Looks like Rudd has been listening to our friends on the right. But as stated tax fraud is a much bigger issue than welfare fraud and the rich are the biggest rorters, it's a lot easier to kick the little guy.
Some who get the family allowance are 'Big' guys too. We have heard reports of large payments going to families who live in multi million $ houses of very wealthy people. The explanation seems to be that 'they are taxpayers too'.
Financial assistance should only be for those who have a wage set within the IR system where courts decide how much workers get. People who can set their own paypacket or live of earnings of inherited wealth have many more choices in life and need less taxpayer funded help. Most Australian workers can't negotiate for their wage rises so remain trapped at wages reviewed every 3-4 years . . while living costs are exploding more by the HOUR! The system we live under is flawed to the core and on the brink of collapse.
Some who get the family allowance are 'Big' guys too.
Yeah middle-high class welfare is out of control. I was happy to find out the 1st home owners grant is only for properties upto $500K, which is good, I don't think it used to be capped. Any form of welfare should be capped to make sure those that need it get the maximum benefit.
PREMIER Morris Iemma has forked out $50,000 of taxpayers' money on a Chinese lunch and showered dignitaries with paisley polyester ties during a $500,000 overseas jaunt.
Taxpayers also paid about $200,000 for PR and advertising for the China and India trip, which soaked up almost half the $433,000 budget.
Mr Iemma and his entourage handed out a bounty of Les Patterson-style gifts, including the 24 polyester ties, six kangaroo leather CD cases, two wombat-shaped paperweights and 10 Sydney Opera House keyrings.
The Premier immediately distanced himself from the garish gifts, saying they were selected by the Office of Protocol and Special Events.
Frivolous expenses: A break down of Iemma's costs
The trip from November 13-18 last year was intended to promote NSW as a trading partner and business destination. However, it also made headlines as it kept Mr Iemma out of the country for the last week of the federal election campaign at a time when Labor candidate Kevin Rudd was keen to distance himself from the State Government.
The China lunch at the exclusive Shangri-la Hotel in Guangzhou cost a whopping $48,000 for 530 guests - almost $100 a head.
A similar lunch at the ritzy Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi cost almost $40,000. The delegation also visited Mumbai.
Public relations and advertising costs were a whopping $100,000 each. Mr Iemma said this was largely to promote NSW in the local media.
Opposition WasteWatch spokesman Anthony Roberts said the trip was a financial outrage and aesthetic disaster.
"What an amazing distance to travel for the Premier to give his hosts polyester ties," he said.
"At a time when classrooms can't get repaired after storms, hospitals have out of date equipment and DOCS is in crisis, there seems to be no shortage of money for the Premier's overseas travel.
"The cost of this trip would have put six more police on the beat or six more nurses in our hospitals."
But Mr Iemma defended the trip as a vital trade mission and the largest - state or federal - ever to leave Australian shores.
The Premier's nine-strong entourage included tourism chief John O'Neill, Premier's Department head Robyn Kruk and policy adviser Winky Chow.
Every university in NSW was represented on the mission and more than 100 business leaders also attended, all at their own expense.
"Building our relationships with China and India is essential for the continued prosperity of our state," Mr Iemma told The Daily Telegraph.
"China and India are economic powerhouses. China is now our No. 1 bilateral trading partner, and India is our fastest growing export market. The investment leads created by the trip were phenomenal."
RESIDENTS in Sydney's heartland have been condemned to living large chunks of their lives in their cars because the State Government has failed to connect growth centres like Parramatta, Blacktown, Liverpool and Campbelltown with public transport.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that all five cross-regional "strategic bus corridors" - which promised to be the Holy Grail of transport for outer-Sydney commuters - have either failed to grow or have lost passengers since their introduction in 2005.
It is just one of a raft of problems affecting residents in Sydney's forgotten suburbs - those areas on the city's fringe whose inhabitants are forced to endure a lack of major infrastructure, transport, schools and hospitals.
The shameful excuse for public transport in the city's fastest growing regions is compounded by:
Fewer emergency services;
A LACK of playing fields;
HIGHER costs for some utilities, including water; and
NO tollway cashback for residents in the booming north-west and Hills district.
Would you use public transport if it was better? Vote in our poll and have your say below.
