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Federal Coalition Government 2013-?

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boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
TA stated before the election many things.

He promised that there would be “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."

How times have changed.

You were warned.

Advertising on ABC? Goodbye, TV


If Tony Abbott gets his way and forces the ABC to carry advertising, then my TV set will end up on the verge outside (‘‘ABC faces chop, despite promise’’, smh.com.au, April 13).

Dave Horsfall North Gosford

"Australia", Herald readers were reliably informed last September, "is crying out for a stable government that can be trusted to deliver what it promises. The Herald believes only the Coalition can achieve that" (‘‘Australians deserve a government they can trust’’ September 6, 2013). I imagine conversation around the water cooler at Fairfax will be somewhat subdued this week.

Jacinta McManus Rozelle

Retire at 70, die at 71 - all solved, Joe

Listening to Treasurer Joe Hockey’s dire forecasts, and the desperate need for everyone to work longer, I have a simple solution (‘‘Joe Hockey confirms pension age could rise to 70’’, smh.com.au, April 13). Lift retirement age to 70, and introduce compulsory euthanasia at the age of 71. Problem solved. Just do not make it retrospective; I am 76.

Tom Szentkuti East Ryde

Joe Hockey’s advice to me: prepare to retire at 70? My advice to Joe Hockey: prepare to retire at the next election.

Keith Russell Mayfield West

Pensioners have everything in their favour if they form a united front and take on the Abbott government. Our pensioners have the numbers to make Tony Abbott’s Coalition a one-term government by voting against its proposed broken promise to reduce pensions as the lie will lead to a loss of about $200 per fortnight if he is allowed to get away with it. Only if you stand united will you win against his proposed concessions to the wealthy and big business.

Bruce Apps Townsend


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/a-deal-with-china-would-be-a-betrayal-20140413-zqu7p.html#ixzz2yp6HfdqB

Maybe the pension age for politicians should also be 70.
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
The biggest problem in trying to rage the pension age to 70 is that far more of the lower paid jobs are more physical and subsequently a higher proportion of people who need the age pension worked in a physical job where it is difficult to keep working to 65, let alone 70.

Often people who already keep working closer to 70 or past it are professionals who can keep working because they own their business or are a partner in it. Many of them do so more because they enjoy it than because they really need the money in my experience.

There needs to be a much larger emphasis on retraining and skills. It also needs to be considered that those least likely to further their skills and training on their own are the ones who most need it.

At the end of the day, it is cheaper for taxpayers to pay for retraining than it is to support someone who can't get a job because they don't have the requisite skills based on their age and abilities etc.
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
post-105529-0-56921300-1397380074.jpg


Did he lie, or did you believe what you wanted to believe?
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
The quote is definitely real. He said it the night before the election.

The picture is photoshopped. The original billboard said "We'll immediately legislate to scrap the carbon tax."

This one is also fake.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-ash3/t1.0-9/10175080_10154102014295556_5809864398934938890_n.jpg
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
Joe Hockey must apply pension age to politicians
(as I said yesterday)

Joe Hockey has said that "the age of entitlement is over". This doesn't seem to apply to politicians.


The (under)employment of the over 55s HAS to be addressed.

LETTERS
1397471966184.jpg-620x349.jpg
​
All in: Pension age must apply to all Australians. Photo: Andrew Meares​

I’m sure Australians would accept Joe Hockey’s plan to delay their pensions until the age of 70 as long as he and his fellow politicians also waited until that age before they were able to receive their overly generous handouts from the public coffers. ("Radical reform 'needed to tackle deficit'", April 14)

Grant Heaton, Port Macquarie

Apparently Joe Hockey is so keen on the idea of raising the pension age that he is also proposing to introduce a minimum age for politicians to access the parliamentary pension. I believe it will be set at the age of 18.

Dimitrios Tsoukalidis, Dulwich Hill

It is well known that employers are slow at engaging people in the market for a job if they are over the age of 55. It is all very well, and probably correct, for Joe Hockey to talk about increasing the age of retirement beyond the planned age of 67. However, he needs to acknowledge this issue and deal with it.
My suggestion is that there be financial incentives for employers to hire these "grey workers". The number crunchers in Treasury can work out the details but it needs to be enough to encourage employers to act. To say that these older employees bring valuable experience and maturity to the job simply isn't translating into hirings. This is the reality.
There is no point in ignoring this, Joe, you really do have to grasp the nettle and put some incentives in place, otherwise you can be sure it won't work to the extent that it needs to. Over time the employer psyche will change and it will become accepted practice. Only then can the Treasurer of the day contemplate the gradual reduction of the incentive.

John Whiteing, Willoughby

I wonder if the Federal Treasurer, lying awake and brooding over his budget in the small hours of the morning, reflects on how much easier his job would be if politics were governed by commonsense rather than ideology and an eye on the polls?
If only he could hang on to the income from the carbon and mining taxes and axe the proposed payouts to industries to persuade them to cut pollution.
If only he could put a means test on the parental paid leave scheme.
With all that extra money he wouldn't have to make such deep cuts and he could even save a few jobs.
Poor Joe.

