ONE TERM TONY Abbott's government scorecard

[Deleted]

Abbott has a good honeymoon period, and the latest unemployment figures were a few points down....sort of meet the new boss same as the old boss.

Labor's popularity has risen since they haven't had a leader...albeit it looks like Shorten and Unions will win the leadership.....which is more of the same meet the new boss same as the old.


Hers a good take on things...



News
    
 
Peter Van Onselen: Tony Abbott's scorecard so far - one promise kept, two ruled out

Peter Van Onselen •
Sunday Mail (SA) •
October 05, 2013 10:00PM 

TONY Abbott went to the 2013 election with a raft of promises, but the three which formed the cornerstone of his rhetoric were stopping the boats, paying back Labor's debt and scraping the carbon tax.

While most Australians probably voted against the performance of the Labor government over the past six years more than they voted for whatever alternative Abbott was offering, it will be interesting to see how our new Prime Minister goes at achieving what he pledged.

In Indonesia this week, Abbott all but conceded stopping the boats might be impossible. Slowing the flow seems to be the new mantra.

In fact, a very senior member of Team Abbott told me that he thought that slowing down boat arrivals would be enough to satisfy the Australian people.

Perhaps, but it would also represent a broken promise. Abbott and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison have already blown out the time-frame for achieving the "Stop the boats" promise from one year to three years.

Paying back Labor's debt is no longer a short-term commitment, with the Coalition saying it might even take up to 10 years (that's not a misprint) before it can deliver a single surplus budget.



Despite New Zealand's offer to help Australia with its refugee intake, PM Tony Abbott says 'our determination is to stop the boats'.


During the week, Treasurer Joe Hockey made moves to differentiate between infrastructure debt and other forms of debt, presumably because Abbott says he wants to be an infrastructure PM, which means spending lots of cash.

The bottom line: debt is likely to be much higher come the next election than it was at the last election.

Finally, there is the carbon tax. On this score, I have no doubt Abbott will repeal Labor's policy, thus fulfilling his pledge. But, come the next election, will voters be satisfied with a scorecard of only one out of three promises lived up to?

----

DURING the week, the defeated (and self-described godfather of Labor politics) Don Farrell claimed that Kevin Rudd's comeback cost the South Australian his Senate seat.

    
All evidence is to the contrary. What happened in the Senate at this year's election was bizarre right across the country. And Farrell now carries the unwanted tag of being the first major party senator ranked No 1 or No 2 on the party ticket to fail to secure victory since proportional representation was introduced in 1949.

But blaming Rudd is a bit rich. In SA, most political insiders will tell you that when Julia Gillard was still leader Labor looked set to lose Hindmarsh, Wakefield, Adelaide and possibly Makin and Kingston, too. In the end, only Hindmarsh fell. So it's doubtful "The Don" can blame KRudd for his downfall.

----

TONY Abbott's office is more than a little controlling. Backbenchers who ignore Abbott's own edict that "sometimes it is better to seek forgiveness than permission" - and ask if they can do media interviews - are invariably advised against it. With one simple add-on: make up an excuse as to why you can't do it. That's what a number of Liberals MPs have told this columnist anyway. Perhaps the Prime Minister's office needs to add another line when asking MPs to lie: don't tell people that's what our instruction was.

----

Payback of the week

THIS award goes to union leader Paul Howes, who came out in favour of imposing party discipline in support of gay marriage when Labor votes on the issue. Few agree with doing so, even among gay marriage advocates. The matter so clearly should be conscience vote. But I suspect Howes was paying back that other right-wing union leader, Joe De Bruyn, who happens to be a religiously arch-conservative opponent of gay marriage. De Bruyn also happened to be the man who thwarted Howes' bid to become a senator, blocking his candidacy within the factional right to take over Bob Carr's seat because of Howes' views on gay marriage. Not one to run from a fight, it would seem Howes has decided to ramp up debate about the very issue that De Bruyn blocked him on. If Howes can one day make it happen, there is little doubt De Bruyn would be the first person to resign from the Labor Party because of it.

[geopol]

www.smh.com.au/comment/abbott-walking-tricky-tightrope-on-diplomacy-20131014-2viqg.html

[slartibartfast]

What did you expect?

[geopol]

Yes, he's nothing if not a fake!

[Deleted]

Abbott wants to repeal the carbon tax and replace it with his no action direct action plan, so he can introduce his direct tax on companies to pay for the largesse of a generous paid parental leave scheme....repealing the carbon tax will take off $500 a year of the electricity bill he says.....yeah sure Tony.

