A levy? A tax? A necessary evil?

Wayne Fehlhaber says:

10:02am | 27/01/11

P.M. Gillard proudly stated ” The government has provided $17 million to the disaster fund in Queensland with more to come over due course. “

The top 8 recipients of the Australian government’s aid dollars in 2010-2011 -

Indonesia-                  $458.7 million
Papua New Guinea       $ 457.2 million
Solomon Isalnds           $225.7 million
Afghanistan                 $ 123.1 million
Vietnam                     $ 119.8 million
Phillipines                   $118.1 million
East Timor                   $ 102.7 million
Cambodia                   $ 64.2 million

Total =                        $ 1,669 million - to be given away in 52 weeks.

.............and Australians have to cop a levy to pay for our own disasters.

Troy says:

10:49am | 27/01/11

Wayne, government aid to these countries buys us political leverage and supports our position as a dominant country in the region.  We don’t do it for the feel-good factor.

Keith Hammersmith says:

11:22am | 27/01/11

troy, thats irrelevant, its completely messed up we can throw that much money at other countries whilst shafting our own….
it reminds me of the billions americans donated to Haiti whilst New Orleans is still a wreck.

we are making a mistake.

Gregg says:

11:34am | 27/01/11

@Troy,
Political leverage me ass and you reckon we have any in Indonesia or Afghanistan not to mention most of the others and for what good anyway.
There can certainly be more scrutiny to free up funding for our own dire needs.
It certainly makes the Kruddster feel good being able to big note himself while he talks nonsense.

Mitch says:

11:35am | 27/01/11

Wayne it’s hardly in our best interests to let countries like PNG, East Timor and the Solomon Islands fail when they rely on our funding so much.  I get the impression you will be one of the first to complain when they turn up in Australia seeking asylum as well.  Combine that with the fact as a prosperous country it would be pretty widely frowned upon if we overnight cut all aid to other countries, which I’m sure would win us a lot of friends in Asia, and would be great for those who live in worse conditions then those in Brisbane every day.

Carmel says:

11:45am | 27/01/11

Why all the dosh to Indonesia when they don’t even have laws to prosecute people smugglers?  Why don’t we start there and remove aid until they address their turnstile attitude to this issue, they’re not exactly a 3rd world nation.

Ryan says:

11:45am | 27/01/11

@Mitch: I would say having a major internal crisis would be a perfectly acceptable reason for stopping foreign aid, why should we need to explain ourselves anyway, they are getting OUR tax money for NOTHING!

Brett says:

12:09pm | 27/01/11

The australian government just thinks its to easy to throw another tax on us i mean we can afford it cant we, I mean i work every week and im so glad to see that out of the 900 dollars i make a week i get 700 dollars for busting myself all week. Makes it so much more worth it, food prices are high, fuel prices are high, electricity prices are getting rediculous. Why do we even have a government they dont anything for the people of australia unless your rich, dont work, or you immigrate to the country. Great Job

Mathew says:

12:18pm | 27/01/11

This is why you should never give a cent to government, it is in their nature to squander it. Leftist governments being the worse ones off course but even so-called Conservative government will squander your money.

Just wait and watch how bligh will squander the money you gave her, should have given it to private charities who you should check will spend it wisely.

gillard could have simply scrapped that stupid nbn scheme, but as i said earlier, she won’t because the need to squander is always far too strong for government.

OverIt says:

12:28pm | 27/01/11

FFS can people on this blog start learning how to spell RIDICULOUS!!

MHW says:

01:10pm | 27/01/11

Wayne .. your figures, if correct (and I have no reason to doubt them), makes our Govt look like a traitor to our own people. Trouble is you don’t earn Brownie Points at the U.N. for spending money at home!

Ironic says:

02:43pm | 27/01/11

OverIt, I love the irony of your comment. You used an abbreviation, made two incorrect usages of the exclamation mark, and used capitals where it was not required.

Matt says:

02:54pm | 27/01/11

Actually MHW, I think Wayne’s figures are drastically distorting the truth. He’s not at all comparing apples with apples.

From Centrelink’s 2009-10 Annual report:
Value of payments made on behalf of policy departments $84.2 billion

$1.6 billion to assist international communities with extreme poverty, $84.2 billion to our poor/disabled/retired.

$17 million has gone to immediate flood relief ‘with more to come over due course’. Pretty likely the Commonwealth will end up spending several hundred million directly on the infrastructure, and that centrelink payments will also go up.

OverIt says:

03:47pm | 27/01/11

Ironic, I fail to see the irony. Have a good evening

David says:

03:48pm | 27/01/11

Wayne Fehlhaber, if correct, has solved $1.7 billion of the problem if we cancel all foreign aid. Now where do we get the other $3.3 billion Wayne? The cleanup is estimated to cost $5 billion you know?

Gregg says:

05:33pm | 27/01/11

@David,
So simple on where the other dosh comes from.
Government needs to show some responsibility in addressing priorities, there still being billions to be squandered with the BER, no doubt, even some buildings possibly being in flood plain zones.
And then there’s the white elephant NBN ain’t there.

First off though, they really need to get a real handle on what the costs will be rather than having treasurey officials pulling figures out of the sky on the whim of politicians demanding a figure to bandy about.
Doing thorough assessments does take time!

2012 says:

05:48pm | 27/01/11

Troy, (10:49am) this means that these $millions go to some bodies’ pockets rather than to those in most needs? What a dirty business! I feel sick…

The Real Eric says:

06:03pm | 27/01/11

I’m quite happy to pay a levy of around $2.50 per week for a year. It’s less than the price of a take away coffee. Let’s all stop sniveling and take a reality check. @Peter Oataway can we please look way beyond the next 12-24 months using the past as a guide to this?

Rod Rye says:

07:24pm | 27/01/11

The $17 million (with more to come) is the money the Federal government is giving directly to victims. The amount being spent rebuilding roads and infrastructure (which is more comparable), is in the billions of dollars, from the Federal government alone, being matched by state governments, and further topped up by donations, many of which come from international donors, many in countries which we have donated too.

And we have plenty of leverage in countries like Indonesia, I mean, a letter from us and they gave East Timor an independence vote. This week they helped us arrest an Australian-Iranian citizen in Indonesia who will be charged with people smuggling.

But anyway, all political parties support foreign aid, because even if you ignore all of the above, and ignore it being the right thing to do, it reduces the incentive for people to leave their countries and arrive here, by boat or bomber. And I can assure you, spending it there saves more Australian lives than spending it here.

Colin J Ely says:

08:37pm | 27/01/11

We have a ‘Moral Commitment’ to give aid to PNG, The Solomon’s and Timor Leste for standing with us in the dark days of 1942. As for the others, if we have ourselves suffered a natural disaster, then surely we are entitled to scale back the level of our aid for a while. What about deferring some of our own programs such as NBN and BER, if you have just totaled your car you do not go straight out and buy a new pair of fluffy dice to hang from the rear vision mirror!

OchreBunyip says:

07:28am | 28/01/11

Wayne has a point, why not shave some of the millions earmarked for overseas and use it locally instead. We’re not stopping the aid to those listed countries, just reducing it to manage local issues. After all, none of those countries are entitled to Australian tax dollars, while I consider Australians have a right to have their own taxes spent on their welfare.

Jim says:

08:02am | 27/01/11

It’s the principle of the thing TChong…if this government wasn’t so wasteful and irresponsible in its spending I don’t think anyone would mind.

If it didn’t come on the heels of people all round the country opening their wallets already to the tune of $130M then no one would mind.

If the government wasn’t smugly patting themselves on the back after increasing foreign aid to $4.7bn no one would mind.

Cost of living is through the roof, interest rates climbing, housing unaffordable, the excessive waste and mismanagement of the BER, batts, green loans…the frightening cost of the NBN…and all other wasted dollars - it all makes people a bit cycnical about how that money will be used and how long it will be in place.

There is already $5.6bn set aside for infrastructure repairs, and $1bn for rail - why not use that first?

Gillard has timed this to come straight after Australia Day - timed just like all other unpalatable announcements. Her aim is exactly as you mention; to capitalise on the ‘mateship’ and patriotism from yesterday…but people like you and I won’t be able to have a say. It’ll come down once again to just two pea-brained individuals out of 22 million Australians…and it will come down to what’s in it for them.

Vaunted says:

08:04am | 27/01/11

Chong, Obama said yesterday: “Within the next five years, we will make it possible for business to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98% of all Americans’. Does that make our $46 Billion NBN a complete wasteful crock, or what?
Next question, given the past fiscal mismanagement record of the Rudd Gillard government, how could we possibly have any confidence that our money won’t be wasted once again?
And finally, like many Queenslanders I’ve already donated more than a year’s worth of $5’s, despite having myself been impacted severely by the floods. Does that mean those of us that have already donated can have a tax credit?

watty says:

08:06am | 27/01/11

Don’t remeber Howard ever proposing and enforcing a $40 billion “white elephant”  NBN.

Only a few hours ago Obama proposed a simlar idea (nationwide faster broadband) paid for by private enterprise and using wireless not fibre optic cable..

There’s your flood relief money comrade.

John says:

08:44am | 27/01/11

Well said Jim..For me, It’s certainly not the money that’s the issue…It’s the anger we feel towards these clowns and the way they have and will squander it…...I’d be fairly confident there will be gross corruption, incompetence and waste…How do we end up with such inept leaders in every tier of government?????

Adam Diver says:

09:08am | 27/01/11

If there was no budget surplus promise I can assure you chongie this wouldn’t even be an issue.

Denny Crane says:

09:09am | 27/01/11

TChong,

Why hurt the australian even more, decrease the foreign aid amount given, this is the easiest way to solve the issue

Nick says:

09:24am | 27/01/11

Australians have already given.I personally gave $500 that was borrowed on my credit card for the appeal.Do you think its fair that I should pay more Chong? Perhaps you don’t mind because you didn’t put your hand in your pocket!

The Badger says:

09:25am | 27/01/11

Leaving aside all the problems with mobile broadband, how much would a wireless broadband solution cost to deliver for 98% of Australians? Anyone have a clue? Anyone?
Didn’t think so.
Empty words from the empty minds of the conservative zombies, that shuffle aimlessly around The Punch muttering their leaders lies.

nossy says:

09:34am | 27/01/11

@TChong - dont forget Howards Timor Levy Chongy - looks like the Lib supporters here have ! hahahahhhhhhhhhh

Flutz says:

09:36am | 27/01/11

I do not object to giving to those in need, I object to the manner in which the govt is choosing to force it on people.  The thing is I (and many others I know) have already given more than the equivalent of $250 on a wage of 50K in a direct donation to the Flood Relief Appeal.  I did so willingly and was happy to do so; but have had to curtail other areas of my life in order to do afford it.  Now the govt is going to force me to give even more; when it could re-direct the money it intends to spend on an ill-conceived NBN which will be outdated before it is even rolled out.

Rosie says:

09:38am | 27/01/11

Well said Jim! Couldn’t have said it any better.
Chongy - Back again with more xenophobic ranting after not knowning that Kelvin Thomson was a Federal MP for Wills when he was suggesting that his leader do the right thing for the people of Australia on his write up here on Punch. When I am sure you had wished there was a magic edit button in existence on your keyboard.
  TChong says:
  05:10pm | 19/01/11
  “Yet more Zenofobic ranting from the Far Right. These skilled people have a right to a better life and shouldn’t have to catch a boat to get here.’
Once again, making comments about a government that we have all come to know as being soooooooooo wasteful, irresponsible in its spending of our money! Why should anyone take any notice of what you write Chongy and believe that the Gillard Govt is putting our needs before hers when a Federal MP, unknown to you have to convince Gillard to do what is right for this country and its citizens??????????

john says:

09:48am | 27/01/11

@The Badger not much at all, existing mobile towers for wireless technology already exists people are already on iphones etc for web browsing. Typical download speeds from 1.1Mbps up to 20Mbps in all capital CBDs and selected metropolitan, regional and rural areas. In contrast, basic plan on NBN will offer download speeds of 12 megabits per second.

Its completely obvious wireless broadband solution will be a hell of alot cheaper, all that’s required is to beef up current infrastructure. the liberals were suggesting a hybrid solution which is a much more efficient and better way to go to ensure development and growth of both technologies.

Malcolm Turnbull is more right than anyone else so far.

Martina says:

09:48am | 27/01/11

We had a Future Fund and a very substantial surplus, not that long ago that may have taken care of this as well, until (Labor)got their grubby hands on it.  Nothing less than shelving unnecessary expenditure (NBN) is good enough in this scenario. We all need to live within our means and Leaders should lead by example. The most maddening thing is that as with every other government infrastructure project, whatever quote they get for jobs to be done, will be wildly inflated because it’s “a government job” and will go over the cost quoted to boot. The levy is not even the real issue here, it’s that people are fed up with government, employed to represent our best interests are only looking after their own. There are many places that money could come from, just be postponing items on the agenda, like we all have to when budgetting.

Jim says:

09:54am | 27/01/11

Actually Badger…98% of the population can already access wireless broadband - kinda goes with the 98% that can access NextG services. They, you know, kinda share the same tower.

