Saturday 30th of March 2024

tripping over a trip...

 

tripping over a trip

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has defended taking his family with him on a work trip to Perth, costing the taxpayer around $8,000 in airfares.

Mr Hockey's report to the Finance Department show he claimed family return airfares from Sydney to Perth during school holidays in April 2013.

The total cost of the trip was more than $14,000.

Mr Hockey's office has defended the trip, saying he had work meetings every day and was accompanied by his chief of staff as well as his family.

A spokeswoman listed meetings Mr Hockey held with the WA Premier and Treasurer, the editor of the West Australian newspaper, his Liberal colleagues Senator Michaelia Cash, and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, resource and energy companies and senior public servants.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-09/joe-hockey-defends-14000-work-trip-with-family-to-perth/6683472

 

blame foreigners for your flat tyre...

Labor warns of budget blow out

Joe Hockey wants to cut income tax, but Labor's Andrew Leigh says slowing growth threatens the government's budget strategy.

At the end of a week that saw the unemployment rate rise to 6.3 per cent and the Reserve Bank shave 25 points or so off the budget's growth forecast for this year – not to mention more bad opinion polls for the government, speculation resurfacing about the Liberal leadership, and the lingering stench of politicians' entitlements – Treasurer Joe Hockey called a media conference on Saturday.

Did the Treasurer feel an urge to address the nation on the unemployment rise, or how an economic growth downgrade would affect deficit reduction, or anything at all really about the Australian economy? 

No, the media conference was to talk about six homes that will have to be sold some time in the next 12 months because their owners volunteered to the government that they had not complied or no longer complied with Australia's foreign investment rules. Yes, the six homes are owned by foreigners.

 

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/joe-hockey-uses-the-good-old-look-theres-a-foreigner-stunt-20150809-giv8d3.html

losing traction...

A separate spokesperson said the department never commented on the outcome of "matters being assessed under the Minchin Protocol". The protocol allows MPs to quietly repay wrongly claimed expenses without the public's knowledge.

The department's position contradicts the views of Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who said on Monday there was "no particular reason" why the findings should not be made public. 

The claim that the department never comments on entitlements is also at odds with statements it made to the media about the expenses of former speaker Peter Slipper.

It means taxpayers will only know whether MPs have misused their entitlements if Mrs Bishop, Mr Ruddock or Mr Burke decide to release the findings themselves.

The expenses scandal, which has raged for four weeks, dominated Parliament's return on Monday from its winter recess.

A ReachTEL poll conducted for Fairfax Media suggests the saga has stripped Prime Minister Tony Abbott of voter support, with almost half of voters indicating they are less likely to support Mr Abbott following the scandal. 



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/mp-expenses-department-of-finance-investigations-to-remain-secret-20150810-givqbk.html#ixzz3iYps36XM 
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

This grassroots faith is shattered...

 

This grassroots faith is what's been shaken to its core by what has happened.

The Liberal organisation will recover and be reformed. As incoming Victorian president earlier this year, taking office just as Mantach left, Kroger was refreshingly open and honest with his members and the public as soon as the appalling situation was confirmed. That welcome candour is a good start to rebuilding trust in a crisis.

But just as with former Health Services Union leaders Craig Thomson, Michael Williamson and Kathy Jackson, this is yet another case of an elected or appointed official feeling somehow entitled to take advantage of the so-called "little people" who are their rank-and-file members, even though ultimately they owed everything to those they betrayed.

This week's revelations, be they Mantach's alleged activities or Jackson's humiliation in court, should remind elected and appointed office holders in political parties and politically-active organisations alike that respecting the trust of their members and the public is fundamental to public life and a healthy democracy. Their position and status is a conferred privilege, not a personal fiefdom.

Fortunately, most of these office holders, across the political spectrum, work very hard to earn and retain that trust.

