Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

The Turnbull Government

So, you admit it's a demotion. And the rest of science has to suffer for a perceived political slight by one part of it.

OK, I guess we know now that this government is so vindictive and arrogant that it's prepared to take revenge against all of science for the "sins" of a few.

This government is monumentally unfit to run this country.

True, but sadly Australians are going to jump from the frying pan, into the fire
 
Electricity prices will go high enough in future decades.
I won't derail this thread too much, there's a separate thread for energy, but I'll say this.

Renewables are one of the reasons power prices have increased.

Network costs, retail competition and a lack of planning are all much bigger costs that are being passed onto consumers however and each of these is either costing more than it should or is totally unnecessary in the first place.

None of the major parties is capable of fixing it given that any rational solution is at odds with the party's broader ideology. Labor would have the best chance from an ideological position but they're still quite some way away from what's needed.

Only way it'll be fixed in my view is as a result of a major crisis. Economic recession and a need to focus on making Australia more economically competitive would be one possible trigger. Major system failure affecting NSW and/or Vic would also probably do it. Financial failure or sudden withdrawal of a major player is another possible trigger.

In the absence of such a trigger we'll muddle along much as we've been doing until something drastic happens.
 
Renewables are one of the reasons power prices have increased.

Anything new costs more originally untill the costs are spread out over the lifetime of the infrastructure.

Interesting to see that the cost of Snowy Hydro 2.0 is expected to be double that originally announced, and that is hardly new technology, but the point is why didn't they get the costing right in the first place ?
 
So, you admit it's a demotion. And the rest of science has to suffer for a perceived political slight by one part of it.

OK, I guess we know now that this government is so vindictive and arrogant that it's prepared to take revenge against all of science for the "sins" of a few.

This government is monumentally unfit to run this country.

Wasn't it the same players who took to CSIRO a few years ago?
 
I won't derail this thread too much, there's a separate thread for energy, but I'll say this.

Renewables are one of the reasons power prices have increased.

.............

I would have heaped the major reasons as being : cash cow, private enterprise price gouging, oligopoly, govt revenue raising.

Who wouldn't put redundant infrastructure (e.g. poles and wires) in place when you can sell it at three times the cost to the consumer block with no other choice
 
Banana Republic anyone? I'm guessing Captain Tobias Wilcock will be front of the queue. Deskilling of Oz continues........

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...s/news-story/8c586a81982ab1cf4d0d767e5c3114fc

Peter Dutton will allow foreign pilots into Australia on two-year work visas in an effort to fix a worsening national shortage that is already grounding planes and forcing flight cancellations.

But amid a global scramble to secure pilots, a slump in training and increasing foreign ownership of Australian training schools, Qantas pilots questioned the quality of those likely to be recruited to keep regional air routes operating.

“The United States and China are paying huge money and that doesn’t leave much for the sort of wages they are paying in regional Australia,” said Murray Butt, president of the Australian and International Pilots Association, which represents more than 2000 Qantas pilots.

“We need to look at the Chinese airlines buying up flight schools in Australia. That might fix their problem but it doesn’t fix ours.”

The peak body for regional airlines yesterday said it had successfully lobbied the Home Affairs Minister to allow foreign pilots to be hired for up to two years, in light of the shortage of sufficiently skilled local pilots.

Mike Higgins, chief executive of the Regional Aviation Association of Australia, said the government had advised that the decision would be confirmed in a revised skilled occupation list — replacing the former 457 visa regime — to be released next month.

He also revealed the association was talking to Mr Dutton about extending the visa period to four years, given doubts whether experienced foreign pilots would relocate for just two years.

However, Qantas pilots called for a government white paper to address declining output from — and rising foreign ownership of — Australian flying schools.

“Bringing in foreign pilots is definitely a very short-term fix and, given the market, I’m not sure of the quality of the pilots they are going to get,” Mr Butt said. “I do foresee big problems going forward. The government is taking a very short-term view on this.”

Veteran aviator and former air safety chief Dick Smith said the use of foreign pilots was an indictment of 15 years or more of misplaced government policy, which had threatened the viability of flight training.

“The fact that there is a need to bring in foreign pilots is outrageous — we are a developed Western country with a very high level of education and we should be supplying pilots not just for Australia but for the world,” Mr Smith said. “We have the safest airline in the world — Qantas — because it’s used highly trained, Australian pilots … Now what we’re doing is an experiment: bringing people in from overseas.”