But you keep hammering away at the evil right, sweetheart - everytime you open your mouth you’re doing the Libs a favour by making your bunch of goons sound more incompetent

Diogenes says:

10:04am | 27/01/11

Why should I who earns less than $50000.00 a year send my donation to the flood appeal when t he government in Canberra is to slug me again?
Can I please have my donation back.

TimB says:

10:10am | 27/01/11

Rosie, in TChong’s defence, that was apparently an imposter responsible for that.
There’s no real proof either way, but we’ve decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

TChong says:

10:16am | 27/01/11

Good one Rosie. As I stated the 19/1 post wasnt mine, but a troll did so on my behalf.
I’ve spelt xenophobe with two zeds at least as long as you have gotten talking points from LNP web site.
As for taking notice, like you Rosie, I dont know. But I seemed to have upset some conservative troll enough for them to take down a gullible blogger , like you - you and several others believed it.
                    What do you think about that? 

Mike T says:

10:24am | 27/01/11

@ TCHONG

Change the goal posts much???

The argument is, nor was, should we help QLD with our hard earned tax. The argument from most people is that the govt should be diverting from other crappy projects or maybe they should have been more frugal in how they have spent in the past, in which case thier would be no need to increase.

Typical left crap TChong….... “oh see people dont want to help thier mates”.... its not abour that, you know it and i know it. Just another attempt by an ALP stoge to divert away from what the real argument is, that being incompenece of this govt

The Badger says:

10:27am | 27/01/11

I noticed nobody could put a price on a mobile wireless broadband solution.
And no simpletons, it’s not as simple as putting something up on an existing mobile tower (cell site). To support wireless broadband in 5 to 10 years,  you would need a cell site on every corner or every block. And what about the infrastructure to get data to and from the mobile tower? Come on zombies, but a figure on it. Go get your zombie leaders to cost it.
Wireless broadband is part of the NBN, an integral part, but it certainly is not entire solution. It’s already there, have a look.

jim - stick to poking around in holes in the ground, you’re not very good at this. 98% of Australians can access wireless broadband? I thought drug taking was illegal on a mine site.

meinsydney says:

10:37am | 27/01/11

I am guessing that you haven’t already given all you can afford to in answer to the request for donations.  I and many others did.  In fact, millions of dollars have already been donated.  Now we are finding out we couldn’t afford to give what we did, because we are going to be hit with a new tax on top of our already generous donations. All this is going to do is make people far more reluctant to donate in the future.

jf says:

10:49am | 27/01/11

On the principal of helping out those that have been affected by the floods, I have no beef. And, looking at the amount of money donated so far and the number of people who volunteered their time and continue to do so, it would appear most people feel the same way.

I don’t even mind the idea of a levy for unprecedented, unexpected, abnormal events.

However, whilst abnormal, this event could hardly be described as extraordinary. A competent government should be budgeting for natural disasters in a land of “drought and flooding rains”; particularly a government that has the benefit of comparatively high tax revenues.

My beef is that this government continues to tax and spend. It is an irresponsible, incompetent government. It continually and constantly fails to manage the economy, social policy or any aspect of its role with any degree of competence or effect. I would say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions but I don’t think that this government even has good intentions. It simply refers to its good intentions as a mask for its own blind ambition.

Joseph says:

10:55am | 27/01/11

Australians help out in many ways.  Donating money, volunteer ones’ time to aid clean up.  We donate VOLUNTARY not forced.  Mates don’t force mates to pay up. TChong, $250 for you doesn’t mean much.  For some struggling families, $250 means a whole weeks’ grocery budget.  Again, where would this “Levy” end?  Same levy can be imposed for “Mandatory Good Friday Appeal Levy”, “Christmas Hardship Levy for Salvos”... etc   Lastly, will this levy to FLOOD proof Queensland, Victoria and NSW or other areas prone to flood?  What had Brisbane done since 1974 to prevent flood damage?

john says:

10:56am | 27/01/11

@ The Badger, clearly you do not have that much knowledge, best not to comment to avoid embarrassing yourself any further. You said..
“To support wireless broadband in 5 to 10 years,  you would need a cell site on every corner or every block. And what about the infrastructure to get data to and from the mobile tower?”
We already have wireless broadband, with a cell site on every corner covering 99% of the population.

http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond-internet/mobile-broadband/bigpond/?red=/bigpond_internet/wireless_broadband.html

NBN is just a government business scam to raise money, the government sold bonds to businesses, with a promise of a guaranteed 4% return. the government doesn’t care if the NBN is successful or not because the deal was done for “our time” its future governments that will have to deal with it by either flogging it off in some scam share float or “give” it to telstra or whatever.

Frankly why businesses would invest in a 4% bond return when banks are now offering 6% {bet they are kicking themselves now?} who knows.

TChong says:

11:04am | 27/01/11

Sorry MikeT, ,about the goal posts- I was responding to how I saw the article.
My interpretation isnt yours, yours isnt the same as someone else’s .
No big deal, is it? Open forums being what they are. ?
One of the good things about Punch, unlike The Drum ( as 1 example) is that many a different view on the same article can be reached, and expressed, and agree or disagree as you like.
Thats a good thing, ? is it not?

Bernie says:

11:15am | 27/01/11

500 Million pledged to Indonesdia for the repair or new 1500 islamic schools???? If this Govt adds a levy for this after I have already donated over $1000 to QLD, I will never donate to another charity again.  And rest assured, I won’t be the only one thinking this way and just watch all other charities now suffer. And what about the floods in Canarvon in WA.  Or is this going to be typical and WA is forgotten as usual.  Where was the pledge from the Federal Government to the WA victims.  What about the blocking of more dams in QLD?  What about the QLD Govt approving buildings in flood prone areas?  What about the farmers in QLD who may be suffering this year, but claim they will have a bumper one next year???  The QLD Govt also has a lot to answer for.  Julia, if your going to share the love, share it Australia wide, not just continuing to rely on WA to prop up your mismanagement.  I personally wouldn’t mind paying a levy if the Govt hadn’t of kept wasting the money they already had.

DaveK says:

11:17am | 27/01/11

Badger, not sure how they do it in NZ but there’s no towers on every corner, speeds are something we can only dream about & the cost is incredibly low.
But then again, do you have a costing for this oh so simple solution?..... silence…. thought not.

Glenn says:

11:27am | 27/01/11

Our family cant afford it TChong. Easy to say people can afford it, but we struggle to pay bills, the mortgage all our insurances, rates, food on the table, cloth the 4 kids. A tax return in the positive helps my family yet this time round I will most likely be paying the tax office. What a joke. Work hard pay tax give money to disasters and still get taxed. I didnt vote for Gillard and there is no way I would consider voting for her or Labor in the next federal election. We are going furhter into poverty and Gillard wants to take more form our table. I pay a bush fire levy on my rates and insurance. How about those who live in flood prone areas start doing the same.

Keith Hammersmith says:

11:29am | 27/01/11

@TheBadger

ok badger, no one has posted the exact figure it would cost for a wireless solution,  BUT wouldnt you think that in order to properly research spending billions on fibre your precious labor would have costed other options?

did they?
where is that figure??

seems pretty irresponsible to not cost out alternatives doesnt it?

and lets get real,  No one really is thinking or saying that wireless is anything but a cheaper solution.  its guaranteed to be cheaper,  HENCE why large (geographical) countries like the USA are going wireless.

MarK says:

11:34am | 27/01/11

“I noticed nobody could put a price on a mobile wireless broadband solution.”

But but but you never gave me a chance and you know how I love to talk broadband.

Using the US model Obama gave us, in very broad terms, the cost to us as taxpayers and shareholders in the government (poetically speaking) is as follows,

wait for it…..

$NIL

Yes that’s right campers.

NOTHING.

Obama will enable private enterprise to build it. Cash injections whether on budget or sneakily hidden off budget are .........

Nothing.

Not a cent going on his speech.

Now let us juxtapose that with what we know of the NBN given that half of it is secret squirrel stuff and has not been released.

$36 billion is the kindest estimate. This of course doesn’t count the $14billion they will pay Telstra but hey - if you have used accounting tricks to keep something of budget why not go the whole hog. For this sake of this comparison I will be kind to you (when you speak of me speak well) and use the $36 billion or low end figure.

Now this is where it gets tricky Badger so stick with me here. I am going to assume a parity exchange rate - it is close enough

What we know now.

US scheme cost to taxpayer $US Nil

Aussie scheme cost to taxpayer $US 36billion

Now lets see $36billion - $nil = ummmm….....oic   $36billion!!!

So the saving from adopting the American model would be $36billion to Australian taxpayers.

I actually just realised something, apart now from your qualifications wireless being integral to the NBN back track, about why you have to bring all your arguments back to the NBN.

This is the only thing Gillard hasn’t stuffed YET. It just struck me. You have nothing left but this one project that will be completed “sometime” in the future with which to justify your ideological baggage on. You have nothing else with which to point to. You have a hope that perhaps this will come good. By 2030.

Wow. I actually feel pity for you.

You still don’t get it do you. No one is against better broadband in whatever form. I am concerned with the risk being assumed by the government. I am concerned with $36+ billion being spent off budget. With risk analysis. With much of the detail kept secret.

And now - back on topic - I am concerned that a government which has squandered so much has now reverted to Labor meme. Spend spend spend….whooopsie daisies - TAX.

Talk about the levy Badger. The NBN will wait for another day.

Tell us why the government that spent the lot and is still rolling out overpriced canteens nation wide needs to tax us again.

Why?

jf says:

11:37am | 27/01/11

“Who cant or wont afford that for fellow Australians ?”

The rallying cry of the latte sipping, champagne socialist.

It’s not that you or I can’t afford it. It’s that it all stacks up for those that can’t.

The saddest irony of this government is that the very people that it purports to represent are the same as those that are most harmed by its incompetence. Whether it’s desperate refugees drowning at sea seeking refuge that that doesn’t exist or battlers unable to pay the heating bill because of rising electricity bills, it is the vulnerable that suffer.

Feedup with Julia says:

11:40am | 27/01/11

Lots of struggling families can’t afford it. 
Perhaps if Julia and her croonies lived like most Aussie families, she would see that it’s not fair to those of us already struggling to keep up with the rising costs of power, food, insurance etc.
$250 is a weeks worth of food for my family.

n_dude says:

11:41am | 27/01/11

@vaunted - your donations are after all tax deductible. Right? There’s your tax break on the donations.

The Badger says:

11:51am | 27/01/11

And still, no costing on the conservative wireless broadband solution.
Interesting
John, I seem to have missed out I don’t have a cell site on my corner. Nor can I see any cell site anywhere from where I am. When will they get to this suburb of a major city?
Guess my part of the Australia missed out on the cell site on every corner.

Keep doing those sums and get back to me.

mark, keep on trying. - found any fibre modems at Harvey Norman yet? This may sway your opinion of the NBN.
PS - Have a look out your window and tell me your latest opinion on climate change will you?

Jim says:

12:00pm | 27/01/11

I see the Weasel is back to his trollicious best - cannot back up what he says, doesn’t like facts or differing opiions, so turns to puerile personal attacks on a 3rd grade level.

Makes his heartfelt post about big bad trolls from last week seem kind of dishonest doesn’t it? Then again, look at who he idolises…

Weighing In says:

12:41pm | 27/01/11

Seems to me that even though the NBN is very expensive, its setting a solid backbone/infrstructure foundation for future broadband usage. To me that makes more sense than what I would consider a bandaid solution in using wireless exclusively.  Wired infrastructure tends to me more secure and stable.  Wireless technology is more prone to attenuation and interference.  Try using Bigpond NextG on a rainy day in a regional area and you’ll know what I mean.  Just my 2 bobs worth (albeit off topic)

MarK says:

12:58pm | 27/01/11

“And still, no costing on the conservative wireless broadband solution.”

Dear oh dear Badger I just costed the Obama model for you and found a saving of $36billion at the most conservative estimate.

You really need to keep this “conservative” vs “left” pretend class battle over the NBN going don’t you. And frame it incorrect terms. It is not about anything else than ensuring value for money is achieved and risk is minimised. That is, a cost benefit analysis be done. Openness in the new paradigm. Openness in the age of WikiLeaks and crystals and dolphins. Why all the secrecy?

It really isn’t that hard.

Going down to HN this weekend actually to get a new router. I will report back on the number that will maintain a gig connection. Hahahahaah fibre modem….you make me giggle with your lack of comprehension and misinterpretations not to mention the vacuum of any actual technical knowledge you constantly demonstrate.

Climate change is alive and well in Port Macquarie today. Stinking hot. Really really hot. No sea breeze bugger it.

I guess if we whacked a quick levy/carbon tax/Miningtax/BStax it would fix it. Seems all you need do is tax stuff and it get fixed. Can you get Julia to jump back on stage and toss a quick levy our way please.

spot says:

01:08pm | 27/01/11

Just FYI, the US fast wireless broadband is not going to be taxpayer-funded and it is not going to be a nationalised government monopoly.  Very different from Australia’s mooted NBN.