[Deleted]

Oct 16, 2013 12:22:09 GMT 10 @spindriftaholiday said:

Abbott wants to repeal the carbon tax and replace it with his no action direct action plan,.

He wants us to go from a situation where we require that polluters pay for their pollution (carbon pricing) to where we are going to use taxpayers money to ask the polluters to maybe pollute less.

Aparantly taxpayers paying polluters to maybe clean their is better than making the Polluters pay to clean up their mess, themselves.

Gotto love that Liberal logic, don't you ?

[geopol]

These bastards are at it again! The lies, the hypocrisy, the deceit and the blatant disregard for the intelligence of the electorate.....
www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/treasurer-joe-hockey-announces-debt-limit-to-increase-to-500-billion-20131022-2vyog.html

[geopol]

On Tony 'stop the boats' Abbott's watch asylum seekers are still arriving by sea








18 September 2013 – Abbott Government sworn in




22 September - HMAS Maitland and another vessel escorts SIEV boat into Christmas Island harbour – the Cahaya Baru contains 31 passengers and 2 crew.

24 September – SIEV boat containing 7 asylum seekers arrives on Australia’s Boigu Island in the Torres Strait

25 September - SIEV boat containing 19 people arrives at Darwin Harbour sometime during the night of the 24th or early hours of the morning of the 25th.

26 September - SIEV boat arrives Christmas Island Harbour with an estimated 80 passengers including children. HMAS Ballarat takes part in the rescue of another 44 asylum seekers in Indonesian waters with these people transferred to an Indonesian rescue vessel for return to Indah Kiat port in Java.

27 September – boat heading towards Australia and estimated to contain up to 125 asylum seekers sinks off southern coast of Java. At least 20 bodies, mostly children under 15 years, washed ashore so far. Australian Customs Vessel ACV Triton rescues 31 asylum seekers from another boat and is thought to be still at sea off Timor.

30 September - 2 RAN patrol boats enter Christmas Island harbour with an estimated 80 asylum seekers (men, women and children) on board, thought to have been picked up from a boat which was either sinking or was otherwise considered unseaworthy.
10 October 2013 SIEV boat with 41 asylum seekers on board found off Cocos (Keeling) Island and, another SIEV boat containing 53 people was recorded as arriving in the same week.

11 October 2013 SIEV a boat carrying 79 people arrived at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands from Sri Lanka.
17 October 2013 at approximately 8am HMAS Warramunga put into Christmas Island and disembarked 79 asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. Including one 8 year-old boy, eight to ten women and two individuals requiring wheelchairs

[geopol]

That was from North Coast Voices

[Deleted]

Notice how the RW refuse to discuss Abbotts policies......all ra de rah in bashing muslims and homo's.

Raising the debt limit by a further 100 billion than necessary will certainly insure dramatic cuts to services in health and education while private health and education fees will rise.

The gap between the rich and poor is set to be greater under Abbott and a egalitarian society is further eroded to a US style society and economy.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

Couldn't ask for a more shifty bunch of journo's than Murdoch's mob.

And how indifferent the conservative members here of any criticism of the Abbott government's shifty silence with the people.

Who cares what Abbott does as long as it is n a coalition government in power.....the sun shines out of their rear ends they seemingly think.

[geopol]

Abbott wants us to know who is in and who is out, hence the pseudo secret dinner parties, but they make it clear as to who is running what. We must all pay court or face the consequences which can be quite significant with a mob of vengeful bastards like the current collective in power.

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2013 9:19:12 GMT 10 Gort said:

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Daily Telegraph editor Paul Whittaker, whose paper backed Mr Abbott to the hilt, will be in attendance. News Corp editor Col Allan is believed to have flown back from New York in time for the intimate gathering of friends. The Australian editor Chris Mitchell was invited, but told Fairfax Media he was unable to attend.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard was mocked for her ''mummy bloggers''. Here then, perhaps, was a conspiracy of conservative columnists.

That most of Mr Abbott's guests come from News Corp would surely please Rupert Murdoch, who is back in Australia. Fairfax Media columnists Paul Sheehan and Gerard Henderson were also invited to the knees-up, which was orchestrated by Mr Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin.

Guests were asked to keep details of the evening strictly confidential. ''We do not release details of the Prime Minister's private functions,'' a spokeswoman said. She declined to respond when asked whether the taxpayer would foot the bill for the dinner and drinks.

It's less a fireside chat than a harbourside chat. Columnist Miranda Devine said she was ''very happy'' to be invited. Was the evening a gesture of thanks from a grateful Prime Minister? ''I don't personally think it's a thank-you. I don't write about politicians in order to gain favours like dinner,'' she said.

