Jeor Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 2 hours ago, karaddin said: Superannuation is a scheme that has been warped, its meant to be a pool that you draw down on to pay for your retirement, instead a significant portion of the country has re-conceptualised it as such a large pool of money that you live off the interest/profit on it and never actually touch the total pool. That needs to change. I'm not completely sure what to think about superannuation. By definition the tax benefits favour those who can voluntarily contribute more to their own super i.e. the wealthy. However, if pushing more money into super accounts means that there will be fewer people drawing on a full pension, then maybe it's worth it. Given that super only started 25 years ago, there would be a number of people close to retirement that won't have a "fully funded retirement" from their super accounts, so any extra money into super will presumably save a little on these people dipping into a pension. Of course, I don't know the actual numbers so that theory could fall down. And even if my theory holds, the tax benefits should be gradually wound down - and probably the compulsory super rate should be gradually put up. I think I read somewhere that compulsory super really needs to be at around 12-13% over 40 years to grant a sustainable retirement. Re: the GST I still think it does need to go up eventually. If the income tax base is going to shrink (which it will as the baby boomers retire) I don't think we should rely on income tax alone to increase revenue. The other option is to increase the GST and higher income tax rate, but cut the lower income bracket a little so it sort of balances out a bit more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 GST I think its just a agree to disagree thing, I get that not everyone will share my point of view there but ultimately life would go on if that happened but the social safety net was repaired and completely separate punitive policies were eliminated. My ideas for a solution to a shrinking income tax base would be classified (even by me) as much more radical to the left than a small bump to the GST would be seen as radical to the right Bring on a punitive land tax for investment properties! Bring on punitive top income tax threshold to discourage obscene executive salaries The super stuff is definitely a complicated one, and I'm not going to pretend its not. It's when you get to the age that you can contribute more of your income into it for a significantly reduced tax burden that it really hits a point that I'd consider being abused. I'm not an accountant nor an expert in tax policies and its been a couple of years since I last saw any real discussion of it and the details are sadly fading already, but its not the situation that the vast majority of people find themselves in but it does allow for a lot of wealth to evade appropriate taxation. One other thing I'd like to get rid of? The medicare surcharge if you don't have private health insurance plus the rebate to private health insurance. With how useless the private health insurance industry is in this country its just corporate welfare that forces people into being customers while most of it doesn't result in improved care, just invest it all directly into medicare. If you want to keep the current system then at the very least reform the industry so that it's actually providing a decent service for actual healthcare instead of bullshit pseudoscience and lifestyle products. Signed a person that has private health insurance and a very significant healthcare budget with almost nothing being covered by their PHI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 19 hours ago, Jeor said: Re: the GST I still think it does need to go up eventually. If the income tax base is going to shrink (which it will as the baby boomers retire) I don't think we should rely on income tax alone to increase revenue. The other option is to increase the GST and higher income tax rate, but cut the lower income bracket a little so it sort of balances out a bit more. Well the above bolded statement is probably true if we keep seeing broad-based income tax cuts like the Coalition's most recent ones: $200,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $11,815 $160,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $8,415 $120,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $6,935 $90,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $4,685 $80,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $3,740 $50,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $3,740 $30,000 will get a cumulative tax cut of $1,400 Personally I'd much prefer to see us increase the progressiveness of the tax system, kill-off or reduce tax breaks/loopholes mostly available to wealthy individuals (e.g. the CGT tax concession, using discretionary trusts to minimise tax) and introduce (admittedly unpopular in Australia) land and inheritance taxes. Sales taxes like the GST might give economists a constant hard-on due to their high efficiency and simplicity, but they do nothing to promote a more equal society. There are other ways to raise revenue if vested interests are given the middle finger for once! ETA: On land tax, it's worth having a read of this recent article. It may be a very unfashionable idea in most Western countries, but it still has a lot of merit (Friedman called it "the least bad tax"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 The most recent polling in Wentworth seems to indicate that Phelps' primary vote has diminshed since her decision to recommend that voters put Labor last on voting cards. Personally, I think Sharma was a fairly astute choice for candidate and the Libs will end up winning this seat quite comfortably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 I couldn't make any sense of her backflipping on that one, only thing Brook and I could think of was that she had polling/something solid indicating that it would improve her primary vote and had a nod behind the scenes from Labor since they knew they weren't going to win it. The other independent is presumably taking some of the primary vote as well, but I'd assume that's not a factor in the eventual TPP, but they did get Clover and Alex's endorsement over Phelps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 29 minutes ago, karaddin said: I couldn't make