It seems you prefer the Wayne Swan method - "ignore it and it will go away". Of course we know now that Swan was a complete failure. Hockey seems more competent to deal with the problem which he inherited from Swan.
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Rhonda:
14 May 2014 11:47:11pm
"Hockey seems more competent..."
Are you sure of that? Last night on 7.30 Report, Sarah Ferguson asked Joe Hockey what will he do if the co-payments and levies (aka NEW TAXES) don't get passed in the Senate, as he would then have a revenue hole to plug.
Joe said they'd just have to wait and see! Sarah then persisted and asked if Joe had a contingency plan, in the event these taxes didn't get through the Senate.
Joe's reply "..Well, no.."
Smokin' Joe - the latest 'suppository of all wisdom'...
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Alison Cutler:
14 May 2014 12:14:42am
Ill fares the land,
To hastening ills a prey
When wealth accumulates
And men decay.
I have never felt so dismayed. Too much hip pocket and not enough heart. Please read Thomas Picketty's Capital in the 21st Century to see what is really happening.
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Steve:
14 May 2014 12:23:25am
This "government" wants to drive unemployment up and create a desperation of the poor to work for scraps so that their multinational and billionaire overlords can get access to cheap labour.
The rich get richer and ....
Should be a boon for security selling firms, you're going to need to lock up tight to keep the desperate out at night!
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Anne Follent,:
14 May 2014 12:26:12am
Love your comments Annabelle. I am an aged pensioner, a poor one, and for the first time I am really worried about keeping up my health fund,DR,s visits. I have to sack him, as he does not bulk bill me,my medications and so on.I really feel for the newly unemployed. How can they possibly survive on the terms this govt. wants?That is only the beginning of who I feel sorry for. I live in Rockhampton Qld. and i believe 60 percent of people here are on benefits. Also this is a very ageing town. Love the Downtown Abbey section. I am waiting with bated breath for outcome.
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jkling:
14 May 2014 12:31:40am
"Schools were to receive $31 billion a year by 2025; now they will receive $25 billion.
Hospitals were to receive $40 billion; now, it's been revised down to $25 billion."
Kick this mob out.
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Andrew Thomas:
14 May 2014 12:32:20am
One of the big winners in the budget was mining. Tax incentives are being used to pay for yet again more exploration. Yet when it came time for the mining companies to pay tax on the sale of these minerals, we don't make them. The cycle of mining industry subsidies continues unabated and it is clear we have learned nothing form the commodity downturn.
High income earners are pretty much left out and so is the private sector. The only positive is medical research (it's a shame research wasn't expanded into other industries).
The biggest losers are senior citizens, students, the young, foreign aid, health (medical research not withstanding), the unemployed, low income earners and, of course, the disabled (isn't that pretty much all the venerable minority groups within our community?). But we are spending more on defence. All round, a nasty fascist budget.
I am ashamed to be an Australian. You all make me sick. Goodbye.
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Observer:
14 May 2014 1:36:49am
time for all the coalition supporters to find reasons for how the government either is true to what it promised or not bound by such things given circumstances, and for others to decry the broken promises.
it would make for a great speech on budget reply if it entirely quoted the former opposition leader, word for word, in some select order.
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themoor:
14 May 2014 1:37:57am
The media failed us when Abbott was the opposition leader by reporting gossip and innuendo as if it was news and accepting one liners and slogans.
Very few journalists questioned the validity of the Liberals propaganda program or objected to the vile character assassination campaign and as a result the Liberals got an easy ride into government.
Yet even now amidst the broken promises and continuing propaganda most journalists are still mostly saying nothing and some are even applauding.
We can only hope that somewhere there are some journalists with the courage to stand up and question the actions of this biased government who are governing only for the elite.
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Falstaff:
14 May 2014 1:46:41am
I am not surprised one bit by this outcome.
I wonder, is there anybody out there - anybody at all - who voted for this government and now regrets doing so??
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dmans5:
14 May 2014 7:58:57am
I voted for this "mob" and I wore a blue tie with my Tee shirt. The adults have turned early a big sinking ship around with a minimum of waves that might tip the ship. Comments on this site , 90% should not be allowed to carry a credit card.The same 90% would never vote other than Labor/Greens regardless of their performance. I once voted Labor when it was credible .
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A say:
14 May 2014 1:50:07am
The $7 to see the doctor and the $billions that is going into medical research really shows that Mr Abbott and Hockey &Co & their well paid advisors have no idea about finance.
They will not feel any real financial pain the ordinary people will!
We are suppose to be in a budget emergency so how does medical research actually help with balancing the budget?
What and when will this research actually produce anything tangible and why is it a priority?
Well put Annabel about the toe and living longer!
Lets have a double dissolution and let the people decide,2more years of stupidity and deceit is too far away!
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Alfie:
14 May 2014 9:59:29am
"Hockey &Co & their well paid advisors have no idea about finance."
And you do I suppose? Just another keyboard critic who hasn't gotten over Labor's election rout.
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Sotapanna:
14 May 2014 1:51:02am
Shameless are the politicians whom act in a manner to assist those who have by taking from those who haven't.
Medical research which produces drugs that Medicare can't afford to fund is no justification for destroying Medicare which is a signature program that assigns Australia as having a fairness towards each other.
Given the reduction in foreign aid it appears that the government is so unable to concern itself with how Australia is regarded by its poorer neighbors.
The incongruence of the governments actions in relation to their "promises" is indicative of how they do not respect the people. Obviously the government is more afraid of mining companies than it is of the electorate.
With all the proposed infrastructure it is an imperative that a overviewing of any contracts be transparent and vigilant.
The schemes to assist industry at the expense of pensioners (supplements) and the sick allows an appreciation of how disconnected the government are from the real lives of people.
Causing apprentices to pay for their training education indicates how ill informed they are about incentivizing youth to become skilled.
Building an Australia where the wealthy shall be further privileged at the expense of those dependent upon drawing on (pensions) from the taxation contributions they contributed to is an substantial insult.
There has been no mention of the expenditure that will be needed to jail those who will slip off the treadmill after not seeing a way to work in a society that has insufficient jobs and a government that acts untowards them.
Using slick word patterns to camouflage taxes and charges further diminishes the remnants of respect and trust politicians might have.
It is as retiring Sen. Ron Boswell suggested aout this budget, "its like selling junk"?
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Bruce Lamont:
14 May 2014 1:52:01am
Whether the levy is a tax or not is irrelevant. It will only raise some $3-4B from the wealthy and yet the disadvantaged and lower income workers and others in our society have had some $70B extracted to pay for fighter planes and icebreakers.
Inequitable prioritising at the dryest level of cost cutting!
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Mossman mal:
14 May 2014 2:00:28am
They could save a lot of money by the politication having the same super as every body else in australia that is 9.5% instead of defined benifits if it is good enough for the rest of the work force why not them
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:50:00pm
True enough, but to be fair, they have done more to limit pollie benefits in this budget than we have seen in any previous ones. I realise most people would like to see it go further, but credit where it's due.
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Unbelievable:
14 May 2014 2:10:12am
Abbott and Hockey should try being the new age Robin Hood and Fryer Tuck - take fom the rich and give to the poor - Oops he has gone the wrong way - gee guys you have not got it right. Give all mothers the opportunity to relax at home with $50000 in their purse having had a baby - after all we are entitled we are all the same gender - female - just some have to struggle to make ends meet.
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:50:36pm
Some of us are male.
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ScottBE:
14 May 2014 2:15:06am
Trying to remain undecided until full analyses are seen tomorrow, although the breakdowns and comments thus far have been good indications (thank you Annabel... its good to see you back...).
Yet the atrocious cynicism directed at under 30 yr olds who have lost their job burns like acid. I don't understand how anyone could imagine a person with no income could survive 6 months!
And increasing costs to the most ill in our community is another cynical swipe that hits terribly hard and will result in far greater future health costs.
Again I heard political commentators talk of a disconnect: - meaning out of touch I suppose. And incoherency. Even John Hewson and Peter Costello levelling serious objections with a withering tone of dismay.
Moreover Climate change rated barely a mention. I thought the irony at the end of Mr Hockey's speech about looking after our childrens' future was pretty farcical given the inattention to this most important matter: - in the face of international imperative to work hard at carbon reduction.
Overall, I think its the hardest budget I've ever known for the less "advantaged". Cynical at least!... we shall wait further developments.
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Giovanni:
14 May 2014 2:18:51am
Why -o- why,
Co-opt when provision numbers by GP's-per visit-are already extensively utilized by GP'S (usually entities with the apparatus not singular home based GP'S= super clinic status)
Good luck here and watch the chronically ill status within the public health system spiral.
(footnote below)
Stop paying pharmacist to assist $99 per year additional to $ 48 per person per GP for chronic conditions such as diabetes GP'S are eminently more equipped to do to do the same.