The Victorian Liberal Party will likely find, as the HSU has found, and indeed as federal MPs are finding with ongoing public anger over abused parliamentary "entitlements", when the bond of trust with their ordinary members and supporters is broken, it is very, very hard to restore. But if it looks to its grass roots members, and respects and honours their values, aspirations and commitment in reforming its governance and accountability, the party will recover better and stronger for this scarifying experience.

Terry Barnes is a policy consultant, former senior Howard government adviser and member of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party. Twitter: @TerryBarnes5.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-21/barnes-liberal-party-alleged-embezzlement/6713570


Please Terry leave Craig Thomson out of this... He is still fighting the charges which were politically motivated. The merde-och press and the other MMMM (mediocre mass media de mierda) went riot on him and accused him of embezzling more than half a million dollar, helped by an "investigation" by a journalist who relied mostly on the "evidence" supplied by one the most crooked person in this affair, Kathy Jackson. He "admitted" and was found guilty of using his HSU credit card wrongly for about $5,000. He is fighting these charges still, because in reality he was entitled to use his credit card for this. He has been hounded like the Hounds of the Baskervilles for something he actually did not do.
All the others were crooks. Craig Thomson was not.

 

Robin Hood in reverse...

 

Joe Hockey is laying the ground for the Coalition to promise personal income tax cuts at the next election, signalling the government would try to further reduce spending to avoid blowing out the budget.

In the latest round of positioning over the yet-to-be-completed tax review, the federal treasurer says Australia’s top marginal tax rate is higher than that of other comparable countries and the tax burden is too heavily concentrated at the top end. He also argues action is needed to stop “bracket creep”.

The government has refused to rule out increasing the GST as part of potential changes to the “tax mix” and has called for a mature debate about reform options – but it has already ruled out reining in superannuation tax concessions or rethinking negative gearing.

The renewed focus on tax has prompted the Greens to call on both main parties to avoid “a tax cuts arms race”, warning that the associated spending cuts would erode vital public services.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/aug/24/joe-hockey-lays-ground-personal-income-tax-cuts-at-next-election

--------------------------

Of course this is geared to confuse the punters... Tax cuts? Easy, the rich will get more of the cake than the poor whose social services will be cut to the bone to pay for the tax cuts to the rich... It's Robin Hood in reverse: They (Joe and Turdy) steal from the poor and give to the rich... and they call it economic management... They (Kings and their minions) used this enforced economic caper in medieval times...

 

a cycle of deceiving political promises...

A leading accounting group has savaged Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey's comments on income tax cuts, accusing him of repeating rhetoric instead of fixing Australia's "broken down tax system".

Mr Hockey made the case for income tax cuts, including for Australia's highest earners, during a speech in Sydney in which he highlighted the problem of "bracket creep".

He said the Government had to cut taxes for middle and low-income earners, saying that without the changes, almost half of all taxpayers would be in the top two tax brackets in a decade.

But Certified Practicing Accountants (CPA) Australia's Alex Malley has lashed the Government for what he called pre-election "fiscal giveaways".

"The Treasurer appears to be caught in a cycle of restating the problems rather than rethinking the solutions," Mr Malley said.

"The issue of income tax, GST, super [annuation], company tax, land tax is yet to be discussed ... it really is being deferred and deferred and deferred.

"To actually start forcing a conversation around just personal income tax says to me that we're in a downhill slide to an election and that's not good for Australia, we need to make some tough decisions.

"To defer and distract again in relation to tax and tell us what we already knew at a five-star hotel in Sydney is not my idea of leadership."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-24/hockey-to-argue-case-for-income-tax-cuts/6718968

Joe Is not an economist and I am prepared to believe he is not an accountant either... He was a lawyer with little practice before becoming a pollie... Quite generous (he wants to give tax cuts to the rich) and quite confused about the value of welfare (he wants to take away your entitlements), he has a peculiar religious view of society in which the house his wife owns in Canberra can be used as tax deduction because he sleeps there overnight. Jesus would approve.