The Daily Telegraph today begins a concerted effort to find a solution to these problems, beginning with the farcical transport system on Sydney's fringes.
Commuters on some routes have to wait half an hour for a bus during peak times, despite advice to Government that high-frequency services is the only way to expand patronage.
The $1 billion spent on bus-only "T-Ways" also has been wasted, with bus operator Busways confirming it saves no time over existing roads.
Transport experts yesterday labelled the city's bus system "Mickey Mouse", saying the infrequency and unreliability could never lure western Sydney residents out of their cars.
In an embarrassing contrast to cities like Brisbane, where a rapid bus transit system has put the city back on to public transport, commuters in western Sydney have little choice but to pay $100-plus in motorway tolls each week.
Figures showing the decline in patronage, obtained under Freedom of Information, demonstrate a stunning failure at a time when rising petrol prices have spurred an unprecedented return to public transport in more affluent and rail-serviced areas of Sydney.
Bus routes to the city from areas such as Castle Hill and Mona Vale have grown at phenomenal rates but the 60 per cent of Sydneysiders who do not travel to the CBD appear to have been forgotten.
Sydney's only cross-regional rail link - the Cumberland line - has just two train services a day in each direction between Campbelltown and Blacktown.
Sydney University transport guru Professor David Hensher said the Government had ignored the recommendations of former premier Barrie Unsworth, whose 2004 bus review called for high frequency services feeding trunk routes.
The Unsworth report, adopted by the Carr Government, said: "To create community confidence in the reliability and quality of strategic corridor services, the starting point for operations and frequencies should be: 10-minute frequencies in peak periods; 15-minute frequencies off-peak; 30-minute frequencies at night."
Four years on, commuters on the first strategic corridor, Miranda-Hurstville, wait half an hour for a bus at 8am.
Mr Hensher said residents of western Sydney were "very poorly served" in getting between centres.
"Strategic corridors with high frequency and good connectivity is a fine idea, however we haven't put them in action at all in my view - the network is very poor," he said.
Mr Hensher said the Government had to take the lead and subsidise operators to experiment with much higher frequency to create a viable system modelled on Brisbane.
"It's the best system in the country. I keep telling the Premier and (Treasurer) Michael Costa about it. They all know about it. None of them have gone and looked at it," Mr Hensher said.
A spokesman for Transport Minister John Watkins said the Government was proud of the bus reforms achieved since the Unsworth Report.
"Newer routes will start to grow at a faster rate as customers get used to the new arrangements," he said.
Bus operator Busways threatened to boycott the T-way altogether last year.
Gillard 'confused' by new powerFebruary 15, 2008 09:44am ACTING Prime Minister Julia Gillard says sitting on the government benches in Parliament this week has been confusing.
Labor MPs occupied the government side of the House of Representatives and Senate chambers for the first time since 1995 when the 42nd Parliament was officially opened on Tuesday.
"It can get confusing," Ms Gillard said on ABC Radio today.
"You have a natural tendency to turn your head the other way to look at the Speaker so you find yourself looking towards the clock instead of looking towards (Speaker) Harry Jenkins.
"But once you've defeated that and you are looking in the right direction it feels pretty good."
Ms Gillard says it was a good feeling to be implementing Labor policies.
"Of course, they are the policies that the people voted for at the last election."
So Jules is now looking in the right direction, which would be a first
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
NSW abandons free WiFi plan THE NSW government has abandoned a project to provide free wireless internet in the state's key CBDs, declaring it too risky to warrant taxpayer funding.
The state's free wireless internet plan has been canned NSW called on wireless internet providers to submit preliminary proposals for the project early in 2007. Late today NSW Minister for Commerce Eric Roozendaal said it was not feasible for the government to continue pursuing the project on technical and financial grounds.
Mr Roozendaal said that similar projects pursued overseas had been abandoned or encumbered governments with massive cost blow-outs.
“Most schemes sponsored by overseas governments have collapsed and require further funding to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
"With technology changing so quickly, I cannot expose NSW taxpayers to that sort of risk," Mr Roozendaal said.
Consumers were already served with WiFi wireless services provided by libraries, cafes and hotels, he said.