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Bob Young :
14 May 2014 2:21:43am
What a disappointment. I was hoping the A B C ( Best sheltered workshop in the country) would have more than 1 percent cut off its budget. You disappoint me Tony , you are caving into them. Fancy 7 dollars to see your doctor ( Providing they bulk bill) rather heartless I think, it could put some people into the position Do I have another schooner or am I sick enough to pay the 7 dollars to see the doctor? Bit heartless I think Tony.
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Sloth:
14 May 2014 3:23:12am
Message to all the PUP, Greens and ALP staffers trawling these comments for thier members/senators: you need to vote this down. Block supply and force a double dissolution.
Ms Crabb is right - if this budget built on lies goes ahead the real fatality will be any hope that we can ever trust political leaders again. This is the thin end of the wedge for real democracy in this country. We are staring down the barrel of a US-style oligarchy.
Don't flinch.
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Maynard:
14 May 2014 3:35:15am
Well Annabel you will have to do "lunch", with smokin Joe on your cooking show to get the to the truth. Will it be a ratings success or will it be gone in an efficiency drive?
The ABC strategy has been superb, no cuts but but over at Fairfax your other job (where revenue has also fallen) they are sacking like goths in Rome, so you are half safe, inspite of the journalists charter of independence.
How can you be independent if you don't have a job?
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Rae:
14 May 2014 8:48:42pm
I believe the revenue fall is deliberate. It is impossible to buy a Sunday Paper around here after about 9:30 as they are all sold.
The newsagent says they just don't send enough.
On holidays recently at another popular tourist spot same thing.
No papers available to buy.
Whoever is in charge of logistics is either inefficient or it is a deliberate move to force readers online.
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zoe:
14 May 2014 5:19:28am
Bitter ABC re cuts will savage this very responsible budget to death-- doing so already it seems. LNP knew you would do this anyway-- so why not cut your expenditure even more in the next budget!! Perhaps you could also have quoted Abbotts key promise-- we will retore Australias economy to good health after the worst decline in fiscal health ever, created by your ALP. You have to risk political capitol to do that.
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Visited:
14 May 2014 5:23:37am
The budget confirms that Tony Abbott used deception and lies to get get elected, lies about telling us lies, and has surrounded many aspects of our triple A rated economy with lies.
Tony Abbott is demonstrating all the characteristics of a triple A rated liar.
A budget is one thing. A default position of blatant deception and lies from Tony Abbott for the next three years another.
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Disgruntled of Cleveland:
14 May 2014 5:30:48am
I urge ALL pensioners to vote against this government at the next election. At a conservative estimate this budget is going to cost my wife and I $40 per week in lost income, increase cost of living etc.
Unlike pollies and business' we have no way to increase our income. We cannot grant ourselves a pay increase (on top of an already generous salary) when the dust has settled, nor can we offset our increase costs by charging more for our goods or services.
So please Mr Abbott explain how this budget is fair and shares the burden?
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Michael:
14 May 2014 5:32:57am
Great article... the problem with our democracy is that you are not rewarded for telling the truth up front... You would never get elected when all the other side has to do is not tell the truth. Having said that - i prefer our system over others. It is a complicated world we live in!
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rusty cairns:
14 May 2014 6:02:09am
This budget has been set up to cause a rise of the GST or taxes the states/territories collect.
How are the states and territories expected to raise monies to fund the never ending rising costs for hospitals and health ?
I like the idea of huge amounts going to health research , but wouldn't it be more effective to reduce the time spent waiting to fix health issues now using the methods that are known as cures that are available now ?
I feel for anyone younger than 30 year old because of this budget and true hope that treasury forecast exceed expectations.
Come on China, come on Japan, come on South Korea, borrow more money and buy more Australia product.
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AngeB:
14 May 2014 6:08:28am
The coalition's rhetoric leading up to the election in 2013 was slick, forceful, loud, and repetitive, just like the sprukings of a good salesman, and I can't help but think I was sold a story of great promise but was delivered something totally unrecognisable, and had I known what was sealed in the package I bought, I would never have given my tick on the ballot box. The best I can say is: maybe the promises before the election were not promises but just a string of words taken out of context.
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Where's Tony:
14 May 2014 10:27:54am
Thank you for your honesty, Angie and ExCon Voter. Your posts reflect what I am hearing from so many who ticked the Lib box.
This budget is full of broken promises and lies, it is designed to hurt the most vulnerable now and in the longer term while only inflicting temporary levy's salary freezes on the better off. It's a complete joke, albeit not a very funny one.
Sadly, so many of the rusted on will defend it to the death, so damn sad.
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Supertaff:
14 May 2014 6:12:32am
So it's OK for "little Australia" to aspire toward leading the world in medical research funding but not in combating climate change.
Which endeavour, I wonder, will affect human longevity the most?
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ExConservativeVoter:
14 May 2014 6:13:18am
I have always been a Conservative voter, not after this Budget and Tony Abbott's lies. Bring on a DD election.
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JamesH:
14 May 2014 6:37:36am
Up goes the cost of living for the poor.
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Hockey Horror budget:
14 May 2014 6:47:22am
I could sit here and complain that it already costs my family $160 p/w in petrol (live in a remote area no public transport or school buses below $100p/w), could complain about cuts to university funding and a higher interest rate on HECS, but my major concern is what does not affect me, but pensioners and disable children.
All I see is job losses not job creation, Im horrified about youth not getting Newstart till 30yrs for 6mths, then having to work for the dole, then thrown back on 6mths waiting list. I see a rise in crime with young not being able to get jobs, costly education, and then having no money to see a doctor or obtain medicines. I am also horrified that our disabled children will no longer get help at school with $80 billion stripped from both health and education, but then saying hey we will set up a $20 Billion medical research in 4yrs time, to try and sugar coat it.
Considering Australia is suffering a revenue problem, nothing in the budget address's this issue. I see this as a attack on the less fortunate, elderly who have worked hard only for governments to heavily tax super and not raise super to 12% which would address this issue. I see Gina Rinehart laughing all the way to the bank, while people starve, struggle even more. I am concerned what is to now become of Australia, being the land of opportunity, to now a land of pain, suffering and starvation. Furthermore high income earners have not been hit hard at all, with only a $400 per year increase in taxes once earning over $180,000 and dont see this as a fair budget, I see this as a budget of broken promises, liberals are nothing but liars, thank you to those Australians who voted in this despicable mob, I saw through their lies and never gave them a mention on my ballot paper, our elderly, youth, disable children and less fortunate are now placed on the scrap heap thanks to you.
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grumpy:
14 May 2014 6:49:57am
I don't see that the Government had much choice after the mess that the previous economic vandals left them to deal with. That may be hard to swallow for the Labor, Greens cheer squad but it's a fact. Unfortunately this Government will fix it up then get voted out in 5 or 8 years time and Labor will go on another spending orgy.
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The Blue PIll:
14 May 2014 8:54:17am
@ grumpy
"That may be hard to swallow for the Labor, Greens cheer squad but it's a fact. Unfortunately this Government will fix it up then get voted out in 5 or 8 years time and Labor will go on another spending orgy"
No grumpy, its a lie. but all of the Righteous Right will keep yelling it till they're hoarse. But history will show it was howard, followed by abbott who let this country down while lining the pockets of their masters, at the expense of our children.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 2:34:24pm
The Blue Pill, it is an exaggeration that the ALP was a poor fiscal manager, however there is a reality that government expenditure exceeds revenue. The only feasible option is to reduce services. This is unpalatable but you can't have what you can't pay for.
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Dandelion :
14 May 2014 9:20:59am
One choice is they could have just told us what they had planned. Besides they haven't fixed the mess at all. Sure they cut spending in lots of areas, but they are also cutting revenue and increasing spending in areas like defence and roads. It is simply a change in priorities for government spending. The budget bottom line is virtually unchanged.
If you think making a pessimistic forecast of debt in 10 years time and then revising it down, is "fixing the mess", then I have a bridge to sell you.
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GREYSTOKE:
14 May 2014 6:51:01am
We should not be surprised by this budget. No one can live beyond their means forever. No doubt Labor and the Greens together with PUP will do all they can to block this budgets progress through the house. Mr Shorten will deny that his party bears much of the blame for the wilful and wild spending over the past 6 years, but it did happen and it had to stop.
Foreign Aid? how many billions has Australia spent on FA, result of all that aid, very little. Our nearest neighbour (Indonesia) laughs at us and does whatever it likes. The UN will scream blue murder, but this body too has achieved almost nothing. Look at Africa today, atrocities against its own people and heaven knows what
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Chris Knight:
14 May 2014 6:58:18am
Once the contrived financial crisis was exacted it became an easy task to develop measures to resolve it. The class based focus is clear and low end earners and beneficiaries will be hardest hit all not unexpected.
What worries me is the lack of vision regarding alternative energy,electric and gas powered cars and the development of a government owned car industry or at least part owned, not to sustain a sophisticated cart industry is a true folly
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malb:
14 May 2014 7:06:03am
Looks like everyone is unhappy, which suggests that they got it just about right.
