That great sector of the Australian community, retirees, is being set upon again by government. The issue has passed barely noticed in the media but the political consequences for the Turnbull Government are sure to be profound.
On January 1, 2017, changes to the aged care assets test will see more than 100,000 Australians lose their part pension payments in entirety. More than 300,000 will have their pension payments cut.
There is a perception many retirees are rolling in money. They have assets many could only dream of. Perhaps that’s why the media has shunned the issue.
Let me ask the question, who among us could lose 20 per cent of our household incomes and come away unscathed?
It gets worse. With the loss of the pension, the government will also cancel retirees’ pensioner concession cards which allow them to enjoy discounts on council rates, car rego, energy bills and public transport tickets. Back of the envelope, that’s three grand per annum retirees will have to find.
Full column here.
Nothing more traditional than German markets at Christmas. Thank you so much Mutti.
This woman’s arrogance to those she considered below her during G20 was legendary.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/imf-head-christine-lagarde-found-guilty-of-negligence/news-story/fecf83666a67df2996cd53e830076a19
Just recently the IMF have had as chief a highly sexed pervert and a negligent minister. I reckon Rudd, or Swan, have a good chance of getting that gig when it next comes up (unless Bernie Madoff is released).
And whilst i’m not usually one to complain (hehe), this site could be improved by having a new page after say 75 comments? Not sure if that is easy to do, or high on anyones list of priorities (ok, I get that!), just putting it out there.
Great finish to the cricket yesterday, just a shame the spinner threw it all away when the top batsman got dismissed. No doubt Smith was pleased and relieved that he did.
Nothing wrong with being a highly sexed pervert, Milton. Thats a bit judgmental. Negligent is probably bad though…
Great comment dazza! I maintain to this day the duck was panting for it!
Trevor Snott 6:48PM
Neither your suspicion or your opinion carry any weight, or relevance.
Because you are an idiot.
Alistair? H enry Blowers? or Nossy?
Did you use Google again to come up with that reply sweetness? Trevor is on to you honey can spot a fraud at 100 paces..
Carl:
I have a few academic friends. Carl. who are hugely concerned about the future if nothing is done about emissions. Nuclear power seems the only way to go now.
It’s all very well to poo poo these theories but what if they are correct?
Latest feeling is that things are happening much faster than originally predicted.
Nuclear Power has a very serious flaw in how it works, Yvonne. Its the bit called “People”.
The ABC had a fascinating documentary on the Fukushima nuclear disaster last night. The cost of that disaster so far is $40B (Im assuming thats $A). And it came close to resulting in an evacuation order on Greater Tokyo – 50 million people, although it was noted that such an evacuation would have been impossible to carry out, in which case who knows what the human consequences would have been.
When people who are, by reputation, so thorough and well organised as the Japanese can get things so spectacularly wrong I think suggesting nuclear power for this country – when I think of that idea I think of Homer Simpson for some reason – seems really pushing things a bit too far.
Codeine to be prescription only from 2018. This will he a huge burden on Medicare.
There goes the forward estimates then! Too bad half the nation uses codeine like they’re’ lollies although with fresh cuts to Medicare thrown in almost every week they will probably exclude codeine from the PDS. Of course that’s assuming Medicare will still be available in 2018 .
Bella could you direct me to those cuts to Medicare and also the plan for it not to exist by 2018. I’ve looked everywhere but can’t seem to find a link……
The budget shows about $1 billion in cuts or “savings: from medicare changes that is before you look at the reduced growth in health funding.
http://www.savemedicare.org.au/find-out-more
That’s easy Razor it’s called ‘google’.
Type ‘Liberals hate Medicare’ or ‘Liberals won’t privatise Medicare but they will dismantle it’ & you’re on your way.
Merry Christmas Razor, Bella
Carl on the Coast 3.54pm
Not so Carl, in fact Moody’s aren’t convinced and have actually said it doesn’t believe Treasury’s forecasts or projections.
It’s just bizarre to me that anybody could put a positive spin on pension cuts, welfare cuts, massive health cuts, education cuts & rising unemployment under these idiots, all the while knowing the protection racket they run for tax breaks for the wealthy, negative gearing, dirty coal & the big four. Never mind they’ve always ripped off the poorest but this lot make it glaringly obvious who gets the gold.
They’re digging up, chopping down, fracking & burning Australia as fast as they can because they don’t give a rats about climate change, habitat destruction or protecting anything but their perks & pensions.
The usual ‘blame it on Labor’ doesn’t cut it anymore with Hockey doubling the deficit & now Morrison trebling it. Big spenders with our money they’ve proven to be & no scripted doublespeak could ever refute that. Even during a GFC Swan’s Treasury makes both of the above public servants look like infants.
Merry Christmas & my best regards Carl
Hear, Hear Bella. The MYEFO is a fantasy fiction piece of work but that is Carl’s only genre. The biggest “savings” measures, read CUT ,comes from “redirecting” welfare. The coalition governments plan to “Grow” the economy is to cut more from the poorest, elderly and unemployed. No new infrastructure spending which under the coalition governments has dropped and cut productivity enhancing rail projects. They continue to lie and say cutting corporate taxes for companies that already pay only on average 19% on profits, if they pay any at all will increase private CAPEX but we have seen CAPEX plummet each under the coalition even with spending down from 25.8% of GDP to 25.2% CAPEX continues to plummet. It is also worth noting that government expenditure has been what has kept the Nation from actually being in recession . The MYEFO document shows further wage growth reduction, lower income tax revenue due to reduced hours from part time employment. Reduced employment growth. The coalition settings are leading the Nation into a real recession. Lets not forget the fantasy fictitious MYEFO still contains $13++ billion of measures that will NEVER be realised most of them attacking the poorest, the unemployed, unhealthiest and oldest in the society. This is the true measure of the conservative movement.