The troubled WiFi project has faced lengthy delays getting off the ground, falling 12 months behind schedule since it was first announced in the government's innovation statement in November 2006.
NSW was expected to make a decision on the successful bidder for the tender to build the network in the second quarter of 2007 but it had still not been made by February this year.
The successful bidder was expected to be given access to government-owned buildings, traffic lights and water tanks to install WiFi hotspots.
In February wireless internet consultant Jonathon Withers said that the government had not examined the business case for the plan in sufficient detail before announcing it.
I expect Kev's internet plan to go the same way before to long. Side note I considered Iemma "too risky to warrant taxpayer funding" before the election, unfortunately I was in the minority!
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
Galaxy poll reveals working families let down by Budget PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd's "working families" Budget has failed to impress many of its targets, an exclusive opinion survey has found.
Nearly 70 per cent of households with children fear they will end up being worse off or are unsure about the Budget, Galaxy Research found in weekend polling.
Less than a third of households with children - 31 per cent - believe they will be better off from last Tuesday's Budget, while 25 per cent said they would be worse off and 44 per cent were uncommitted.
Just 23 per cent of all voters said they would be better off and a third said they would be worse off.
And more than a third of those earning under $70,000 a year said they thought their finances would suffer.
The biggest worriers were older Australians, pointing to Budget disappointment among pensioners. Some 41 per cent of those aged over 50 were pessimistic about the Budget. Another indication pensioners are unhappy was the Budget's poor response from households without children, 37 per cent of them saying it would not make them better off.
But the most common reaction from voters after four days of intensive Budget selling and debate, was they didn't know.
Despite doubts, Treasurer Wayne Swan's personal rating has been increased slightly by his first Budget.
Some 36 per cent of voters believe Mr Swan would be the better economic manager over Liberal shadow treasurer Malcolm Turnbull, who rated 25 per cent.
In the weekend before the Budget, the figures were essentially reversed in a Newspoll survey - 35 to Mr Turnbull and 29 per cent to Mr Swan.
The turn-around could play into Liberal leadership calculations as Mr Turnbull remains the most obvious contender should a move be made against the Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson.
In further good news for the Government, voters overwhelmingly endorsed the imposition of a means test on some family welfare, and the income threshold of $150,000.
Setting income limits for the baby bonus and welfare for stay-at-home mums was strongly endorsed, with just 17 per cent of voters opposed and just 6 per cent uncommitted.
The $150,000-a-year income threshold was approved by 34 per cent of voters, the largest single bloc.
There was 22 per cent support for a $100,000 level and 10 per cent support for $120,000.
The biggest backing came from those likely to be affected by the means test.
The $150,000 level was backed by 37 per cent of those earning $70,000 or more, and 38 per cent of households with children.
The most popular aspect of the Budget were the tax cuts, including the $7.3 billion worth to start on July 1.
The tax relief was applauded by about half of all voters and opposed by just 31 per cent, with 20 per cent uncommitted.
The biggest single bloc of approval came from the relatively well off.
Fifty-four per cent of those earning more than $70,000 a year backed the tax cuts, as did 48 per cent of those on less than $70,000 - the earners intended to be the major beneficiaries.
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
Yet another high point for the Labor party. While they go from F'up to F'up nothing is heard from the peanut gallery!
Quoted Text
MPs donating $100 each to Milton Orkoupoulos' family NSW Labor MPs have been sent a letter asking them to donate $100 each to the family of convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos.
As the former NSW Aboriginal affairs minister (pictured) prepares today to face sentencing over his conviction on 28 child sex and drugs charges, Iemma Government MPs are being asked to pass around the hat to help his financially ruined family.
The campaign follows a failed bid by a small group of former Labor MPs a month ago to raise money to help pay Orkopoulos's legal expenses, which are believed to have amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The latest letter, signed by Hunter Labor MPs Jill Hall - federal member for Shortland - and state member for Swansea Robert Coombs, has called on MPs to join a club and raise $10,000 for Mr Orkopoulos's estranged wife Kathy and daughter Anastasia.
It has also been sent to local Labor branch members and friends.
The letter claimed that Kathy had now lost their family home; was in financial hardship and was struggling to pay for Anastasia's school tuition.
They have been forced to move into a small unit.
