I will draw a distinction in that I viewed his statement as a racist statement. But he may not be a racist ..but just ignorant. imo

So if he is reading this I will take him at his word and retract my directly calling him racist.

Good stuff Do I dare ask a 3rd time about where I defended racism?...

Thought something had blown up when I saw there was 89 new posts when I logged on - looks like the usual confusion

The Aboriginals seemed to be doing pretty well the 50,000 years before the first fleet arrived

It really doesn't make much much sense comparing a hunter / gatherer existence that lasted thousands of years with what we have now.  Which is better would all come down to what eyes you're looking at it through.  Did they really have it that bad? I'd suggest it wouldn't be hard to argue they would be better off if the English didn't decide to takeover.

In saying that, I very much doubt someone else wouldn't have come by now - would they have treated the indigenous population better? We'll never know.

There's no denying white Australia has a black history - we shouldn't brush it over but we can't go back and change it either.  The answers are around correcting the wrongs we can and trying to make the future better - I don't know how we do that though - it's bloody complicated.

I hope it was clumsy language by Abbott in making a point, I'd hate to think it was deliberate. His heart does generally seem to be in the right place when trying to help though.

Not that he'll be in the top job long now anyway, not after today's debacle

Seriously having the world stage and talking about putting up uni fees and trying to charge to go to the doctor ffs

Sooner he is gone the better imo

WORST GOVERNMENT EVER

Well G20 is done and dusted and Abbott, to his credit, was less embarrassing today

Wait and see what comes from it all - there are some positives in there

* more money for infrastructure
* increased female participation in the labour market
* tax crackdown on multi-nationals
* action on ebola
* reduction in poverty
* hopefully no more bailouts for "too big to fail" banks
* cleaner energy
* climate change firmly on the agenda for next year

disgraceful thing is "our" plan to increase female workforce participation is to

* introduce an overly generous paid parental leave scheme
* cut benefits

WORST GOVERNMENT EVER

Extract from....


The poor face onerous rules while rich corporations avoid tax with impunity


By Richard Cooke
themonthly.com.au
November 2014



The government might be talking tough on tax collection, but its enforcement is weak and getting weaker. When he was still shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey’s main criticism of the ATO was not that it was ineffectual in its collection duties, but that it was “overly aggressive”. It had an “insular and inward-looking culture that has put it at odds with taxpayers”.

“Taxpayers are not the enemy,” he told the National Press Club. “They should be respected.” He mooted a possible break-up of the ATO’s functions, and upon taking government, announced plans to hasten layoffs of 4700 staff over four years. Strangely, for a government that was to renew focus on transfer pricing, the specialist team within the ATO taking aim at multinational tax evasion was disbanded.

The staff cuts were said to be part of Hockey’s deficit-reduction treatment, though that explanation is baffling. Cutting funds to the tax collection arm of government may be the single most inefficient form of austerity there is – each dollar spent on enforcement brings in around six in additional revenue.

So if the rationale isn’t economic, what could it be? “They’re trying,” says Stiglitz, “to give a free ride to rich people.”

The government’s sabotage of its own efforts to go after multinationals caused the normally staid ATO to start leaking in earnest. Senior staff, or former senior staff, describe a transitory, junior bureaucratic culture, where the emphasis is on short, relatively simple investigations, preferably cases that can be cleared in 90 days or less. Often the crudest tactic in company tax avoidance is the most effective: time-wasting.

“There was also an absurd clear-out of senior transfer-pricing staff about two years ago, so there is very little likelihood of the ATO ‘manning-up’ on multinationals any time soon,” an anonymous former tax official told the Fairfax business reporter Michael West. “The best chance of that happening is if the revenue collapses and the government asks the commissioner to explain how that happened.”

To make matters worse, the nation’s big accountancy firms have skimmed off the best of the ATO’s former staff, turning them from gamekeepers into poachers. Armed with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the ATO, their clients have become more adept at disguising their moves.

It’s not just compliance and enforcement that’s the issue. In practice, the government has offered no policy response to reduce corporate tax avoidance. Despite Hockey’s belligerent talk about tackling the problem, the government has no legislative agenda to rein in tax avoidance, other than to water down measures introduced by the previous government. Having opposed the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance, Hockey seems to be pinning his hopes on brokering a unanimous, comprehensive and enforceable agreement at the G20.

I am a believer in the future of the alternative media taking over newspapers as the main source of daily news.

I cut and paste articles so as to actually get a visual representation of the article onto another source/outlet. (with appropriate credits)

More people would read the articles we link to if we cut and paste them, as some/most can't be arsed to click links and follow

through to the original article. imo.

It's especially handy to cut and paste when the links don't actually work, as in "404 Ooops"

each to their own - I'm sure the site would rather the visit

interesting day in PUP Wars today - Stephen Conroy moved a matter of public importance (or whatever they are called in the senate) on the dud ADF pay offer.  Senator The Brick with Eyes talked passionately about how bad an offer it was.  Jacquie didn't make the list of speakers but made an explanation at the end explaining she had missed out of a slot to do so

a deal between Labor and PUP to try and work things out???

1.5% to the ADF is a DISGRACE

WORST GOVERNMENT EVER

Time for Jacqui to form her own party. What's Pauline doing these days? They would make a formidable pair.

Another win for The Good Guys in the senate.  Bloody financial advises....worst than my Lays of late.

lies lies and more lies

great changes on FOFA - well done senate

imagine the headlines if Julia or Kevin were still in charge

Government in Crisis

WORST GOVERNMENT EVER

Has anyone thought of insulating all the homes that missed out first time round?

Victoria has a de-sal plant just itchin to pay it's way

It sucks teddles, Drew was one of my faves too

dear oh dear ..oh ok..not a news corpse type post,but not bad rhino..yes he worked for 7,so yeah,lets sack the ****

haha bullsh!t,you think anyone on this forum doesnt know his work..why dont you concentrate on saving the no tax on pollution..
why dont you use your insults on that lying **** Abbott

* off your head

thinly veiled maybe he was just posting a video... IMO

Apology accepted Edward. Have a good night.