Pretty well all Treasury predictions since the time of Rudd have been farces.
Both sides of politics, and I mean BOTH, refuse to accept the new normal – growing welfare dependence, shrinking workforce, flat wage increases, far too much owned by foreigners who indulge in tax minimisation and shipping dividends and jobs overseas by the bucket load and a population that has entitlement tattooed across its forehead..
We are just one BIG milch cow.
Numbers of people relying on welfare are DOWN not up. Somewhere like 16% compared to 21% a decade ago.
We should be rejoicing about it then, not grumbling.
I agree JS. The perception is that we seem to have refined our skill, especially under Labor (but not completely) of being able to ‘breed’ bludgers, i.e. those in our community who live off, or profit by, the work of others while making no contribution of their own.
It is only you hypocritical cons that continue to blame and shame those doing it the toughest.
Bassman 06:33pm
Adjustment ,,, calamity of climate-gate errors ,, remove “never” .
Bit of hurry posts today .
Bassman ,06:33pm
Just adjusting the lines saying resenting the facts put forward , there is no such evidence available that seas will swamp our shores .
hadardous , replace with hazardous.
Trevor Snott 9:55AM
No change in your climate. Still an idiot.
I think Trevor has caught you out peddling rubbish and you know it don’t you.
Rodent 1:23PM
We all know when the old Rodent plays his last desperate card, diversionary tactics, the cognitive dissonance has him flipping out and he starts projecting his uncomfortable realisation that he understands diddly squat.
Rodent if you are so simple you cannot yet grasp that manned moon landings are impossible still, and we were all conned into believing an outrageous fraud, and that the official narrative of the 911 is patently ridiculous then there is no possibility that you could understand the politics of the climate denial industry.
I’ll debate anyone anytime anywhere on those two subjects of which no-one must speak , but guess what, there wont be any takers. And the whyfors therein is something else you will never even begin to understand.
Stick to what you know Rodent, one presumes from your constant reminders you are a prodigious musician and at least a surviving pilot.
The increase in biomass by the way clearly isn’t keeping the C02 levels down is it? In fact as the increased store of materials break down it will probably exacerbate the problem.
“Still a man will hear what he wants to hear and disregard the rest.” That at least should ring a little a bell for you.
Razor 9:17 AM
Ummm okay? Of course there have been warming and cooling periods in the past Razor. But point to one epoch where there has been such a massive change in just a few decades. We are seeing changes that would normally take thousands of years! Surely you can understand the significance of the graphs going ballistic and vertical?
Take a look at the active sidebar in this link. That “over and above pre industrial retention of heat within the system” is happening right now.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-change-global-warming.htm
Does that seem unlikely to you? If so, what does it take to melt 96 billion tonnes of ice per annum in your opinion?
Ever watched an ice block melt? If the conditions remain the same, or get hotter, does the melting get quicker with time elapsed, or slower?
Carl on the Coast 10:44AM
While I regard your understanding of AGW with the appropriate respect I prefer to heed the advice, nothing personal, of scientists who actually research these things.
While I hope McPherson is wrong it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he is correct. When you contemplate the exponential nature of rises we are seeing right now and factor in the delay factor in consequences of fossil fuel use decades previously then he is very possibly right on the money.
Your assessment of the situation is based on what you wish for Carl, not on any rational examination of the evidence.
As I become more and more reconciled and accepting of human stupidity I can also accept the inevitable with good humour. As long as I have the knowledge that I don’t go out as an idiot who ran with the flock and could not see what is obvious. It could well be only ten years before I gasp to some expiring airhead,
“Well, what did you think was going to happen you moron, and why would they tell you? This way you die and they live at least a little longer.”
Please do not watch this clip. The guy is way smarter than you, unless you’ve been holding back?, and you can’t handle it. I only say that because I care about you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqIt93dDG1M
There no doubt that the climate is changing.
There are ancient Greek writings indicating how quickly the climate changed – often within a generation.
Around 1750, the planet came out of one of its cooling periods and of course there will be natural warming. There is a very well documented cycle of warming and cooling of the planet.
How much of the warming is due to emissions and due to us cannot be measured.
The current treaties to deal with the mess are a farce.
Treating China and India (both nuclear powers) as third world countries and therefore not subject to any controls means that the planet is pretty well stuffed.
Working on a ton per head of population is a recipe for total disaster. The reason why we are in this mess is over population and not taking the carbon sinks into account in a given country is a recipe for more people and bigger problems. Alternately, taking them into account is a recipe for mass migration.
Allowing polluting industries to relocate to third world countries where their output is allowed just makes the situation worse.
The problem with the methane in the Tundra regions has been known for at least 30 years.
A bigger problem will water vapour if the joint keeps warming up.
We could cut emissions to zero in Australia and there would have no effect on the overall picture.
They are comparing temperatures measurements of 100 + years ago when the readings were probably accurate to ½ a degree with today’s measurements of 1/100 degree. On top of that temperatures are homogenised. Amberley air force base shows a substantial increase in homogenised dates but next to nothing without homogenisation. There is a bit of scientific debate about these methods.
Too long – sorry Jack
Are those graphs like the hockey stick graph JB?