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Anastasios Manolakis:
14 May 2014 7:10:29am
Howard, Downer and Brown, Fraudsters Still on the loose
Still the fraud committed by Howard, Downer and Brown against the SA Public Hospitals remains hidden, this is dispute overwhelming evidence existing and provided to the SA Police and the South Australian ICAC, the matter remains hidden. The SA ICAC Commissioner Bruce Landers is a lame duck Commissioner clearly compromised in investigating the fraud due to a personal conflict of interest.
Liberals talk of budget emergencies (which is a lie) and they attack the poor, sick and the education of children but allow the mining industry and major polluters to prosper.
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David:
14 May 2014 7:16:44am
All this talk about a future, a future Research fund, before the budget it was how the Medi Care budget was out of control so a levy of $7.00. But only $2.00 towards the actual medi care budget? WTF? if there was such a need for the co payment only $2.00 actually needed and $5.00 towards possible cures, yes Abbott needs to find a cure for 'foot in the mouth' and ' habitual lying' so bugger the sick now, let them die off .
No talk on just how much the petrol excise is going to up the price of fuel, is it 20 cents a litre, 50 centres a litre? Wait until this excise hits food prices and transport costs. Abbott is a liar and a cunning liar, he has the hide to say I did not break any promises and cares only for his pumped up pansied ego, so much for trust me. Families you don't count, you have to earn $180,000.00 a year to get a TEMPORARY tax, you and I get hit for life.Yes the adult selfish liars are in charge.
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Lyn Bourke:
14 May 2014 7:24:00am
They really did go trough my purse and took $836 from my single aged pension whilst the 'tax levy' will cost those with high incomes just a temporary extra $400 a year.
This Hockey and Abbott budget has just created a rise in poverty whilst those who can afford to negative gear to avoid paying tax continue to contribute nothing.
I will stick around until 2017 just so I can do my part in ensuring that people like Abbot and Hockey fail to win the next election.
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marcus newman:
14 May 2014 7:35:56am
Excellent budget, people should take responsibility for their lives, no free tickets, if you smoke drink, abuse your body don't expect red carpet treatment ay your local hospital, we all should be thanking the Rudd/Gillard government for the mess we are in, Joe you can manage my investments anytime
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Lopa:
14 May 2014 7:45:44am
Today, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey will announce that they are changing the stars on our Australian flag to condoms because it more accurately reflects the Governments stance.
A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation and gives you a sense of security while you are actually being screwed.
It just cannot get more accurate than that.
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Claudia:
14 May 2014 7:48:40am
The current govt when in opposition scare mongered about the severe impacts from introducing the carbon tax. There really were none. But since they are now cutting it out, presumably those savings should compensate for much of the debt.
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True Blue Ozzie:
14 May 2014 7:49:12am
This what the Liberal Party always does "" screw the little people !!!! & Give give to there buisness budies "" its there DNA .
In the lead up to the last election, I smelt stench coming from the Liberial Party from all the spinn and past Liberal Governments. I followed my gut instinct,
Thiis budget proved me right and I didn't waste my vote on this regurgitated clown from way back when he took some LARGE AMOUNT out of the health budget in the Howard years when he was health minister. Abbott made a big issues out of trust " who can yo trust " he quite often said leading into the election, he said he would match labor on many things, and promised so muct.
Well here we are only monts afte the election, and everything thing he promised was a bare faced LIE YES LIE !!!!!! Trust was the most important issue for many voters of Australia, yes Good old fashioned Trust!!! In a instant he lost any trust voters had in him and shot him self dead for any future eletion wins.
My good the needy and poor of this country have had a gut full of being kicked around, one government after another.
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FlapDoodle:
14 May 2014 7:52:39am
So, budget projections are healthy enough for the Government to siphon off $20 billion for a feel good but rather vague health research fund, bring forward additional defence spending and leave the mining industry, the private sector and the wealthy unscathed. On the other hand things are so bad we cannot afford current spending levels on health, education, our youth or those suffering from serious disadvantage or disability.
An ideologically vindictive manifesto - certainly. A plan for the future of an inclusive Australia putting the welfare of the general population before the greater concentration of wealth and privilege among members of the Conservative tribe - I think not.
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Ken :
14 May 2014 7:56:50am
The budget is not so bad. It should have been a lot harder.
The GST should have been applied to everything.
The Medicare levy is to low, it should have been increased. The health services we all want cost a lot of money.
We in australia are lucky. I am sorry to say we have become a welfare dependent society.
Ken
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:34:01am
Thanks for including the word "lucky" in your comment. Your remarks clearly represent "Lucky Country" thinking, as does this budget.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 1:26:27pm
Ken:
I too think the budget could have been more harsh to wean people from the dependency syndrome. We need to build self reliance through people saving for retirement and paying for services as necessary.
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ABCSpeak:
14 May 2014 8:09:47am
What really turns the guts of many Australians is broken promises from our political leaders - both sides. And what made my guts do triple back flips was to hear Joe Hockey respond to the interviewer on the 7.30 Report last night by saying these inquiries into promise-breaking allegations is just "playing games". Hockey says: look the outcomes of the budget - forget the detail of the broken promises. Similarly, we heard Hockey dance around the word "tax". By then my guts where dancing the samba.
This sort of contempt really saddens me. It makes me think we so very need a higher authority or a higher law that can bring politicians to account and make them pay for deception. Perhaps it?s a call for a republic President that may have the power to dismiss a Prime Minister or Minister for grossly misleading the public. The dismissed person would hold his/her parliamentary seat, but would lose the position of power in cabinet. Why not? There needs to be a major disincentive to playing games with the trust and expectations of the Australian public.
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Singularity:
14 May 2014 8:14:16am
I am a swing voter and I may have given the liberals some credit for taking hard decisions but I can't get over the the fact that they BROKE PROMISES! Yes we can all say "they all do that" but where does that leave our democracy?
TA made a HUGE deal about this when he was opposition leader...and I get that liberal supporters can use their 'perception bias' and overlook it but I can't.
Also...whats with the PM grinning and laughing like a little schoolboy behind Joe Hockey on that coverage last night?
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John Md:
14 May 2014 8:16:17am
"Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards."
Just so, Tony!
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Miowarra:
14 May 2014 8:17:35am
You may have thought I (and lots of other boomers) were politically radicalised during the Dismissal & the VietNam War era.
You ain't seen nuthin' yet!
One Term Tony needs to realise this; "Payback's a stone bitch!"
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 1:19:49pm
Miowarra,
You may have been radicalised. However nothing changes the reality if you want something, you either pay for it, thieve it or borrow money to pay for it. Right now Abbott has established that government coffers have insufficient funs to pay for everything people want. That situation wont change with a new government.
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d:
14 May 2014 8:25:18am
20 billion on mediacal research ! what a load of you know what.
This budget is rigged in their favour ( Liberal party) as they have most to gain from this and this is
corruption my friend.
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T1:
14 May 2014 8:28:43am
This budget is cruel to anyone on a low income. It will hit single parents very hard. Paying companies to cut emissions rather than taxing big poluters.
Medicare payment to fund big med research, wow, nothing but an ideological hit at medicare that will be suffered by families. Don't be surprised if they try to undo medicare completely if reelected.
Cutting the politician's pensions could fund the medical research on its own.
Block the budget on the GP payment. Protect medicare.
This is not a surprise to those of us who saw Toxic Tony for what he is.
We must make sure they are a One Term Government. Whatever you do, don't elect this mob again.
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patricia:
14 May 2014 8:28:57am
How do we know the Medical Research Future Fund will be spent on Medical Research. There are many times the government collects for one purpose and spends on another e.g. Fuel Excise was to go on infrastructure but 3/4 goes into general revenue and now we need to increase excise.
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Frank:
14 May 2014 1:41:08pm
20 Billion, well I'm guessing all the "find a cure" type charities can close up shop, one thing is for sure it will be easier to look their begging collectors in the eye and say NO.
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crackerjack:
14 May 2014 8:29:03am
we are absolutely disgusted with the deception and lies that this government has used in the way of the budget. We voted for Abbott because we believed him to be honest and fair and just. NEVER AGAIN. We are 2 aged pensioners struggling to make ends meet. We live in a very modest home in rural Victoria. We are burdened with cancer and heart conditions but we still remain as active as possible. We have always been volunteers in our local community since retiring. We are NOT SELF FUNDED - just basic pensioners. We already struggle to find the cost for petrol to dive to medical specialists- we do not visit our family in Melbourne - we wait for them to drive to us. We already struggle to find the money for VITAL prescriptions. We struggle with power bills. We struggle with the cost of firewood. We do not smoke or drink ; we grow our own vegetables where possible (even that is becoming difficult with our health problems); we cannot afford holidays; we rarely go out but choose to play cards with friends for sociaL contact. We buy moss of clothes in op shops. The little savings we had from our working years have dwindled over the years.
GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.
They have ATTACKED the MOST VULNERABLE sector of this country.
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patricia:
14 May 2014 8:29:13am
How do we know the Medical Research Future Fund will be spent on Medical Research. There are many times the government collects for one purpose and spends on another e.g. Fuel Excise was to go on infrastructure but 3/4 goes into general revenue and now we need to increase excise.