Rosie says:

01:13pm | 27/01/11

Chongy

“Conservative troll” very harsh words from a gullible blogger like yourself who can’t see further than the tip of your nose that this country is being governed by the worst govt in its political history!

What a pity you didn’t come to your defence on that thread the same day the article was posted in the Punch????? We the gullible bloggers as you describle us may have given you the benefit of the doubt and left it at that. Now, we will never know whether you are telling the truth or not. Checking back you didn’t contribute another post on that day, even to defend yourself.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/why-gillard-is-wrong-to-encourage-skilled-migration/

As for someone impersonating you on the Kelvin Thomson article; “Why Gillard is wrong to encourage skilled immigration” when it wasn’t in consistent with her pre-election statements that she doesn’t believe in a “Big Australia.” It also pre-empts the sustainable population strategy for Australia being developed by Population Minister, Tony Burke. Chongy this is unfortunately how the Gillard Govt governs. Imposing a levy, a tax, is nothing but a necessary evil for Gillard’s survival to remain in power. It is not for the betterment for this country and its already struggling citizens.

Read the other comments and you will see that the majority do not like what Julia Gillard is doing to them and their beloved country.

Shinsengumi says:

01:48pm | 27/01/11

TChong: as many have mentioned above, we can bet with certainty the Labor ‘pipeline’ will absorb most of the funds before it even gets to the flood rebuilding effort.  It’ll be wasted.  Just like the $600+ million (that we know of) which was wasted in the Feasibility Study phase of NSW’s Metro Rail project before it was canned.  The documentation has been shredded so the true extent of the wastage will never be known.  We give half a billion dollars in cash to Indonesia every year; for what?  So they can funnel boat people into our country?  Our Govt throws 4.7 billion in cash aid to other countries, yet will NEVER subsidise our farmers to stay in business through drought and flood.  Labor is ridden with voracious, shameless parasites.  Furthermore, GOOGLE approached Gillard, and offered to roll out the NBN for $23bn using their fibre rollout know-how, doing it 2 years faster and saving $22 billion.  Google was rejected.  I wonder why?  I’m guessing all the parasites, the Labor party buddies licking their fingers at the billions they’ll siphon off during the NBN project won’t get their kickbacks.  There’s a quote I remember from some politcal figure that sums it up best:  “You can fool all of the people, some of the time; and some of the people all the time.  But you can’t fool all the people, all the time.”

Ben C says:

02:13pm | 27/01/11

@ n_dude

Let’s look at it from a person earning $50,000.

They get slugged the extra 0.5% levy on top of their Medicare Levy. So, 0.5% of this is $250. They pay an extra $250 in tax.

Now, if we go by your suggestion and use donations as a tax deduction to offset this $250 levy, you would need to make a donation of $781.25 (divide the $250 tax refund by the relevant tax percentages - 30% marginal tax, plus 1.5% Medicare Levy, plus 0.5% flood levy = 32%). That is pretty much equivalent to one week’s net pay for that $50,000 salary.

Is it worth it? It will definitely make people think twice about donating.

Mark says:

02:15pm | 27/01/11

I feel for those who have been affected by the QLD floods, that is why I gave what we as a family considered a considerable amount to the appeal and would to those other states affected. Remember it is not just those in QLD but also those in Victoria and WA who are or presently being affected as well. However, I am now reconsidering “why should I donate in the first place?” then just to be forced to pay again by the federal government, when you struggle to give what you have in first place and then manage to budget with the increase in the cost of living on top.

Smokey says:

02:21pm | 27/01/11

MarK: Imagine the government asked road builders to duplicate our main road network 5 times, then asked you to pay the cheapest one to access it. I guarrantee you this will cost more than paying the government tax to build it the first time. Maybe you should go and get a degree in communications engineering and business before you write a wall of text that makes you look like a fool.

MarK says:

03:00pm | 27/01/11

O hai smokey. So sorry to see your attention span appears to be based on Twitter. A wall of text? Gosh. Go elsewhere then if you hate to read more than 20 odd words in a row.

What I suggest you do is look at the context of my replies and think again. Your analogy does not make a shred of sense. You are comparing the incomparable and unprecedented.

The closest you could get is the government paying for new superhighways everywhere using our tax, renting the superhighway to third parties who then on charge us to use them. The only catch here is the third party only pays rent if they get a user on the road. That is as close as I can get to your ill thought out analogy. No users mean no income back for the spend. Oh dear me.

Hoe do you think that would go down genius?

“I guarrantee you this will cost more than paying the government tax to build it the first time.”

HAHAHAHAHAHA. I love how the young are so naive. Please, I beg you show me a government built project cheaper than the private sector equivalent. Go on. Hop to it. I would love to see this. Awesome stuff. Why should we fund the assets that private companies have already built and would have built if economic anyway?

” Maybe you should go and get a degree in communications engineering and business before you write a wall of text that makes you look like a fool. “

Orly? Why thank you. I love it when people get personal. Really. I do.

Try harder at a better analogy. Justification…....I love it. Do hurry back with all your cheaper than private sector built projects. Can’t wait to see them.

Mark says:

03:12pm | 27/01/11

I think the thing that everyone is missing about the NBN Vs Wireless is the innovation possible!

Gillard/Conroy have trumped the NBN as ‘forward thinking’ without giving any good example of the commercial advantage that a NBN will yield. It’s more of a cross your fingers and pray, to which ever god you worship, that somehow this will provide us with more commercial options.

On the other hand,  Obama in his state of the Union rattled off a multitude of ideas of how wireless will give us things they DON’T ALREADY HAVE. That’s why America are the great innovators, they don’t think about what they can sell easily to the simple folk, they think about where the world is heading.

a couple of my ideas.. automated farming, crash avoidance tech…  possible with NBN? No

Who cares about the current short comings of wireless, that will pick up and the only the fibre we need, is the backbone! NOT hooking up eVERY home over our VAST landscape.

Howards 2bn OPEL project was far superior than this. They actually did cost/benefit scenarios. It was great, for a period of time, to have a treasurer with something more than a Art’s degree…

Shuggy says:

03:18pm | 27/01/11

Me, if I could afford it I would pay it myself. I work to support my family, I pay taxes as required. Levy for mateship I dont agree with that sentiment and its not anti or un Australian to disagree with it.

MK says:

03:57pm | 27/01/11

Hahahah MarK
you are funny

i have a 20Mbps wireless device,
that often yeilds wrose than dialup speeds ,

your old bs about government porejcts alwasy costing more than private, becasue private is more efficient, is based off a delusional ignorance and infalted beleife in efficianvy just becasue something is run by the private sector,
Name more than 1 Private enterpise project with an initial budget over !billion completed since 2004 that did not blow out costs or time?
the private sector has deliver much more spectatular failrues than government has, initial budget 500 million, cost $3billion, sold for $350million. Government arent great, but private doesnt necessarily mean better

The Badger says:

04:16pm | 27/01/11

Smokey

mark thinks that many words and irrelevant links make him look intelligent.

Someone needs to tell him he has no clothes on. Good Work.

Marc says:

07:00pm | 27/01/11

TChong I totally support what you say, Howard levied us for Timor and Iraq, and they were not our problem, Queensland is part of Australia and all Australians should come to the fore and help, the amount is small bikes when deducted every pay.
I would like to say however that if those against the Super Mining Tax had supported it, then this money could be used for just such a purpose, and yet WA and QLD staunchly said “these are our resources leave them alone” now that we have a problem of the size caused by the floods, then it’s a bit hypercritical to rely o the other states for help.
And Jim talk about governments wasting $$$$, think how much was wasted on Iraq, Timor and Afghanistan, just for Little Johnny Howard’s ego and friendship with Bush and Blair.

Eileen says:

01:44am | 28/01/11

Personally, only too happy to pay a Levy to help rebuild Queensland

Matt says:

08:17am | 27/01/11

No, Howard kept it there for middle-class bribes when the elections rolled around.

Perhaps you should take off the Tory blinkers Stephy. Howard introduced special levies to pay for (in no particular order), the gun buyback, the Ansett staff entitlements, East Timor deployment and the deregulation of the milk and sugar industries.

At the last election, only one party was proposing a “great big new tax” in the form of a levy - the Liberals, with their levy to pay for Abbott’s paternity leave scheme.

Levies are fine - they are the original form of taxation, well before income tax was introduced about 150-odd years ago (or something, I stand to be corrected by someone bored enough to look it up on Wikipedia…)

What we should be discussing is the hysterical, and economically stupid, insistence on maintaining a surplus, from politicians of all stripes (who should know better) and the media (well, just plain dumb in a lot of cases - or if they do know better, biased against the Gillard government).

Debt - and the odd resulting deficit - is good. Debt, to paraphrase Gordon Gekko, works.

I attended a budget breakfast a few years ago where Matthew Quinn, the head of the Stockland Group, said that if he ran his company the same way Peter Costello ran the nation’s finances, he would be rightly sacked by angry shareholders. Because refusing to go into debt is an inefficient use of capital.

Nick says:

08:28am | 27/01/11

Howard actually raised levies when the budget was in surplus!

John says:

08:53am | 27/01/11

Uhmm Matt…Australia isn’t a business!!!!!.....Governments go in to debt because they can’t run the country efficiently and waste far too much money….Industry goes in to debt to improve profit….Nothing alike….

Gordon Gekko was a smart man…Our politicians are not…Nothing alike….

Dash says:

09:05am | 27/01/11

Matt, Howard paid off $96 billion in ALP debt. Delivered five years of consecutive tax cuts. Restored the nations AAA rating, delivered surplus budgets and left $26billion in the kitty for your Labor party fools to burn in half an hour.

Compare that to this ALP which has promised everything and delivered nothing but rorts and waste. We’re still paying for the insulation mess.

jeffb says:

09:19am | 27/01/11

John, that is not really true at all. Governments can use debt to improve infrastructure to increase productivity thus increasing “profit”. The view you seem to have taken is very short sighted and is responsible for the ‘surplus at all costs’ policies that see Australian governments selling off all their assets while continuing to neglect infrastructure.

Governments using debt to fund the budget bottom line on the other hand is a completely different matter.

I am more than happy to pay the $300 or whatever it is, hell I’ll double it.

Ricky says:

09:31am | 27/01/11

LOL Matt, Hows Europe going with it’s debt management? Ireland is bankrupt due to Socialist Govt’s using other peoples money, Hows Greece and Italy fairing, another 2 countries that lived on the mantra of debt, both have had to be bailed out to the tune of hundred of billions of Euro due to govt debt. How many other Stockland type businesses that lived on debt are now gone, bankrupt and never to be seen again. Debt is fine if it’s debt on value earning infrastructure/projects and going to return a $ back into general revenue. Labor debt is not a manageble debt in that the $$$$ wasted show no return to Australia. I am happy to return the $900.00 middle class welfare bribe handed out by Rudd and co, I am more than happy to see a few pet pork barrel projects put on the back burner for now by the ALP, but we all know that will never happen.

John says:

09:34am | 27/01/11

And what happens one day Jeffb is that all the assets are gone, there is too much debt to keep borrowing…Then what? Not only do you have the debt, you also still have the expenses that exceed the revenue….IT’S NOT SUSTAINABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jeffb says:

10:30am | 27/01/11

John, it seems reading comprehension isn’t your strong point as you seem to have completely misread my earlier post.

There is a huge difference between one off borrowing to finance infrastructure and living off debt. Every person in the world with a house loan and a credit card understands it.

Governments can use debt exactly the same way as everyone else does, it has the same risks and the same rewards. When the amount borrowed is a one time deal and a very small percent of your actual income the risk is virtually non-existent, borrowing significant amounts or living off debt is completely different and has very predictable results.

If you’re using that one off debt to actually build something you also have an asset which can cover the debt, another concept anyone in the world with a house loan would understand….

I can’t believe any adult in Australia actually needs this stuff explained to them… I’m amazed you managed to turn your computer on.

Lisa H. says:

11:11am | 27/01/11

Except the individuals in government who borrow are not held personally accountable for the money, are they, Jeffb.
Which means that their failures are at our expense.
As in the disasters in Ireland etc etc
Government is to serve the people, not ‘to directly ‘profit’ from us via tax.
Your analogy is distasteful.

Brad of Bentleigh says:

11:30am | 27/01/11

So what happens to Labor when they raise this levy, and still fail to show a surplus next year?

Who’ll give me odds on that bet?

jeffb says:

11:45am | 27/01/11

Welcome to the Free Market Lisa.

Carmel says:

11:52am | 27/01/11

@Dash   How did Howard achieve all of that?  By not spending a dime on any infrastructure, cutting spending on education and health, and opening the borders to any and all foreignn students an immigrants just so that he could say he had a surplus.  Why have such a massive surplus?  Isn’t the idea that you’re saving for a rainy day and emergencies?  Isn’t that exactly what just happened to the eastern states?

jeffb says:

11:53am | 27/01/11

Brad, who really cares either way? Until either of the major parties actually starts showing something worth voting for it makes little difference whether the ALP meets their promises. People will continue to shop around between both parties for the best deal they can get until one of them puts up some policies worth voting for.

