The Turnbull Government

[Tisme]

That doesn't automatically disqualify the subject matter. There is one meme there I agree with... where he asks why a gun spree in the USA necessitates facial recognition surveillance here?

It does seem the LNP are prone to people control via punitive action, whereas the ALP prefer social engineering tools

Only $520bn now? Three years ago Joe Hockey said our debt was $667bn.

We haven't had a surplus for 10 years. So where did the Govt find $140b dollars from?

Must've been under the sofa I reckon

Wasn't that the supply ceiling?

You know the well trodden path of incoming executives.... declare the books were incorrect, make huge provisions for contingent liabilities, accrue costs, defer revenue, issue a statement that the previous boss made a huge loss, do nothing but change the company logo, wait two years and reverse all the cost provisions and accruals and get the champagne out along with a huge performance bonus

 

[PZ.]

The debt ceiling was raised to $500b then and $600b recently.
Of course these figures are just that - and meaningless to the real economy.

The figure that matters is the net debt - $322b plus losses since May. 18.5% of GDP.

 

[Smurf1976]

We haven't had a surplus for 10 years. So where did the Govt find $140b dollars from?

Must've been under the sofa I reckon

Probably the same way the Tassie state government (Liberal) shows a budget surplus when various economists, accountants and others who have read the budget papers closely enough note that there's actually a rather large deficit.

Creative accounting at its best.

Nothing new there of course. Only the third time in the state's history that we've had a majority Liberal government. First one ran up massive debts in the 1980's. Second one in the 1990's stalled on the deficit reduction program implemented by the previous Labor-Green government and raided every account they could find. So no surprise they're doing it again.

I've never understood why the Liberals are seen as good with money. Down here their track record is dismal on their own and it was no better when we had a Liberal-Green government either.

At the federal level it seems to involve selling assets, pointing to the cash that produced and claiming brilliance when all they did was move money from an asset to cash. Using that logic all anyone on this forum needs to do in order to increase their wealth is sell their shares, house, business, car and anything else they own and put the money in the bank.

I know in Qld they got rid of a lot of public servants some of whom immediately came back as consultants at three times the price.

In WA they've gone as far as demolishing physical infrastructure, and I'm talking about big stuff like power stations not something trivial, in order to ensure a market for a private supplier who couldn't compete on their own merit.

Maybe they're better in other states?

Personally I've long seen Labor as not great but at least reasonably honest. At least they openly say they're running a deficit rather than hiding it.

 

[SirRumpole]

Maybe they're better in other states?

Not really. The Baird Liberals sold off the State owned power assets to AGL and split up the component parts so three of their mates could rip consumers off over power.

 

[Logique]

Turnbull Government - can't win. The 'Loyal Deputy' is lately becoming very Sisterhood friendly.

It's the standard pathway. Quangos and the speaking circuit.

 

[orr]

The figure that matters is the net debt - $322b plus losses since May. 18.5% of GDP.

Isn't it also relevent as to what the cost of the debt is; Two senerios...
*If you have borrowed money at less than the inflation rate you are seriously in front...
*If you have borrowed money and the investment you make with the money is going backward compared to the cost of the money, you better get your house in order.

It's worth keeping in mind that we as Australians are 24 odd million population and we collectively own a continent plus it offshore resources... That is a fair collatoral asset. Care to value it?
P.S Barrier Reef should maybe be a 50% right down...

 

[PZ.]

Good idea. We could even increase our collateral by fining the criminal organisation known as CBA by the equivalent of their entire market cap and reverse privatise it for equilateral value. LOL

 

[dutchie]

It's official , we are no longer the lucky country, we are in fact the dumb country.

The federal government will pay households and businesses across three states to turn down their air conditioning, furnaces and cool rooms to stave off blackouts during peak demand.

Under a $36 million program to be launched today by Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, thousands of households in NSW, Victoria and South Australia will also be invited to voluntarily cut their energy use in return for incentives such as rebates on power bills.

The Turnbull government, faced with skyrocketing power prices and grid instability across the national electricity market, will over three years spend $28.6m on 10 pilot projects. The Berejiklian government will pay $7.2m towards set up and operational costs of trials in NSW.

Trial projects include a smart thermostat to control air conditioning, heating and ventilation in businesses and homes, and householders reducing energy use for one to four hours in exchange for a weekend of free electricity.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...s/news-story/5d3ab0680dfaabe306de3bcde8bdda93

 

[Tisme]

It's official , we are no longer the lucky country, we are in fact the dumb country.

The federal government will pay households and businesses across three states to turn down their air conditioning, furnaces and cool rooms to stave off blackouts during peak demand.

Under a $36 million program to be launched today by Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, thousands of households in NSW, Victoria and South Australia will also be invited to voluntarily cut their energy use in return for incentives such as rebates on power bills.

The Turnbull government, faced with skyrocketing power prices and grid instability across the national electricity market, will over three years spend $28.6m on 10 pilot projects. The Berejiklian government will pay $7.2m towards set up and operational costs of trials in NSW.

