Today's approval for a 2.9% pay rise will drag us even further down the tube. What is it with these morons in Government ? We don't need a petty pay rise, what we need is pay cuts in the public service. 2.9% is an insult at $17 per week. It does zilch to help the workers & great damage to employers.
We need to stop this nonsense because if we don't our Supers will be worth zilch by the time we retire.
Why can't a worker access his Super yet ex politicians can. Why does a worker have to contribute more to his Super than a politician ? The whole show is crook. At the last politicians pay rise they got hundreds of dollars a week more.
Both sides of politics need to get handbooks on how to manage or they could ask pensioners for advise.

Indi, most worked dont contribute anything to their super.

As for worrying about what pollies can or can't do, if you wish, you can become oe yourself.

Now as for the pay rise, another examp,e of just how out of touch this lot are, a d remember, THE UNIONS wanted a lot more than the $17 they got.

They, along with the government are irresponsible in their actions.

While I understand the pressures on families, it's government responsibility to provide welfare, not small business.

I can't believe that they have done this at a time when jobs are being shed everywhere you look.

But then again, they also believe we have 4.9% unemployment.

So what do we expect!

most workers don't contribute to their Super...
rehctub,
ever wondered why ? They can't afford it ! Plus they should only need a decent pension anyway. Super was introduced as a voluntary contribution but quickly got hijacked as Governments realised it could help them to lessen Pension payments.. Pretty callous manipulation really. Those who get the big Supers aren't the ones contributing, most of theirs is heavily subsidised by countless indirect & sly means. Like people receiving rent allowances & travelling allowances to live in their own homes etc.
In my area at least it is like that & I believe most so-called remote areas have the same conditions . Bureaucrats getting more allowances a week than local workers get in wages.
That's why increasing wages contributes more to our bad economy. Cutting excessive pays in the public service & consultant sorts would benefit the whole country not just a handful of pointless & useless bureaucrats.

Indi, most mining staffs, who live away from home, not in mining camps, are on about $200 per day TAX FREE as an allowance.

Some even fly home to the likes of NZ on their two weeks off.

If I were calling the shots, this recent pay rise for low income earners, would have come from the mining companies, in the form of a levy against their payrolls.

Instead, government, the unions and FWA have decided to place additional financial burden on the sectors that are already struggling, like retail, hospitality and toirisum, to name just a few.

They, governments, just don't get it, but, by the time they do, it may be too late.

Retailers are saying that for many of them, it's the worst conditions they can remember for thirty years.

I can vouch for that, I the money made in butcher shops today is less than half it was 15 years ago, and this half is worth about 20% in today's values.

I just can't believe governments can be that irresponsible.

I just can't believe governments can be that irresponsible.
rehctub,
Sad but true. It's coming to the point where the electorate will need to demand a referendum for just about every policy proposed because the bureaucrats simply can not be trusted anymore.
I say cut the numbers of those useless morons by letting them clearly know on how tiny a string they're dangling from.

Very quiet out there, even the labor puppets are holding their heads in shame, as they can't believe how irresponsible this government are.

As if small business, the countries largest employers, are not doing it tough enough, this irresponsible government allows and supports this.

Thank god the unions didn't get their way.

Of cause people are struggling, everyone knows that, but that's not the fault of the many thousands of employers who are about to be hit with the unknown effects of the carbon tax.

Then there is the reckless actions of the worlds smartest man, telling the faithful less than six months ago that we are the envy of the world, only to then tell them recently, to brace themselves for a rocky road ahead.

This government are economic vandals.

Election please!