(adapted by Gus, arrangement by Joe Hockey with permission from Tony Turdy)

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in our mine the whole day through 
To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we really like to do 
It ain't no trick to get rich quick 
If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick 
In a mine! (In a mine!) 
In a mine! (In a mine!) 
Where a million turds shine! 

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn 'til night 
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight 
We dig up turds by the score 
A thousand shits, sometimes more 
But we don't know what we dig 'em for 
We dig dig dig a-dig dig 

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
Heigh-ho 

[Chorus] 
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
It's home from work we go 
[Whistle] 

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 

[Chorus] 

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
[Whistle] 

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho 
Heigh-ho hum 

[Chorus three times] 

Heigh-ho [until fade]

Queensland Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming says he wants the Federal Government to review its planned changes to the pension.

Last year's budget outlined plans to link pension increases to inflation rather than the average wage, but critics have said the change would leave pensioners worse off.

The Intergenerational Report released last week suggested indexation could then change back to the wages measure in 2028-29, after the budget returned to surplus of 1 per cent of GDP.

In a Fairfax interview, Dr Laming indicated it was the next public battle the Prime Minister would have with his backbench.

"There's a couple of large missiles, Exocets and torpedoes aimed at this policy and we're just hoping from the backbench that we will see some change," he said.

"A very small number of people [MPs] who first identified the issues in January put this as one of the top four issues to be fixed and it's the last one to be addressed.

"I think the fact that it's in [Social Services Minister] Scott Morrison's hands means that most of us believe he'll find a way to fix it."

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was standing by the policy.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-09/andrew-laming-takes-aim-at-pension-policy/6291488

Joe Hockey’s release of the intergenerational report was supposed to start a considered conversation about long-term policy responses to Australia’s growing and ageing population. So it was ironic that while talking up the report last Friday Hockey floated an idiotic thought bubble to allow first-home buyers be able to access their superannuation.

Certainly we have problems with housing affordability and also ensuring Australians have enough to retire on without needing the government aged pension. In one fell swoop, Hockey’s proposal would not only increase the problems of housing affordability, but it would also reduce the amount of superannuation Australians would have when they retired.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2015/mar/12/allowing-first-home-buyers-to-access-their-superannuation-is-another-harebrained-hockey-idea

Meanwhile:

I mean, what exactly does the government have to do before the press gallery and other distinguished commentators not only stop playing along with this little fantasy, but acknowledge that the Abbott Government is on track to be one of the most useless economic managers of modern Australia history?

It's not just that unemployment is rising and that the budget deficit persists; nor is it simply that the budget is stalled and in a complete shambles (imagine the conniptions sections of the media would be having if Labor were in this mess). It is that the Government simply don't seem to have a clue about what they are doing.

Take the Medicare co-payment. This was simultaneously sold as a way of staunching the budget deficit and as a way of creating a medical research fund. Talk about magic pudding logic.

The health portfolio is now onto its second minister and there have been, what, three other variations on the copayment theory? Tony Abbott now says the copayment itself is "dead, buried and cremated", but Tony Abbott says a lot of things.

Or take industry assistance. The government patted itself on the back about not offering grants to struggling industries and assured us that this was part of their tough, no-nonsense approach to curbing expenditure.

Great, except that as of this week, they've changed their mind. They are now providing up to half-a-billion dollars for the car industry, and as Laura Tingle noted on Twitter, they did it without so much as a press release.

These are not just adjustments brought on by a measured rethink or changed circumstances: they are incompetence, plain and simple, brought on by desperation and confusion.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-12/dunlop-the-myth-of-coalition-economic-management/6308704

Re the car industry see : http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/27912

Australian workplaces are not equipped to deal with the growing numbers of employees with dementia despite an ageing population and a possible "tsunami" of future cases, advocates have warned.

Dementia affects 340,000 Australians, with 25,000 of them under the age of 65 and the numbers are set to increase by a third in less than 10 years.

Yet despite a delayed retirement age of 70 by the year 2035, there is no national blueprint to cope with the increasing concern.

Alzheimer's Australia chief Carol Bennett warned the figures were a cause for alarm and said she was keen to work with the Federal Government and workplaces to address the issue.

"If we ignore this issue, it's at our peril," Ms Bennett said.

"We've seen the numbers that have increased, and you know, we're going to see an increasing prevalence of the condition, we can't afford to ignore it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-03/australia-not-ready-for-tsunami-of-dementia-cases/6440668

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