Monday, 2 September 2019
NSW Berejiklian Coalition Government will no longer offer $250 pa council rates rebate to new pensioners from 2020?
It has been on the NSW Government agenda for some years now, but it is looking highly likely that the Berejiklian Liberal-Nationals Government is going to scrap the annual $250 rates rebate for homeowners holding a Commonwealth Pensioner Concession Card for all but existing Age, Veterans Affairs TPI/EDA, War Widow and Disability Support pensioners.
All future homeowning pensioners will instead be able to defer the first $1,000 of their annual rate payments (CPI indexed), with full payment of the debt (plus interest) on sale of the house/unit/flat.
The Daily Examiner, 30 August 2019, p.4:
Council has expressed disappointment at being unable to provide feedback on a critical pensioner concession.
After the Office of Local Government invited feedback on the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal’s report into the review of the Local Government Rating System, Deputy Mayor Jason Kingsley moved a motion to have council express disappointment there was no further consultation on the pensioner concession.
Clarence Valley Council was able to provide feedback on a raft of recommendations by IPART but could not comment on a proposal to introduce a scheme to allow eligible pensioners to defer up to $1000 of their rates.
Cr Kingsley was scathing in his assessment of the scheme which he said appeared “has been decided” and involved indexing the rates to CPI to be paid when the house was sold.
“Not only is the recommendation to remove the current $250 concession in lieu of the deferral... but it will also be charged interest until the full amount is recovered,” he said.
“So the financial legacy the pensioner was hoping to leave to their families may be eaten up in deferred rate charges as well as interest.”
Cr Karen Toms as “devil’s advocate” said while she agreed with the motion on the principle that they had not been able to provide feedback, she was “a little bit torn” as the council spends about $1 million on pensioner subsidies each year.
“I actually quite liked the idea of perhaps deferring it. I know it sounds mercenary perhaps but the reality is that house is going to be sold one day. I am torn a little bit,” she said.
Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis said since 2011 the NSW Government had invested $694 million to help pensioners make ends meet and IPART’s recommendation to create a rate deferral scheme had been ruled out.
“It is important to strike a balance between providing rebates and continuing to fund the services that local communities need – services such as hospitals, roads, education and child care.” he said.
In 2017 when the issue was last raised, council did not support the recommendation to introduce rate deferrals and said it was “council’s strong view pensioner concession must be fully funded by the State Government”.
“A rate deferral scheme is problematic in local government areas with a high proportion of pensioners and low property values as it may result in less than full recovery of deferred debts from sale of properties and create cash flow issues for the council” the resolution from the October 18 meeting stated.....
The petty mind of Australian Prime Minister Morrison on display for all to see
US-China trade war affecting share price of Australian corporations, Australia helping to increase tensions in the Middle East, the national economy tanking, wages not keeping up with cost of living for low & middle income earners, home ownership falling, drought to last until end of year at least, inland towns starting to run out of drinking water, mass fish kills expected this summer and the Darling River dying - and the list goes on and on.
What is Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Cook, Scott Morrison, worried about?
The signs on certain toilet doors.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says this sign is "ridiculous" and he wants them removed.— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) August 29, 2019
"It will be sorted out. It is not necessary." #auspol https://t.co/zwYfSMKl2d
Sunday, 1 September 2019
Australian PM Scott Morrison gets a slap in the face from regional News Corp masthead
The Daily Examiner, 29 August 2019:
OUR SAY
BILL NORTH
Editor
Be sure to verify statements before you take them with a grain of salt – even when they’re delivered by our most trustworthy Prime Minister. It’s probably not a profound statement given today’s world leaders and proliferation of fake news.
But once upon a time, you could trust your national leader to rise above the spin. Scott Morrison’s response to the GetUp campaign during the federal election – which succeeded in ousting colleague Tony Abbott, if little else – was to smear the activist group with nothing short of propoganda.
He has accused GetUp of bullying and misogyny – two words more apt for describing some of the far-right politicians who were targeted not because of their political allegiance, but because they actively blocked progress on environmental and humanitarian issues that, in the eyes of GetUp, shouldn’t be political footballs.
As an observant member of the media with no political allegiance, but an environmentally conscious soul, I was on the GetUp mailing list.
In this age of ruthless political tactics, GetUp’s consistency to their cause using fact-based evidence in an articulate, respectful and considered tone gave them far more credibility in my mind than any political party.
If all you know about GetUp is how they’ve been portrayed in the media, then please read a couple of their releases, before jumping on the bandwagon.
You might not agree with their philosophies, but they do play clean and fair.
Saturday, 31 August 2019
Quote of the Week
"Donald Trump is unfortunate proof that it does actually matter who gets elected. His policies are just bad for the world." [Journalist Greg Jericho, The Guardian, 25 August 2019]
Friday, 30 August 2019
Australian Bureau of Statistics more interested in telling a good story in mainstream & social media rather than presenting the real facts to readers
The Guardian, 28 August 2019:
References to wealth inequality reaching its peak in 2017-18 were removed from an Australian Bureau of Statistics press release to help craft a “good media story”, according to internal documents.
The emails and drafts show the ABS issued a separate income inequality media release in July to create a narrative of “stable” inequality despite wealth inequality on the rise, with one email noting the ABS did not want to “draw attention” to a bad result for the poorest households.
A spokesman for the ABS has denied any interference by the Morrison government or the suggestion it sought to misrepresent data, which was all strictly factual, arguing media releases “aim to showcase key findings” with journalists free to draw their own conclusions from other data.
On 12 July the ABS published two media releases titled “Inequality stable since 2013–14” and “Average household wealth tops $1 million” which copped criticism for failing to explain that the richest 20% of households have got substantially richer over time.
In the first release the ABS acknowledged that “there was a marginal increase in wealth inequality in 2017–18 and that wealth continues to be less equally distributed between households than income amongst Australians”.
An earlier draft, produced under freedom of information, states that wealth inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, “is at its peak now (0.621) since it was first comprehensively measured in 2003-04 (0.573)”, a phrase later deleted after a direction to “focus on income over wealth”.
Another draft states that although the increase in wealth inequality over the previous two years was “not statistically significant … it is a significant increase compared to 2011–12 (0.593) and 2003–04 (0.573)”.
An email on 26 June notes that the lowest quintile has seen “a significant change” from 2015-16 to 2017-18, down from 0.8% of all household wealth to 0.7%, or an average of $37,900 per household down to $35,200. Its unidentified author notes: “I’m not sure that we want to draw attention to this though.”
The phrase “the lowest 20% controlled less than 1 per cent of all household wealth, with average wealth currently at $35,200” was retained in the final release, without noting the deterioration.
The final release also notes “the wealthiest 20% of households still held over 60% of all household wealth, now averaging $3.2 million per household” without noting the growth over time from $1.9 million in 2003-4.
In an email on 7 July, the ABS director of household economic resource surveys notes a person whose name is redacted had suggested two media releases be issued: one for wealth and a second for income data “where we can present more of a story that inequality is stable”.
“She is also requesting that it is this story (inequality stable) that gets tweeted first on the day of release,” it said.
Another undated email suggests the ABS is “still able to craft a good media story despite more recent data showing a changing picture”..... [my yellow highlighting]
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