Melbourne Chat

When the Abbott Govt says they'll shut down an industry - jobs will be lost.

 

That should make sense to just about anyone really.

 

Here: I'll throw you lifeline.... Abbott's "Green Army" created jobs - shi
tty pay but jobs nevertheless.

 

But OK, let's stick with the data.

 

Unemployment lowest in 4 years

 

In other words - unemployment lowest since the ALP was in office

 

In other words - unemployment was lower when the ALP was in office.

 

In other words - well done non Conservative Govt!

Abbott and Joe reining in debt?

 

Yeah right! That's why they put up an expensive paid parental leave scheme that would've cost $5 billion per year to the budget and another "great big new tax" on business. No wonder it failed.

 

So no thankyou. They both got what they deserved and it was a pleasure to watch them get the ar
se

 

What Abbott needs to do is pi
ss off away from politics.

 

Otherwise he will cost the Liberal Party the next election.

 

Anyway Peter, 'ave a good weekend...

Hmmmmmm meanwhile internationally we see continuation of the move toward conservativism, Most notably an increased majority in Japan and the election of the conservatives in Austria. The NZ result is the exception and highly questionable.

 

Strange bedfellows there - Winston Peters was once a National (conservative ) MP and a Minister in a National government.

Quote:Ah PZ.

Avagoodweekend! No worries.

Hey Abbott is doing a good job keeping the honests bastarsd.

Better Abbott than limp wristed Electric Bill or Turncoat!

A good shot of electrics up Bill's arse may wipe the inane smirk from his face.

 

Hi Peter.

 

I'll take Bill over Abbott any day of the week thanks.

 

Bill is interested in helping out the workers that got done over by Abbott with their penalty rates.

 

I'll be voting Labor for that reason alone.

It's all hypothetical - Abbott won't come back and Bill will fall.

Quote:It's all hypothetical - Abbott won't come back and Bill will fall.

 

Correct on both counts.

 

However Bill has a good chance of being a two term PM before said fall

Coalition members ponder early election, as frustration grows over citizenship saga

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-08/co...on/9128122

 

There you go... an early election would be a nice Christmas presso

Ahhh, but the people think Abbott is worse than both. That's why he scored 30 odd negative polls.

 

Hey I'm all for those bike rides. That's money for charity - a good thing. But it's a sharp contrast to his policies.

 

What Abbott needs to do is ditch his anti penalty rate rhetoric, ditch his pension age of 70 policy, ditch his $7 sick fee.

 

Better still, he should ditch every content of his 2014 budget.

 

Ok bugger it - he should ditch everything he ever said and did since becoming a parliamentarian.

 

I hold him entirely responsible for the mess he made of his own Govt - as well as the mess of the current Govt due to his undermining and sniping.

 

Whatever happened to his so called "Team Australia" ?  Like..... who's side is he on?

 

Because right now he is going out of his way to make Shorten the next PM.

Hi Peter.

 

Forcing people to work until 70 isn't living within our means. Neither is cutting weekend wages.

 

And it particularly has nothing to do with paying a generous paid parental leave to high income earners.

 

Tony Abbott just got it all wrong in the 2014 budget. He can't fix anything because he doesn't understand free market economics.

 

Instead of trying to lower debt with economic growth he tried to lower it with austerity. Dumb idea!

 

So it was a spectacular fail... which is why his 2015 budget was a completely different narrative.

 

The debt is now MUCH higher because people stopped spending their money and economic growth slowed.

 

You know when the reserve bank had to lower rates to ridiculously low levels that the economy had turned to crap.

 

By contrast, the Turnbull Govt is starting to return lower deficit levels than the Abbott Govt.

 

They finally realised you will never have debt reduction unless you fund it with growth.

 

The main driver to growth is confidence. No confidence - no growth. Confidence starts with wage growth.

 

You will never have growth for as long as you have an inept PM hell bent on lowering workers wages.

 

That's why it's time to change the Govt - partly to restore confidence but mostly to enable the Coalition to reset their ideology to suit the 21st century and reconnect with working people. And that will never happen under Abbott.

Hi Peter.

 

Austerity can't save us - because it has already failed us.

 

If the reserve bank hadn't been able to lower the interest rates to counter the destructive policies of the Abbott Govt we would likely have been in a recession by 2015 and subsequently spending copious amounts of money to drag us out of it.

 

It's funny how conservatives complain about the higher cost of power because the end effect of higher power prices is less spending on other goods and services by the consumer... which is exactly the same result as taking money off people with austerity measures.

 

I think people who support austerity should back up their statements by copping a power price increase equivalent to the amount of income they are advocating taking off workers - dollar for dollar.

 

Then they'll change their mind real quick.

Err "conservative people the only ones to complain"

 

No Peter I didn't say that. Doh!

 

Just pointing out the hilarity and double standards of their statements.

 

"labor battlers" are struggling with power costs just as much as everyone else.

 

But they know that by voting Labor their wages won't be cut as well which would be a double whammy.

 

Couldn't care less if trees love Co2 or not. They ain't paying the bills.

 

You say "People are already doing austerity".

 

Yeah, they are. So now you know why it doesn't work.

 

Because we had Doh! for PM...

Peter.

 

You say austerity is good for the soul. But that avoids the point that it doesn't actually work.

 

Yes, it stuffs up the economy, no, it doesn't make it stronger.

