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.
Robin 8-55 PM
It’s not as they can’t great make great cars Robin, but if your product has an entrenched status appeal to moneyed posers it makes good economic sense to sell them a heap of overpriced garbage that they need to trade in every couple of years to avoid the ruinous cost of repairs and spare parts. Only a communist could fail to see the beauty in that strategy.
I remember vividly the exact moment, the place and the people present when I first heard that Janis was dead. Stunned. She was a gift you just thought would go on giving your whole life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-GFqhCq2HA
Carl on the Coast 11:10AM
Well I suppose it could be perfectly reasonable to claim that methane and hydrogen sulphide are often mixed together Carl. I don’t mix in those circles so I have no idea why they would do that or for what purpose. Do you/they inhale it ? Is the effect pleasing? I’m guessing by the quality of your work its soporific?
http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/are-siberias-methane-blowholes-the-first-warning-sign-of-unstoppable-climate-change/news-story/5d13689d3007d4570124316f63b65cc5
Best wishes.
Jean Baptiste (10.00pm 16/12)
says: “Do you/they inhale it ? Is the effect pleasing? I’m guessing by the quality of your work its soporific? ”
Come now JB, there’s no place for flippancy re such a very serious issue . I saw Jarnie Seidel’s rather dated piece implying imminent mass global extinction due to methane release – “hellmouths, gateways to the undead”, etc.
You sure do come up with some scary stuff JB.
On the matter of ‘scary stuff’, did you know that termites are a primary source of methane? The cost of termite damage in Oz alone is well in excess of one (1) “B” for billion dollars pa. According to the CSIRO entomologists, the havoc and chaos the little critters cause is only the “tip of the iceberg”. A sobering idiom in itself one would have thought, especially in the context of this AGW caper and all these unmelted icebergs about the place.
So, if you’re searching for “scary stuff”about methane me old mate, look no further than termites, eh?
Carl. Very low levels of H2S will kill. 500ppm can kill. you may experience a brief Euphoric state prior to expiring.
Indeed, Dismayed.
H2S becomes sweet-smelling at high concentrations.
H2S poisoning is the most plausible explanantion for the Bogle-Chandler deaths.
A couple of years before more time TO. My “exposure” and to make an assumption Mack’s “exposure” to H2s come’s from the Drilling game. Kuwait being the highest levels I have seen but offshore Qatar nothing to sneeze at.
More BS. 800ppm will kill you. At high concentrations the first thing that happens is your olfactory senses get knocked out. You wouldn’t smell it, just drop down dead.
You don’t know when to quit, do you, sport?
At above 30 ppm (around 30 – 3,000 times higher than detectable levels through smell), H2S becomes sweet smelling: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hydrogensulfide/hazards.html
Dismayed , you mention Kuwait. My brother, a retired geologist, now wine maker (I find his new profession much more exciting) came to visit us in Kuwait and was extremely uneasy about the ubiquitous smell of sulphur. He has since told us he was very glad to see us get out of there, now I know why.
Penny, I have not been there since 2003, I hope to return next year. My memories are of the endless US military convoys on the highways and watching the news about fighting going on a stones throw from where we were drilling. I have been fortunate enough to live next to a Vigneron for close to a decade, from the time they moved in they have been handing bottles over the fence for us to consume. I am actually guilty of re-gifting some of them.
oops just a had look it was 2003/04.
Hi Penny, the smell of sulfur is because in Kuwait they used to burn off all the gas at the various gathering centres and as the gas contained a H2S component the flares give off Sulfur Dioxide. Used to take a few days to get the smell out of my nostrils after 4 weeks in Wafra.
Methane is lighter than air, H2S is heavier than air, they don’t mix.
“I remember vividly the exact moment, the place and the people present when I first heard that Janis was dead”
Shock, horror JB, you must be one of those over 55 dinosaurs Dismayed is always banging on about. It’s ok though, your secret is safe with me.
i see kate mclymont saying that eddie obeid will face more serious charges next year.
i certainly hope that is right as a phone call and doing some misleading lobbying, well, it’s not bob askin and paperbags full of cash is it.
Eddie deserves everything he gets, mate. BTW, Asko didn’t get pulled up at all although the ATO got up his estate and forced a sale of the Asko home from under his wife.
well, if he’s not a crook, he would do until one came along, but that is not how the law is supposed to work.
it reminds me of the old days on the footy tribunal, if a player had been a serial pest and was appearing regularly as the aggrieved party, when he was finally charged with something, anything really, he was a near certainty to get four weeks.
rough justice as someone said above, and i suppose it is, but this was not a five year offence.
Freaky Friday. I see the government has appointed another real estate developer to the RBA board as banks continue to cry they want a tax cut and the government Housing affordability report 20 $months$ in making has NO recommendations? $1 million median house price in Sydney and there is No affordability issue? Ownership rates for those under 55 are dropping like a stone, first home buyers make up the lowest % ever. Just as well we have more real estate moguls on the RBA board. Oh and the government will keep its $ billions and $billions of Zombie tax measures that will never pass the Senate in the Savings side of the budget? They will continue to attack, shame and blame those doing it the toughest along with blaming everyone else for their terrible policies. MEFO Monday will be a fantasy to behold.
