Posted by Yabby, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 2:18:29 PM

" ... *My thoughts are we make it too easy not to work.* ... "

" ... Belly, I quite agree with you. I know a whole lot of young fellas who have gone out, work and thrive. Then there is another whole
bunch, especially living in some country areas, who have no intention of working. ... "

It often surprises me when I read posters here refer to "dole bludgers" shall we say for want of better term. I have some experience with administrative law and my understanding of the conditions on "NewStart" payments is that not only must individuals actively search for jobs, but if available, they must take them or be cut off.

There may be another way to sk!n that cat *Yabby* and that would be by you registering as a prospective employer for your area on the "JobSearch" network. There used to be a program to take on Centrelink workers where they continued to receive their benefit, with a modest top up from their employee on an initial trial basis. You'd have to look up the regs on their website to ascertain the current state of play as there is a lot of ongoing change in this area above and beyond a reshuffling of the chairs and a renaming of the department.

..

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/newstart_rates.htm

..

Payment amounts:

If you are Maximum fortnightly payment
single, no children $489.70

single, with a dependent child or children $529.80

single, aged 60 or over,
after 9 continuous months on payment $529.80

partnered (each) $442.00

single principal carer granted exemption
for foster caring/relative (non-parent)
caring under a court order/home schooling/
distance education/large family $648.50

Note: Pharmaceutical Allowance may be paid.

Yeah, in here *Yabby*

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/businesses/job_network.htm

Dream on let me tell you in Aussies peak I must have offended a China man.
Q fever 30 years ago, type 2 sugar 20 years ago, now Barma Forrest virus, that leaves arthritic for life.
And open heart to come.
But I have an advantage, never drop the ball, head down and charge.
I remain a unionist till death,and ALP activist.
At my age and from such a big family have seen real hardship.
But fraud too, if today an honest report, and honest work for the value of the dole you get, was introduced.
At fair going rate wages, I truly think 10% would drop off the dole.
I can point to cash in the hand employers who find such to work below fair wages tax free.
No person need go hungry today.
Yes housing is too hard rents worse.
But we need to keep welfare for the needy not the greedy.
As an ALP true believer I refuse to ignore free loaders who bludge on the true poor.
The we don't eat much mob from around here will not work, three generations, and vote Conservative in any case.

Posted by Belly, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 5:45:28 PM

" ... I must have offended a China man. ... "

That's quite a swag bag of nasties to deal with. I had never heard of "Q Fever" before and trust that you have long since killed it with an appropriate regime of antibiotics?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmah_Forest_Virus

" ... Barmah Forest virus is a virus currently found only in Australia. Although there is no specific treatment for infection with the Barmah Forest virus, the disease is non-fatal and all infected people recover. ... "

My biological mother has this one. Excruciating joint pain she claims, but even though she had a recent flair up, it did go into remission for a number of years. Perhaps a regime designed to keep the immune system up and limit stress levels could assist in limiting relapse?

..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_2_diabetes

" ... Obesity is thought to be the primary cause of type 2 diabetes in people who are genetically predisposed to the disease. .. Long-term complications from high blood sugar can include heart disease, ...

Jesus! Don't envy you on this one. Would like to ask how's your weight, how do you sleep, how much exercise aren't you doing and hope you limit the wooblah but feel that medical issues should be kept private subject to the discretion of the inflicted. Of course, it would also be somewhat off topic though a dollop of off topic can be good though.

..

I largely support the Unions in principle, and perhaps were it not for their efforts, the conditions of employment of the average worker would be highly unlikely to have reached their present standard.

..

As for the safety net, without it, there are considerable consequences in terms of crime etc as I am sure you are aware. In the absence of guidance, I strongly support a system that concurrently educates people visa vi the system as they struggle to break traction and work there way up into a "Living Wage" situation.

..

Here's to hoping that *Yabby* can get some raw grunt labour for his requirements.

I see in a speech, Phil Chronican, the operations manager of the ANZ has just stated that the supposed link between interest rates set by Australia's central bank and the rates set by the commercial banks is a myth that needs to be busted.

He said that since the global financial crisis, the cost of funds for banks had gone up and the interest rate set by the Reserve bank of Australia (RBA) had become disconnected from the commercial banks' funding costs.

Evidently I'm not the only one who thinks the reserve bank setting of rates is a self indulgence, of no interest in the real world.

Not just a grumpy old sod Yabby, but up with the facts. That's one of the worst things about having 3 heart attacks, all when working hard in the heat, you have to slow down. That gives you too much time to keep up with the goings on in the world, & time to get grumpy at the stupidity. Fortunately interest rates have no direct effect on me these days.

Yabby you must be living in the wrong area. Having slowed down as directed, I have to get help. My 1.5 acre of house paddock has 150 yards of large tree windbreak, which takes a lot of pruning & chipping/dumping, plus hundreds of trees & shrubs. Fortunately I have an old gully down by the river, where I can dump the big stuff. These days that requires labour.

I have no trouble getting fit young year 12 high school & uni students, who want to earn some cash, & only require a safety watch be kept on them. There are quite a few part time yardmen at schools, golf clubs etc, knowledgeable blokes who want more work, & give good value.

Contact the schools in your area, their yard men are often underemployed.

Hasbeen, there is a difference between a link and no link, which is
what the banks are trying to highlight and for good reasons. People
think that if the RBA drops th cash rate by 0.25%, then the banks
must be greedy buggers to not do likewise. Whichever bank dares to
not adjust by that amount first, has its head chopped off by the
media frenzy, through no fault of their own. So the banks need to
do something about it.

Fact is that the banks only source about half their deposits locally
and those deposits are becoming more expensive, as people shop around
for the best deals. So yes, the RBA rate matters, but so does
the overseas cost of funds. Given the EU crisis and with many
European banks pulling out of Australia, higher costs due to the new
Basel 3 reserves required etc, the big risk is in fact a credit
squeeze, as banks simply don't have the funds to lend.

WA has 65 major new resource projects happening. There is good and
bad in that. Its keeping Australia going, but its also sucked the
labour market dry of anyone who wants to work in non mining areas.

I can't put schoolkids onto an ATV to round up livestock. According
to Worksafe, they would first have to do an accredited course and
one farmer in NSW was fined 200k$ when an accident happened. So
I need somebody with at least half a brain. At the moment I'm
trying to do a deal with the neighbours, but I hate to lean on them,
as they are flat out as it is.