At the end of the day at least Queensland will be rebuilt properly.

MP says:

12:57pm | 27/01/11

To Jeff B - You seem to fail to understand that our govenment is not using debt to build the country - it is using it to continue to run the country.  At some point you actually have to run a surplus to pay back that debt.  No-one can keep running up the debt with no view to paying it off - it is called going bankrupt.  The government has not yet stated how they are going to pay off the $50billion debt they have run up so far - and that was no nation building exercise - just a free for all money hand out.  My issue with this extra tax is that when the australian public and companies have donated over $150million already, why are the public also being taxed?  It makes a double dip - 1 of the freewill, the other of government necessity.  Very wrong.  This should be blocked And Matt - original levies are the original form of taxation - but now we have a tax, on a tax, and a levy, and this that and the other government requirement because they cannot run a budget.  You have to have the money or easy access to the money to be able to build the country, and without a AAA credit rating this then becomes a lot harder to do - who wants to give money to a country to squander it?  No-one!

Dash says:

12:57pm | 27/01/11

@ Carmel it was achieved by solid economic management. It was not achieved by $900 handouts to dead people! Or by allowing Labor backed builders to stick their noses in the taxpayer trough! It was not achieved by trying to fix the mess caused by an insulation fiasco! It was not achieved by wasting money on promises not delivered. Where’s grocery choice? Where’s fuelwatch? Were are the 260 childcare centres? Where’s the root and branch tax reform? Where’s the coastguard? Where’s the East Timor Solution? Where’s the more affordable housing? Where’s the chaeper better childcare? How much did the 2020summit cost? And why would you support a pack of fools who have lied and wasted their way through the last three years Carmel?

Where’s all the ALP infrustructure? Look at the state of NSW. Where’s the state schools and state hospitals? What have the state Labor governments done with our GST? You blame Howard for the ALP state governments ignoring health and schools!!! What? They had 100% of the GST remember! Rudd and Gillard promised the earth and delivered what? They delivered the SORRY photo opportunity, that’s it!

How would your beloved socialist party (aka the ALP) have gone with the GFC if it still had Keating’s $96Billion of debt? If it didn’t have $26billion in surplus to throw about? If it didn’t have a AAA rating to borrow against and if it didn’t have the benefit of the Financial Services Reform Act.

Answer those questions and you may just have an answer to the usefulness of a surplus and good economic management! We had full employment, GDP growth higher than any western nation in the world and zero debt. Now look at what the ALP has done!

Bill Door says:

01:37pm | 27/01/11

@Dash

So you didn’t notice that while Howard was giving tax cuts with one hand he was imposing levy after levy with the other.

jeffb says:

02:56pm | 27/01/11

MP, are you seriously crying over a $50 billion debt when Australia has a trillion dollar GDP? $50 billion is less than 5% of our annual income…

Get a grip people, there are plenty of things you could criticise this government about without embarrassing yourselves with numbers.

Dash, despite the GFC Australia is virtually in exactly the same place it was before in relation to every other western nation. Our employment, growth and debt numbers are still better, what more do you want.

Dash says:

04:42pm | 27/01/11

@Bill, the impact of the tax cuts were significantly more! And are still with me. Top marginal tax bracket under the ALP $60,000, under the LNP $180,000!!!!!!

What I have noticed since Rudd/Gillard have been in power is the following:

My power bill has gone through the roof
My childcare costs have gone up to $98 a day despite being promised “cheaper better child care”
I am no longer entitled to any financial assistance for childcare payments
My groceries are more expensive despite being promised “Grocery Choice”
My fuel costs are more expensive despite being promised “fuelwatch”
My private health tax rebate is under threat despite being promised the ALP wouldn’t touch it.
My interest rates are higher than when I locked in a low rate under Howard
My children’s school had to pay twice as much for the hall because they were foced to use the ALP approved builder
My children still haven’t seen any laptops
My water costs are up
Our foreign debt is at record levels
The budget is in defecit again
Government spending is at record highs
Illegal imigration is up
legal imigration is up
Housing affordability is down
I’m being asked to pay a flood levy
I’m threatened with a carbon tax
I’m still waiting for root and branch tax reform
None of the promises from 2007 or 2010 have been delivered
And the ALP in NSW is inflicting itself on the rest of Australia.

I notice quite a bit these days Bill! You on the other hand seem to be enjoying life in socialist Australia!

Bill Door says:

05:19pm | 27/01/11

@Dash

What rubbish!!!

Power was more expensive under Howard then it was under Keating. The same applies to fuel, rent, groceries, child care etc.

Interest rate as a percentage of income was much higher under Howard then Keating.

The reason we had fuel watch and groceries watch was because the price of these items went thought the roof under Howard.

Private health tax rebate = the socialist contribution to your health. When you voluntarily pay 100% of your own heath care come back and see.

Never get between a right winger and their god given right to socialist handouts.

And it was Howard that sent our foreign debt skyrocketing.

Bill Door says:

05:37pm | 27/01/11

Oops

Interest rate as a percentage of income was much higher under Howard then Keating.

Should read: Repayments as a percentage of income was much higher under Howard then Keating.

Markus says:

08:10am | 27/01/11

Why the hell should states get an extra 5% GST, when the whole point of the GST was to replace all the state taxes you just listed to begin with?

Dash says:

08:15am | 27/01/11

Robert, I agree with you that the GST should be increased to 15%. But only if there is relief for the PAYG taxpayer who seems to cop it every time. The GST needs to be increased for a number of reasons. Firstly, we have an ageing population and in percentage terms a reducing taxable workforce. PAYG will not be enough. It should also increase to catch those not paying their fair share of tax. The small business man, splitting his income with the wife, declaring half of it and claiming benefits. You cannot avoid consumption. Catch those operating in the cash economy.

Recently NZ increased its GST to 20% but reduced its personal tax scales significantly. Top marginal rate is 33%. Much fairer and reduces the disparity between the corporate rate and the top marginal tax rate. I do not understand why anyone in this country should pay an effective tax rate higher than the corporate rate.

But alas, this ALP government doesn’t have the balls to make it happen!

Farmer says:

08:26am | 27/01/11

Oh dear, Robert, you must be one of those safe, above $75K p.a. wage receivers. My farm business simply cannot cope with any further taxes - sorry, levies - after the losses of this season. The main difference between a tax and a levy is that a tax can really only work if you actually make a profit. A levy hits everyone whether you receive a wage (I hesitate to use the word “earn”) or run a business.

A levy is usually grossly unfair because everyone pays it (except Centrelink recipients et al) but only a few receive the benefit of it. Have to love Socialism, though.

Because a large number of businesses won’t make a single cent in profit but will, in fact, return a massive loss this year, a new tax won’t work. In fact, unemployment will increase, thereby further reducing the amount of “tax” that can be collected. However, a levy, or a GFFOB (Giggling Gillard Fee on Breathing), can be applied mercilessly to cover the shortfall in budget funds.

One more question: how can the implementation of a new tax - sorry, levy - actually help those “poor souls in Qld & Vic” if it isn’t going to be collected until 2011-2012?

MarK says:

08:38am | 27/01/11

“They can make unpopular decisions with little or no political backlash at the next Fed.election.”

No just no.

Think about that statement you made a bit. It is horribly wrong.

“Increase the GST to 15% with the exyra 5% isolated in a National Disaster Reilef Fund with the money only allowed to be used to re-instate Publicly-Owned Infrastructure (Fed,State & Local) property. “

Political suicide.

The party that did this would be lucky to be as popular as NSW Labor. Then again NSW Labor would be justified in proposing it, they are the third party in NSW anyway.

“The States which refuse to do so get no extra just the usual allocation from the 10% GST rate. Or is that too easy? “

Unworkable. We have just seen the failure of cooperative federalism where the “most popular” PM of all time by the polls couldn’t get Labor governments coast to coast to agree on measures about anything with him. Imagine Gillard telling the people of NSW that if O’Farrell doesn’t play nice she will punish us more. Hahahaha. Say good bye to sandbagging seats in Sydney’s west for a generation.

TChong says:

08:52am | 27/01/11

Farmer - “you have to love socialism though”
How right you are! Without it, what would have happened to fellow farmers- sugar cane and dairy farmers ?
What would happen to all of regional and rural Australia without subsidies from urban taxpayers for all basic services?
“Have to love socialism”  damn straight, and farmers know it !

BobM says:

09:58am | 27/01/11

TChong - perhaps farmers should just supply their local rural areas with their goods, and the ‘urban taxpayers’ can just starve to death clutching their pay packets, eh? Even your urban dole cheque would be useless. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you….

Peter Oataway, Hay, NSW says:

09:58am | 27/01/11

@TChong ..FYI Economics 101 our Nations economy starts from the farm gate and the mine site with the Primary Resources which along with Tourism drive all other economic activity ...in the city making Latte’s and selling houses for instance

TChong says:

10:22am | 27/01/11

BobM - i have no problems with what you say, it more or less backs my point- that urban and regional/ rural Australia are dependant on each other- a statement of the obvios.
I dont object to cross subsidies. The bush depends on it.
But why pretend it doesnt happen?

Overlook the Obvious says:

11:18am | 27/01/11

Super profits tax Mark.
pretty simple really.

Peter Oataway, Hay, NSW says:

12:57pm | 27/01/11

Scrap water buybacks ...

Rod Rye says:

07:37pm | 27/01/11

The NBN will turn a profit, thus if we scrap the NBN, we’ll need another levy to pay the money it would have made.

I bet those flooded can pay their mortgages too if they sell their land and what remains of their homes. Using the same thought process that would work.

The NBN is no more wasteful that bothering to rebuild. If there was a commercial reason to rebuild, surely private companies would step in and rebuild all the highways etc etc etc. And after all, I’m sure since there are flying car prototypes, rebuilding roads would be a complete waste etc etc. See how silly this all sounds?

Coincidentally, the levy will, in effect put downwards pressure on interest rates. And taxes will still be lower, for everyone, than they were at the 2007 election.

Jess Ayen says:

08:51pm | 27/01/11

“The NBN will turn a profit”

There is no evidence of this.

Nothing else the Labor government has put their hand to has even come close to being a success, why would the NBN?

iansand says:

09:02am | 27/01/11

I’m not sure whether the fibre can be included with other infrastructure repair, but isn’t the best time to roll out the NBN when the road is already dug up for other purposes?  Using the road as a metaphor.

Tony of Poorakistan says:

09:26am | 27/01/11

I agree with both of these. Teh NBN can be postponed; we have waited 20 years, we can wait another 5 or 6. 

And the idea of giving any more money out to a bunch of foreigners who detest us anyway is simply stupid when it is obvious we need it here.

I am sick and tired of Labor’s premise that anytime they need (or want) more money, they can simply shaft the middle class.

brenton says:

12:46pm | 27/01/11

The Federal Government of Australia already have $5 billions tucked away in its budget for disasters of this nature - and always has.  I cannot believe people cannot see this for what it is… a tax grab dressed up as disaster recovery funding.  Unless Julia has already spent it, without telling us??

MarK says:

08:42am | 27/01/11

The Rudd epoch was hers too.

She was 2IC.

She was 1 of 4 of the kitchen cabinet. Her fingerprints are all over the BER and the other billion dollar black holes.

Don’t just blame Kevin. Julia was there all along with her incompetence, lack of managerial skill and political cowardice adding fuel to the waste fire.

She is just as guilty of the mess as Rudd. Swann and Tanner will not be able to hide from history either.

Mayday says:

10:13am | 27/01/11

Spot on Paul B, these people thrive on political opportunism.

Hollowmen says:

10:31am | 27/01/11

MarK
What mess?
You mean the ones the conservatives manufactured along with a complicit press?
You just can’t seem to make any of this stick, there is nothing to back up your lies.

Jason A says:

10:57am | 27/01/11

Your comment: Show me a politician left or right who doesn’t thrive on opportunism. That’s why they’re vermin. I’m not anti-levy to help fix Queensland and the Libs aren’t anti-levy either. They had a gun buy-back levy, an East Timor levy & an Ansett worker levy all when the budget was in surplus. Their rhetoric on this is as deceptive as anyone. Government money should come with a caveat though. If you take government money then you have to move/rebuild out of a flood zone so the government doesn’t have to pay out again in another 30 years time. Part of any future budget surplus should be set aside in a National disaster/emergency fund so we don’t have to cop another levy in the future. That way if there’s another flood or GFC then the government can raid the fund without getting into debt or raising taxes.

MarK says:

11:48am | 27/01/11

Hollowmen,

LAWL.

Pink Batts. There is one disaster financially. Combet was tasked with the clean up.

Remember the whole knifing of the back thing? Rudd said ouch….Julia said it was because the government had gone off the rails.

Plenty more evidence. You can do better than “lies” surely.

Hollowmen says:

12:19pm | 27/01/11

How good of you to back up your lies with credible links.
Wonderful,
Why don’t you link me to some more of your opinions. so I can be more opinionated like you?