Trial projects include a smart thermostat to control air conditioning, heating and ventilation in businesses and homes, and householders reducing energy use for one to four hours in exchange for a weekend of free electricity.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...s/news-story/5d3ab0680dfaabe306de3bcde8bdda93

Interesting how the LNP went to town on the Labor Govt in QLD yesterday for proposing the turning up of aircond, off of pool pumps, etc in summer, based on a report that suggested voluntary energy management... when in fact the govt didn't propose any such thing.

I'm wondering in their zeal they didn't look at the logo at the top carefully enough and confused Josh's dept with the State dept.

 

[Logique]

It's official , we are no longer the lucky country, we are in fact the dumb country.

The federal government will pay households and businesses across three states to turn down their air conditioning, furnaces and cool rooms to stave off blackouts during peak demand.

Under a $36 million program to be launched today by Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, thousands of households in NSW, Victoria and South Australia will also be invited to voluntarily cut their energy use in return for incentives such as rebates on power bills.

The Turnbull government, faced with skyrocketing power prices and grid instability across the national electricity market, will over three years spend $28.6m on 10 pilot projects. The Berejiklian government will pay $7.2m towards set up and operational costs of trials in NSW.

Trial projects include a smart thermostat to control air conditioning, heating and ventilation in businesses and homes, and householders reducing energy use for one to four hours in exchange for a weekend of free electricity.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...s/news-story/5d3ab0680dfaabe306de3bcde8bdda93

It's beyond exasperating. Richard Di Natale the other night on ABC Q & A, pretending it's the big export gas companies to blame for high electricity prices...it's enough to turn your stomach... The breathtaking hypocrisy of the Greens!

The Greens are primarily to blame for high electricity prices. But 'Electricity Bill' helped them.

 

[Smurf1976]

The Greens are primarily to blame for high electricity prices. But 'Electricity Bill' helped them.

As someone who saw this coming literally 20 years ago and has said plenty about it, I'll observe that all sides politics have contributed.

The single biggest factor by far however is a concept known as "neoliberal economics".

No other country on earth has adopted the Australian "leave it to the market" approach and there's a damn good reason for that. Yep, even the USA regulates.

There is only one country in the world which does not regulate gas exports. That country is Australia.

There is only one developed country which does not meet IEA recommendations for petroleum stockpiles in case of supply disruption. Yep, that country is Australia.

Australia is also one of very few that doesn't even have a policy covering the mix of energy sources used.

The Greens haven't helped but they're by no means the sole or even biggest cause. That the ALP and Coalition both simply lost interest in doing anything that didn't fit within the umbrella of economics is the crux of it. Engineering and strategic thinking is anathema to most politicians unfortunately.

 

[SirRumpole]

Do our companies pay high taxes ?

Not really.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-16/verrender-corporate-tax-cuts-who-wins/9052600

 

[Tisme]

As someone who saw this coming literally 20 years ago and has said plenty about it, I'll observe that all sides politics have contributed.

.

Only rusted on party tragics would have denied the inevitability of price rises when you hand a private company an open cheque and a seat at the Oligopoly table.

 

[dutchie]

Turnbull has got to go. One of the weakest PM's the Coalition has ever had.

The sooner, the better, if the polls are any indication.

 

[PZ.]

If the polls are the indication the weakest would have to be Tony Abbott.

I think he responsible for the current polling - not to mention his own dismal figures.

 

[Logique]

If the polls are the indication the weakest would have to be Tony Abbott.
I think he responsible for the current polling - not to mention his own dismal figures.

Didn't have much trouble disposing of Rudd-Gillard.

 

[PZ.]

Didn't have much trouble disposing of Rudd-Gillard.

And that's what makes it even more hilarious.

Tony Abbott spent all his energy campaigning against a divided Govt with weak leadership only to then demonstrate the very same behaviour himself... on a bigger scale.

 

[sptrawler]

And that's what makes it even more hilarious.

Tony Abbott spent all his energy campaigning against a divided Govt with weak leadership only to then demonstrate the very same behaviour himself... on a bigger scale.

Actually if you remember, Abbott and Hockey were chucked out because they were drawing a hard line, to reign in spending.
Which is what the Libs are trying to do now, they were dumb to replace Abbott with Turnbull, people want strong leadership they certainly aren't getting it with Turnbull.
Luckily for the Libs, Labor are sticking with Shorten.

 

[boofhead]

Abbott and Hocket cut some spending only to increase some in other areas. Abbott's recent remarks about regrets as PM seem to stem from his need to say things to please various people he talks to. No leadership there.

 

[PZ.]

Actually if you remember, Abbott and Hockey were chucked out because they were drawing a hard line, to reign in spending.
Which is what the Libs are trying to do now, they were dumb to replace Abbott with Turnbull, people want strong leadership they certainly aren't getting it with Turnbull.
Luckily for the Libs, Labor are sticking with Shorten.

Tony Abbott survived a leadership spill after that 2014 budget and his second budget contained far more spending. So I disagree he was dumped because of cutting spending. It was his leadership style that brought about his undoing and even nearly cost him his seat. His antics ever since have confirmed he isn't the right man for the job.