The letter - dated May 7 - was circulated late last week to the parliamentary offices of NSW MPs.
Mr Coombs, who took Orkopoulos's seat following the 2007 election, said Kathy and Anastasia were unfortunate victims of Orkopoulos's double-life and were in need of help.
"They have had to sell their home . . . and in the true Labor way we have rallied around to rattle the tin," Mr Coombs said. The letter read: "As you will be aware, the events surrounding the arrest and subsequent incarceration of Milton Orkopoulos has resulted in his family being penalised emotionally and particularly financially".
"Kathy, his wife, has had to sell the family home and is in financial hardship, at a time when daughter Anastasia is in her final years at primary school and looking at high school entry and providing for future education.
"We are writing to invite you to assist with raising funds for Anastasia and Kathy Orkopoulos.
"The aim is to raise $10,000."Mrs Orkopoulos is understood to have separated from her husband after his arrest on November 7, 2006.
One Labor MP said he felt sorry for the family but thought it inappropriate to join a club.
"You do feel sorry for this woman," the MP said.
But Mr Coombs said hundreds of Labor Party branch members had pledged contributions.
"We are getting a good response . . . people understand that this is an unfortunate situation," Mr Coombs told The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Coombs agreed that Orkopoulos's legal expenses would have been significant - following a six-week trial - and that money would have more than likely come from family assets.
The club has been named the Kathy and Anastasia 100 Club.
It will also hold a raffle night with the prize of a flat screen TV and a four night stay at a Swansea Hotel.
The former Aboriginal affairs minister is unable to access his $60,000 parliamentary pension after the State Government passed laws in 2006 freezing his superannuation, pending the outcome of his trial.
Ben Blackburn, one of Orkopoulos's victims, earlier this month told the court how the former MP had "betrayed my trust in him. I felt angry and frustrated but above all else was the the over-riding fear - the fear of not being believed".
Two other male victims also told the court of the harrowing impact their abuse has had on their lives.
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
Iemma turning Sydney into joke COMMUTERS have long given up on the NSW Government over its transport record. Now an international transport leader says the Government's botched handling of the Tcard has left the state with a "very bad reputation".
MORRIS Iemma will be sacked as NSW Premier at a party meeting today.
After a devastating 12 months Mr Iemma has been rolled by MPs angry at his handling of the power privatisation and loyalty to Treasurer Michael Costa.
Mr Iemma had been warned that if he did not dump Mr Costa he would be challenged, however even that has not saved him.
It is believed that Mr Iemma will be replaced by young gun minister Nathan Rees, who was only elected to Parliament last year.
Mr Rees is a member of the minority Left faction and would have to shift to being unaligned if he was to take up the role _ something he is understood to be prepared to do.
The only other alternative is that Mr Iemma is replaced by his newly anointed deputy Carmel Tebbutt who only returned from the backbench yesterday.
Ms Tebbutt could stand in as an interim measure until Mr Rees is deemed ready.
The Rees/Tebbutt “dream team” was first revealed in The Daily Telegraph on June 13.
Anyways WA state elections on Saturday. If the Libs get in I am moving from this state. They are so backwards and lack any vision, rather embroiled in turmoil after turmoil and leader after leader.
Lowie move to NSW and find out how good an a*** f*** Labor have given it over the past decade, we don't have one public department run correctly and we're the highest taxed state.
NSW Labor are doing a house cleaning, before the last election Bob Carr jumped ship allowing Iemma to say all this mess is Carr's fault, I'll clean it up. 18 months after the election he's done SFA and the party has to look at brain washing the voters in order to get in because at the moment they have the record of a big bunch of retards.
"To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained. " The Doctor
Yeah that sounds pretty average, Labor there sounds as bad as The Liberals here.
The Libs former leader sniffs womens chairs (yes thats right) and snaps their bra straps, and is still a minister in Colin Barnetts portfolio. The current leader, Barnett, took the Libs to the last election, before losing, then setting himself up for retirement before being recycled as party leader merely weeks before we go to polls because no one else could do it. He lacks any vision what so ever, is anti extended trading hours, anti development and infrastructure, apart from building a few car parks.
I swear if WA are so f###ing dumb to vote in a party in such a shambles I will seriously consider whether I want to continue living here.
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