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Helena Sindelar:
14 May 2014 8:29:57am
If a government is handed the keys to the kingdom purely on the basis of what it says it pledges it will and won't do for the people once elected but once in the door and settled in reneges on those promises, the people should have some say. I mean, really, there are safeguards for the consumer throughout the retail sector and other areas to ensure one gets what one pays for and if one doesn't, there are resources available for the dodgy retailer to get their come-uppance. Why not the government?? Cynicism aside, why do we continually turn a blind eye to the lies of politicians assuming it's a fact of life?? When did lying to get their own way become something condoned in politics when the reality of Tony Abbott's pre-election hype was that here was a politician who clearly was above that and if elected was going to stick by his promises? He was elected promising to do and not do certain things. If he isn't going to do them, get rid of the tosser! A promise in business amounts to a verbal contract. If an elected leader goes back on his word after being democratically elected on the basis that he wouldn't, why does the public not have any recourse whatsoever? Why don't the lawyers use their powers for good instead of evil?!
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 8:34:00am
Three word slogans:
Tax on health
Tax on wealth
Taxes by stealth.
Election Now!!!!
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Paulh:
14 May 2014 8:36:01am
Surely what Abbott and Hockey are attempting is substantially better than the spin deceit and denial that we get from Shorten and Bowen.
5 consecutive budget deficit blowouts,the last one (over 5 years after the gfc) went from a projected $12 billion deficit to an actual $43 billion deficit.wasteful spending ,failed policies, underfunded policies, policies going substantially over budget the list is endless. OECD figures show our debt rose faster than 17 other nations including Spain and Greece and is still rising due to labor policies.the debt may be smaller than other nations but we had NO debt.triple A rating just means we can borrow at favourable rates.labors answers appear to be just keep borrowing.it appears ms crabbe is condoning such wasteful actions.the biggest problem is,labor offers no alternative,labor hasn't a clue what to do and offers no alternatives,other than a direct class war , wake up ms crabbe I thought you were a bit brighter than this
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David F:
14 May 2014 8:37:28am
Smoke and mirrors exponents will quote this charade for years. Bring on the double dissolution.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 8:39:42am
Governments are there to provide to do what is best for the nation. The LNP government has in this budget adequately addressed a key concern that revenue is not rising at the same rate as expenditure on government services. Slashing services is the most appropriate course because the alternative of increasing income tax would lead to economic stagnation.
The government has also introduced the key principal which made Australia great: self reliance and hard work as carried out by pioneering families. The entitlement mentality on the other hand is all about expecting others to carry you. The end of the age of entitlement needs to be further reinforced in future budgets.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 10:38:31am
"Adequately addressed"? They have decreased revenue and increased spending. They have done so by cutting programs to assist the poor, sick, and elderly and adding to defense and the coffers of big business. I don't think you are paying attention.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 12:18:10pm
GJA:
We can no longer afford to pay for current expenditure on programs to assist the poor, sick, and elderly. There are simply too many people who are living off the taxpayer. Defence spending is necessary for an increasingly volatile border and will have its economic benefits. I can't see where big business is getting much in the way of benefits.
It might come as a shock but the government doesn't print money but this ultimately comes from the taxpayer. They will have more to pay for but at least they won't be crippled by additional taxation resulting in a failing economy.
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GJA:
14 May 2014 1:24:24pm
So you would end all welfare, Medicare, the pension? Your assertion that we cannot afford these things is baseless.
The border is "incrfeasingly volatile", is it? Troops massing along the shores? Is it the missile tests fired by refugees that's got you so worked up, perhaps? What nonsense. And how does giving the US AU$24 billion provide economic benefits here?
You can't see where big business is getting benefits because you're not looking.
The government won't be printing much money once they sell off the Mint, sure.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 2:30:53pm
GJA:
You haven't indicated where the money will come from. If it is the taxpayer they will have less to spend thus damaging the economy thus increasing unemployment and hence tax earn't. If you tax business too much the businesses close down also reducing revenue. Of course there is the credit card!
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GJA:
14 May 2014 5:12:14pm
There are plenty of ways to improve spending other than cuts and Abbott has demonstrated the worst ways to increase revenue. The doctor visit co-pay is a flat tax we don't need, when we should be working on how health care is managed instead. The deficit levy is a tax that won't even touch the sides of what it's supposed to address and now won't even bring in the originally projected revenue. Increased spending on defense does nothing for Australia, as the money's going overseas. But you'll just carp about the "credit card" as if that means anything.
We don't need this Lucky Country mob. We need bold, progressive politicians.
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Teddy:
14 May 2014 8:46:04am
It is amazing how a promise that was to me clearly broken was not. One thing about how a politician speaks is how that he is not lying but that he can extend the truth into the negative zone.
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Mark of melb:
14 May 2014 8:46:10am
Bring on the ditch the ..... Protests, and bring on the convoy of no confidence. Get rid of this mob, election now.
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Wave2me:
14 May 2014 8:48:51am
Some thoughts.
Almost every government has had to break promises to do what is right for the country.
Rudd should never had passed on the promised tax cuts after the 2007 election, the economic environment had changed dramatically, and so the government should have changed to suit.
I tend to look at the promises as a list of priorities rather than promises, as economies change, information is limited to opposition, (Bob Carr and the M4 contracts comes to mind).
So what do I think of this budget.
There are no great economic shocks, or dramatic changes to people income which is good. it sets the tone for further incremental changes in the future.
Specifics
The Bad.
$7 co payment.
I don't object to this specifically, and that it is all going to fund research is good, and its not a large amount.
However, if like me, you have three children, all sick at the same time requiring several visits, that will cost. Is there anything to solve this.
Second, taxes and charges have a habit of changing over time, now that we have this, future governments will find it easier to increase the charge, and divert that money to general revenue, and within a decade, it becomes expensive to go to the doctor.
Its a slippery slope we should not have started on.
Having to wait months for unemployment benefit. See how long that lasts when people start steeling to survive.
Paid Parental Leave. Enough said. The current system for government employees should be abandoned to save money.
Things I question the wisdom of
Unis being made to compete like business, setting there own fees etc?
Sounds like bad idea, its a race to the bottom.
The good.
Top tax rate being raised for 3 years. Good, but should be permanent.
Return of fuel indexation. Good, should never have been removed. When introduced by Keating, the idea is that the amount of tax would match inflation, so continue to increase over time. I have two old cars, and knowing that this has returned might focus me on the economy when I replace them. Better for the environment.
Allowing people doing trades to have the equivalent of the HECS debt.
Tighter restrictions on Family Tax A&B. Needed to happen.
Missed opportunity.
All tax bands should be frozen until the budget is returning surpluses of greater than 30 billion a year.
As wages increase, this will lift revenue, but without any great shocks to peoples income.
There is more to comment on, but this seems to me to be the main points.
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malb:
14 May 2014 2:59:27pm
Sensible stuff W.
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rockinghamlarry:
14 May 2014 8:50:38am
pensioners have been begging for an increase in their benefit...what was the reward....a reduction of +$60 per fortnight.......!!!!....Why is this factor not highlighted in the majority of news outlets???.....Where are all the experts????
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Marcus:
14 May 2014 8:53:03am
I am a pensioner in Victoria, and already spend winter in bed as I can't afford heating. I have a very complex number of medical conditions, and need to visit the doctor weekly. My medications already cost $150 a month. Because of a stroke I get round in a power wheelchair. That's how I get to the doctor - except when it is raining, so I have to get a wheelchair taxi - and that costs money. What's my sensible option?
Fatuous comments by people on good incomes, like Amanda Vanstone, that $7 is only a couple of sandwiches do not grasp that those two sandwiches were to be my lunch on that day.
Pensioners already live below the poverty line. This budget drives us further below.
Several posters here allude to suicide being the only solution for pensioners who have medical needs. How can Abbott and Hockey not see that appearing on the horizon?
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Benevolent Guardian:
14 May 2014 8:58:21am
This is not a fair budget at all, it is an abomination.
Very true that both labor and liberal parties are an absolute disgrace and here is why;
For many decades with the mandate of some (not all for example; ABC News) nation-wide media propaganda in fact fueled many issues such as, stigma, prejudice, racism, discrimination, crimes and violation of human rights. Rights? for example, North Korea violates human rights, however... Australian governments use another cunning way for example, specifically by 'entrenching' the working poor and the most vulnerable in Australia, to use counter-productive and punitive methods. i.e. Kicking the most vulnerable to the curb whilst rewarding and continuing to allow a lot of the wealthy Australians to pay zero taxes. For example: The past (Rudd/Gillard) and current government circus is putting the cart before the horse by dumping thousands of vulnerable people on lower payments and 'then' expect them to find well paid jobs, but truth in news will show that some have fallen prey to working in 'sweatshop' style employment earning grossly unfair wages. There is a lot of abuse and discrimination in the workplace that needs to be stamped out.