Over Middle Class Welfare says:

09:59am | 27/01/11

While you’re at it, get rid of paid maternity leave! It is an unnecessary and costly indulgence, when families already get Family tax Benefit A, up to 80% child care payment reduction (CCR and CCB combined) and Family tax benefit B as well as School Bonuses

Lisa H. says:

11:22am | 27/01/11

A lot of families don’t get any benefits, OMCW, especially if mother works in the home, raising her own kids (saving the tax payer thousands in the process).
Dad pays tax at the full individual rate and there are no rebates for the family whatsoever. Hard working, self-reliant and functional families pay through the nose!
Income sharing for tax purposes would be a genuinely fairer and family-friendly system, recognising the unpaid work of the mother in the home…particularly as all family benefits are means tested on shared income.

meinsydney says:

12:19pm | 27/01/11

I couldn’t agree more.  At a time when everyone is screaming about over population, it seems incredibly odd that we are giving people baby bonuses.

Mumofmany says:

01:05pm | 27/01/11

Well said, Lisa H.  I home educate our 6 soon to be 7 children while my husband works equally as hard outside the home to provide for all of us.  We receive no government handouts at all, yet save the government tens of thousands of dollars by our choices, and are raising an army of future tax payers, LOL.  Income sharing would certainly recognise the fact that as parents we work as a team, and that the income one party earns is reflective of the efforts of both in raising a family.

spot says:

01:33pm | 27/01/11

Mumofmany and Lisa, spot on! It should be a family’s income which is taxable, not just the wage-earners’.  A family where one parent works and earns $100,000/year while the other parent stays home are cares for the children should be taxed the same as a family where each parent goes out to work and earns $50,000/year.

And thank you Mumofmany for helping to produce the nextgen of ‘working Australians’, who are going to helping to look after the likes of me when we retire. Your work *is* appreciated.

Over Middle Class Welfare says:

01:38pm | 27/01/11

Lisa H, I agree.  This would be genuine reform.

meinsydney says:

02:00pm | 27/01/11

If we didn’t breach international law and jail refugees it wouldn’t cost us nearly that amount.  Can I assume you are anti-baby bonus?...cause if you are not, then you are a hypocrite for complaining about the cost of acting humanely and allowing refugees into our country.  If you weren’t “naive”, you’d know that many white people enter our country each year, work under the table, overstay their visas, pay no tax, use our infrastructure and are nothing but a drain.  Refugees on the other hand become taxpaying members of our community in due course.  What do you think of the white people from wealthy countries ripping us off?  What about the people who employ them under the table?  Is it the cost of refugees you are concerned about or the color of their skin?

John says:

09:10am | 27/01/11

The difference is Howard/Liberal didn’t have a reputation for waste, incompetence and corruption…To me this is like a reckless spender getting another credit card…No double standards…It’s reality.

Jim says:

09:16am | 27/01/11

Howard also had a $96bn debt left for him by Keating that he had to tackle over a 10 year period. Your bunch of goons inherited the biggest money box in history and you blew it all inside a year.

Peter says:

09:49am | 27/01/11

Nathan,what about all the Australians that have already given?What effect will this have on donations into the future?Aussies are a fair people who don’t mind giving but shouldn’t be forced with a levy whilst this hopeless government blatantly wastes Billions and then hands out hundreds of millions in foreign aid to other countries.By the way when Howard introduced his one off levy ,people were OK about it because most Australians were being rewarded with tax cuts which saw personal income rise substantially over the Howard era.
Ask yourself if you are better off now and how you feel about the future?

Peter says:

09:50am | 27/01/11

Nathan,what about all the Australians that have already given?What effect will this have on donations into the future?Aussies are a fair people who don’t mind giving but shouldn’t be forced with a levy whilst this hopeless government blatantly wastes Billions and then hands out hundreds of millions in foreign aid to other countries.By the way when Howard introduced his one off levy ,people were OK about it because most Australians were being rewarded with tax cuts which saw personal income rise substantially over the Howard era.
Ask yourself if you are better off now and how you feel about the future?

JB says:

10:54am | 27/01/11

@John: The government does not have a reputation for corruption and if it did its misguided. The insulation saga was thanks to dodgy operators and the school halls largely thanks to shoddy operators in NSW, facilitated by the NSW government. You can call that mismanagement and incompetence from the Fed Government, but not corruption. Save us the hyperbole.

@Jim: They did not “blow it all” they spent it on a stimulus package that saved the economy from recession, which the coalition supported. Howard also maintained that surplus by neglecting infrastructure, leading to the infrastructure deficit which was remedied by the stimulus package.

jf says:

11:00am | 27/01/11

Nathan

Just because I disagree with Gillard’s irresponsible and reckless taxing and spending it doesn’t follow that I agreed with all of Howard’s.
However, the Labor Government inherited a massive tin of money. They have recklessly and mindlessly spent it and have nothing left to take care of their citizens.
I object to a government taking money from its citizens, siphoning it through a bloated public service and giving some of it back.

Particularly when it is the poor subsidising the middle class. And these pricks are geniuses at that.

Brad of Bentleigh says:

11:26am | 27/01/11

you listed the levies that were imposed by Howard… now compare that list, to the list of tax CUTS under Howard… these cuts were permanent.

Aitch B says:

12:19pm | 27/01/11

@JB

Wrong!!!! The opposition supported the first stimulus package… you know, the $900 thingy.

They NEVER supported the insulation scheme, the BER, the green loans garbage, ‘cash for clunkers’, etc.

Jim says:

04:19pm | 27/01/11

JB - they blew it. Doesn’t matter what light you look at it under, they blew it. The stimulus may have contributed to avoiding the some of the fallout from the GFC overseas…but most of the damage was mitigated by the reserve banks actions.

And last time I checked pink batts, unusable school canteens, green loans, doubling foreign aid and cash for clunkers was not considered infrastructure.

Green machine says:

10:15am | 27/01/11

Is that you Bob Brown?

jf says:

11:03am | 27/01/11

If only the dinosaurs knew that climate change was caused by the earth’s inhabitants. Then they could have avoided the ice age and they’d be around now.

Asteriods and Volcanos killed my baby. says:

11:55am | 27/01/11

jf

excellent post from a knowledgeable denialist.

jf says:

12:35pm | 27/01/11

I very much do believe in climate change A&V and have done ever since I learned about it in school in the 70s: back then the greenies (and like every good student I was one) were carrying on about climate cooling, for which there was ample ‘scientific evidence’.

I do, however, believe that mankind is trashing the planet and that we should be doing something to address the situation.

In fact, I don’t not believe in AGW. However, I am far from convinced of it. Certainly not convinced enough to think that we should be implementing expensive policies to fix something that may or may not exist. Particularly when, had we implemented policies to address global cooling in the 70s and 80s that this had the potential to exacerbate AGW (if it exists).

Still, far easier to compare those that hold alternative opinions to yours to holocaust deniers isn’t it. That way you no more have to make an argument than anyone else on the Gaia gravy train.

meinsydney says:

01:02pm | 27/01/11

I totally agree.  I recently spent 2 years in Canada, and though I enjoyed faster internet speeds there, they certainly weren’t worth many billions of taxpayer dollars.  Not to mention, the technology will be well out of date by the time the roll out is completed.  What an utter waste of money the NBN will be.  Spend some of that money on Qld, get rid of baby bonuses (everyone is concerned about overpopulation anyhow and paying people to have kids they can’t afford is not a good idea in the current circumstances), reduce our taxes and stop wasting our hard earned money Gillard!

Conrad says:

08:45am | 27/01/11

I agree Kate.  Its not about giving money, its about the people on the end of it, my thoughts move to the fiasco that was the 9/11 fund and the total mismanagement of that money. 

Aussies aren’t against helping those in need, but the Govt is looking like those “Nigerian Prince” schemes that want your money to restore peace in their country with the notion of giving you a slice of it when they’re done.

spot says:

12:20pm | 27/01/11

I completely understand the “why donate when we’re going to be paying anyway?” sentiment - it frustrates me as well.  But can I add, that the people of Queensland do still need help, and odds are that Julia’s latest tax-grab is going to be a disaster, just like all of Labor’s other tax & spend plans, and I have serious doubts about how much of that money is going to get to actual people in need in the end.

With that in mind, I’d like to suggest that anyone with the means to do so still consider making a private donation (via the Salvation Army, which has a proven track record of getting donations to people on the ground). 

Withholding of donations out of spite or in protest against the unfairness of this levy won’t be hurting the Labor party, it will be hurting the people of Queensland.

meinsydney says:

01:49pm | 27/01/11

Spot, I doubt many if any will withhold donations out of spite or in protest.  What you have to understand is that many Aussies have donated generously already…many of those people live week to week, struggle to pay their own bills and are facing rising food costs.  I’m sure many gave as much as they could, some even borrowed on credit cards to do it.  Now they are realizing they couldn’t afford to give what they did because they are going to receive a tax whammy on top.  Those that have already donated should be able to deduct that donation from their levy…that’s the only fair way and the only way that people will continue to donate in the future.
Not to mention, the government already takes a very high proportion of our income each year and instead of wasting many billions on soon to be outdated technology (NBN).  What happens if private enterprise come in and give us wireless technology like the US is doing?  The NBN is a waste, and one we obviously can’t afford right now.  Not to mention the ridiculous baby bonuses…if we truly are in danger of over populating, this has to be the most ridiculous scheme ever.

spot says:

04:24pm | 27/01/11

Yes, meinsydney, I understand that Australians have been extraordinarily generous already, and that for many people that was already a bit of a financial stretch… and now they’re looking at being hit with a tax on top of that.  That’s why I qualified it as “those with the means to do so” - it needs to be entirely up to the individual, because they’re the only one who knows what their personal fiances can and can’t take. I’m sorry if my comment sounded at all critical of generous good-hearted Aussies - I didn’t mean for it to be taken that way. Cheers.

meinsydney says:

06:41pm | 27/01/11

Spot, I understand your point much better now.  I was in awe of how much Aussies donated and think it’s really sad that people will think twice in similar situations before they do it again.  Plus, I think we are already taxed at such a high rate and can’t understand why the government doesn’t have the money to pay for this when they have the money to roll out the NBN which will likely cost 10x as much and I suspect will be considered old technology by the time it’s in place.

Phillip says:

09:35am | 27/01/11

100% agree with your comments. Why do 20% of NSW still want to vote labor ?? They must be totally f****n brain dead.

Temerarious says:

10:36am | 27/01/11

Beautifully summed up, Dash.

If it makes you feel any better, come March 26th NSW Labor will be banished to the political wilderness for decades. It would be sweet justice if the same thing happened to Federal Labor.

When my wife and I each received Rudd’s $900 handout, we were disgusted. There was no way to hand it back and we knew we would pay for it dearly in the long run. We also knew that at the rate the Rudd/Gillard circus was pissing away the nation’s savings, the day would come that we would be in massive debt and unable to cope if a REAL crisis came Australia’s way.

Well, now that crisis is here. Girl guide Gillard has been shown up by PM Bligh and has the temerity to hit all of us with a levy as she sneaks off from the disaster zone. It is disgusting beyond words. The people of Qld, NSW and Vic get king hit in the guts with the worst floods for a lifetime, and as they struggle to their feet they get hit again by an uncaring government.

I am reminded of that same cruel circus every day as I drive through our tiny Riverina town and see the white elephant hall that Rudd built in the grounds of our school. If anyone here can convincingly tell me how a town of 300 people is justified in getting a $2 million school hall, I will go out and dance a jig in the main street next time it rains!

Adam Diver says:

10:39am | 27/01/11

@ phillip, comment of the day for me, I share your sentiments.

Dash says:

11:28am | 27/01/11

Phillip, you take the prize! That would be about the only reason I could think of to justify an ALP vote in NSW. It makes sense though as it matches the brain power of the people they support. The scary thing is, the same faceless men behind the NSW Labor party, put Gillard into power! Need I say more.

Rev says:

02:07pm | 27/01/11

Temerarious - I too felt the $900 was a joke.  So I made sure I spent every cent of it buying a snowboard from a Canadian website, and gleefully didn’t pay any GST on it either.

Dash says:

04:50pm | 27/01/11

I didn’t get the $900. Seems I paid too much tax to be eligible!

Mattb says:

05:59pm | 27/01/11

@Temerarious, ‘my wife and I each received Rudd’s $900 handout, we were disgusted. There was no way to give it back’.
So, um, what did you do with that $1800 Temerarious, leave it in your bank account like it was dirty, filthy money?.
Well your be happy to hear that your opportunity to give it back has arrived, just think of this flood levy as a way to give back, happy days hey…...

Conrad says:

08:51am | 27/01/11

Bob… taxes won’t go down well in Brizzy either!! Especially since this levy applies to all, even those who have lost everything but their job in the floods.

This govt is treating us all like mushrooms… “keep them in the dark and feed em’ s**t”

Jim says:

09:08am | 27/01/11

The scale of the disatser - that’s the scary thing Bob. In the grand scheme of things, this was a relatively minor disaster - and we have been lucky so far that all of our natural disasters have been relatively small; dozens of deaths rather than hundreds of thousands.

