Quote of the Week

“A police operation is planned to take place at Bentley to both facilitate a lawful protest and ensure normal operations at the gas exploration site” [NSW Police spokesperson quoted in The Daily Telegraph on 30 April 2014 explaining the intention to use riot police against a peaceful demonstration at Metgasco Limited’s Bentley ‘tight gas’ drilling site]

Cartoon of the Week

The Guardian 30 April 2014
  Click on image to enlarge

Moggy Musings (Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat)

An it has to be cheap but does it need to be nasty? musing: Hearing that social housing provider North Coast Community Housing Co is laying new and necessarily cheap carpets in some of its rental premises. The colour schemes are the darkest of grey possible before black intervenes, a dark brown that cannot possibly go any deeper on the dye spectrum and something that can only be described as the hue of poo - apparently the company thinks the poor have no taste and should live with such affronts to the eye and interior house wall colours.

A Bazza musing: It was hard to cadge a treat from the two-legs last Wednesday as everyone was talkin' bout that Barry O'Farrell resigning as NSW Premier. I don't have any questions about that wine bottle - what I want to know is why in 2011 after years and years in politics the man didn't own even one square foot of house or land according to his member's declaration.

A swear box musing: I'm in trouble. I have to meow a hundred times, "I shall not call Operation Sovereign Borders Operation Stupid B@stards and then yammer hysterically". What? Cats can't have a sense of humour?

An SPC Sunday musing: I'm a cat so I don't eat much fruit, but the Blues Brothers budgies (who are into all sorts of fruit 'n' veg) tell me that SPC Sunday is going off with a bang and lotsa two legs are buying SPC Ardmona products and telling the world about it today. Over at Twitter on #SPCardmona they are jumping out of their skins and folks at SPC Sunday on Facebook are happily getting into the mood as well.

A rumour has it musing: Whispers are doing the rounds in the first few days of February 2014 that David Bancroft, a former The Daily Examiner editor and later an editor of the Rural Weekly, is taking a position as Clarence Valley Council's media/public relations spokesperson. In-ter-esting....

A fractured history musing: On 1 February 2014 The Northern Star confirmed what many have suspected. Clarence Valley Council has been allowing local government paper records to rot in a paddock for years -When the NSW Land and Environment Court called for the documents to be made available, the Crown solicitor was told "they must be with the Clarence Valley Council". He was later referred to the Coffs Harbour Council but eventually it was discovered that the majority of documents obtained from the former Ulmarra council were "housed in a shipping container in a paddock" and the Clarence council believed it "would be a big job to try and access the shipping container because it is full". Justice Craig admitted he was left to "guess" what some of the documents might have contained.

A karma musing: Maclean Court House, 9.30 am 12 February 2014,NSW Police v Geoffrey William Leviny, Case Number 201300148044,LC Sentence.

A spam is getting sillier by the minute musing: This email caused a hoot of laughter from the two legs in my house - Happy New Year! 800,000 Pounds sterling has been awarded to you from my wife & I. Kindly reply with your Name, Address, Phone Number for details of prize if you are interested. Adrian.

A she saw red musing: If there is one thing a house going paperless hates it's junk mail so She really was annoyed enough to say a sweary word when telling me the tale.

What if people don't want to receive advertising material and have a "no junk mail" sign on their letterbox? Putting mail into these people's letterboxes is not against the law but it is against the distribution industry's Code of Practice. Distributors should respect people's wishes not to receive this material.

Unfortunately one new local business is choosing to ignore this advice and when the person distributing its advertising was challenged by my owner he asserted that the unwanted advert was not junk mail. Well, in all likelihood he is acting informally and not covered by any industry code of practice. But I think the letterbox stuffer was probably the CCW owner – so he made a bad business decision that day.

A grinning from ear-to-ear musing: My human came home today all cock-a-hoop. A group of young lads from north of the Rio Tweed (who read this blog) brought the Administrator of North Coast Voices her very first mobile 'phone. I can't wait to see her learn how to drive the thing. Bet she falls over furniture, trips over apps and crashes into walls!

For the sake of $16.41 billion the Abbott Government is going to start a class war?

In the 20 years since the last ­thorough review of the Commonwealth government, budget spending has more than tripled. [Chair of the National Commission of Audit Tony Shepherd writing in the Financial Review on 2 May 2014]

It seems Chairman of the Abbott Government’s National Commission of Audit, Tony Shepherd, likes to compare the last twenty years when explaining the recommendations of the 2014 national audit made public on 1 May.

So what is the actual comparison? Well it breaks down like this.

In 1994 the Australian population was an est. 17.93 million. By May 2014 the population grew by 23.62 per cent to an est. 23.47 million.

In May 1994 there were 8.71 million people in the Australian labour force. In 2014 this had risen to 12.26 million people.

In 1994-95 all industry multifactor productivity was 108.5. In June 2013 it was 104.9 - a 3.6 point difference.

In 1994 Australia’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was an est. $323.41 billion and is an est. $1,577 billion in 2014.

Australian Government net debt reached 24.2 per cent of GDP in December 1994. Net debt reached an est. 11.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-14.

In 1994-95 the Federal Government had receipts totalling $113.45 billion and in 2013-14 total receipts were an est. $392.59 billion.

In 1994-95 Australian Commonwealth government outlays totalled $128 billion and in 2013-14 government outlays totalled $409 billion, which represents a threefold increase over the two decades spanning the last half of the Keating Government, the Howard Government, the Rudd & Gillard Governments and the beginning of the Abbott Government.

In May 2014 the Australian Government total combined net debt and spending is an estimated 38 per cent of GDP.

Basically, Australia’s population has grown and so has federal government spending, while multifactor productivity is lower. However, the gross domestic product has also grown along with the amount of taxes paid and the number of people of workforce age, while net government debt has fallen. 

I honestly cannot see that the $16.41 billion shortfall between money coming in and money going out in 2013-14 is a valid reason for dismantling universal health care and forcing aged pensioners into a below the poverty line standard of living after 2016-17.

Especially if one looks at the numbers Mr. Hockey considers valid.  In 2013-14 Federal Government total payments (spending) are 25.93% of Australia’s Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2023-24 total payments are projected to be 26.50% of GDP. That expenditure growth is less than 0.57% over a decade, while the GDP is projected to grow 5.1% annually over that period.

When one factors in the possibility that reducing corporate ‘welfare’ grants, rebates and concessions would over time reduce the $16.41 billion, it makes the government’s position incomprehensible  to say the least.

However, the Abbott Government attack on the welfare system apparently has less to do with economic reality and more to do with ideology and, no amount of media management by the government will be able to disguise this reality.

Note:

Dollar amounts and percentages are based on data found in Australian Bureau of Statistics tables, Australian Parliament briefing papers and Abbott Government documents and reports.