Here’s the plan:
Hhttp://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/medicare-architect-hits-out-at-privatisation-plan-reports-20160209-gmpe0r.html
Hmmm. I tried to link this to an earlier post, but missed.
Yeah I remember reading about that. Its obvious to anyone who has been watching (or has gone back and read about) Australian politics for the last 45 or so years that the LNP hate the idea of universal healthcare in the form of Medibank (then Medicare) and have taken every opportunity to kill it through the years.
I love the pettiness of it all… Its hardly a scare campaign - the ALP should have just said ‘destroy’ not ‘privatise’, because the Liberals will destroy it and have started that by extending the freeze.
I really don’t get the point of “private” healthcare and “private” schooling, when both are funded (even just in part) by government - aka the people.
If you want private anything, then pay for it. Don’t expect it to be subsidized by everyone else.
And - the funds thus freed up can go into actually making public schools and hospitals that work… (better than they do; not saying they don’t… I’ve been a customer of both, and can’t really complain!)
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The election turned out as well as could be expected. The ALP havent learned their lesson, and need to get back to the Hawke style of governance. Gillard seemed to be on a mission to prove Whitlam wasn’t the worst PM Eva, and shorten is too much a chameleon ( " I haven’t heard what she said but I support it"). Turnbull expected to be elected because he is Turnbull and treated the election campaign as beneath his lordship, so needed a big kick up the backside, and the best bit is neither he nor the ALP control the senate. Nothing will get passed. Three years of minimal new legislation might be a good breather for the lifters.
There are two issues to consider cosmic.
I think you need to think who is likely to pay the most tax that goes on things like public schools, how much of that tax goes to public schools compared with private. A person sending his kid to an elite school is likely to be paying a lot more tax than others, yet his kid gets about $4k provided by the Feds and nix from the state while the neighbour going to the state school gets about $13k out of the state budget (numbers aren’t quite right but ball park, your jurisdiction might vary).
Secondly is the impact on the state school system ( and state budgets) if all those private school kiddies suddenly started going to state schools. It would not be pretty. Every kid that goes to a private school is $13k the state does not spend.
You could argue for cultural unity reasons to make all kids go public, but it would cost the state more. if private kiddies get about a third the amount that a state school kid gets, and forty percent currently go private, think about the financial impact.
On the issue of Healthcare, private healthcare manages demand through price, public healthcare via queues. Having both provides a balance. All private like the US and it is expensive. All public like the poms’ NHS and you wait ten days to see a GP. Any GP. In Canada the all public system’s safety valve is to cross the border to the US. That option isn’t really available to us. I think our system has a pretty good balance overall.
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Just re-read this old thread! How are we feeling now? 
Great beginnings, let’s not forget our threatenened species in the euphoria surrounding the change in direction on climate change, renewable energy, social justice and the Integrity Commission.
Let’s create really hefty fines for environmental degradation and direct the proceeds directly into habitat preservation and restoration.
Wow that is an old one! 
And still brings bile to my mouth thinking of that woman! Thank god I got out. Eventually. After COVID started and every day working from home started with a video call so she could note down what you were going to do for the day, and check that you did everything you’d said you were going to do the day before. Then chastise anyone who hadn’t got their work done in front of the rest of the team, despite all of us having voluntarily reduced our hours. /rant
I’m happy we had the change in Fed Gov earlier this year, hopeful that we will see some good change happening over the next couple years RE climate change etc… not sure they’ll hold power come next election but then - who knows what’s going to be happening in the world by then!
One thing I’m not happy about is the tax cuts for high earners that Albo is standing by, even though all the data shows how unbalanced things are with regard to wealth in Australia. Ok - better than the US and some other countries, but still the vast majority of wealth held by such a small %… I appreciate that business owners deserve recompense for their investment (fiscal and time) but - the sliding scale is wrong on this…
Locally, I’m wondering if Andrews will hold on to power this coming election… I think he made the right choices for the most of Covid (ha - as if Covid is actually over…) but suspect a lot of people are going to punish him…
As to my original post… after moving on from that job, my next employer was also very liberally minded, but at least he didn’t go around trying to influence his staff’s votes. I did hear some choice words when Labor got in But ultimately his concern came down to “how will this affect my business”. Was a much better boss… though sadly I’m currently unemployed as when my contract came up, they decided they wanted to get a business analyst, so let me go.
I’m probably getting old & cynical now but I’ve given up on politics pretty much. There are too many nutters & religious fanatics involved now. There is too much scare mongering in election campaigns instead of positive ideas to get the country going.
Imagine if Clive Palmer had started some sort of trust to support charities &/or other community groups or whatever to help improve the country instead of wasting multi millions of dollars on the last two federal elections for no result. He would be a national hero instead of just a (still) very rich but fat, sad old git!
