Simply because old mate Dan is the Vic branch of the Labor party. Everything goes through him n gets passed on to his toadies as a fait accompli.
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Talking Politics
- Thread starter Legends of 2017
- Start date
I would make the point that health infrastructure decision making was exactly the same under the Libs btw but of course they have not had the time in government that the ALP has.
It is not just the power of the Premier's office which is the issue it is also that so many of the staff are so inexperienced and lack portfolio knowledge, what they don't lack is hubris.
We should also not underestimate Tim Pallas' power and that of Treasury. There was a change made a few years ago where every State Dept CFO reports to Treasury rather than the Dept Secretary, therefore transferring enormous fiscal power into Treasury.
It's all well and good to say we need to fund infrastructure better, and we do. But where do we find the money?
Always lots of talk about increasing the regressive GST, but how about taxing high income earners and large companies more, plus how about we actually raise some money from all the minerals and gas taken out of Australia by largely foreign owned companies? There are ways to raise the funds but someone has to have the backbone to actually debate the issues.
Whole we're talking economics, here's a good article on how the profit share of income keeps rising:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10...wer-for-workers-inflation-targeting/101565352
Gee, who should we be targeting when looking for revenue to fund the infrastructure we need?
DS
Always lots of talk about increasing the regressive GST, but how about taxing high income earners and large companies more, plus how about we actually raise some money from all the minerals and gas taken out of Australia by largely foreign owned companies? There are ways to raise the funds but someone has to have the backbone to actually debate the issues.
Whole we're talking economics, here's a good article on how the profit share of income keeps rising:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10...wer-for-workers-inflation-targeting/101565352
Gee, who should we be targeting when looking for revenue to fund the infrastructure we need?
DS
yes. It is worse than it should be of course as we fritted away the bonus years by giving tax breaks and tax cuts that were not necessary. ( eg cash refunds of franking credits) when we should have reinvested. Not much we can do about it now
We can't have it both ways i.e. we can't have the massive investments in infrastucture that are necessary and not be prepared to pay for them, but the reality is that is what most of us want
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Chalmers is certainly trying the strategy of looking like he is not hiding anything from anyone and is willing to be more upfront with what is really happening. It is a good strategy and hopefully he really is telling us what is going on, at least some of it anyway. As the article I linked above talks about, it is the less well off who generally bear the brunt of economic policies, especially the policies used to try and control inflation. I just hope they actually try and do more to fix the revenue side of the budget with more progressive taxes and modify the tax cuts which are the subject of a lot of debate recently, not to mention some serious taxation of the massive fossil fuel companies who make millions out of Australia and pay little or no tax. I reckon this government has enough goodwill to make some positive changes, we'll see if they have the guts.
Of course the Murdoch press will just go after Chalmers and this government because they are left of Friedman, Hayek etc, hopefully the influence of the ideological crazies in the Murdoch press really is as little as it looked at the last election.
DS
Of course the Murdoch press will just go after Chalmers and this government because they are left of Friedman, Hayek etc, hopefully the influence of the ideological crazies in the Murdoch press really is as little as it looked at the last election.
DS
Yeah Chalmers is okay and I agree he will likely be PM one day.
However I feel he and the government are being a bit disingenuous with their excuses in not being able to meet their promise of a $275 reduction to household power bills. He says the modelling was done in 2021 and the Ukraine war is the reason that power prices have gone up and not down as the ALP promised. Whist that is true, the Ukraine war started in February and the election was 3 months later in May. They would have well known the effect the war would have had on energy prices by election time; as an example the previous government cut the fuel excise in half in March as the impact on fuel prices was almost immediate. Anyone in a position to bid for government would have known the impact on energy prices would have been something similar.
They took that promise to the election knowing there was no way they could keep it. They had plenty of time to revise it and given the posturing on transparency they should have done so. Pretty poor.
Multinational Tax Integrity Package - improved tax transparency
The Government will introduce reporting rules for some companies to enhance the tax information disclosed to the public.
Lets hope this is a start.
Agree, we need a more progressive tax system.
Personally, I'd love to see an increase in the medicare levy to better fund the health system and to include a minimum level of dental. And scrap the tax cuts. Don't worry about the noise from the windbags on the right, they are becoming more irrelevant as time goes on. The tax cuts are simply not affordable. Chalmers has the smarts to explain and sell it.
Yeah but it's not about breaking a promise per se. Given the commitment to transparency they should have changed tack and not taken this promise to the election. They knew they couldn't keep it; that was obvious. They are dealing with a very tough situation and mostly I think they are handling it pretty well.
I just think they should have binned this promise in the lead up to the election; the excuses now are a bit thin.