The question is, faced with a big disaster by world standards, how well will we cope?

As to Abbott, that’s all you guys have now - your block/wreck mantras. You know you’re on a hiding to nothing and you know your party has failed. When you can no longer afford to put anything but the most basic foods on your table you’ll thank Abbott for attempting to oppose the ridiculous spending spree Labor has put us on.

Craig says:

09:22am | 27/01/11

That’s one half of the story here, I think, and I think you have a good point, yet putting a levy after asking people to donate, is really far from the best idea politically, let alone logically.

Does this country have anyone that’s actually in touch with reality at all in Parliament House? Or are they just a bunch of fantasising cave-dwellers….

Steve Douglas says:

10:19am | 27/01/11

You forget one point no doubt on purpose.  The levies that Howard introduced had nothing to do with natural disasters where ordinary citizens donated their own. I approved completely with the gun buy back as the guns in society had built up over generations. The Swan and Gullard will kill off the golden goose.  I donated to both the Fire and the Flood funds and would continue to do to help fellow Australians.  If they do introduce this tax I will never ever again give my own money whilst there is labor government in power and I will write to the Premier’s Flood Relief Fund requesting my money back as I am not a wealthy person and I cannot afford this double dip.

Candice says:

05:40pm | 27/01/11

@Conrad - The levy will not apply to any people affected by the floods. So anyone who received the Aus Gov Disaster recovery payment in this financial year will be exempt!

Ryan says:

09:32am | 27/01/11

Too true, I for one will be having second thoughts when making a contribution to any fund raising now, considering the fact that the government found it pertinent to “means test” any emergency payouts to the people in need, it appears that “the rich” are still enemies of the state as far as Labor is concerned and therefore should rot in hell when it comes to an EMERGENCY. This is the final nail in the coffin, she is going to try and use the “mate-ship” angle (this coming from someone who stabbed her closest working mate squarely in the back at the first opportunity) and hope that we are going to be shamed into accepting this Great new NBN Tax.

Peter Ansfield says:

11:13am | 27/01/11

The miners should be paying for this with a super profits tax.

Bernie says:

11:52am | 27/01/11

Brilliant, spot on.

fairsfair says:

09:37am | 27/01/11

I disagre Davido. This is going to go over like a turd in a punchbowl here in QLD too.

A lot more national infrastructure has been damaged as a result of this event than the fires. Plus, the unflolding drama in the southern states may see all these figures further increase. There is a national responsibility to rectify those damages yes, but a tax should not be the way that it is done.

Queensland is probably in a bit of trouble. Incompetent labor govt taked with fixing state infrastructure (heavily in debt), incompetent federal govt tasked with federal assests (heavily in debt). Incompetent homeowners failure to obtain adequate insurance en masse. I am just waiting for a state announcement from Bligh with her cash grab strategy.

It is a two edged sword. I am not against the levy because I want things restored and I feel for the people involved and the truck drivers who travel those roads, but I am against the levy as it is simply brought about by incompetence.

I need a new telly because the ten year old 68cm faithful is making a high pitched wheeeeeeee sound when it is on. I was all set to get a newby this month, but my power and water bill arrived and as Summer has been a bit of a stinker it was a bit higher than usual. I’ll put up with the wheeeeeeee until I can better afford it. It is high time this government realised that they need to put up with the wheeeeeeeeeeee on a couple of things rather than resorting to these measures.

Susie says:

09:05am | 27/01/11

Agree.

No ALP or Green voter has a right to whinge about a levy.

Gillard is a train wreck.  Excruciating to watch.

Sissy says:

09:12am | 27/01/11

Hurting may the only way those fools learn but sadly ALP voters never learn.

I have never seen a leader (Premier or PM) so far out of her depth.

“Conversation, dialogue, committee, discussion, consultation, inquiry, moving forward”... it’s like a child’s wind up doll that’s become possessed.

NO LEVY.

John says:

09:12am | 27/01/11

That sums it up James. Well put.

Dash says:

09:56am | 27/01/11

James well said. You are 100% correct. This is not a Hawke Keating style ALP. This lot are a pack of incompetent socialist fools. The same fools that destroyed NSW are now pushing the whole country in the same direction. When will ALP and green voters wake up to themselves? The loony independents have a lot to answer for!

Craig says:

10:51am | 27/01/11

I would vote Lib if they actually had some policy. You know, like some plans and such

I know Gillard/Labor are s**t. I don’t need to be paid an MP’s salary/perks to know that. I wonder if people actually know what an opposition is really there for in government. I don’t like many of Labor’s policies, yet I’m not paid an MP’s salary and perks to just stand up and publicly say no I don’t like it, it’s an a** of an idea - which is all the current Opposition lineup is really doing. Where’s the alternative? Where’s the alternative policies?  Do you remember the mantra that Abbott is so fond of? “Stop the waste?” Maybe he needs to listen to his own advice in regards to himself and his current lineup? Julia and Co have been able to get away with so much, for so long, because you Libs have been more interested in trolling and raging rather than developing viable alternative ideas of your own and selling them. KRudd was a spectacular dud in office sure, but on election, no matter what political persuasion you are, you have to admit that he was able to sell his ideas, just like Howard did when he first got into office.

So you expect me to vote for Abbott just because he sings songs about “I’ll stop the boats”? It’s been acknowledged even in Lib party circles that he’s been lacking in policy for so long.

It’s little wonder why this country is a mess. It’s a really depressing state when you consider switching governments, only to see that the other side of the fence…..isn’t really the other side of the fence - just equally empty, and devoid of any substance, let alone policy. Chronic incompetence vs. complete emptiness, take your pick, ladies and gents.

Kymura says:

03:51pm | 27/01/11

Agree. If such a levy were to be imposed, I will ensure that I will never donate to ANY charity. After all, there’s an automatic levy in place.

Like Sue, both me and the wife donated to the flood appeal as we felt it was the right thing to do. However, if the government were to double dip, then I guess they’ll have to do without our voluntary donations to charity as and when.

Your name: john says:

09:18am | 27/01/11

Australians love paying taxes, whats one more?

MarK says:

01:03pm | 27/01/11

Hahahaha.

Wish it was only one more.

First we have this tax today.

Then we have the mining tax which we will all pay for in one way or another.

Then we the carbon tax.

1 down and 2 to go for this “year of action”. Awesome work Gillard.

john says:

01:46pm | 27/01/11

@MarK

I should of really said ” Australians love paying taxes, whats one more?” -at a time I meant to say.  Sorry about that slip.

I don’t know what else to do, I have already cut back on food, and switch off that electric oven & microwave clock to save power, switch off lights and open windows up for street lighting at night, found cheaper insurances, cut but on spending in other areas to pay for these new taxes. If I pump more air in my tyres to save fuel, plus use woolies/coles fuel vouchers and take all the stuff out of the boot and make it lighter, I cut back my credit card limit, I got discount mortgage with ANZ, stopped drinking wine, stopped going out. Cancelled Xmas, easter not going to weddings or parties anymore to save on buying presents. I stitch my clothes and repair shoes to save on buying new. Its getting really hard now. Other single people around me are breaking.

Wayne says:

05:49pm | 27/01/11

Its spelt LABOR. Labour Is something labor and co would have no clue about. So yes the public is quite stupid.

Dash says:

11:11am | 27/01/11

Seano, I don’t think anyone is saying the budget should always be in surplus. But there should be good reasons for debt (I agree this may be one of them). But, wasting $46billion on an unnecessary second stimulus, wasting taxpayers money repairing the insulation fiasco, or on the failed fuelwatch, or on the failed grocery choice, or on a 2020 summit, or on a failed green loans scheme, or on consultancies and citizens assemblies, or on school hall rorts, are not good reasons for accumulating debt!

Howard and Costello repaid $96billion worth of ALP debt, and restored the country’s AAA rating whilst still delivering 5 years of consecutive personal tax cuts. I don’t think the position they left us in was BS at all. When you consider the Financial Services Reform Act they brought down, it’s quite clear they did more to help us tackle the GFC than Swan did! imagine if we were in the same financial state as Europe and the US! Or if our banks and insurers had the same toxic assets on their balance sheets.

When people see a government which is wasteful with our taxes, they do not want to pay more tax. And don’t forget the ALP still want to tax carbon as well! So much for the promises of reducing our living expenses and delivering root and branch tax reform.

Ryan says:

12:01pm | 27/01/11

Hey Seano, did you see that the US has a plan for an NBN.. take a guess what its going to be.. go on guess, oh yes its going to be WIRELESS.
Good thing they aren’t as stupid as we are here!

spot says:

12:29pm | 27/01/11

Thank you, Dash. You said what I wanted to say (only better). Cheers.

Seano says:

01:23pm | 27/01/11

@Ryan - Yeah so? What’s your point? We’re not the US in case you had not noticed.

@Dash - For 11 years the coalition mantra was surplus, (which of course is easy to do during an economic boom) so for conservatives to say that it’s ok to sometimes go into deficit is a bit trite. Paying off debt is fine and well done to them on that score but the coalition did little when it came to much needed infrastructure. Obviously they preferred to have cash in the bank for election pork barrels. As for the school rorts, evidence other than rhetoric? If anything the investment to bring our schools isn’t enought to bring them up to the levels they should be (where we are competing with the best in the world), not even close. I agree they shouldn’t be levying more taxes, staying in debt a little longer would be a better way to go. Unfortunately the ALP just like the LNP are much more interested in saying the word surplus at election time and that’s a bad thing for the long term future of a country that needs infrastructure investment.

Your name: john says:

09:28am | 27/01/11

@nossy You convinced we should all pay more tax. thanks, all of Australia will be right behind supporting you..

nossy says:

09:36am | 27/01/11

@John - but ya paid ya Timor Levy didnt cha John ! Imposed by Johnny GST !

Dash says:

09:38am | 27/01/11

What has this got to do with Abbott? This isn’t a LNP tax! The Howard government delivered five consecutive years of PAYG tax cuts, paid off $96billion in ALP debt and left $26billion in surplus to the Rudd government. Wake up to yourself.

You support a government which is a fraud! How many more lies are you going to swallow before you wake up? Grocery choice, fuelwatch, 260 childcare centres, more affordable housing, chaeper better childcare, laptops in schools, we wont touch the private health tax rebate, root and branch tax reform, a coast guard, an East Timor solution, no child shall live without a laptop blah blah blah. You’re more prepared to sit back and see your taxes wasted on insulation fiascos, green loans schemes and school hall rip offs. What sort of numpty would think this ALP government is doing a good job?

Carbon tax, flood tax, profits tax! Tax Tax Tax seems to = the ALPs idea of Root and Branch tax reform. Swan and Gillard wouldn’t know if their arses were on fire!

I want this new tax blocked and for idiots to stop reading from this weeks ALP script.

Edward III says:

09:53am | 27/01/11

The majority of the nation is shoulder to shoulder with Abbott in blocking this insane tax grab just like the outrageous mining tax.

NO RETREAT.  NO SURRENDER.  If its a civil war then so be it.

Ryan says:

10:05am | 27/01/11

@Dash: he doesn’t support it, he is part of it.

Rosie says:

10:31am | 27/01/11

nossy Nosthow

I say Tony Abbott this is the time to BLOCK & WRECK this tax, levy or evil Gillard necessity! Use the biggest of boulders to bowl them out of the political arena for a decade or so for the sake of good governance. Australians need a break from this incompetent, wasteful, irresponsible big spending Labor Govt. A Govt who inherited a surplus for the Liberal Govt and within a year managed to spend wrecklessly to put the country into deficit. We want a change, a Liberal Govt because it is known to always bring the country back to surplus. “No debts Nosthow but a surplus.”

That would be spectacularly breathtaking isn’t it viewers???????

Ben C says:

10:34am | 27/01/11

Hey nossy, if this levy does come in, I’m quitting my job right on 30 June 2011. You can pay my share of this levy. I’ve already made my donations to the cause.

Your former King Kevin and his successor Queen Julia have already wasted so much of OUR money in delivering not very much at all. Now, they’re spruiking that they’ll bring the Budget back into surplus by 2012/13. And how are they going to do that? Introduce a levy to pay for what they should have already factored into the Budget in the first place! If they hadn’t wasted OUR money in the first place, then we wouldn’t need this levy, would we?

Speaking of no vision for Australia, I think a fair porportion have no vision for Australia if Labor are still in power with Queen Julia at the helm. You wouldn’t even need brains to see that Julia isn’t worthy of being a Cabinet Minister, let alone Prime Minister.