Nice cameo from the tailenders at Fortress Gabba. And wonderful stuff from Renshaw and Handscomb.
Trivalve – I would have thought you’d travelled the world enough already and would settle for the occasional day trip to Queanbeyan in your retirement?
Milton – I saw an old bloke trekking interstate from Queanbeyan on a mobility scooter once, across the flats past Harman. Off the the fleshpots of Fyshwick one assumes.
Renshaw batted much better. Watching his footwork more closely, his left leg goes back and across to leg as his front leg does the opposite in a scissor type action. I still have big concerns about his footwork.
Jack 01:03 pm
Maybe poor old Tim Flannery means the middle of Australia being permanent drought .
He never surfaced when wrong on all 8 predictions knowing the media were hunting him down.
The Gillard spin doctor went into hiding , no interviews . Last I herd he had a water front mansion near sea level on the Hawksbury river then became involved in a fued with his neighbour played out on the news , then bolted out down to Victoria joining his lefty mate Daniel Andrews.
As for Tim , he owes this country an apology for the multi billions lost in industry with power bills up 78% under the Gillard /Rudd 6 year term leaving debts that has set our kids back decades to pay off the mess Labor created on fraud policies. This avalanche of debts starting from mad Flannery down , seen consequences today felt in the young sector
that millions will never own their own home . We can never get answers from the crazy far lefties to why they avoid
these topics of dysfunctional leaders but find they are extraudinary bias putting the blame on Abbott who crossed
over into a 317 billion Labor debts and 249 billion deficits that has crippled the young folk today ever getting ahead .
Ok Dismayed ,..where is your mouth now on all this ???? Where is your distorted excuses with a the government that hit debts in 2013?…Don’t want deception rubbish Dismayed, just answers , don’t want your dusturbed sloppy rants
trying to accenuate your Labor, no ficticious rants on unemployment knowing that your 4 Labor states are dragging
the figures upwards , while lower then Labor ,no more resentment and full of vexation , just show some guts and answer these blunders your mob set upon .
“don’t want your dusturbed sloppy rants”.
Saints preserve us! And I ain’t religious.
RODENT:-with respect you do not know the difference between weather and global warming.
Where to start? Firstly see Flannery’s actual quotes further up in the blog, not the Bolt version you and few here want to run. OK onto the rest of your delusional rant. Debt to GDP in 2013 12% . Debt to GDP in 2016 20%. Gross debt up 80% in less than 3 years. Gross debt in 2007 about 6% of GDP NOT 0 as the conservative LIE about. Deficit in 2013 $17 billion. Deficit in 2016 $40 billion. Yes Labor raised debt during the GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS and had to contend with massive tax write downs.. The Labor response to the GFC is recognised around the globe as the Worlds best. Labor’s stimulus kept hundreds of Thousands of Australians working and paying tax. This STOPPED the economy going into Recession like most of the rest of the world. Note that the economy flat lined after the Fiscal stimulus stopped in 2011. It has weakened since under the coalitions settings. The coalition has had Growing tax revenue each year unlike in 2008/09. The last 2 Labor budgets was the “Biggest Fiscal Contraction” the Nation has ever seen and the only 2 budgets in the Nations history to spend less than the previous year. Under Labor policy settings both Spending and Taxation for the forward estimates were lower than what the coalition budgets have put in place. The Budget was to be back in balance in 2016/17 under the Labor settings.. 85% of all jobs created under the coalition are part time, hours worked has dropped continuously under the coalition. Creating a less secure life for many many Australians. Time for you and the supporters of the coalition to Take Responsibility for the terrible policies and inability to govern well by the coalition. You cannot continue to blame everyone and everything else. The coalition have been a terrible government. They have BLOWN out Debt and the Deficit and have returned to their true form of attacking the Poor, the Elderly the Sick, Anyone not White and Christian, they attack Education, Health and those that dare to collectively bargain and don’t just accept slave wages and conditions. Their record on the NBN will cost the Nation greatly as it will take another decade to over build the old world technology they have doubled down on Costing the Nation $ Billions in Innovation, Agility, Jobs and Growth. No Surprises from the dolt in charge.
Jack,…01:03pm
Tim Flannery seems to escaped out of the Al Gore breeding stable after both found abnormally and morally decided to sabatage their careers back in 2006 fleecing many vulnerable people into entering into a dubious green tape projects of failures. FLANNERY was the biggest loser of all 8 predictions went into reverse like sharks swimming in coastal streets, coastlines undsr water , Pacific Is under water , still thriving , dams rivers drying up , now many high levels and rivers running strong, droughts perminent , well, crops thriving record harvest coming up on grain, 3 wet cool summers 2008/11 below normal temperature, temperature stalling in 1998 , still little to nonrise as from the ice age has risen last 150 years .7 degrees , Arctic has melted significantly bht still no sea level rises as suppose to be near a metre by now , sea temperatures no change , cyclones only one last year and second fell over did not carry on , usual average is 11 per year needing greater r maritime heat from the ocean, Antactica growing in sea and land ice expanding 1.5%per year as Nasa and Russian scientists findings, Nasa saying expansion has been last 6 years .