Yes, Australia is infamous for; the abuse of the most vulnerable (elderly, disabled and children) and sadly this legacy continues to this day. I'm sure many Australians will not admit so easily to these facts for reasons such as; misguided (reasoning) due to being deceived and misinformed, To further explain;
The reality is, for many decades many Australians including politicians have sown the seeds for detestation; racism, prejudice, dishonesty (or misleading at best), along with; greed, selfishness and mean-spirited mentality. In doing so, Australia has become the playground for the rich and to hell with the working poor and the most vulnerable (children, disabled and elderly).
Sadly, nowadays's hardly anyone cares, there is not much compassion left anymore, take care 'Yourself' is the Australian way whereas, 'Fair-Go' and 'Lucky Country' are some of the deceiving words hammered by propaganda over past decades to sugar-coat, to mislead most Australians into a false sense of reality. {sigh} Meanwhile; alarming growth rates of working poor, homelessness, suicides and crimes are the realities of the Australian way. Also Australia has become the breeding ground for chronic social disorders and physical pain. (search keywords; Australian Atrocities, about 1,260,000 results)
The biggest rorts and handouts occur at the top-end (mega-rich) such as; some (not all) corporates (CEO), politicians and for example; government departments such as Centrelink, which is the most corrupt, most complaint department in Australia according to the Ombudsman's report. (search keywords; Report Card on Centrelink)
So, it's business as usual for the biggest rorters who also manipulate Aussies perception and culture.
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Drew:
14 May 2014 12:44:36pm
Good post, but do not forget that Australia has the added cataclysmic social injustice long suffered by the indigenous people.
Compared to their overall, general circumstances, the rest of society has a cakewalk.
And who has put up his bullying hand to be responsible for delivering a fix? The "Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs". We all saw the strong measures in the budget to outline a plan for addressing our nation's greatest single chronic failure under the stewardship of this man, didn't we. But Aboriginal people are no threat to Mr Abbott, since they are few in number, and their social disadvantage prevents them having the capacity to generally gain momentum in the arena of political and social reform. Aas evidenced by being represented in Canberra by a non indigenous politician totally under qualified for the task.
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Ken:
14 May 2014 9:00:17am
Further to my previous post.
I am 65, not rich and not poor. I will never get a pension and I will never get the health care card or any pensioner benefits. My savings just stop me from ever getting a pension or any senior or pensioner support ever. I am where I am because I worked hard and saved hard all my life and I am not dependent of any government handout. I never got government support for my education.
Why can't all Australians just knuckle down, work hard, save and start with a modest home and 1 car and build your life from there? I did.
Forget what the budget does or does not give you. Make your own way.
I am glad that foreign support has been cut. Yes we can help those how are really helping themselves but put that money in to australia.
Ken
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Rob:
14 May 2014 10:55:52am
Ken; you ask why can't Australians start with a modest home- 1 car and start from there- as you and I seem to have done?
Because they were conned into the debt trap- to buy stuff they did not need with money they did not have. And without that there would not have been the '"growth: in the economy -the China driven mining boom and the GST driven surplus.
Are you aware household debt in Australia grew from 40% to 158% of disposable income during the Howard years and now stands at some $1.7 TRILLION.
What is happening now began 30-40 years ago=you and I contributed to it by being asleep to what was happening.
We were OK Jack and now you want to blame the kids?
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Steve:
14 May 2014 9:01:26am
"Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards."
Thank you for this quote, Annabel; I am a long-time cynic when it comes to politics. The old "how do you tell when a politician is lying? His mouth is moving" is as true as it's ever been. It is folly to expect any less.
Hopefully (in the loosest sense of the word), that this will wake a portion of the population from this nonsensical left-right stupour so many people seem to live in and realise that politicians of both colours are bought and paid for long before they are wheeled in front of us for vote counting. Maybe we can stop electing them and take back some of the power we continually give them.
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Paul PATTI:
14 May 2014 9:07:21am
I am gobsmacked at how many of the comments here trivialise our nations plight or lay blame on politicians and big business.
Instead of people claiming that they can all do the job of running the nation better than those elected; how about getting out there and leading by example.
The age of Entitlement is dead - change to be relevant or wither on the vine or our options.
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foolking:
14 May 2014 9:07:34am
Landcare is a strange beast in my area in that it took work away from existing environmental contractors who weren't subsidised
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Harquebus:
14 May 2014 9:15:33am
We all know politicians do it, lie. Why do journalists always let them get away with it? After all, this ridiculous pursuit of growth which, is a self defeating absurdity, is poisoning their children and polluting our planet for their children to grow up in as well. Why are we pursuing growth if all it does is cause pain and destruction?
"Austerity" is a word that I haven't heard used yet. Oh, I forgot, it's referred to as the end of the age of entitlement now.
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Oaktree:
14 May 2014 9:21:32am
A case of twiddling while Canberra burns, Annabel?
This budget affects myself and partner only very little at this point as we have already retired on a self-funded basis and we both have good health for our age.
However, the unfairness of this budget is criminal. While the pollies take a break from salary increases - for one year - people in less fortunate circumstances will be struggling even more to access health services when they have no such thing as discretionary spending money. Gas heating is going up, those who can afford a vehicle face increasing fuel costs, and now the small benefits that are so important to their budget are being whittled away. Many face the underweight Newstart Payments when they qualified for the Age or Disability Pension previously. People who dismiss expenses as equal to a coffee, miss the point that many people never buy a coffee as they struggle to meet their high rental payments and other essential costs.
With education also a big loser, one really wonders what public policy this Government has considered. None, I suspect. Looking at the big winners it becomes even more obvious what the aim of this Government is, and heaven help those who believe in the trickle down effect, because it is more a trickle out effort going overseas to tax havens and investors.
Watching those bare-faced liars in the House and on tv interviews as they spin their original promises with such faux conviction makes me sick. The more so because their budget "crisis" does not exist and their forward planning is blatantly biased. A lesson to all who were encouraged to fixate on some sloganised issues instead of using their brains.
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cantconme:
14 May 2014 9:27:12am
20 billion for medical research? is this true or was i mistaken. this could be the first true step for solving the outbreak of several health issues that currently plague this nation. dementia, alzheimers last and by no means the least the insidious plague of I CANT RECALL syndrome that has swepped the political ranks of the nations representatives .one day truth and decency may return to the land of oz .maybe pigs can fly or maybe just suck fat cuban cigars and the public purse.
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Joan Vickers:
14 May 2014 9:28:23am
Annabel - Thanks for this hilarious expose of this grossly dismal budget. You brightened up the day for this worried pensioner.
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burke:
14 May 2014 9:29:06am
Not twiddles, not broken promises. Hockey is doing the job that Swan spent 5 years pretending to do!
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confused:
14 May 2014 9:29:23am
If we have such a budget crises that everyone (almost) must pay why do we still have a "AAA" credit rating?
I thought only strong economies rated that;
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Martin:
14 May 2014 9:30:15am
So it looks like tough times for many of us poorer people.
Still one can get by.
I just got a shopping bag full of clothes for $5 at the RSPCA thrift shop. I also went to St Vinnies and got a box full of 250g tubs of yogurt for $2.50 (24 to box- normal retail $20) No fruit or veggies at St Vinnies yesterday though- normally potatoes and other veggies are $2/ shopping bag.
Biggest problem of putting the age pension up to 70 is not just the loss of about $100/week when you are unemployed rather than a pensioner but also the loss of pensioner benefits like discounts for public transport, electricity, rates and other things.
When the pension age was moved to 67 it seemed I was OK as I would still become a pensioner at 65. Since then it has changed for me to 66. The pension age is moving away from me faster than I am aging. So I probably have another 10 years unemployed before I get the pension at 70.
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methink:
14 May 2014 9:32:07am
We know the libs are back in power their first budget in 8 years shows it the rich get richer the poor get poorer , thats how they work .
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bop:
14 May 2014 9:32:21am
I just thought I'd get my comment up here before the ABC has to close down the website due to cost cutting.
Worst. Budget. Ever.
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Noel:
14 May 2014 9:39:53am
So we have a budget emergency. Then why are we creating a brand new twenty billion dollar slush fund, shouldn't we be reducing the deficit instead.
A tax on the sick, that is pretty sick, pardon the pun, Joe. A tax on Cuban cigars would have been better.
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iiii open:
14 May 2014 10:55:45am
Noel it's very simple now that all the public owned utilities have been sold, to give private enterprise a debt so they pay NO TAX.
Tony and his mates now give them a subsidised one. to the tune of
$20 billion.
Companies still in debt therefore pay no tax. CEO's pay is up because gross income rises and the CEO's still pay no tax on their income, that one down to family trusts.
Hope this helps, as if we all don't know.
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Noel:
14 May 2014 9:42:15am
I for one am up for another election, bring on a double dissolution, let this be a referendum on broken promises and big fat new taxes.