 

 

But OK... since you're rooting for it..... let's start with taxing superannuation.

 

They can pay the same tax as everyone else yeah?

 

Then we can abolish negative gearing - why should we spill the gravy at overpriced housing anyway?

 

Yep, bring back the ETS.... 

 

Ahh sheet! Hang on. These are Bill Shorten's austerity policies! Wrong fuggem manual.

Let's make it tougher.

 

Make electricity as expensive as possible - all that extra GST you pay on your power bills can go to something more useful than tea and bikkies yeah?

 

Nice one.

 

Once we've done all that we can abolish the old age pension! Like... completely. Get rid of it. Fugg it orf!

 

That'll melt a few snowflakes.... or it would if you had the money to pay for the power required to do it. LOL

 

Whaddya you guys need pension money for anyway? Travel? Nah! Why not stay here and enslave yourselves to the latte sipping conservative corporatocracy. They need your help! Gawd bless their cotton sox!

 

Actually come to think of it. Why not just confiscate everyone's superannuation? 2 trillion dollars!

 

The world is overpopulated so they could fast track the Youth-and-Asia and poor people can starve to death.

 

 

It's a pity it doesn't sound like the Aussie way that we went to war for but fark... no one seems to care about the traditions of the good old "Aussie fair go" that our diggers fought for anymore so why should I give a hoot?

 

So OK. Bring on your anti aussie austerity Peter.

 

You will feel it a lot more than I will and that park bench would be looking better every day

To put it even more politely. I don't need to be a Clairvoyant to have a memory.

 

And I don't need to be a professor to have an opinion

 

You have told us in the past that you are a pensioner. And I highly doubt that since then that you might have won lotto.

 

Me? I get nothing from the "system". I could stop work tomorrow and be a self funded retiree.

 

But now you are advocating for austerity. A direct attack on people in need. Including pensioners.

 

That's really bad. It wouldn't affect me but it's still really bad. UnAustralian even.

 

Pensioners earned their remittance after paying tax for decades. It's something I've defended against right wing attacks for years. Feel free to scroll through my posts if you have any doubts.

 

But hey, you say Austerity is good for the soul

 

I say it's only good for the right wing areshole

Hey Peter

 

You really need to lighten up!

Here you go Peter.... these are the people I stick up for.

 

'Couldn't pay $300 rent when my pension's $280': Growing number of elderly facing homelessness


By Monique Schafter and Kenji Khozoei


After falling into debt 30 years ago, Lee Blake, 81, was forced to sell her home and has been living on and off the streets ever since.


Unable to afford the rising cost of rent, she has spent the last few years living out of a bus on the northern beaches of Sydney.


"I couldn't pay $300 a week rent when my pension's $280 and I do like to eat, so if you live in the street you think, 'Well, at least I'm eating,'" she said.


"You're never really comfortable, you're never really happy, you're never really safe, but that's life.


"I grew up in very big family, but gradually they all disappeared, they're either all dead or they've vanished, I don't really have contact with anybody."


A new report from Mission Australia shows that about 22,000 people aged over 55 sought homelessness services between 2015 and 2016, up 15 per cent from the previous year.


Mission Australia chief executive Catherine Yeomans believes unless action is taken to address this issue, the number will continue to increase.


"We need more social and affordable housing, we need more support accommodation for people who are suffering health issues," she said.


"From 2030 to 2050 we expect the number of people over the age of 65 to double, so if we're already seeing high rates this problem is only going to get worse unless we invest in the future."

 

She now has a home


Ms Blake secured a social housing unit eight months ago with the help of her Mission Australia case worker, Lisa Belleri.

Couch surfing among older women has almost doubled over the past four years and there has been a similar rise in those sleeping in cars.


"We'd had a lot of rain for a week or so and Lee rang me up one day and she was really distressed," Ms Belleri said.


"She said that the bus was leaking, she was sleeping on a wet mattress and so I called Housing and advocated even further and she had an offer not long after."


While Mission Australia's assistance has proven to be invaluable for Ms Blake, she said that staying optimistic got her through the hardest years.


"I haven't had a choice, I've had no choice. I haven't wanted to. Every now and again I'm happy but I do a Pollyanna," she said.


"That's what gets you through, that's what got me through all those years, and that's what gets me through today."

 

'Older women are particularly vulnerable'


Ms Yeomans said there are several factors that contribute to vulnerability in older populations, especially for women.


"Some people are finding financial difficulties, so later in life they might not have any retirement savings, they might be in and out of work, and unfortunately family and domestic violence is another contributor," she said.

"Older women are particularly vulnerable because they've had caring responsibilities throughout their working life, they may have secured part-time work or intermittent casual work, and they may also find it hard to secure ongoing work when they reach their 50s and 60s before they qualify for the aged pension."


As well as helping people like Ms Blake live independently, Mission Australia also runs aged care facilities for older homeless people such as the Annie Green Court in Redfern.


"Seventy-two residents call this place home," Ms Yeomans said.


"It's supported accommodation targeted to people who otherwise would be spending decades in their later life on the streets or in other homeless accommodation.

"People who are older, over the age of 55 or over the age of 65, we need to make sure that they can age gracefully with dignity and respect."

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-14/gr...ss/9149928

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Is that a lump of coal in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?

 

Worst DPM ever... ig:

Well Done Conservatives = Weapons of Dubious Construction.