Tag Archives: PPL

The Week That Was – December 7 to December 13

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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

The Week That Was – June 29 to July 5

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This week has primarily focused on the two Asylum Seeker boats out near Christmas Island. We know they exist, that on of them is possibly from India, that the Detention Centre on Christmas Island is preparing for new people and that they are the first boats in quite a long time. Since then, nothing has been heard from the government who have said it’s an “on-water operation” that they won’t comment on just yet, and we don’t even know if the boats have made it ashore or if the asylum seekers are even alive.

There are concerns that the refugees are being assessed on the boats they arrived on. The UNHCR is concerned as well, reminding Australia that it is illegal to return people to a place where they fear for their safety under international law. However, Scott Morrison appears to be trying to find a way around that and he could use his ministerial powers to intervene in cases.

There are also more suggestions of streamlining welfare payments again. It’s suggested that people with “non-permanent” disabilities could be taken off the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and onto New Start – which is considerably less money. Also, I’d like to know what a “non-permanent disability” is. The Opposition is angry, especially Anthony Albanese, who was raised by his single mother with the DSP as most of her income.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released an interim report, saying that they had heard shocking stories and that the number of complaints was so high, they would need two more years and another $100 million to continue their investigations. They are investigating at least 70 institutions and say that adults have failed children. The government in considering the request for more time and money. The Royal Commission is also annoyed at the Vatican, because they asked for all the documents pertaining to paedophile priests in Australia and they’ve only received two. And speaking of the Catholic Church, despite Cardinal Pell telling the Commission that the church will stop using the “Ellis Defence” (the defence that says that the Church is not a legal entity that can be sued) in sexual abuse cases, they are still using it.

The NDIS is still facing problems a year after its launch, with many people facing bureaucratic battles. It appears that very few people are aware of their rights under the scheme and are in fact losing out on some of the things they had before. There is also questions over what should be funded and whether or nor iPads are worth funding – despite the fact that some are actually being used to help with communication.

This week also saw the new senators being shown the ropes in Canberra, in what is affectionately called “Senate Kindy”. It appears that Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie wants to become PM eventually and that the only thing that David Leyonhjelm learnt at Senate Kindy was not to go to wineries in ComCars.

Speaking of David Leyonhjelm, he may just help get the Paid Parental Leave Scheme through the Senate, however he wants to see a deregulation of childcare, such that there are cheaper options for families. Sussan Ley, the Assistant Education Minister, says that while she thinks it could be a good, it isn’t on the cards – something the Opposition and childcare associations are happy about, saying that people want quality and safety when it comes to taking care of their kids.

Finally, the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) saga continues, with the CEO apologising for messing up and telling people that they are opening up an investigation. However, there are still concerns because the investigation will be internal and only after that investigation will anyone external be brought in, and even the CBA will choose who the external person is. The Financial Planning Association does support a Royal Commission, unless the CBA sorts everything out, especially its compensation.

Also this week, a 17-year-old Western Sydney teenager is reportedly in the Middle East, presumably to fight in Syria or Iraq, Julie Bishop travelled to Myanmar on a trip that focused on trade and education, there are plans to ban Australians from bringing back souvenirs from ‘canned hunting’ trips and be aware of a scam in which you are called by someone saying they are from the ATO, recite your tax details and tell you have overdue taxes – somehow some people’s tax details have been sold on the black market.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

The UN now recognises same-sex marriage – Gaystar News

Tony Abbott in trouble for saying Australia was ‘unsettled’ before colonisation – SBS Online

The Week that Was – June 1 to June 7

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It’s been four weeks since the budget and we’re still talking about it – albeit a little bit less than in previous weeks.