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wallywill:
14 May 2014 9:48:36am
I certainly hope that with the roads budget, that they intend building a lot of bridges. I still can't understand how they can cut off support payments to under 30's for 6 months, how is anyone under 30 going to survive if they loose their jobs. We have seen a rise in homelessness in recent years, many families are now living out of cars, they will need those bridges to sleep under. What effect will this also have on the crime stats. I could understand if they put in a work for the dole scheme, but not to just hang young Australians out to dry.
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keith:
14 May 2014 10:03:53am
Bravo bravo well done Joe...i'v never seen anyone slice there own wrists with such grace now we just have to wait for the LNP to bleed to death on it own pile of broken promises
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LucyLou:
14 May 2014 10:29:37am
Nobody seems to have made the point that most doctors don't bulk bill and it costs to visit the doc already I pay $11.00 (pension rate) every time so add another $7.00 and its quite expensive. Oh well, hope I keep well!!
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bev:
14 May 2014 10:31:21am
here's a question, if the govt is setting up a research fund with our taxes and its not going to the CSIRO or the research and development projects in the universities, where or more precisely WHO is it going to? a private pharmaceutical company? - please ask the question
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Radical Transparency:
14 May 2014 11:41:28am
Very good question Bev.
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wombat:
14 May 2014 10:34:31am
At the end of the day I dont think anyone will suffer greatly from this budget. BUT what it does do is illustrate that we are a culture that expects an easy ride, and that the government will pick up the slack and look after us.
This welfare state mentality must end now and free loaders given easy endless handouts to finish.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 1:12:19pm
wombat:
Given the urgency to balance revenue and expenditure, the budget appears mild indeed. It's a very good wake up call that the country is sliding into a dependency syndrome where the expectation is government does all for you. We need to move back to the self reliance ethic that built Australia.
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Luke:
14 May 2014 10:37:58am
Avoiding overly emotive descriptions such as "brutally slashed" and "gouges" can assist in making an objective assessment of a situation, assuming that is the intention.
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KBBuderim:
14 May 2014 10:45:12am
Why don't they start taxing churches?
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 1:07:13pm
KBBuderim:
Taxing Churches won't provide the revenue necessary to deal with increasing demands on government services. It is of course a perfectly reasonable thing to tax income on Churches in the same way the government taxes businesses. However by the time all the costs are deducted from income (for example building maintenance and provision of charitable services), the tax owed may be small.
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Pert:
14 May 2014 10:47:58am
Medicare is abused by those healthy people who seek to obtain medical certificates in order to justify to their employers a day off work.
Let employees take their 6 to 10 days medical leave per year without the need to provide documentation. People will take sick leave regardless, but the savings in Medicare funded doctors visits would be enormous.
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Gr8Ape:
14 May 2014 10:48:53am
So health and education are effectively being privatized then.
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Peter R:
14 May 2014 10:51:18am
Back around 2007, the Liberals lost an election because of the fear generated by Workchoices. That was then and now they are in power and we will have with that. - But so too will the Liberal Party, because if the Workchoices reaction is anything to go by, these new measures will pale the Workchoices backlash into insignificance.
Enjoy your budget while you can Hockey, because you and your ilk will see a backlash like no other and your party will be suspended in opposition until hell freezes over.
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Coogara:
14 May 2014 1:00:35pm
Peter R:
A backlash is possible but that won't solve the problem which will have to be dealt with by the ALP which is increasing expenditure on welfare, health, education and pensions that is not matched by revenue. The easy option is the credit card approach. Everything that is deemed desirable is provided and paid for by large loans that have to be paid for by subsequent generations.
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Long:
14 May 2014 10:51:50am
I came to Australia in 1981 as a refugee. Received government benefit for some six weeks before got a factory job. Worked for two years then went to university for 3 years. Luclily there was no HECS at the time and I lived by with TEA (tertiary education assistance). Have been working since completing my degree.
Australia is a lucky country. I appreciate very much her generosity and the opportunities that I was given. I think many people here should change their mentality and see that government handout is for us to live by while we are studying or looking for a job, not as a long term entitlement. With proper budgeting most people should be able to survive with the small handout given.
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paulineh:
14 May 2014 4:02:22pm
If someone is properly supported during their study, they are able to give back to the nation that supported them. This is what happened to you as Uni fees were non existent and full time students were supported with living allowances. This investment is well worthwhile, as those with the potential are able to develop it. This is not the Australia of today, we are fast reverting to the rich get opportunities regardless of their potential, and the poor are unable to develop the potential that they have. You might not be able to contemplate study due to the costs. You would not be able to get work, as the program that teaches English to refugees would not exist, or would cost money you do not have. Unemployment support will only be available, once you have hit the bottom, and you will be on a continuous cycle of intermittent support 6 months on, 6 months off, which is effectively halving unemployment benefits for the under 30s....sorry..I mean NEWSTART benefit. This is all being instituted under the banner of a financial crisis that when looked at from outside this country, does not exist, even this government has increased the deficit as soon as it came to power so where is the crisis?
Personally, I am calling on the Senate to force a new election, but I wonder at the strength of character or level of understanding from some of our new kids on the block, the motor enthusiast may not be keen on the fuel excise increase, but our Democratic Liberal seems to applaud this budget. PUP will probably be happy about treatment of mining and seems to be making a token gesture on blocking the co-payment for health services.
I believe the true nature of a government is revealed by a number of things;-
- how it encourages the development of skills and enterprise of ALL its people,
- how it provides for fair treatment and rewards for workers of all kinds,
- how it treats its poor and underprivileged,
- how it obtains its revenue in a way that balances burden between rich and poor
- how it exercises its responsibilities to safeguard the long term future for both its own citizens, but also the rest of the world, including overseas aid, treatment of asylum seekers and refugees such as yourself, and action on issues such as environment and climate change.
I find this government lacking in all these areas. This budget is simply the beginning of undermining the basic things that you experienced coming to this "lucky Country" in 1981.
I have never felt more ashamed of the actions of a government as I do at this time.
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Stevepol:
14 May 2014 10:58:13am
At the election before last Abbott is reported to have said he was prepared to sell his "arse" to gain government. He might not have sold that part of his anatomy but he's certainly sold his integrity.
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Henry Gasko:
14 May 2014 11:18:58am
The problem is that Tony Abbott made a lot of commitments before the election - commitments which were clearly inconsistent (balancing the budget without raising taxes or reducing services). He either did not realize they were inconsistent, or knew that they were but did not care.
If he did not realize their inconsistency (highly unlikely), he would have to be the stupidest Prime Minister we have ever had. The more likely option is that he knew full well that he could not deliver on all his commitments but did not care, and cynically played the electorate for fools who would forget by the time of the next election as long as it got him into power.
A lot of the measures make perfectly sensible policy but to claim "No surprises" before the election is just blatant hypocrisy. Perhaps one of the ABC's political reporters could ask him which is the correct choice. There are no other alternatives.
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Barry:
14 May 2014 11:56:44am
I love the final quote in Annabel's article, from Tony Abbott about saying one thing and doing another.
The bottom line for me is that we have to expect left-wingers to behave in a left-wing way, and right-wingers to behave in a right-wing way, regardless of what they say during an election campaign.
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Reinhard:
14 May 2014 12:11:05pm
Thanks Annabel, even I was shocked to see just how deplorable the govt's changes to health care are, and how they will effect the underprivileged. They will hurt people who require regular medical check-ups, specialist care like pathology and medication the worst , and those on low incomes will get no relief either.
As for bringing our democracy into disrepute and alienating the citizenry of Australia, Abbott had already achieved that as opposition leader with his three year long dummy spit, and that's exactly how he managed to be elected.
But then two can play at that game, ..........Election now!
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ow2839:
14 May 2014 12:38:24pm
I was raised a Labour voter yet switched to LNP in the 90's.
As a full time carer of a loved one who cannot work or drive, I am sickened by a government that turns it's back on folk genuinely needing help. There are so many silent and unseen disabled people who already have a reduced quality of life that WILL suffer enormously from this budget while others, the upper middle class and the opportunists who wage split to gain an ADVANTAGE will be relatively unaffected! How can this be governing of the PEOPLE?
For those who challenge this? Don't for one minute think you will never be affected by chronic illness, disability, or poverty. I will admit right now that I was once just like you, but have since had my smug self serving reality shattered through no fault of anyones, and believe you me, poverty follows close on the heels of illness even with top level private cover.
Maybe the silver tails and there corporate mates could build a wall around their empires. Then they could simply toss societies refuse, i.e the poor the disabled and the elderly, to the other side much like tyrants of ages past.
I don't like being lied too and will NEVER vote LNP again. No matter how poor the opposition, no matter how gloomy the economy.
NEVER.
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Frank:
14 May 2014 1:39:15pm
Yes I said exactley that about the Labor Party Lies......who do we vote for it seems politicians have it in their DNA to lie and cheat their way into office. gold pass travel for ex-MPs wound back then abolished
Remember this? "Governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards" - Tony Abbott, August 2011.
Now I'm all for good budget management, but whether it be Labor or Coalition they are all liars with their own selfish reasons for being in Government.