Marjorie Biggins, Cooks Hill

I’ll take Joe Hockey seriously when he starts his own heavy lifting for our economy by addressing the profligate platinum plated parliamentary pension.

Ian Clarke, Avoca Beach

In all the discussion about the pension age, there is no one talking about a commensurate change in attitude of employers to the ageing in the workforce.
Regardless of how much economic sense a lift in the pension age makes, there remains a stark reality in the Australian workplace; businesses place no value on employees after the age of 55. The result is that if, as so many do these days, you find yourself out of work after the age of 55, it is a long hard road to get back into employment and chances are you’ll be doing some menial task rather than applying the skills acquired over 30 or more years.
If industry doesn’t change its attitude, and no one in government is talking about how to achieve this, there will be a burgeoning group of people over the age of 55 receiving the dole instead of the pension. And those who are not eligible for the pension will not be able to "retire" and take super payments, and also be forced onto the dole. So how does that solve the economic problem?

Gary Bigelow, Oatlands

It will not "be the case that" Mr Hockey (unlike maybe the rest of his generation) will have "to work for an extra three years".
Last time I looked he was still entitled to the old-style "age of entitlement" parliamentary super, funded by their Future Fund, established by selling our assets.

Jim Pearce, Rushcutters Bay



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/joe-hockey-must-apply-pension-age-to-politicians-20140414-zquiw.html#ixzz2yvLzxfQe
 
Ruggo

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
We have Knights and Dames. We want to lift the pension age and everybody must pull their weight. We have the right to be bigots. We know this government despite its plethora of rhetoric isn't really capable of creating the million jobs it claimed. So wait for it, wait for it. Yep, me thinks the next step in this nostalgic trip back in time the government is on must be reintroducing national service. The government can claim a win in lifting youth employment. They can cut access to higher education for all and like in the good old days, university will be for the wealthy rather than all that are academically competent.
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
TA wants to be known as the "infrastructure PM".

Well one piece of infrastructure that is partly going is the true NBN (FTTP NBN).

In the UK, the House of Lords (their upper house) report said that broadband was a, "fundamental strategic asset."

"the OECD (and others) believe that the NBN will increase GDP by at least one per cent ($15bn per year). That's before cost savings and revenue from the system itself. " (The vast differences between the NBN and the Coalition's alternative
NICK ROSS ABC TECHNOLOGY AND GAMES 21 FEB 2013)


"Infrastructure Australia says East West Link (a road) has a direct benefit-cost ratio of just 0.8:1"

"The proposed Melbourne Metro is much better. The rail extensions have a direct benefit cost ratio of 1.2: 1 "

Abbott's biggest broken promise - to build our cities well

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/abbotts-biggest-broken-promise--to-build-our-cities-well-20140421-zqx73.html#ixzz2zZS2xbt6
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
Coalition banks on blind faith in budget 'fix'

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-23/jericho-coalition-banks-on-blind-faith-in-budget-fix/5404046

"Saying that fixing the budget will fix the economy is again confusing correlation with causation."

"At present Hockey and Abbott would prefer you just assume their "fixing the budget" will improve the economy without actually having to demonstrate how. Perhaps this is because it removes their need to talk about things like the GST and your blind faith will also make it easier for them to break their election promises."
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
Election promises are there for the breaking

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-22/berg-election-promises-are-there-for-the-breaking/5403160

"H.L. Mencken famously defined an election as "an advance auction sale of stolen goods". He was not cynical enough. Voters bid without any guarantee that the auction will proceed to settlement."

"If politicians really wanted to demonstrate a credible commitment to the electorate, as the economist Robin Hanson writes, they would post personal bonds - say to their homes - that would be forfeited if a promise was broken. Then we'd know they had skin in the game. Of course no politicians do this."

"Obviously Coalition failures deserve to be treated as harshly as Labor failures were. Perhaps more. The Coalition swore to be guided by higher ethical standards than its predecessors.
But let's not pretend to be surprised. Australia is one of the world's oldest democracies. We've been voting for broken promises for a very long time."

 
Ruggo

Ruggo

Mark Ella (57)
So Joe thinks we all got to do the heavy lifting and the pension cost to much.

WELL WHICH SIDE OF POLITICS DROPPED THE FUCKING BALL ON SUPER? WE HAD A MINING BOOM DIDN'T WE?
 
Braveheart81

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Ruggo said:
So Joe thinks we all got to do the heavy lifting and the pension cost to much.

WELL WHICH SIDE OF POLITICS DROPPED THE FUCKING BALL ON SUPER? WE HAD A MINING BOOM DIDN'T WE?
Click to expand...

Sorry Ruggo, I can't hear you over the noise of my 58 new Joint Strike Fighters. You'll have to speak up.
 
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