The shortage follows poaching of major airline pilots by overseas airlines, and increasing foreign ownership of pilot training schools, including by Chinese companies to train Chinese pilots.

Impacts are already being felt, with pilot shortages a factor in a recent rash of cancellations on Qantas regional services, while multiple sources told The AustralianQantas subsidiaries already had foreign pilots flying Dash-8 aircraft on some regional services.

Mr Smith joined regional airlines and Qantas pilots in calling for a rethink of government regulation of flight training, to remove unaffordable and overly bureaucratic regulation linked to school closures and buyouts by foreign companies.

Mr Smith said flight training was down 35 per cent in Australia, while recent federal government figures confirm a 40 per cent decline in the number of general-aviation flying hours in the five years to 2015.

Mr Higgins insisted the recruitment of foreign pilots was essential: “In the middle of last year the government included pilots and avionics engineers on their banned 457 visa list, so we advocated with Peter Dutton and we’ve finally got halfway back to where we need to go.

“We’ve had success in getting the Department of Immigration to review that list, which will be published next month. It means we can get visa pilots across (from overseas) for a two-year period, but we really need to get them for a four-year period.”

Mr Higgins insisted regional airlines would pay foreign pilots the same wages and conditions as Australian pilots and that the move was the only short-term solution to the shortage.

A spokesman for Mr Dutton confirmed “airline pilot” had been added to an Occupations List for Temporary Work Visas, for sponsored jobs in regional Australia, following the crackdown on the 457 visa system.

He would not comment on what status pilots would have in a revised list to be released next month, saying this was determined by the department.

However, he said the new system was aimed at addressing skills needs while putting local workers first.

etc etc ..........
 
Turnbull obviously letting his ego run away with itself, decides to bring his personal favorite into play, the Australian Republic.
Where he can sit up there and swan it over the masses, what a dick.
At least Labor only want a Republic, so they don't have to answer to anyone, for stupid brain farts.
Malcolm may want to be el presidente, but IMO it is the last thing Australia needs, they are all useless.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/01/01/turnbull-postal-survey-republic/

Jeez Silly Billy, is even starting to look good, to me.
What a sad state of affairs, this will have to down as the most uninspiring era of Australian politics.
2007- 2018 just very sad Government.IMO
Non had a plan, non had a goal, non had vision and what do we have, nothing.
Actually we do have something, an absolute mess.
That is why our stock market has gone no where, because nobody has any confidence, there is no direction no commitment no vision for a future.
Just senseless rhetoric, about social obligation and reform, nothing about our economic structure and its transformation as manufacturing declines.
 
Quote: sptrawler
....Actually we do have something, an absolute mess.
That is why our stock market has gone no where, because nobody has any confidence, there is no direction no commitment no vision for a future...
Yes, and compare with the US Dow Jones, hitting new records weekly. We are in dire straights under Lib Party owner/proprietor Malcolm Turnbull. But one thing might save him. Utterly terrifying the prospect of a Bill/Tanya ALP government, and the Unions and the Greens running the country again. Taxation and electricity kWh bingo. And the borders, wide open again.
 
Yes, and compare with the US Dow Jones, hitting new records weekly. We are in dire straights under Lib Party owner/proprietor Malcolm Turnbull. But one thing might save him. Utterly terrifying the prospect of a Bill/Tanya ALP government, and the Unions and the Greens running the country again. Taxation and electricity kWh bingo. And the borders, wide open again.

Tanya and Wong are way more dangerous than anything the unions could dish out.
 
Any forecast on house prices and effect of policy thereon, is speculative opinion.

...even (probably especially) if that opinion is "official "
Yeah I have to agree. Too many variables. Personally I'd jack rents to cover costs. So someone is going to wear it.

Labor is desperately looking for anything to smear the libs with after their bad run.
 
Yeah I have to agree. Too many variables. Personally I'd jack rents to cover costs. So someone is going to wear it.

Labor is desperately looking for anything to smear the libs with after their bad run.

Seeing as most negative gearers appear to be public servants, my guess is that we would wear it in the form of increased govt salaries to offset the interest payments.

As I see it, the govt has to weigh the cost of public housing and the bureaucracy that is attached to it versus slum lords who only maintain buildings if they get public money to offset it with some profit added in.
 
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