What to do, the independants, radical greens and the (say anything) Palmer Party offer nothing but more of the same. I'm thinking every voter should become a swinging one, and go into election booths with one aim in mind....that being to change the Government at each anmd every election opportunity.
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Matt:
14 May 2014 12:46:49pm
Yep Peter R, It's all about spend spend spend for you isn't it.
Thankfully the children can't spend anymore and the adults can save a bit of money for, no not you, but the next generation who would have had to pay for you and the debt that was left them by your generation.
The best we can do for the next generation is leave them a clean slate to start with.
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GrumpiSkeptic:
14 May 2014 12:51:09pm
The AFL...and the budget...
Yes, it is strange that I want to bring up the AFL. We Aussies are relatively fair when it come to sports. There have not been any large scale crowd violence in all of the sports we play. However, we are passionate.
When Team-A lined up the goal-post for a shot, there will be "boos" from the supporters of Team-B, wishing the ball goes anywhere but between the posts! Now if the ball did miss the goal for a "behind", there will be cheers all around by Team-B.
Now lets talk about the budget...
Do you know who is cheering for it? The Business Council. Well, it is a sure-fire way of telling us that the other side, ie. the lower income, the "non-productive" portion of Australia, is coping it from the government. In a nutshell, the Business Council just scored a goal for a six pointer.
So Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey are prepared to break promises to fill in the Black-holes in the budget. The strange thing is that not much is actually going back to the budget as much of the cuts they proposed will be spent. The "Medical Research Fund" will take up much of it.
Picking winners and losers? Definitely. Remember Joe's silly utterance of "uttering offensive" windmills? Well, it is obvious that clean energy does not figure in his grand plans of an even grander future as fossil fuels are close to his heart. Mind you, "COALition" has "COAL" in it. Just like "eCONovan" has Con the Fruiterer's name in it.
So why pay such heavy bet on medical research, while cutting the CSIRO funding? What does medical research has and CSIRO doesn't? I think it is money. But then, didn't CSIRO bring in quite a lot of monetary returns for Australia? Perhaps not as much as we could have had if we follow those discoveries up better and do something with them. Picking winners and losers?
It is ironic that we want to raise the retirement age, and then injecting vast sums into medical research. Are they trying to make older people healthier so that they can still work way past 65 and beyond? A new breed of super oldies who are able to "...keep on working and working..." like that silly "Energizer" advert starred by no other but Mark "Jacko" Jackson?
Ohh..There will be a $10,000 incentive to employ oldies. Remember some of those hare-brain schemes using such bonus to get young people jobs? As soon as the the bonus money went, they were off-loaded by employers. The point I am trying to make is this...Unless employers are genuinely wanting to employ oldies, and are smart enough to see the benefits of doing so, no amount of incentives and bonuses will work, in the long term.
Yes, Joe, I suggest you first check where those cigars had been...Ask Bill Clinton...
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dman:
14 May 2014 1:19:09pm
One of the biggest changes in this budget that people aren't fully acknowledging yet is that the federal govt has made massive cuts in the funding that the states receive on health and education. So states are no doubt going to have to raise money to make up the shortfall (i.e. lobby for a GST increase) or cut services.
If you think the budget doesn't impact you now, you might like to wait and see the snowball effect of these changes. To me it's a slippery slope towards a USA-style system where health and education are luxuries bought by the wealthy.
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temperance pledge:
14 May 2014 3:06:08pm
I guess the hospitals and schools could always run a weekly chook raffle. The odd lamington drive could also help. Before we know it local communities will have the schools and hospitals running like clockwork.
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Mentat Render:
14 May 2014 1:22:22pm
Should tax the churches and other religious institutions, I don't believe in them much like some don't believe in renewable energy (not even climate change).
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Mell:
14 May 2014 2:07:32pm
Reading all the comments shows how ignorant some people are, this govt Inherited this debt, the repayments have to be made, if they don't do something about it where are we going to be in 10 years..... No welfare payments No education, the list is endless, don't forget the thousands of refugees that sit in this country getting welfare, how did labor think this country could sustain this, if labor had of been re elected what do you honestly think their budget would of been. Or would they simply take our super money. So we are going to pay extra and some welfare payments may decrease, if they get a job they don't loose instead of complaining change get off the welfare roundabout and earn the money. Their are plenty of jobs if you look.
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dutchy:
14 May 2014 3:05:46pm
what I cannot understand is why the pensions union does not take the Abbot government to the high court about the new pension age. Should that not be the same for everyone not just for the workers but also politicians? The Labor party could do much good to make this their policy.
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Zathras:
14 May 2014 3:29:24pm
Every extra dollar that we pay in these new "levies" is a dollar that has been taken out of the economy.
With consumer confidence falling, what will be the implications for the retail industry?
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Treetop:
14 May 2014 3:45:23pm
There is nothing in this budget to address the problem of falling government revenue in ratio to spending .
For a successful economy , people need to have the confidence to spend after they have covered the basics of living like housing , electricity and petrol .
The government should be looking at ways to decrease the basics of living so people have more to spend on the non-essential which helps to stimulate business activity and increases GST and government revenue .
People under 30 years old in general will save more now instead of spending their income because they can't afford to exist for 6 months without any income if lose their jobs and if the under 30 year old have no safety net and no income for 6 months then people living on the streets and the crime rate will increase .
Pensioners will have less to spend , with less income from the pension and with the $7 co-payment to the doctor and increased pharmaceuticals will decrease their spending power in the retail sector meaning less GST and tax revenue for the government .
The housing crisis wasn't addressed in this budget and people will have even less to spend in the retail sector when housing prices , housing rentals , petrol and electricity prices keep taking a bigger chunk of their incomes.
A large tax rate of 30% extra tax for investors who invest in existing houses and a tax incentive of 10% deduction for investors in new housing would have help solved the problem .
There is nothing in the budget to help collect taxes from overseas corporations who trade in Australia or from Australian businesses who pay no tax.
There should be a system where every business that trades in Australia pays tax .
A business tax calculated on turnover instead of on profits would make it possible that no business doesn't pay any tax.
All mining companies should be paying extra taxes on their turnovers and not on their profits so they pay a fair price for their supplies like every other business usually has to do when they buy their stocks .
The current budget will help to increase the unemployment rate with further cuts to government employment as former government employees will compete with people who usually work in the private sector try to get work in the private sector and the economy will start to go backwards because people will start to spend more on the basics and less in the retail sector that usually helps to expand the economy .
The incomes of former government employees , the unemployed , pensioners , the low income workers etc make up a large part of spending in the Australian economy which will be reduced by this budget .
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Arewethereyet:
14 May 2014 3:46:24pm
I wonder what Paul Keating makes of all this?
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Nedkel:
14 May 2014 3:57:37pm
"Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election, and do the other afterwards", said Anthony John Abbott on 22 August 2011.
And that is precisely what Anthony John Abbott has just done.
So please do not be surprised that you and the Coalition have alienated me for all time Abbott. I do not forgive serial liars. I simply cut them out of my life and go out of my way to tell the world just what I think of them.
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Amateur Observer:
14 May 2014 3:58:08pm
This is Tony's, "Gillard moment".
The extremists snuck-in on a house of lies.
If even moderate right-wingers like John Hewson and Malcolm Fraser can't stomach the extremism of Abbott, Hockey, Brandis, and Morrison it tells you that the nation has chosen wrongly.
Bring on the next election so this bad, incompetent, extremist government will be tossed out as soon as possible.
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Davo Alice Springs:
14 May 2014 4:00:50pm
Suck it up folks. Its not the worst budget ever, dont blame me for the ALP parasites who blew our Surplus and Future Funds, at least Tony & Joe have had the guts to address the problem and try to reduce the debt ! Do you really want your sons, daughters, grandsons, grand daughters & great grandsons and great grand daughters to be paying off Labors massive debts for the rest of their lives.
The other simple message is "live within your means", its not that hard.
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Treetop:
14 May 2014 9:07:35pm
There is a big difference between household debit and government debit .
The Australian government has a AAA credit rating with one of the lowest debts to GNP in the world.
Debt only becomes a problem when it can't be repaid .
If you take off the Howard tax cuts , the Australian budget would already be back into surplus.
The Rudd stimulus package saved Australia from going into recession with a huge amount of businesses collapsing and possibly millions on the dole
Even the CEO of Woolworths stated that the Rudd stimulus package stop Woolworths at the time from going backwards very quickly with a loss of turnover .
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dee:
14 May 2014 4:15:27pm
Putting fear into people and making ordinary Australians worry about their future is unAustralian. Job creation, good education, decent medical care, respect for the elderly has always been something Australians have had.
When people worry they stop spending so retail will suffer and more people out of work. Small business will lay off workers or just not put on new staff, more people wanting to go on Centrelink. If the jobs are not there and there is no Centrelink safety net, perhaps we will go the way of America with lots of homeless people sleeping in doorways and garden areas outside shops, people sleeping in their cars and rv's in parking lots and dumpster diving as they call going through garbage bins. I've seen this with my own eyes and I have friends that live in California and keep me up to date. It's one thing for Australians to tighten their belts a bit but to take away their belts..........More jobs is what Australia really needs and an environment where employers want to put on more workers and give the young and workers over 50 a chance.