Flannery went into hiding when conned the Rudd/Gillard on building 6 desal plants worth 9 billion , now all but two are mothballed .Flannery the greatest spin doctor ever , bought 90 000 shares in renewable energy green projects , then along came old Tony and speared him.Fannery legacy assault on this country and the corruption of Rudd /Gillard government , is why we are in a mess today and Turnbull is no better.
As for the infamous Tim Flannery negligence of predictions was a significant factor that changed this political road into Abbott who was unpopular, soon won by 35 seats with public sentiment outraged at being fleeced in unproven science and lies by this Flannery and Labor/Greens knowing today that the country and climate is “still “the same with weather patterns unchanged and climate continues variations of droughts and flooding rains as D McKeller says .
It is ashame that warped minded vulnerable people fell for this and run with it like the Fairfax media and ABiasC
Penny (16/12 11.30am)
says ; “No way will future generations have the opportunities we have had and I shudder to think how they are ever going to buy their own properties.”
I do hope your apparent pessimistic mood does not become a permanent attachment Penny. Not a good look, especially for an educator.
Being a keen gardener myself, I’ve often found strength and optimism in the following quote by Alphonse Karr –
“Some people grumble that roses have thorns, I am grateful that thorns have roses.”
Worth considering?
Mack the Knife 11:02 AM
Yeah sure Mack. You haven’t yet explained how the top ten floors of that building went over the side in one piece and now you “just know” that methane isn’t an issue.
If you had taken notice of the link provided you might have realised you don’t know a damn thing about how potent a factor methane will be in global warming. It may be 85 to 100 times more per unit of a negative effect on climate than C02 and the amount sequestered n the planet vulnerable to liberation via AGW is stupendous. Perhaps you could revisit the link and click on “methane potential” in the right hand side bar.
While real scientists are alarmed, Mack is not.
I look forward to hearing more of your interesting analysis. Heres another for you to imagine you have discredited.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/newsdesk/energy/analysis/why-there%E2%80%99s-more-methane-going-atmosphere-we-realised-and-why-alarming-news-climate
I read some interesting stuff recently about HFCs being a much greater driver of global warming than carbon dioxide. It seems that the Montreal Protocol is doing its job.
It is interesting to note that with the coming of summer in Antarctica the hole in the ozone layer closes, but in order to close the ozone over Southern Australia and New Zealand drastically dissipates. That means that while people are out working on their tan for summer suffer maximum exposure to UV rays and hence more skin cancer later in life. How high is our incidence of skin cancer.
Well, you better get yourself over to NZ and plug up all the sheeps backsides then JB, then nip back and do the same here in Oz. 2.436ppm of methane is nothing JB, I’m more worried about arseholes tooling about in diesel BMWs & others who don’t maintain the injectors and spew out black clouds of smoke containing carcinogens everywhere they go. That is just one of my concerns about our fragile atmosphere, not 2.436ppm of methane gas.
Methane is a greenhouse gas, i.e., it contributes to global warming.
Particle emissions from diesels result in air pollution and the resultant health impacts.
The two are separate issues and, while there are some measures that deal with both, some things that improve air quality actually increase greenhouse emissions and vice versa.
I hope the self-appointed legal geniuses who confidently opined that Terri Butler did nothing wrong and presumed to lecture the rest of us about how little we understand defamation law have sufficient self-awareness and humility to crawl back under their rocks and have a think.
But I won’t hold my breath for it.
I assume the somewhat muffled tone of that comment is the result of it having been written from under a rock, given that its author remains convinced of the innocence of the QUT student who also settled. Unless settling is only proof of guilt when the outcome gels with that author’s preconceptions.
You reckon the poor bastards who paid off Prior and her legal attack-dogs understand the position they were in better than Butler?
She had the resources of the entire ALP to tell her she was wrong and rotten and to tell her to back down. Those other poor bastards were looking down the barrel of ruin, individually and unsupported.
Man, I am so happy I know your name so I know who not to hire. You wouldn’t know the best interest of an ordinary citizen if your life depended n it.
That was a fairly Grinchy comeback, three days later! Those students also had free legal advice, and their risk of being “ruined” was only proportional to the risk of losing, just like it unfortunately is for anyone who gets sued. And BTW, I’m not particular interested in being “hired” by such a grumpy old bastard, I’m too busy looking after the interests of ordinary citizens who in the main are quite personable.
Maddinson Gone for 1. Doubled his last effort.
2×0 = 0
I’ll pay that, but I think you see my point. He at least is on the board. Proving he is not yet ready. Yes I know its early but his FC record shows he is not ready. Bring in an all rounder for Sydney, Melbourne and the sub continent coming up. Wade also has proven he is not the keeper for the long term, especially not in the sub continent, where stumping’s and catches from spinners will make and break the series.
What I don’t get is how double demerits over christmas gets you one demerit on what was previously a zero demerit. Must be a high court challenge in that somewhere…
True Darren!