any sense of her backflipping on that one, only thing Brook and I could think of was that she had polling/something solid indicating that it would improve her primary vote and had a nod behind the scenes from Labor since they knew they weren't going to win it. The other independent is presumably taking some of the primary vote as well, but I'd assume that's not a factor in the eventual TPP, but they did get Clover and Alex's endorsement over Phelps. Weirdly, I'm starting to think that it might have been better if Phelps didn't run. The primary vote is going to be all over the place with so many viable candidates, which makes me think that Sharma will hoover up enough preferences to just hold the seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 1 minute ago, Paxter said: Weirdly, I'm starting to think that it might have been better if Phelps didn't run. The primary vote is going to be all over the place with so many viable candidates, which makes me think that Sharma will hoover up enough preferences to just hold the seat. I'm still fearing the ScoMo daggy dad schtick is somehow going to work and the polls will continue to rise, so improving fortunes in Wentworth don't really make me comfortable :\ I had dinner with my Dad last night and he was initially arguing with me about what bigoted shit ScoMo might try to pull with the religious freedom review, but I did actually manage to get him to see my point when I explained that I didn't think they'd go for something overt like rolling back marriage equality, rather its chipping away at anti discrimination protections and that I don't think I'm in the firing line, but that those most vulnerable will be the ones that get hurt. I don't think I've managed to convince him before when he's dismissed the idea of the coalition carrying through on doing the things he thinks are ridiculous so that's progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artimicia Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Ahem to make this quick because for some reason this doesn't feel particularly desired... America's own involvement and experience and knowledge of Australian and New Zealander politics is profoundly limited, mostly to the effect of, as I was saying somewhere else, Crocodile Dundee and it's just a movie and in no way intended to time capsulize Australia in a single place and time for all time. There's also a few other famous immigrants such as Mel Gibson who may or may not be representative of anything but who have often found a sort of home I think at times in the American sphere. Ahem ahem speeding to the point anyway I'm believer in sort of international sovereignty and territory, so more or less what Australia or some other place does culturally within their own naturally defined borders (i.e. the big island of Australia) is more or less their own business and how it goes over will be up to them. Like the aftermath of WW2 left a bitter taste in that it altogether failed for just about everyone but essentially poisoned discussions about race and nationalism and cultural identities for everyone else. I'm not saying America is behind the idea of white nationalism , however, or white supremacy, in fact, that's why recent events have been so convulsive is very much a minority supports this melting-pot hypothesis on some level, Trump was an attempt to steer that otherwise but he's been narrowly defeated more or less. However they decidedly exist, so if you want to go and more overt directions the better place for that is the true British empire, and even that minority in America wouldn't really complain honestly because they aren't going to go about crusading to try and change people's opinions to conform to their own, since that's more or less at direct cross purposes with the ideology. I mean the point is obviously Australia and other predominantly white nations are desperate to recover parts of their historical heritage, and with the exception of the Aborigines there is no reason that can't basically just happen in Australia or perhaps even in Ireland and Scotland to an extent. Personally I would make Tasmania off limits to that sort of thing since the native habitants are far older and it's much more vital to their identity that they continue in the place that they are continuing... I'm not really dancing around this, I think, in effectively saying that a heavily modified form of Nazism, that's basically benevolent and tolerant, and that basically reflects the values of a group of people, can and or should be implemented in these places in Oceania and elsewhere because it's fundamentally the wish of those people here. One of the reasons I can say that is because America already tolerates a heavily washed out proto-form of Nazism in the form of the southern states in America, which are often separated from the main American body politic for various reasons and that will become more true going forward... The true reason why Nazism was rejected and the basic idea of the confederacy was not in many ways and why Australia can potentially go in it's own directions is the concept of self-governance and stability. Will these ideas and implementation be able to stand on their own or will they spiral out of control (as happened in the case of the Nazis) and require massive intervention from other parties who want nothing to do with it all. Oh and I also forgot Mexico, America has let Mexico run the gamut even though it's just race supremacy with a Latin twist. Personally I think Oceania carving a path to independence has actually been good for the American minority, because the pure Trumpian empire sees the necessity of defining America on it's own terms, and not merely being a replica of old world societies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Winged Shadow Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 wha...? Edit: read that post like 4 times and still not sure i get it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dornishpen Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Is that a real Nazi or a poe?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squab Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Poe, kid or trolling, i reckon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 The Opera House/Everest story keeps rolling, with the petition now at over 300,000 signatures and protesters attempting to disrupt last night's advertising. I wonder whether this is more about the Jones episode or the actual issue at hand (using the sails to advertise a horse race)? Personally I signed the petition, though I thought this cartoon made a good point about how we have historically permitted other important Australian cultural symbols to be misused... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 I agree with the critique that there are a lot of other things worthy of a greater level of outrage, but I thought this piece did a good job getting at why this is still worthy of opposition in itself - that its part of changing society away from the idea of public good existing: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/08/the-opera-house-debacle-is-neoliberal-hostility-to-the-public-at-work?__twitter_impression=true I also think both the issue of what the advertising was for (a horse race I didn't even know existed might be a big thing in the horse racing world and financially, but its not a cultural touch stone even close to the Ashes ffs) and the Jones episode are significant parts of the outrage as well. The thing I'm most angry about is that this should have been an opportunity for a competent opposition leader to hammer Gladys on being a puppet of Jones but instead we've got this useless sack of shit Foley who agreed with Jones faster than she did, so good job being an alternative NSW Labor -_-. Especially at the same time as significant public transport issues that should also be body blows for the coalition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 59 minutes ago, karaddin said: I agree with the critique that there are a lot of other things worthy of a greater level of outrage, but I thought this piece did a good job getting at why this is still worthy of opposition in itself - that its part of changing society away from the idea of public good existing: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/08/the-opera-house-debacle-is-neoliberal-hostility-to-the-public-at-work?__twitter_impression=true I also think both the issue of what the advertising was for (a horse race I didn't even know existed might be a big thing in the horse racing world and financially, but its not a cultural touch stone even close to the Ashes ffs) and the Jones episode are significant parts of the outrage as well. The thing I'm most angry about is that this should have been an opportunity for a competent opposition leader to hammer Gladys on being a puppet of Jones but instead we've got this useless sack of shit Foley who agreed with Jones faster than she did, so good job being an alternative NSW Labor -_-. Especially at the same time as significant public transport issues that should also be body blows for the coalition. Haha totally agree about NSW Labor. What a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Also...I don't really want to open Pandora's Box on this before the Ruddock Report gets released, but ScoMo has already been caught out on a claim that religious schools already have the power to sack gay teachers. While this is true in places like WA (where my sister teaches), it isn't true for every state. Implementing this Ruddock recommendation would therefore be a material change in policy for many LGBT people in the education system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubby Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 On 10/10/2018 at 11:16 AM, Paxter said: Also...I don't really want to open Pandora's Box on this before the Ruddock Report gets released, but ScoMo has already been caught out on a claim that religious schools already have the power to sack gay teachers. While this is true in places like WA (where my sister teaches), it isn't true for every state. Implementing this Ruddock recommendation would therefore be a material change in policy for many LGBT people in the education system. The temporary PM trying to make his mark and score some Jesus points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 On 10/12/2018 at 6:42 PM, Stubby said: The temporary PM trying to make his mark and score some Jesus points. I guess there was some silver lining in that he later said that he was opposed to discrimination against gay children (though not teachers!) How benevolent. Things heating up in Wentworth now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Right on cue Shorten announces that Labor will repeal religious schools' exemption to discriminate against gay teachers! Woo! Quote I believe we can use this goodwill to go further and remove the exemption that would allow a teacher or school staff member to be sacked or refused employment because of their sexual orientation. Hopefully Morrison gets on board with this (he might do with Wentworth on a knife-edge) and we have a really good win for secular government and institutions in this country. I'm pleased that (so far) the reaction to the Ruddock Report has actually been to strengthen LGBTIQ rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karaddin Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 59 minutes ago, Paxter said: Right on cue Shorten announces that Labor will repeal religious schools' exemption to discriminate against gay teachers! Woo! Hopefully Morrison gets on board with this (he might do with Wentworth on a knife-edge) and we have a really good win for secular government and institutions in this country. I'm pleased that (so far) the reaction to the Ruddock Report has actually been to strengthen LGBTIQ rights. Yeah, I'm appreciating that they sat on it for 6 months presumably because the right felt it didn't go far enough, then leaks during the byelection campaign resulting in this. I'm thankful to whoever leaked it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paxter Posted October 15, 2018 Share Posted October 15, 2018 8 hours ago, karaddin said: Yeah, I'm appreciating that they sat on it for 6 months presumably because the right felt it didn't go far enough, then leaks during the byelection campaign resulting in this. I'm thankful to whoever leaked it. Centrist-minded Liberal voters (both in Wentworth and Australia-wide) might have now had a gut-full: first their party dumps a moderate PM for a conservative one, then it immediately contemplates religious freedoms reforms that are a hobby horse for the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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