Martina says:

11:05am | 27/01/11

Good stir, Nossy. But that is all your rave can be, surely. Make a list of the millions wasted, beginning with insulation (ongoing still), bonuses for all, even those like me who did not need it or want it since Kevin Rudd, and put it in your bag and put your own head in it.

john says:

11:07am | 27/01/11

@nossy, lets not forget its your Labor hero Gough Whitlam left Timor in limbo that Howard had to eventually clean up.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s71200.htm

spot says:

12:35pm | 27/01/11

That “Wrecker!” narrative doesn’t work as well as you lot obviously think it does.  I *want* Tony Abbott and the rest of the LNP to block stupid destructive policies.  They’re the Opposition. They stand for me. Tony Abbott can go right ahead and “block” and “wreck” ever ludicrous, expensive, unworkable, destructive policy the ALP puts up, as far as I’m concerned, and it will only increase my respect for them.

You all might need a new narrative.

Shane From Melbourne says:

05:12pm | 27/01/11

I, too, want Abbott to block and wreck this levy. Going to war against the Liberals might be fun….

Jade says:

09:57am | 27/01/11

So Thirsty, why should we have to pay more for something the government should already have covered?

Troy says:

10:45am | 27/01/11

@Jade - i don’t follow your logic.  Successive governments have already built and paid for the infrastructure when it was built.  A series of massive floods have now destroyed it.  It needs to be rebuilt and this costs more money.  Are you saying the government should have already paid for the rebuilding of the infrastructure in advance?  How/why would they do this?  Are you suggesting we should instruct our governments to tax us in advance for possible future disasters?  So, instead of paying a levy for something that has just happened, you are saying you prefer to pay a levy now for something that might possibly happen in the future.  You think this is a better solution?

jf says:

11:14am | 27/01/11

Most of the posts here aren’t objecting to the levy because they think that it’s going to households. Most are objecting to the levy because it is yet another tax by a Government that has no ideas other than to tax and spend. It is an objection to a Government that is hopelessly and irretrievably out of its depth. It is an objection to a Government that is yet again taking money from the poor to benefit the middle class; that group that represent the largest voting demographic. And they are objections from people that have almost certainly dug into their own pockets for this disaster and for the disasters before this.

Hopefully that isn’t too hard to understand.

Andrew says:

11:50am | 27/01/11

Why didn’t the Queensland government insure its own assets?  The Victorian government did.

Troy says:

12:30pm | 27/01/11

@jf - I think the real reason you and others are objecting to it is simply because it’s not your guys who are calling the shots.  How about you park the political spin and just view this for what it is: a natural disaster that has caused a massive amount of damage to a large part of the country.  it could have happened on anybody’s watch.  The point is, we need to fix it.  It has nothing to do with all the rubbish you’re spouting about “taxes” and “waste” and “stealing from the poor”.  Blah blah blah. Can we for once drop all the political biases and work together to achieve something?  I for one am sick of it.

jf says:

12:53pm | 27/01/11

No Troy, I’m objecting to it because it is yet another example of this Government’s inability to manage the economy.

That the floods were a disaster is not in doubt.

As to your comments as to your call to “drop all the political biases” and to “park the political spin” - spare me.

Firstly, this is a political issue. This is yet another example of the government’s economic and fiscal incompetence. It needs to be challenged and scrutinised. Had it had not been for years of financial waste and irresponsibility then this need not have been too much of an issue. But then again, they would have the money available so it wouldn’t have been an issue at all.

Secondly, I will assume that when you refer to anyone that so much as questions the Government’s decisions as “your guys”, that they (a) aren’t your guys and (b) that your guys are the ALP, all of which I think is fair. In that case, take your plea to “park the political spin” and jam it up your @rse. Never have we had a Federal Government that is so driven by the news cycle, so adept at the meaningless, patronizing banal ‘sound-bite’, so poll-driven and so, well, clever with “political spin”.

Ryan says:

01:00pm | 27/01/11

@Troy: that would be great, maybe Julia can park the massive spending on her re-election stunt, the NBN, and act like a real leader who is willing to stake her future one actually being one. We don’t nee a levy, we need a responsible and competent government, this has nothing to do with partisanship and EVERYTHING to do with squandering our money on complete and utter rubbish, the very same thing she will do with this new tax.

Troy says:

02:30pm | 27/01/11

@JF - “In that case, take your plea to “park the political spin” and jam it up your @rse.” 

Wow, sounds fun, but let’s leave the party tricks until after we clean up all the flood damage.

jf says:

05:46pm | 27/01/11

“Wow, sounds fun, but let’s leave the party tricks until after we clean up all the flood damage. “

We? I’m betting your total personal contribution was and (levy aside) will be zero. Typical ALP apologist, bleating for everyone else to do the heavy lifting but useless when it comes to actually doing something.

Paul C says:

10:18am | 27/01/11

@Randal - Good point, but you will find the Labor Government would have already blown that - long ago.

john says:

09:32am | 27/01/11

@ Buntang, what a great idea we need more levies to fund our excesses, its the only way we can afford it, how else are we gonna pay for all the trash to be removed from the floods and re-supply all the stuff people bought from target,supercheap auto, kmart etc?

john says:

09:50am | 27/01/11

No, they like making it up as they go along, its the only way.

Philby says:

10:40am | 27/01/11

MIchael, I’m sure the health system was around when the libs were in power for 10 years. To say the health issue is labor’s fault is wrong. The USA has announced they will go wireless on their fibre, we don’t even have fibre as yet, we will be 2 steps behind if we do not have the NBN.

spot says:

12:43pm | 27/01/11

Didn’t Rudd “fix” the health system?  I seem to recall an announcment to that effect, though I have to say I see very little (if any) improvement.

Levi says:

12:44pm | 27/01/11

explain to me Philby, how does one go “wireless on fibre”? Doesn’t wireless eliminate the need for fibre?

Do you even know what your talking about?

Philby says:

01:05pm | 27/01/11

What the point is to go from what we have to wirless will cost a lot more than going to fibre, the USA did that transition a long time ago. We are caught behind even further if we don’t go NBN, wireless is well out of our price range.

spot says:

01:19pm | 27/01/11

Philby doesn’t understand that the US does not have and is not building a taxpayer-funded nationalised government-monopoly broadband scheme like Australian Labor wants to do.  The US - even the much-maligned Obama - understand that providing taxpayer-funded broadband and running a State monopoly ISP is not the government’s job.

Philby says:

10:47am | 27/01/11

David, you are spot on. Yet again Abbott has come out with a catch phrase that does not have merit. Not to say Gillard has been better but the number of Gillard bashers here seem to forget how pathetic Abbott is. “Mateship Tax” how childish. What about his levy for parental leave? As long as people allow Abbot and his crew (can i say it is their fault we are so focussed on surplus that we are so blinded by the reality that there is no reason to be in surplus), to rant and rave with no substance he will continue to use the fear of ‘a deficit’ or ‘finacial mismanagement’ to stop us from doing what we need to do to forge ahead.

Mayday says:

01:39pm | 27/01/11

It was our Julia who played the “mates”  card and the Opposition leader is responding.

Craig says:

11:11am | 27/01/11

This obsessive compulsive disorder with the surplus is really fast becoming a national joke and disgrace. Business itself said it, and said it rightly - no one will be thanking you for a surplus when people have lost everything, and remain jobless.

Crow about your mad economic management skills and fiscal discipline then.

The Badger says:

11:24am | 27/01/11

No
It’s just uninformed gibberish by party political hacks.
The right making up stuff about waste and incompetence
The left respond to the lies and innuendo.
They get enough of this amongst themselves without listening to the noise here.

MarK says:

12:00pm | 27/01/11

But with the NBN they will read it.

Quicker and better too.

Just you wait and see.

Philby says:

10:49am | 27/01/11

Ken, I agree with the levy. However, I do agree with you on people who have already donated. Let’s see what is done on this regard. There should be an opportunity, if you wish, to reduce your levy payment by what you have donated. I think that is very fair.

MarK says:

11:42am | 27/01/11

Saskia the problem is she could tax us S200billion extra next year and with no control of outside influences, like all governments, could still fail to get a surplus.

What she “promised” was reckless and dangerous. She has chained herself to this boulder and now she will sink with it. She has made it the issue. They are economic incompetents.

She is a disgrace. And she will be held accountable.

Edward III says:

11:21am | 27/01/11

‘I’m Alright Jack” Was Queensland when it let Western Victorian and South Australian towns, business, flora and fauna die a slow depth because it refused to release any water.  Pure greed.  Pure ‘I’m alright Jack’ from the bogan state.  And now you have your beggar bowl out?  Gotta be a joke.

Not happy says:

11:37am | 27/01/11

Bloody piece of socialist crap from the incompetent and wasteful ALP again. This is about votes in Queensland. Someone remind me when the next state election is.

This needs to be blocked!

Ryan says:

11:37am | 27/01/11

I just wish I was as rich as you that $5.00 a week out of our already stretched budged would not mean a thing.

loxy says:

11:54am | 27/01/11

James - why is reducing our Foreign Aid budget for a year or two not a sensible thing to do? Personally, in an environment where costs are rising rapidbly and at rate that is significantly higher than wage rises, why should the people, a lot of whom are struggling now, have to pay yet another tax? Why should we not look after

James Hunter says:

02:55pm | 27/01/11

loxy,
foreign aid does at least three things ,it fufills our obligations to international organisations to which we belong, it provides humamitarian aid to those many time worse of then any of us and it also invests in improoving the lives of people in areas that are or are in danger of becomming hot beds of terrorists. Invest with people we would prefer to view us favourably. Not as “that mob that pulled out in the middle of building a school or drilling for water”. That would be ,to me, pretty stupid.

MarK says:

11:35am | 27/01/11

Yes I see your point vis the levy.

Awesome.

spot says:

12:50pm | 27/01/11

John Howard and Peter Costello have been out of government for years now.  They are not relevant here.  As your comrade Julia would suggest, “Move FORWARD.”

good dog says:

06:44pm | 27/01/11

Yes spot
and thank god those morons are gone.
lack of investment in infrastructure
sell off the family jewels
hoard money to give out as middle class welfare and buy votes at election time.
They are relevant as their legacy lives on in the form of broken infrastructure and essential service delivery.
You would have to be a moron to want these morons running Australia again!

Sigh says:

12:15pm | 27/01/11

Oh you need a surplus, but what you don’t need is this OCD attention to the surplus that both Labor and Lib so adore.

It’s also pot calling kettle black too, attributing everything childish to only Labor and their supporters. I’m sure that makes you more intellectually informed, eh.

I really shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.

G says:

12:44pm | 27/01/11

I especially like the fact that the above person must think $60k is “rich”?

fairsfair says:

01:06pm | 27/01/11

that is truly scary.

Ben C says:

02:54pm | 27/01/11

“Good. Julia is finally demonstrating some left principles.”

God, now I see where the term “out of left field” comes from…

spot says:

12:56pm | 27/01/11

“I will still be happy to donate to non government run charity.” Me too.  The Salvos do good work with low overheads, and small charity-run animal shelters are always starved for funds yet do so much good with so little money.  As long as I can afford it, I won’t take my anger at government out on non-government charities - even though I admit it was my first knee-jerk thought.

David C says:

01:19pm | 27/01/11

its because they are not for working families anymore, they are for inner city, whingeing, whining, latte/chardonay socialists.

K says:

01:12pm | 27/01/11

@ Natalie, actually the independants voted Labour in.

spot says:

01:24pm | 27/01/11

“but at least the refurbished council buildings will look greatbut at least the refurbished council buildings will look great”

And they’ll probably all have signs outside, a la school halls, singing the praises of the kind and generous (with other peoples’ money) Australian Labor Party.

Bet on it.

spot says:

01:25pm | 27/01/11

Envy is an ugly thing.

Daryl says:

01:29pm | 27/01/11

Then again, the Howard government didn’t waste billions of taxpayers dollars. Nor did they rack up record levels of debt without anything to show for it!

Perhaps people are more prepared to give to good economic managers than to a pack of lying losers who haven’t delivered a single thing they promised and have presided over waste and rorting.

So the people who already pay the most tax and the most medicare levy should also pay more for this? Welcome to North Korea.

BR says:

02:13pm | 27/01/11

Rick; I’m complaining because this is a slap in the face to those who donated any sum to the QLD disaster, on top of subsidising peoples stupidity. I see it, and it would appear that many follow this mind set, that certain QLD residents rolled the dice when it came to insurance. Why should we pay for their lack of common sense?  This seems to set a dangerous precedence for any natural disaster, coupled with peoples inability to contemplate such an event. 

Your quite right in your suggestion that “.... probably too busy working out the next tax avoidance scheme”; as a high income earner I’ve already asked the question of my accountant this afternoon to lower my personal taxable income further for the 2011 / 2012 year. I can only hope many others do the same just to stick it to this fiscally inept federal and QLD state government. Didn’t QLD Government just privatise QRN? Where’s the $4.6B in cash from that sell off Ms Bligh?

I have to admit however, much to your distaste, that I did begrudge the Howard Gun Buyback scheme, I was perfectly happy with my semi-auto rifles. It was a little annoying to have to pay a levy to fund a scheme to buy my own weapons back, on the flip side, at least I got something out of it, as opposed to the poor unfortunates that were made to pay and got nothing tangible in return.

spot says:

01:41pm | 27/01/11

If the LNP had been in power these last four years and had wasted as much money as the ALP has, then yes - I would still be against a levy.

