Oz Federal Election 2013 - Discussion and Comments

[Pukka]

I like that line Kerry Packer used when questioned by a parliamentary inquiry

For me - I have no interest either way on the FBT - in fact I've posted that Gov assistance should be pulled further and the massive GOV subsidies to these very large off-shore corporations should cease ASAP.

In regards to PHI - tax changes including rebates, levies, etc come & go. Like everything in life - good planning can result in good savings.......pre-paying 18 months of PHI was a good decision and I hope all tax payers took advantage of the legislated tax rules

No the Government doesn't deserve a tip that's for sure

 

[Skyring]

The infrastructure spending by this government is certainly better than that of the previous government. What plans does the next government have for infrastructure spending?

Which previous government? Gillard? Or Rudd interruptus?

 

[Major]

There was a pamphlet in the letterbox today entitled "Rudd 4 Queensland" introducing the ALP candidate for my electorate. A picture of KR on the front page and even a couple of photos of the candidate and his family inside.
It starts out declaring we need fresh ideas not more negative politics and then promptly goes on to be negative about Premier Newman's policies

I suppose we can expect more of this propaganda in the coming weeks....from all parties

 

[whatmeworry]

Saw this meme on Facebook today.

 

[Skyring]

Saw this meme on Facebook today.

Yeah, but it's not Labor policy - or Liberal or anyone else but the Greens. On this, as with a few other things, I'm with the Greens, but with neither major leader fully behind it, it's not likely to get up.

 

[medhead]

Alan Kohler presented a graphic on the structural deficit for tonight's news. $190bn in extra income from the mining boom. $182bn in tax cuts in the same time period. So the mining boom contributed $8bn (total) to the budget. Not much in a $300bn annual budget.

 

[drsmithy]

Alan Kohler presented a graphic in the structural deficit for tonight's news. $190bn in extra income from the mining boom. $182bn in tax cuts in the same time period. So the mining boom contributed $8bn to the budget. Not much in a $300bn annual budget.

And where did the money from all those tax cuts go ?
Pumping up the real estate bubble and importing toys.

The missed opportunity that the mining boom represents is staggering.

 

[whatmeworry]

And where did the money from all those tax cuts go ?
Pumping up the real estate bubble and importing toys.

The missed opportunity that the mining boom represents is staggering.

Yep we should have a high speed rail from MEL to BNE via SYD and NTL not to mention more train lines for each major capital city.

Historians will rue the day when the first brightspark thought of the baby bonus and other middle class welfare programs...

 

[Skyring]

Yep we should have a high speed rail from MEL to BNE via SYD and NTL not to mention more train lines for each major capital city.

It's simple efficiency. Much as we love them, aircraft are the least efficient form of transport. Huge energy hogs.

The big advantage of rail isn't passengers so much as freight. Get some of those thousands of semis off the highways. That's a huge amount of inefficiency right there.

 

[cove]

We use a lot of rail already for our branch shipments and they are as quick as trucks and much less cost.
Log books for FBT cars was what we have always done as no one got a car that was not for business use.
We already have reasonably high speed Internet so the NBN is unlikely to be attractive unless they cut prices dramatically.
If we really want new services we need higher taxes to pay for them. It is dishonest to say we will have a budget surplus coming and then foist a further 20 or 30 billion onto our children and grandchildren to pay off or pay interest on it when it produced nothing for them.
Business has had to deal with every cost and so far no Government has truly done that and in my home State of Western Australia. We have local,State and Federal Government departments that should be cut back.

 

[wmetz]

So the report just proved that Mr Tony, Mr Howie and Coso just wasted years of mining boom to win votes and not use the money
to build the future infrastructure this country needs. Just in QLD arguing about funding for an extra runway. Could have been built years ago from mining boom.

At least the Labour gov done their best with limited tax resources now spent more on infrastructure then libs ever did. And in a time with global meltdown and
massive flooding in QLD and Victoria.

 

[drsmithy]

So the report just proved that Mr Tony, Mr Howie and Coso just wasted years of mining boom to win votes and not use the money
to build the future infrastructure this country needs. Just in QLD arguing about funding for an extra runway. Could have been built years ago from mining boom.

At least the Labour gov done their best with limited tax resources now spent more on infrastructure then libs ever did. And in a time with global meltdown and
massive flooding in QLD and Victoria.

I nearly lost a whole glass of wine through my nose when Tony was on the news the other night saying how he wanted to be known as the infrastructure prime minister.
It was surreal - after that I was ready for Christine Milne to announce how she wanted to be known for deregulating industry.

 

[BadgerBoi]

I nearly lost a whole glass of wine through my nose when Tony was on the news the other night saying how he wanted to be known as the infrastructure prime minister.
It was surreal - after that I was ready for Christine Milne to announce how she wanted to be known for deregulating industry.

You have to admire our Tone's style - hubris with a dash of slapstick thrown in for good measure.

 

[Pukka]

I nearly lost a whole glass of wine through my nose when Tony was on the news the other night saying how he wanted to be known as the infrastructure prime minister.
It was surreal - after that I was ready for Christine Milne to announce how she wanted to be known for deregulating industry.

Lol infrastructure prime minister

It's got a nice 3 word ring to it

Easy to remember

 

[rotor]

At least the Labour gov done their best with limited tax resources now spent more on infrastructure then libs ever did. And in a time with global meltdown and massive flooding in QLD and Victoria.

The Labor government received more in tax than any previous government in the history of this country.

The money they spent on infrastructure they also wasted - 8 billion alone on the overpriced school halls.

 

[drsmithy]

The Labor government received more in tax than any previous government in the history of this country.

Tax as a proportion of GDP is lower than it was under Howard.

 

[Skyring]

The Labor government received more in tax than any previous government in the history of this country.

The money they spent on infrastructure they also wasted - 8 billion alone on the overpriced school halls.

Keating had some good ideas on infrastructure.

Rudd, not so much.

Didn't Gillard announce some rail line or other last election? Whatever happened to that?

 

[Skyring]

We have local,State and Federal Government departments that should be cut back.

Government is too often seen as a way to employ your party members and mates. There's the ACT, always keen to expand the legislature to have more members and more staffers.

We're basically a city council, but you wouldn't know it from the public service numbers.

 

[amaroo]

Keating had some good ideas on infrastructure.

Rudd, not so much.

Didn't Gillard announce some rail line or other last election? Whatever happened to that?

I really like the large expensive signs that were planted at the front gate of every school in the land.....great use of scarce funds on critical infrastructure.

 

[medhead]

Keating had some good ideas on infrastructure.

Rudd, not so much.

Didn't Gillard announce some rail line or other last election? Whatever happened to that?

Didn't the NSW government refuse the money?

One bit of infrastructure that the newspapers have been banging on about for years is the rail freight connection into port botany. X thousands of extra trucks on Sydney roads that could be removed by adding some extra rail to remove freight from the commuter network or something like that. Anyway, I problem that has been around forever, that Howard and onwards have ignored. In following this a bit, one thing that has been fairly consistent is the calculated lack of return on investment. In sounds like infrastructure australia is also trying to apply a return on investment measure. Now sure there has to be a payoff/benefit for investing in infrastructure, but I think very little is going to happen if they're going to only look for a commercial return. At some point to get improvement, they need to say that the intangible, difficult to quantify in dollar terms, benefits make spending the money worthwhile.