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Yeah, I’m really frustrated too. The world would be such a better place if politicians could work together without all the yelling and screaming and fault blaming bullshit.
Everything’s just too negative…
Re the Tax cut for high earners: The consensus among economists seems to be not to implement them. The conservatives are torn at the thought that Albo might break his election promise, or might not, and the scramble for the acquisition of the political capital that would then be up for grabs, depending on whose commentary is the most credible.
What do you think would happen if the issue is put before parliament for a vote? That way the MP’s true colours would show and the voters would know who their friends and enemies are. What is the average Federal MP’s salary? 
Could the result be any worse that the already-legislated cuts? We might have a really frank discussion, given the significantly-changed world situation since the legislation, and reason might just prevail.
( Tell ‘er she’s dreamin’.)
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There is a suggestion going around that they might go halfway and implement some of the tax cuts but with a step change at the $120,000 income point.
I have to say the idea a flat tax rate from $40,000 to $200,000 (which would result if the tax cuts in the full coalition form are implemented) is IMHO almost a worse problem than bringing in tax cuts when we’ve got a budget crisis.
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If you’re going to break an election promise, best to do it in the first 6 months!
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And apparently they are still saying they’re sticking to the cuts.
According to the above, my income is “average”. It’s been pretty average most my life. Politicians however are in the top 2% of earners at just over $200k - ie the range these tax cuts mostly benefit. (Not that I think Labor see these cuts as purely self-serving… but - it’s gotta be in their heads somewhere, right?)
The above also confirms what I’ve seen in the businesses I’ve been working in… the average worker is on around $60k… a middle manager takes home double that… and high end manager triple… (give or take, etc etc) Then you have business owners who may take home 10 - 20x the average earner (once their business is well established). (Although, to be fair - they are also the ones who will likely put large sums of money back in when required to help with growth etc etc…)
When I was in school 30 odd years ago… my dad was a CEO of a small community based business, on around $55k. With the tax brackets as they were back then, he was paying something like 32% tax overall for the year (assuming he received no amazing deductions). These days, a CEO on around $180k would only pay 16% tax. (!)
An average worker these days ($60k), pays 16% tax. Back 30 years ago, they would have been paying around 20%. So - average workers are slightly better off… and high income earners are massively better.
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I think the cuts should be scrapped, however the LNP turning this into another ‘carbon tax lie’ scenario would just be a nightmare. The ALP need a while in government to even just right the wrongs of the last 9 years, let alone make progress.
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I am just SO SICK of the Libs attacking Labor over their own policies. They’re attacking Labor for going ahead with the tax cuts, that THEY introduced. I’m sure there’s cases of Labor doing the same when in Opposition… but I mostly see it with Liberals when they have lost power, and then start on the attack.
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The stage 3 tax cuts will benefit everyone earning over $40k. Which is the majority of Australians working full time. It will obviously benefit those closer to the next bracket more than those closer to the bottom. However those earning above $200k will also then be subjected to a 45% tax rate for earnings above that. So those on very high incomes will still be taxed at a much higher rate for those earnings.
I think the more important part is keeping to political promises. If a politician makes a commitment, they should stick to it. Otherwise there is no integrity and it basically doesn’t matter who you vote for.
. That would be a first!
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Whilst I strongly disklike the structure of the tax cuts and the timing sucks you do make a strong point.
A similar issue (around the GST) sunk the Australian Democrats back in the day… many people voted for them, then their leader back flipped and a big part of their votors went elsewhere.
As someone who really doesn’t want Labor to be a one term government I suspect this is something we’re just going to have to live with.
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I appreciate that people earning over $40k do receive a marginal benefit from the next tax cuts… but the real benefit is for those in the much higher incomes.
When I was a kid I learned about the tax brackets, which were designed (as my Economics teacher put it) to put a heavier tax burden on people with higher incomes. Makes sense, I thought. My dad is a CEO, earning fairly good money… but mum is a shop assistant, earning much less. She should contribute less tax than my dad.
When my wife and I were only earning around $60k between us, every cent was guarded; life was hard!! Now, between us we are earning over $150k, and whilst we’re not driving a Tesla, or sporting 60" 4k TVs… even with 3 kids we’re doing pretty well. Money isn’t the cause of fights like it once was. My son breaking his laptop the other day didn’t mean living on mince meat for a month to afford the repair.
I stand by my beliefs… I’d happily not to get the extra $3k or whatever the “new” tax cuts would offer my family, and if anything give those cuts to the lower earners (though I appreciate they - and me - have already received a generous cut - which also benefited the high income earners, if I’m not mistaken.
If my above calcs are correct, people earning over $200k are being taxed at a very similar % compared to people on lower incomes. And yet, according to ATO data, people (individuals) earning over $150k pay very little of the tax they are meant to due to a variety of tax deductions. As such - I really don’t feel these cuts are justified.
(But hey, I’m not an economist)
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