The Greens are misanthropes at best; the rest is window dressing:

http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/our-abc-green-narrative.html

Ah the good hearted greens, they want to increase the dole by some 20%, which of cause means increasing wages by 20%, otherwise the workers, esspecially low income, won't bother working.

The there is the increased wages that business and public sectors have to fund, in an already over inflated market.

Then of course, while doing this they want to reduce employment, by stopping logging, along with all the other industries this supports, they want to also stop mining, more jobs at risk.

In fact, if they had their way, only the best and brightest would have a decent paying job and all the rest of us would be on the dole.

Then of course tree are the illegals which they would like to welcome with open arms, and wallets (ours of cause).

Sounds too good to be true, just one small problem, how on earth do we pay for all this.

The only positive I see out of the greens having this power, is the fact that they have proven that given enough rope, they could hang themselves and they are doing a great job.

At least the next election will be predominantly between the two major parties, as both the greens and so called independents have shot themselves in to political foot.

I support the Greens' pledge to remove welfare conditions.

EVERYONE should receive welfare, equally and without conditions!

The way to do it is called "negative income tax".

It's so simple: anyone whose income falls below a given threshold receives a fixed percentage (say 30%) of the difference between that threshold and their income, no questions asked. Those with income are taxed on their income above that threshold.

Negative income tax can be paid weekly/fortnightly for those in need - the rest get it through their annual tax returns.

This can be looked upon as if each and every person received a fixed welfare (say of 30% of the threshold), then pays tax (say also 30%) on each dollar of income (starting from $0).

It doesn't matter and nobody else's business whether one works or whether one seeks employment: your subsistence is assured, now if you want more - go work, it's up to you and away with this monstrous centerlink!

I too think we all should receive the same assistance, as opposed to the current system whereby we rob the rich to support the poor.

As to the amoumts mentioned, I'm not sure, as any form of a one off tax, like the GST or PAYG is outdated and will no longer collect enough taxes. This is why I feel we need to tax money, not workers, in the form of a transaction tax.

This would place billions more each year in people's wallets, something that would provide much needed stimulus, right where it's needed.

As for the dole, single parent, disability allowance (not the cronic cases) people seem to forget that these were designed as a hand up, not as an alternative to working, as one can simply manipulate the system, stay home and be as well off, if not better than many who work full time.

There are many out there who collect these benefits, then work a day or two for cash.

Quarantining welfare will go a long way towards stopping this, something else the greens oppose.

Now they are the truly wealthy ones. What a scam.

Yuyutsu... that's brilliant!

Increase all incomes by 20%!? As has always happened, every general wage rise has been accompanied or preceded by price increases!
A general wage increase of 20%, would likely see a prices spike of around 30%, and then ditto/ditto/ditto.
The dog chasing its tail, inflationary price/wage spiral, has meant the home we used to be able to buy, with just 2.5 years of the average male wage, now claims around ten!
And remember, the average wage has been seriously padded out by CEO's /executive remuneration packages, which are included in the averaging calculations?
If we simply excluded salaries, and averaged just wages, the so called average, would be a lot lower and the years of average wages income needed to buy an average house, would be somewhere north of thirty.
We could eliminate some of the ever increasing disparity by simply raising the tax threshold, rather than simply giving tax breaks to the already better off, who would nonetheless receive some benefit.
However, I agree with others who advocate for quite massive and long overdue real reform and quite massive simplification of the tax act.
If all of the mind-numbing-complexity that is merely masquerading as a fair and equitable tax collection system, could be jettisoned in favour of a single stand alone expenditure or transactions tax, we could actually improve the average bottom line by around 7%, which is what it costs the average business as tax compliance costs.
Moreover, the complete jettisoning of the current raft of taxes, and replacing them with a single stand alone entirely unavoidable 4.8% expenditure tax, would end all avoidance, add in excess of one hundred billion per to internal revenue, the current cost of quite massive tax avoidance!?
And add around a further 30% to the averaged bottom line and 25% to household disposals, which is the current cost to us, of the current raft of quite easily avoided taxes.
But only if you are a real or sham religion, a very large and powerful company or international corporation.
Rhrosty.