Tuesday February 2 2016
1 Today the political year starts in earnest. Parliament resumes. The Honourable members will start hurling abuse at one another. A war or words will erupt about many and varied issues.
The Parliament will place great store on how best it can serve itself and its Honourable members.
Unless it’s been forgotten a report on Honourable member’s expenses will be tabled.
Some Honourable gentlemen lost their jobs during the break. A couple of other Honourable gentlemen are awaiting reports. One is wiping his Brough and the other might find himself in the Sin bin.
Honourable members will spend most of their time working out how to negatively debase their opponents.
They will in fact spend very little time being honourable, telling the truth and serving the people. Every decision the Honourable members make will be based firstly on how best it serves his or her party. Rarely on how it serves the country and the people.
The Honourable members should visit the bathroom often on the first day, look in the mirror and ask. ‘Am I really honourable?’ Then a supplementary question. ‘Why is it only 13% of the population think I am worthy of their trust.’
There, this honourable gentleman has said enough. I don’t judge people. I do however form my own opinion.
An observation.
‘Good democracies can only deliver good government and outcomes if the electorate demands it’.
2 The year begins with, according to Newspoll the Coalition leading Labor 53% to 47%. Of course Turnbull still has a commanding lead over Shorten in the popularity stakes.
3 Whilst the Government says it will run the full term its hard to imagine they will continue just talking about doing things when what is required is some actual doing. Gunna Morisson was at it again today. I mean they said we had a budget crisis. Didnt they. If there is a budget crisis and if as they say there is no revenue crisis it must mean, because of the crisis there will have to be enormous cuts.
What a crisis.
4 You would think the people who believe that love has no gender would be happy with the progress they have made. I mean up until 1949 if you dared to love someone of the same-sex and exhibited your love, then the death penalty applied. Well in Victoria at least. Of course in Tasmania until 1997 being gay was illegal and if you practiced being what you naturally were you could be put in the dungeon for 21 years. So demanding that in some way you are an equal in human terms, in 2016 is a bit of a stretch.
5 The Newspoll also indicated that 54% oppose raising the GST from 10% to 15% as part of a package including tax cuts for all income earners and compensation for low-income earners and welfare recipients. It showed 37% backed a GST increase while 9% were uncommitted.
Its got me tossed how you can do all that and fix health and education at the same time. And to ask those who pay the most GST, middle and low-income earners, to fund tax cuts for higher wage earners and businesses, some who don’t pay any tax anyway, is beyond me.
As a cohort the better off pay less GST tax than any other group. The government takes from the poor and middle class to help them pay for their kids private school education. They can negatively gear as many houses as they want. There are numerous tax concessions. And they, if they so choose, get a 15% tax discount if they put their money into super. Then there are Capital Gains offsets.
Negative gearing is costing the Federal Government about $3.7 billion a year in lost revenue, while the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount wipes off $4 billion.
In two years’ time the tax breaks on Superannuation will cost as much as the pension $50 billion a year.
And of course many of them with family businesses pay no tax at all.
Now we want to give them tax cuts. Bloody Tea Party politics if you ask me.
6 Only in America.
How sickening it was to see Republican Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz whipping up the support of the far right Evangelical Christian movement. Ronald Reagan has a lot to answer for in opening the religious door to American politics.
An observation
‘Religion in many ways is akin to Politics in so much as it believes that telling the truth isn’t necessarily in its best interests’.
7 The Royal Commission into Unions issued a separate volume of secret findings. Repeat secret. Not so secret that they can’t be shown to individual Senators that might help you get legislation passed that will stymie Union activity. For anyone else interested I have to inform you they are a secret.
My thought for the day.
‘The ability of thinking human beings to blindly embrace what they are being told without referring to evaluation and the consideration of scientific fact, truth and reason, never ceases to amaze me. It is tantamount to the rejection of rational explanation’.
7 The TURC Secret Report
The interview with Michaelia Cash this morning, concerning the release of the secret report, was pure gold. After weeks of tutt tutting and saying how dreadful it is we must immediately introduce legislation to reel in the unions she then says the report is so bad that nobody – outside the government should see it, even if redacted.
The Royal Commission was meant to shine light into dark places but when it comes to seeing the secret aspects of the report upon which the parliament is supposed to make an informed vote only the government benches can see it.
Lewis Carroll would have a ball with this sort of thing, as Alice said :
‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ said Alice. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the cat. ‘We’re all mad here.’
Welcome to Canberra !
“For so they are all, all honourable men”.
On the US point in whipping up the evangelical nut-jobs, the problem with the US is voting is not compulsory. In order to get people to vote AT ALL, you have to whip them into a frenzy so they feel compelled to get out to the polling booths and cast a vote. So you see highly emotive issues driving the debate. Abortion, gay marriage, gun control, race relations, and all the stuff that doesn’t make a huge difference to the society’s lives or the economy. Just stuff people feel strongly enough about so they get to the polls.
It’s the biggest argument against abolishing compulsory voting in Australia you’ll ever see
Another excellent article John, plenty to reflect on.
“In two years’ time the tax breaks on Superannuation will cost as much as the pension $50 billion a year.”
If it is crucial to balance the budget (disregarding MMT) as we are told by the LNP it would seem that reducing the tax breaks on super would fix most of the problem. Of course that would put the tax burden onto those who can afford it instead of making life harder for the peasants like an increase in the GST will do. The LNP wouldn’t want to put any financial strain on the rich.
It is getting so bad for my blood pressure, lord, that , as one of your vintage, I am close to lock down to avoid depression.
The news shows the world is spiralling out of control(rudd as UN secretary general) and at home, to the loonies delight, the media is touting end of shorten and turnball smiles at a double dissolution and the media is speculating about the labor leadership. After all these years of telling little billy to get on sunrise and today to show leadership the morning children have another leadership stick to use against labor and deflect any negatives to turnball.
ps selective truth is the essence of reasonable debate.
If one’s truth is selected by the media why think?
As you have often said, when, in the media, the truth is false, the evidence is innuendo (often by omission) and the intent is deceit, the media is corrupt.
Another excellent article John! Sadly, the lying, toe rag, right wing, tea party, flat earth liberal mob are (as usual) not here for the good of the country or for the good of the “average” person, they are just in it for all the money, perks etc they can get, & to ensure ALL their wealthy mates in business do not have to endure any “hardship”–like paying the proper taxes, not getting private school handouts etc! Bugger!