But still, there are reports that the Liberals allegedly conned the Country Liberals, Nationals and anyone in the Coalition who represents a rural seat into accepting the changes to the fuel excise. It appears that they may have hinted that they would change the diesel rebate – something that helps miners and farmers pay for diesel fuel for their operations – and not the fuel excise. That scared the Nationals and other rural MPs in the coalition, because they might lose the next election and there could have been tractors on parliament house lawn and war with the miners. So the nationals supported the fuel excise and are now defending themselves, saying it was legitimately on the table. Treasury have said that they only did the maths for the fuel excise and never the diesel rebate, though. In public they’ve been friendly, but reports are that behind closed doors people are annoyed.

There is also concern from Universities Australia – the organisation that represents Australian universities – about whether or not the fee changes will lead to higher costs. Christopher Pyne says prices will be forced down because it will be competitive, while others believe that it will lead to prices at more “prestigious” universities rising. There is also conflicting information about who is paying what back when – but the legislation has to get through the senate first, and the Labor and Greens have said they will oppose it. Clive Palmer says his party won’t let anything through that doesn’t make sense to them, and that they want more staff to help them understand things.

Speaking of money, it was announced that two new navy ships will not be built in Australia, but in Spain and Korea. The government has said that the boats are too large to be built in Australia and it would seem it’s also very expensive too. The shipbuilding industry is understandably annoyed, as apparently there is a gap coming up where there will be more builders than ships to be built and these two ships would have covered that gap. Apparently some frigates will be built here soon – so we shouldn’t worry – but given the government has said that they want Australian-built ships, but not at any cost, I fear what will happen in the future when it becomes even more expensive.

This week has been full of the drama between Malcolm Turnbull and conservative commentators. Andrew Bolt has accused Turnbull of planning to overthrow Tony Abbott. Bolt cites Turnbull’s dinner last week with Clive Palmer, as well as attending an event hosted by Friends of the ABC. Wow, the Communications Minister went to an event related to the government-funded broadcaster, he’s totally planning to overthrow the Prime Minister. Turnbull said that “it borders on the demented” and even said it was “unhinged”.

It continued later in the week, when Turnbull was on 2GB radio with Alan Jones – who questioned him about his motives and if he was after the leadership. From what I’ve heard of the interview, Turnbull remained quite calm. Turnbull was also on 7:30 this week – the full interview is here.

This week, Tony Abbott is off to Indonesia, France, The USA and Canada. He’s met with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Indonesia for the first time since the spying allegations, and Julie Bishop appeared to give  Yudhoyono a demotion, calling him “Prime Minister SBY” – when she should have said “President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono” or “President Yudhoyono”. The PM’s flight was delayed because the plane they were originally going to use was broken, so they had to get a different one. The relationship does appear to be on the mend, so that is good. Abbott then went to Paris, where he met the Queen at the British Embassy, and talked with French business leaders before heading to Normandy for D-Day commemorations, where six Australian veterans became Chevaliers of the Légion d’Honneur – France’s highest honour.

Clive Palmer is in trouble this week for being rude to a senior Abbott staffer, Peta Credlin. Palmer said that the reason Abbott was bringing in a Paid Parental Leave Scheme was so that Ms Credlin could have her baby. But he’s also fighting with the QLD state government. He’s suing QLD Premier Campbell Newman for defamation, after Newman said he was buying governments. It’s now come to light that the Deputy Premier had referred Palmer to the CMC (QLD’s ICAC – but with no power) over allegations that Palmer asked for special treatment after the 2012 QLD Election that saw the LNP come to power.

Finally this week, Victoria’s in the middle of a constitutional crisis, the USA changed its emissions aims…now making them more active in the battle against climate change than us, and it turns out the Prime Minister gave a character reference to a priest who is accused of paedophilia – they met in the same seminary when Abbott was thinking of joining the priesthood. Oh, and the government might have lied to the World Heritage people about Tasmanian forests.

Tweet of the Week

Barnaby Joyce’s disconcerting photo out a plane window – I think his phone might have been upside-down.

Things I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

Introducing American cable viewers to Tony Abbott…

An introduction to OTPs: The flirtation between ABC2 and SBS2 – as chronicled by Buzzfeed.

Peppa Pig’s uncertain future on the ABC made one girl worried about her little sister – Canberra Times