JT says:

01:59pm | 27/01/11

If they acted in the same wasteful, incompetent way that this government has, blowing through a surplus and placing Australia in massive debt while still pushing ahead with wasteful spending then yes I would be. But so far in history it is only Labor that acts this way.

Tails says:

02:08pm | 27/01/11

But the current Opposition wouldn’t respond to the situation like this, would they? They’d be more likely to slash budgets and deploy the chronically unemployed (under Defence Force supervision) to Ipswich until everything was rebuilt.

spot says:

01:46pm | 27/01/11

“It’s petty cash, harden up and hand over”

That’s not charity.  That’s pure thuggery.

Keep it up, and you’ll kill charity dead.  Is that what you want?

By the way, I know what I’m covered for and what I’m not covered for. If others couldn’t be arsed to check, then maybe it’s best they learn a lesson.  They’ll certainly check next time, won’t they.  Removing the concept of moral hazard does no-one any favours in the long run.

less than 1 dollar a week on $50,000k and proud to says:

02:16pm | 27/01/11

Thank god someone said it!  My gosh, what a bunch of whingers.  Hope you never end up in a disaster and needing your compatriates help.  @Nick, if you put $250 on your credit card to help I think you need some financial counselling.  Sentiment is there but mate a bad decision…you could have just waited for Julia’s initiative and got your feelgood factor.

Farmer says:

03:49pm | 27/01/11

@less than 1 dollar a week on $50,000k - we did end up in a disaster and we do need help. Unfortunately, we are farmers and no Labor Government in the history of Australia has ever done a whit to assist Australian farmers, whether it be in disaster or not.

Don’t tell me to harden up & give. We give every day to people like you who take their $50K and are out the door at 5.00 pm each day by producing the cheapest and best quality food in the world. When we have a disaster, all you do is whine about the cost of food. I’ll bet the increased price of bread will cause you some grief while you need to know that the price of wheat to the farmer has fallen.

Wait for Joolya to show some initiative and make a decision? Really? I don’t have that long to live.

$50K? I wish.

Philby says:

04:40pm | 27/01/11

Julia, you are wrong.

David Worth says:

02:25pm | 27/01/11

The same “private companies” that had to be bailed out by governments during the GFC?

Paul says:

03:49pm | 27/01/11

Ann,

$60k - $50k = $10k
0.5% of $10k is $50

In all, about $1 per week

Farmer says:

03:35pm | 27/01/11

Couldn’t have said it better, Mark. We have lost massive income as primary producers this year due to the inclement weather .

We also inadvertantly paid tax to the flood fund by donating what we didn’t really have, as we felt there were others who were worse off than us. Isn’t there always someone worse off? By the way, we didn’t receive a receipt for our donation, sorry, tax. Therefore, it won’t be tax deductible.

But I think we will sell off our farm & machinery, try to dilute any proceeds by burying them where Paul Keating & Alan Bond buried theirs, and then file for Centrelink payments & disaster relief next disaster.

In the meantime, we won’t carry insurance so we can “save” our few pennies; and if we get it right, we’ll also be lucky enough to find a building lot that is on a flood plain in the middle of a eucalyptus forest.

Now Giggling Gillard tells me that if I had claimed my $1000, I wouldn’t have to pay the flood fund levy.

Tell me again why I get out of bed each morning?

spot says:

04:38pm | 27/01/11

It’s not generosity if you are forced by the State to do it.  You can only be generous with your own money - putting your hand into someone else’s pocket and then giving *that* money away is just thuggery.

spot says:

04:40pm | 27/01/11

To coin a phrase, I believe “the government has lost its way”.

LLO says:

11:18pm | 27/01/11

do you mean to say “man made”?
“man made” climate change did not cause the floods
but man made incompetence likely made it much worse

http://regionalstates.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/brisbanes-man-made-flood-peak/
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/incorrect-measure-put-homes-in-danger-zone/story-e6frg6zo-1225991957757

john says:

02:37pm | 27/01/11

@Eno The Wonderdog believe it or not, not everyone can afford it, this will bite into peoples food budget for many, nasty as.

Are we heading for Eureka Stockade Part II?

http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/eurekastockade/

MarK says:

02:43pm | 27/01/11

So you think it is a right wing problem? You are claiming that not one person of the left will object to paying more tax so Gillard can attempt to keep a political promise that was foolhardy to say the least?

Pathetic.

john says:

03:03pm | 27/01/11

@ MarK maybe Labor voters may actually love to WANT to pay more taxes to save face to keep the empress in power? 

Either way its still Pathetic.

Paul says:

03:52pm | 27/01/11

I agree Eno - $50 isn’t gonna break me!

The Badger says:

04:44pm | 27/01/11

Eno
just a cheap attempt at political point scoring by the usual suspects.

What do you expect from the party of NO?

Philby says:

04:38pm | 27/01/11

Gee if you’re going to pay $850 you must be on 165K, where will you ever find the $850, divided by weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments? Sorry to sound a bit cynical but for someone who probably clears 100K after tax, $850 doesn’t sound like a problem.

meinsydney says:

03:13pm | 27/01/11

Huh…you don’t seem to understand how this works.  People were already getting a tax deduction for their original donations, and if you knew how tax works, you’d understand that they don’t get all the money back.  Now those same people are being whacked a second time, after many have already given all they can afford.  The only thing this will accomplish is to discourage people from donating in the future.  That is not good for anyone.

And yes, infrastructure needs to be repaired…but has it occurred to you that there may be ways to do it other than causing hardship to many?  Our government is wasting money on baby bonuses and paid maternity leave… billions each year…yet at the same time people are crying about overpopulation.  Perhaps people who can’t afford kids should do what people used to have to do…save for them rather than expecting hard working Aussies to pay them to have them.  And what about the ridiculous NBN which would replace the infrastructure in Qld many times over?  Are you that blinded by your devotion to the Labor party that you can’t see there are far more sensible ways to deal with this than to cause hardship to many Aussie families?

Jess Ayen says:

04:43pm | 27/01/11

“Huh.”  If you’d ever actually donated to charity, you’d understand how tax deductions work.  One has to assume that either you have never paid taxes, never contributed to a charity, or perhaps both.

Struggle with the truth says:

04:54pm | 27/01/11

link to back up your outrageous claim?

David says:

03:52pm | 27/01/11

I just hope somebody keeps a copy of that video where Abbott talks about this levy. If/when he is PM himself and tries to impose a levy for something else, play the video back and watch the most awesome display of spin and denial ever seen. Despite video evidence, he’ll look you straight in the face and tell you “but that’s not what I meant” or he’ll come out with his famous “I can change my mind” excuse.
So much for the politicians not making points out of this disaster. That bipartisan attitude lasted all of about 5 seconds didn’t it?

john says:

03:58pm | 27/01/11

lets not forget its your Labor hero Gough Whitlam left Timor in limbo that Howard had to eventually clean up.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s71200.htm

David says:

04:35pm | 27/01/11

There is an old saying about assumptions and something about you being an ass, John.
Whitlam is no hero of mine. I am not a Labor voter for starters. I actually voted for Abbott because I used to believe him until I started seeing all the hypocrisy. I won’t be voting for him next time.
Now does that put a new spin on your assumption?
BTW where the hell did Timor come into a discussion about a flood levy anyway?

PD says:

03:31pm | 27/01/11

My pink batts were certainly not wasted. My house is a lot cooler in this heat wave as a result. By the sound of you, you should have got some too and you might be cooler-headed right now.

Jess Ayen says:

04:52pm | 27/01/11

“My house is a lot cooler in this heat wave as a result.”

Insulation only makes a difference in the heat if you have airconditiong.  If you don’t have airconditioning, pink batts can actually trap the hot air in your house and make it even more uncomfortable.  I have neither heating nor airconditioning, so I daresay I’m “greener” than you.

We as taxpayers are still paying for electricians and technicians to check & remove insulation we paid to buy and install, aren’t we?

“You’re welcome”.

David says:

03:58pm | 27/01/11

I can’t believe there is actually somebody else in Australia who gets it. The rest of my poor countrymen seem to want better hospitals, better schools, better roads, better everything for no extra money.
As long as politics has been around we have tried to make governments more efficient. We’ve tried to make them spend our tax dollars better and not waste it. I think after 100s of years we should accept we’re getting as good as we can get. Regardless of which party is in power. They are all the same when it comes to efficiency. So if we really want better roads, etc. and cheaper healthcare or any other thing we expect the government to provide, where do we honestly expect the money to come from? The majority of Australians must be extremely naive if they think the government(s) can find somewhere else to save money to pay for these things. If they could save more money they already would be. We are getting the most we can out of them. If we want more, we need to pay more of put up with what we have.

Jess Ayen says:

04:59pm | 27/01/11

“I want free stuff, lots of free stuff, I want more free stuf that I’ve ever gotten before, and I want to make ‘rich’ people pay for it”.  What a pathetic lot you people are.

Jess Ayen says:

05:12pm | 27/01/11

If you’d voted for Tony Abbott, you might have got the early-intervention mental health care you so obviously need.

Ryan says:

08:37pm | 27/01/11

@Jess: his dole check obviously just came in, he is so ripped he doesn’t even know what country he is in. No tories here mate, none whatsoever unless there are some from the UK visiting.

The Badger says:

05:11pm | 27/01/11

Actually GM you fail to see the forest for the trees.
The harsh and pure truth of the matter is that people were allowed to build in areas that were prone to flooding.
Shit happens, there a floods, there is drought and there are bushfires. These things will always happen and perhaps more often now that the climate is changing and we are getting more pronounced events.

The government can only do such much to protect people from their stupidity.  Don’t build/rebuild in a flood plain or natural drainage area; Don’t farm marginal land that historically goes into10 year drought cycles; build firebreaks or don’t live in an area susceptible to bush-fires. Minimise your risk.
If you want to blame government, blame local government that allows this nonsense to go on.

Peter says:

05:16pm | 27/01/11

I have no issues with the negligent people who didn’t have insurance declaring themselves bankrupt. Much of the damage I witnessed on the news was in million dollar posh riverside suburbs. St Lucia, Fig Tree Pocket etc. These people will get most of the money because they know how to play the system. For those not on Millionaire row in Brisbane - genuine help and assistance should be provided to those who lost loved ones in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. This wouldn’t require a levy on all Australians. This is the final straw for me. After 8 generations of my family contributing to this country, myself an ex serviceman - I am ashamed to call Australia home - so I will leave.

jf says:

09:05am | 28/01/11

“now that the climate is changing and we are getting more pronounced events.”

So it’s only now that the climate is changing Badger?

bananabender says:

07:55pm | 27/01/11

The Adelaide-Darwin railway was never intended to be profitable. It was built purely for military reasons - to transport heavy equipment including tanks that can’t be shipped by air or road.
Northern Australia is very likely to have several major joint Australia-US military facilities developed over the next few years.

Caught up now? says:

07:54pm | 27/01/11

“And this Labor is the first government to give to overseas aid.”

No, but this IS the first government to mindlessly throw away so much money on fripperies and junk that when it comes time to fix our OWN disasters, the kitty’s empty and we need to raise taxes ... again.

Clara M. says:

06:01pm | 28/01/11

People have already paid tax once, on the money they have worked for & earned and then go on to invest.  Then when they sell their assets, they get slugged with a second round of taxes. Now you want to go for three times?  If you punish people too much for working hard and paying a lot of tax, you’ll find your pool of people willing to work hard and pay a lot of tax dwindling.  Then where will you be?

Making hard-working successful people poor won’t make lazy no-hopers rich, you know. You’ll kill the goose whose golden egg supports you and your way of life.

harry says:

10:36pm | 27/01/11

Makes it all better does it?

The difference was Howard was elected, could manage money, and was fixing up the Labor deficit as he went.

Epic fail.

Dave says:

12:09am | 28/01/11

At a price by which Howard cut necessary funding to Hospitals and Schools, All Howard cared about was how much money the government had in the bank.

It took Howard almost a decade to get the budget to surplus even with all these levy’s, Not to mention that Howard didn’t even get a natural disaster the size of the QLD floods or Black Saturday Bushfire and whenever there was a costly disaster like the 1999 Sydney Hailstorm Howard didn’t lift a finger

Clara M. says:

06:03pm | 28/01/11

“Howard cut necessary funding to Hospitals and Schools”

No, he didn’t.

Ryan says:

11:16am | 28/01/11

That’s because you are calculating tax on earnings from $0 - 50,000. As per your example, those earner’s on $55,000 will pay 0.5% on $5000 for 12 months. 0.5% of $5000 is $25, divided by 52 weeks = ~0.48 cents.

Ryan says:

01:04pm | 28/01/11

It is also worth noting that if* the flood levy tax is taken from your taxable income, ie after superannuation contribution, in the example of $55000, minus super ~$4541 equals $50459 taxable income. This would mean 0.5% of $459 = ~$2.30 or 4 cents per week. Peanuts!!!

*While I’m sure this will be the way it works, ie flood levy tax after super contributions, I’ve seen nothing official to that affect.