Tony Abbott still wants his Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme to go ahead, although he may have to lower the cap again, with money saved going to childcare, but won’t share too many details other than the fact that he would prefer “in-home care” – i.e. nannies – and there is disquiet among the Coalition to do with city vs. rural mothers and how much money they get. In case you were wondering, the Labor party’s PPL is paying every primary carer 18 weeks at minimum wage (source here).
The Government is using taxpayer money to pay for advertising to convince people of the benefits of their plan for higher education funding. The government says that it is an “information campaign focused on facts”, while Glenn Lazarus has called the ad campaign “expensive propaganda for dud reforms”. The thing is, the bulk of students (including me), whether at uni, or planning to go in the next few years, still have an issue with the legislation, and it isn’t the fact that the interest on HECS is going up.
The $7 co-payment is technically gone. However, they are cutting $5 from the rebate doctors get from Medicare, meaning that if doctors want to make that up, they are going to have to raise their prices. There is an exemption for children, pensioners, veterans and concession card holders, however there is concern about chronically ill patients or patients needing long-term or ongoing care who are adults, as they will not be reprieved, and it may also lead to clogged Emergency Departments. This policy is yet to be introduced to Parliament, so it may not even get through, but people are worried anyway. Bill Shorten also had some choice words that scared a few people.
This is not a back down by the Abbott Government, this is a GP Tax that Tony Abbott can’t bring through your front door so he is going to bring it through your back door.
Not a pleasant thought, but I guess that’s the point.
NAPLAN is in the news again as it turns out that parents are pulling their kids out of school on NAPLAN day at record rates, because students are pressured to do well, or schools tell parents to keep their kid away in order to make the school look better when the NAPLAN results come out. This leaves an incomplete picture about how students are doing at schools.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is in Australia at the moment, meeting with Tony Abbott, who is apparently one of the most popular foreign heads of state in Ukraine. Abbott said that it was nice to be popular, even if it was in Ukraine, and that “shirt front” must have translated well into Ukrainian. Poroshenko wants more help from Australia to fight the separatists and also wants energy resources from Australia. Abbott has also been invited to come to Kiev on a visit, which could happen next year.
In the run-up to the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), it has been announced that up to 200 agencies could be axed, including a LGBTI working group and a Returned Servicemen group. The government needs to save $500 million dollars, and the fact that mining revenues are down, as is the petrol price, Australia is not getting as much revenue as it was.
Finally this week, Tony Abbott has suggested those in the Coalition who are complaining about Peta Credlin are sexist, which has led to people calling Abbott a hypocrite…
…Australia will contribute $200 million to the world Climate Fund, unemployment has risen to a 12 year high, making Joe Hockey’s life more difficult and Nick Xenophon has started his own party.
Tweets of the Week
https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/542852661507137536
Things I’ve Been looking at Online
The 20 Reasons 2014 was the Year of Lee Lin Chin – BuzzFeed
Explaining to American why Australian shops banned GTA5 – Polygon.com
An academic paper by Maggie Simpson and Edna Krabappel got published – Vox.com
Kara L 