In relation to dental, we employ a fair few warehouse guys. The number of them with really poor dental health is amazing. I imagine for many it would have been a lifelong battle to see a dentist. Parents maybe couldn't afford it. Combined with poor diet. It really has an impact on a persons mental health. Getting them in as kids would develop much better habits from an early age. An annual free dental check ups as an adult would make such a difference.
Personally I'd be happy to pay the extra.
Personally I'd be happy to pay the extra.
While that is true, lets also not forget that Morrison and power companies deliberately held back the announcement of price hikes til after the election.
As someone who spent $15,000 ($13,000 out of pocket) to fix my teeth a few years ago, I would be more than happy to pay extra.
In general, people don’t know there is a link between dental health and all-round general health.
IMO the tax cuts will eventually be scrapped, the ALP are just waiting for the impetus to do so to build further.
We need to enforce the multinationals to pay their fair share of tax. It is absolute *smile* that they have got away with it for so long. Let's hope this current government has the nuts to see this through; unlike the previous mob.Multinational Tax Integrity Package - improved tax transparency
The Government will introduce reporting rules for some companies to enhance the tax information disclosed to the public.www.ato.gov.au
Lets hope this is a start.
Agree, we need a more progressive tax system.
Personally, I'd love to see an increase in the medicare levy to better fund the health system and to include a minimum level of dental. And scrap the tax cuts. Don't worry about the noise from the windbags on the right, they are becoming more irrelevant as time goes on. The tax cuts are simply not affordable. Chalmers has the smarts to explain and sell it.
The stage 3 tax cuts will be abolished or at least amended in some form; nothing surer. All of the language from Albo and Chalmers suggests that. They have at least 2 more budgets to do something about it. There was no hurry for this budget; other more immediate priorities.
Yes but that is not the standard Bin; Albo and co need to be better than that. They are and will be (how could they not!); but still I think it's a bit disappointing in this instance.
Agree in principle Jazz. Dental is extremely important and the most critical element of any health insurance policy I have had in my time of raising three kids. That said; where do you draw the line? Annual health insurance premiums are already exhorbitant and increase every year not to mention a substantial medicare levy. Also pay for GP visits; no bulk billing. I don't mind paying but the money has got to be managed better.
Medibank..sheesh. 4 million customers..
This on top of the Optus breech. Spotlight of digital privacy right now.
This on top of the Optus breech. Spotlight of digital privacy right now.
I reckon they will modify the Stage 3 tax cuts rather than totally abolish them. The biggest aspect of this which needs changing is the massive 30c tax bracket, there needs to be a tax bracket between $45K and $180K. Some fiddling relating to bracket creep and bring back the intermediate tax bracket. On this score I don't understand why the ALP are being so insistent on claiming they won't touch the Stage 3 tax cuts, I would be less decisive on this.
Something clearly has to be done about how little we receive in tax from the big gas exporters, compared to what Qatar receives we get a pittance. I suppose they could bring back the mining super-profits tax and we'll get the billionaires out protesting again, this time they have to stare them down.
Dental in Medicare is essential (he says while trying to get an appointment, broke off a chunk of tooth last night
) and the Medicare levy should be progressive and not at all linked to whether you have private health insurance. I've never had private health insurance so I pay the extra levy anyway, don't object to that but do object to tying this to whether you have private health insurance. Health, including dental, should be free and accessible to all, that requires funding, and a progressive Medicare levy is the way to go. In any case, the original Medibank was supposed to include dental, they couldn't get that through parliament (and always remember, the LNP blocked Medibank back in the 1970s and the only joint sitting of parliament ever was the only way we got a national health system, which the LNP promptly dismantled when they got back in power - the LNP has never, will never, support a universal public health system, they want a US style system).
DS
Something clearly has to be done about how little we receive in tax from the big gas exporters, compared to what Qatar receives we get a pittance. I suppose they could bring back the mining super-profits tax and we'll get the billionaires out protesting again, this time they have to stare them down.
Dental in Medicare is essential (he says while trying to get an appointment, broke off a chunk of tooth last night
) and the Medicare levy should be progressive and not at all linked to whether you have private health insurance. I've never had private health insurance so I pay the extra levy anyway, don't object to that but do object to tying this to whether you have private health insurance. Health, including dental, should be free and accessible to all, that requires funding, and a progressive Medicare levy is the way to go. In any case, the original Medibank was supposed to include dental, they couldn't get that through parliament (and always remember, the LNP blocked Medibank back in the 1970s and the only joint sitting of parliament ever was the only way we got a national health system, which the LNP promptly dismantled when they got back in power - the LNP has never, will never, support a universal public health system, they want a US style system).DS
