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loony park...
Loony Park... Picture by Gus at Luna Park, Sydney, modified by Gus
The prime minister says defeat of his income tax plan is a wake-up call for state premiers to start living within their means.
Malcolm Turnbull was forced to withdraw the proposal just two days after hailing it as one of the greatest reforms in generations after it was rejected by leaders at Friday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting.
Malcolm Turnbull finds $2.9bn for public hospitals, but nothing more for schoolsLenore Taylor Political editor Read moreNow that the states had refused an opportunity to raise income taxes to pay for services like hospitals and schools, they could not credibly ask the federal government to do it for them.
“What that means is we must now live within our means,” he told reporters in Sydney on Saturday. “It is a wake-up call for the state governments.”
Labor has laughed off the proposal’s defeat as a humiliating farce.
The opposition frontbencher Jason Clare said he’d had hangovers that lasted longer than Turnbull’s policy.
“I think Britney Spears’ first marriage lasted longer than this policy.”
The health minister, Sussan Ley, has slammed the state premiers, denying the proposal’s defeat was an embarrassment.
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As if this Federal kettle could call the pots black... Increasing defence to 2 per cent of GDP:
The Government will provide Defence with $31.9 billion in 2015–16 and $132.6 billion over the Forward Estimates. This is an increase of $9.9 billion over the Forward Estimates when compared to the 2014–15 Budget and represents record expenditure on Defence.
read more: http://www.defence.gov.au/Budget/15-16/
Nothing for schools though...
- By Gus Leonisky at 3 Apr 2016 - 9:41am
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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as effective as a cactus on a jumping castle...
COAG is not just a talkfest.
The conga line of premiers that arrives at Parliament House for the bi-annual meeting is also a rare chance to directly compare our political leaders.
In recent times, all eyes have been fixed on West Australian Premier Colin Barnett - who could be relied on to get cranky, because he wanted more GST for his state and no one was willing to give it to him.
Attention has also focused on NSW's Mike Baird, who seemed to have smoother words and smoother solutions than his higher ranked Liberal colleague, Tony Abbott.
But on Friday, another leader emerged as the surprise star of COAG: Daniel Andrews.
The Victorian premier - previously consigned to the slightly awkward, unlikely leader category - was straight talking and unruffled by the pomp that accompanies big state-Commonwealth productions.On his way inside Parliament, with speculation a swirling about Malcolm Turnbull's proposal to let the states raise income tax, Andrews deflated the excitement as effectively as a cactus on a jumping castle.
"I'm questioning how serious anyone can be about reform when you drop the reform plan a day before [the meeting] ... that's not the way you get consensus."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/daniel-andrews-surprise-package-victorian-premier-stands-out-in-the-coag-conga-line-20160401-gnw0qf.html#ixzz44iS0qGNW
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passing the buck...
With Malcolm digging his heels on blaming the States for not accepting his awfully lazy option of blaming the states for spending whatever too much out their means, when he does not want to be the bad guy raising taxes, ScotMo budget is going to be a scorcher. If you thought that Abbott and Hockey were bad, the Turdbum and Scotmo combo will really send you reeling... But as true believer in Pontius Pilatus, Malcolm will wash his hands of the whole thingster and blame the States for being Australians.
Now what is the means of the states? It's running hospitals, public schools and other institutions ON BEHALF OF THE COMMONWEALTH. I know, in order to survive, the NSW government has been selling the public silverware, without telling the public. But at some point the NSW government will run out of things to flog when it sells the harbour bridge and the opera house to private firms which will advertise their wares on top of these venerable monuments.
Life in AUSTRALIA is going to get uglier under Malcolm... The turds may be classier (see neo-con, repackaged with elegance...) but there will far too many of them on the pavement.