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John:
14 May 2014 4:16:47pm
Surprised there was no mention of keeping the carbon tax after all. Oh wait, thats a tax on big business....sorry, my mistake.
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nannagee:
14 May 2014 4:30:34pm
Hang your heads in shame. Mr Abbot your pay cut is what you expect a young person to live on, What about the under 30 year old, who through no fault of their own becomes unemployed. They may have been in a job, thought they were financially secure, married, had a child and possibly even a mortgage. What is going to happen to them for the 6 months they have to wait for assistance. No money for higher cost fuel to look for work or attend interviews. Cant go back to mum and dad they have had pensions eaten into. Cant take kids to doctor, they dont have a health card. SHAME ON YOU
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carole nugent:
14 May 2014 4:43:51pm
OMG I have been reading through the above comments and I just had to stop, your all a bunch of wingers, why don't you look at the suffering going on in other countries, where human beings don't have basic human necessities like running clean water, good healthy food available daily, good quality health care, the list goes on. And what about the abhorrent suffering of millions of animals all of the world every second of every day. Governments should look after the poor and disabled in our society whether they are young or old, and not those who can help themselves, and for goodness sake stop thinking of yourselves for once and become a kinder nation to those less fortunate, the climate and those poor suffering animals that you lot quite happily turn a blind eye to each and every day!
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burke:
14 May 2014 5:28:29pm
I agree. There is a flavour of "woe is me, I didn't get handout" flowing through these comments. John F Kennedy had something to say to you guys.
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lynne:
14 May 2014 5:58:42pm
We can do both carole nugent. We can criticise this horrific Abbott government and their heartlessness and also look after the animals as best we can. I do. And, by the way, this liberal government slashed the programme put in by the Gillard government which helped to a degree, the poor animals sent overseas to the Arab countries. It was a body of sorts which had to make sure humane treatment was being administered. It was not perfect but better than nothing. The animals and poor humans have no chance with this cruel excuse for a political party. I am so ashamed to be Australian these days...we are a laughing stock overseas actually. Talk about the wild west!!
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ynotbbb:
14 May 2014 5:27:25pm
No chance of getting any benefits or dole, too young to get a pension, too old to get a job what have I got to look forward to for the rest of my life well there's Tax's and the ever increasing costs of living.
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Rose:
14 May 2014 5:29:22pm
When government tells us this is the end of the age of entitlement should they not lead by example ie their superanuation perks. The government should hang their heads in shame for bringing down this budget and all the lies that we were told before the election No New Taxes, No changes to Medicare. Mr Abbott you are a out and out liar and time to acknowledge that instead of your play with words. Now you just have to sit back and wait for the states to come crying and twisting your arm to raise the GST. Remember these words nothing can save Australia from Tony Abbott and his mob.
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Dionisos:
14 May 2014 6:22:25pm
I voted for the Liberal party on the basis of an assumption that their platform is to repair the Australian economy and keep our moral standards. I trusted the LNP to keep up its word. I certainly did not give my vote for someone to come and destroy this country, deprive people of their dignity, jobs, health services and livelihood. I call upon the Government to reconsider the budget, respect the rule of law and Australian democracy.
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Roz:
14 May 2014 6:25:21pm
This is the most socially destructive budget I've ever seen in Australia. The government should be deplored, and then dismissed for moral turpitude without access to a parliamentary pensions so the can experience life in the real world. I suggest we take to the streets to send the smug bastards a strong message. Where's GetUp?
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Aussie Sutra:
14 May 2014 6:28:31pm
Every immigrant arriving in Australia will cost well over a million dollars in infrastructure in their lifetimes, not including welfare payments. So, if Australia is so hard up it needs to go into "austerity" by another name, why did the government not announce a radical cut in immigration numbers? Because they are happy for Australian taxpayers to pay over $3,000 each per year to pay the infrastructure costs of new arrivals, while at the same time seeing the potential incomes or the poorest workers dropped because of too much low end competition. In Liberal terms, this is a win-win.
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Zorba The Greek:
14 May 2014 7:14:13pm
With a budget like this Australia does not need to have a nuclear war, because we already have been bombed .
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Let's agree:
14 May 2014 7:30:20pm
Let's agree that it's better for the economy if we don't all live longer.
There is simply no argument on this. Trying to find a way for we oldies to study/develop/keep young people out of jobs through until we're 90 - because we think we're important - is just bloody stupid.
If we happen to die from an ingrown toe-nail because we have a tight arse, then that's just nature doing its job.
We should face the truth that we are not productive after 60. Let us have a bit of fun, enjoy a thing or two, and then drift into the void.
That shouldn't be too hard, should it?
The ABC, by the way, is 80-plus years old. Same applies, kids,
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Lynn Luck:
14 May 2014 8:14:15pm
This is thatcher all over again . There were beggars on the street by the time she finished . Her cabinet all resigned one by one and even the wealthy turne on her in the end as factories were forced to close .
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visited:
14 May 2014 8:53:12pm
Question: How do you sabotage a National Hospital/Education system?
Answer: Withdraw $80billion.
Question: Why would anyone want to sabotage a pretty decent health & education system?
Answer (multiple choice)
a. You are a complete idiot
b. You have a hidden agenda/ulterior motive
c. You are a complete idiot
D. You have an ulterior motive
Bring on the double dissolution.
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T1:
14 May 2014 9:59:51pm
Just watching Two Men n China, talking about Australia's innovative technology design of Wind Turbines.They discuss how Australia hasn't been keeping up with other countries in developing more trade relationships with China beyond iron ore. But the wind turbines are a great hit and economic boom. Hockey of course will go backwards, stick with mining and polluting only, as a man who could not look forward, even into the present.
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Bear:
14 May 2014 11:17:30pm
In restructuring the economy the LNP Government has attacked middle and low paid income earners and the elderly, the segments of our society least able to cope. Where are the following mentioned namely -: Capital Gains Tax, Negative Gearing, Superannuation and the Diesel Fuel Rebate.
The Government handed the support of middle Australia to the Opposition. It has clearly defined it is there to support the Big end of Town.
The Budget should be blocked in the Senate forcing a double dissolution so that the Australian people can remove this Government and demonstrate to all parties that such an attack on the standard of living on those least able to bear the pain will not be tolerated.
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MD:
14 May 2014 11:26:24pm
When are they broken promises? If you make contradictory promises, you can only fulfil one of them. Claiming that doing so is 'fundamentally honest' is, ironically, fundamentally dishonest. It reminds me of a famous perfume advertising campaign's tagline: 'Promise her anything, but give her Arpege'. This Arpege smells rancid.
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Roj:
14 May 2014 11:47:12pm
AC - I wonder how many people turn up at emergency rooms every day and night who don't actually have anything wrong with them. Most!
Imagine how much that costs hospitals or how many sick people could be treated or saved if those numbers could be altered.
Imagine. Seven bucks to free up the ED's - or a total of $70 per annum. Wonder how that compares to say, a carton of cigarettes, a slab of beer, or a bottle of Jack.
I long for sincere journalism
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Ian:
15 May 2014 12:19:54am
Looking through these comments, I can see that numerous people are basically coming down on the party line... What I would like to see from some government... ANY government... is real actual governing of this country. Countries are big organisations/societies they need long lead times to undertake change, plan things, etc, etc, Where is the 50 year plan??? Where is the 100 year plan??? Where is the population growth plan??? Water usage??? Again I could go on.. .... and this plan should be bi-partisan and a social contract between the governments and the people of Australia.
Too hard?? Impossible??? External factors too important?? Well better having a plan than this current stupidity that we are all indulging. A plan would have just how much debt the country could afford! A plan would have provision for paying off the debt.. Any business or corporation that does not plan for the long term will not survive. So how do we expect the country to do so? A plan would allow people to structure their lives within known constraints, it would add stability to business... I will vote for whomever suggests that they will look, not to a four year, next election horizon but to 50 or 100 years down the track............ I'm sick of having to vote for one of two incompetent parties.
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jk22:
15 May 2014 6:31:58am
Sure, it is a tough budget then are not most anyway?
I'm at the lower end (genteel poverty) but I do applaud the 'mind-set' behind a necessary re-ordering of government outlays and priorities in a truly messed-up de-regulated world of human affairs. Nature gets 'her'/'his' priorities without a doubt; me thinks the human world does not.
However I do find that there were way too many 'Losers' and the very wealthy don't appear much affected in any sector. Of course I would need precise knowledgeable input to assuage some minor displeasure!
All praise to the solid team who are putting us on this meagre diet!
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Christopher J:
15 May 2014 6:52:09am
The over 65s voted in overwhelming numbers for the Tories..............Labor should pass this Budget, they are not in Government, they lost...................they get their chance again in a couple of years.
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