Why, then, the preponderance of News Corp journalists? ''I guess you would have to ask Tony. I don't really know what his reason was for putting together the list. You get an invitation from Kirribilli House, you don't knock it back, that's my motto.''

Columnist and broadcaster Andrew Bolt this week was effusive in his praise of Mr Abbott: ''Thoughtful, modest, kind, serious, practical and well-read''. But he declined to confirm his attendance at the dinner. As did Piers Akerman: ''I don't talk about my relations with other people,'' he said.

Read more: www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbotts-soiree-has-the-right-stuff-20131025-2w7cz.html#ixzz2imIL1wbV

Nauseating, pass us the barf bag

[geopol]

No, maybe they don't but they are quite prepared to talk about the relations of others when
it suits them, especially of those connected with the ALP or anyone else they think they can deride and use to uphold the conservative rot that they think should hold the country to ransom whenever it suits as it obviously does these days.

[geopol]

Another achievement of these hypocritical and lying bastards from the blog, North Coast Voices:
Comparing Labor and Coalition borrowings in 2013








According to Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash on 14 August 2013; This year, Labor is borrowing $83 million per day.




On 3 September 2013 in a joint media release then Liberal shadow ministers Joe Hockey and Andrew Robb repeated this complaint; Labor continues to borrow $83 million on average every day and posited Just imagine where debt will get to with another three years of Labor.




According to the Australian Office of Financial Management, since it was sworn in on 18 September 2013 the Abbott Government has borrowed an est. $265 million per day as of 29 October 2013.




"Perhaps Treasurer Hockey and Minister for Trade and Investment Robb might like to explain why the Abbott Government is now borrowing at a higher rate than the former Labor Government if such debt is as bad as the Coalition has repeatedly asserted since 2007.

[geopol]

The blight continues:
www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/joe-hockey-blowing-hundreds-of-millions-to-make-himself-look-good-20131029-2wcy3.html

[sonex]

"The government's most serious foreign policy mistake so far, however, has been its embrace of schoolyard diplomacy. Both Abbott and Bishop have repeatedly, and unnecessarily, gone out of their way to describe Japan as ''Australia's best friend in Asia''.

When I first heard that remark, I didn't understand why Japan would be considered our best friend in Asia by Abbott , maybe a member could kindly explain it to me.


Read more: newstalkback1.proboards.com/thread/2601/abbott-government-scorecard?page=2#ixzz2jocTTyDC

[sonex]

Nov 6, 2013 9:34:08 GMT 10 Gort said:

Japan is one of our top trading partners.

However, it was amusing to see a montage of Abbott telling many countries leaders how they were "our best friend" ... "one of our best friends"
... "no better friend" ... etc on Insiders the other week.

Yes, I knew Japan was one of our top trading partners, but it does come second to China by quite a large amount.
I do think it was stupid to pick one Asian country to assure them that they were our "best friend".

[sonex]

I knew that Japan had a self imposed Pacifist Constitution, but apparently there are indications that this may change, which may be the reason they are now our "best friend", perhaps we are more concerned that China may become aggressive towards us and we may need the help of the Japanese forces.

Quote:

Under the current interpretation of Japan’s pacifist constitution, Japan’s armed forces are not permitted to fight on behalf of friends or allies unless the Japanese themselves come under direct attack.

It is a policy that conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to change. An advisory panel is expected to issue a report by year’s end recommending that Abe issue a new interpretation of the 66-year-old constitution. A new policy is expected, which will permit Japanese troops to come to the aid of not only Americans and other allies, but international peacekeepers and civilian refugees as well.


Read more: Why Japan Wants to Abandon Its Pacifist Policy | TIME.com world.time.com/2013/10/22/why-tokyo-wants-to-break-free-of-its-pacifist-past/#ixzz2jp8z7PoX

[Deleted]

Well given the super changes where the rich benefit and the poor get stuffed with co contributions, and taking away school bonuses to pay for tax breaks so rich can buy cars....does show where a Neo RW governments priorities are...thing is will the lower middle class income earner conservative voter think they haven't been fooled again...Oh no, bet they won't....baaaa...

The end of entitlements doesn't apply to the rich

By Leith van Onselen
Updated Wed 6 Nov 2013, 4:46pm AEDT


Joe Hockey delivers post budget address Photo: Whether the Coalition can maintain the superannuation system in its current form is debatable. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

Treasurer Joe Hockey wants to cut tax concessions for 3.6 million workers on lower incomes, but not those for around 16,000 of Australia's highest earners, writes Leith van Onselen.

If anyone wants an example of why politics is mostly form over substance, look no further than Joe Hockey's actions on entitlement spending.

Last year, Joe Hockey gave a speech entitled "The End of the Age of Entitlement", which lamented the blow-out of entitlement spending by governments: "As the electoral pendulum has swung between socialist and conservative sides of politics, the socialist governments - often winning electoral success thanks to the funding from unions - have created a huge array of entitlements for selected classes of individuals..."

Hockey then went on to detail how governments will need to wind-back entitlement spending in order to return their budgets to a more sustainable footing.

In many ways, it was a great speech by Hockey, and one that I broadly agreed with.

In Australia's case, entitlement spending blew out under both the Howard and Rudd-Gillard Governments, where we witnessed a ballooning of payments to a wide range of constituents, including middle-class families, the aged, and wealthy retirees. Among other things, we saw baby bonuses handed out, increases in family tax benefits, aged pensions, and generous tax breaks for superannuation, which have now placed the budget in structural deficit.

The situation is particularly acute when it comes to aged pensions and superannuation tax breaks, where Australia now finds itself in the unsustainable situation where benefits to households aged over 65 years of age have ballooned just as their incomes and wealth have grown, which will place undue pressure on the federal budget as the baby boomer generation retires and the share of workers in the economy shrinks.

Given Hockey's strong words on entitlement spending, and the demographic tsunami facing Australia, one would have thought the superannuation system would have been high on his list for reform. Not so, with Entitlement Joe this morning announcing that the new Coalition Government will jettison the former Labor Government's planned changes to superannuation, maintaining generous tax breaks for around 16,000 wealthier Australians while cutting tax concessions for 3.6 million workers on lower incomes.

Treasurer Joe Hockey and Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos announced the changes following an audit of 96 unresolved tax and superannuation reforms dating back to 2001. The Treasurer described the reforms as "undeliverable" and committed the Coalition to stability in the superannuation system.

Whether the Coalition can maintain the superannuation system in its current form, given pressures on the budget, is debatable. But if successful, it would certainly worsen outcomes for everyone else.

The continuation of the existing superannuation rules by Hockey would significantly exacerbate inequities in the superannuation system, since under the flat (15 per cent) tax an even greater share of tax concessions - a direct hit on the budget - will flow to those on higher income earners, whilst lower income earners will receive next to no tax benefit.

The sustainability of the superannuation system would also be reduced under the Coalition's policy. It is the lower end of the tax scale that are most likely to be reliant on the pension in old age, yet they will have less incentive and opportunity to build-up a retirement nest egg following the announced changes.

In the end, the policy change announced by the Coalition would result in a superannuation system that costs the budget even more money - mostly via the huge concessions granted to higher income earners - while doing little to relieve the strain on the aged pension, since those most likely to require the pension in old age will receive an even smaller share of the superannuation concessions.

It's enough to make a cynic like me suspect that Hockey's bluster over entitlement spending is just hollow rhetoric designed to mask an assault on government support for the poor, while maintaining benefits to his rich constituents.

Leith van Onselen writes as the Unconventional Economist. He writes daily at MacroBusiness. View his full profile here.

[Deleted]

As we know Earl the conservatives still believe in the antiquated ideology of the trickle down effect in economics.....give more to the rich and big end of town and it will trickle down to the poor.

And that doesn't work, companies and the rich like to keep their profit and make more, and will move offshore with that profit if it is threatened...greed only creates more greed. As with the removal of the carbon tax, companies are now saying there will be no net benefit to the consumer...as these companies were staying before the election, yet people were gullible to believe the coalition and the neo RW media that would be saving hundreds on their power bills.

Gullible people sucked in by the deceit of neonincompoopism of antiquated conservative ideology, the big end of town must win bugger the small folk who are just products.

Hopefully the people will come to their senses next election, and for the betterment of the world globally neo conservatism dies in the bum.

[geopol]

According to the Daily Examiner(Grafton paper) today this mob has decided also to call off further investigations into the use of tax havens by wealthy Australians to conceal income...What else could we have expected?

[Deleted]

The worse government in history....conservatives governments in the past prided themselves in the advancement of science, not so under the neonincompooper RW tea party Abbott government.

"In God We Trust"...

[Lord Stockton]

'About 16,000 of Australia's wealthiest superannuants who earn $100,000 a year from their funds will not have those earnings taxed. Earmarked to raise $313 million over four years, the tax was ditched because, Mr Hockey said, it was ''undeliverable'' due to the complexity of assessing super liabilities.'

So keeping a Keating promise (made in Aug 1998) is wrong?


IE I will tax you as the contributions go in, but when the funds come out YOUR funds will not be taxed.