I read a post a few days ago saying claimed that 40% of business owners world wide felt that their growth was slowed because they couldn't find qualified staff.

With the combination of the new university legislation and these statistics, I feel like the economy is in for a tough time.

If businesses can't find qualified staff, yet staff can't afford to get qualified, where does the circle end?

Can you see anyway that this cycle will break?

I suspect that the poor standard of maths in primary and then secondary
school is the key to the lack of people able to be trained in technical
fields.
Maths teaches the fundamental understanding that working at the detail
gets the job done. That is where the technical abilities are formed.
It does not have to be high level maths, just what used to be normal
high school maths. It will setup high school students for thechnical
training or for engineering at university.
Do that and the qualified vacancy problem will be solved.

Surely if one does a degree and comes out with a five figure job, asking them to pay for that knowledge is not a huge ask. It's all part and parcel of the entitlement mentality.

As for qualified staff, it comes back to people's unwillingness to face or deal with conflict, because whether it be in school, work or even within the home or relationships, too many today prefer the easy way out of avoiding conflict, rather than dealing with it.

So, as a long term (former) employer myself, it was very hard to be stern with a learner as they would usually just move on. I'm afraid the 'hard way' is still the best way to learn.

The problem is we are what we have made ourselves, and when discipline goes out the door, so too does care factor. The seed was sewn decades ago and the fruit has now ripened, good luck in changing that.

Don't be silly jvisions, university graduates aren't qualified to work in business. They are almost entirely only qualified to become bureaucrats, teachers, or be employed by some other taxpayer funded area. The ability to work is not something taught in universities.

Business needs real people, who can actually make change, with out a machine doing it for them.

Show me an arts graduate who can do that, & I'll listen to you.

Business owners need staff who are reliable, flexible and committed. The public service hires staff that are 'qualified' but spend so much time on flex leave, recreation leave, maternity leave, special leave and junkets that business needs to be taxed more and more for these 'qualified' staff.

btw any business owner with half a brain will pay reliable, flexible and committed workers well because they have seen how destructive hiring many 'qualified' staff is.

Farmers are facing the same situation, if not worse. Young people today are not attracted to physical labour. Food producing farms that have been in families for generations are seeing the younger family move away as they have no desire to be on the farm.

Food production may become a serious issue in the not too distant future.

To right ConservativeHippie, but it's going to be more a case of affordability, as not only will many food become unaffordable to many, they will also become unaffordable to produce, and this is my tip as to why the Chinese are buying up our farmland, because they know we won't be able to afford to work it.

In the future I fear we will be faced with huge wage reductions, or imported workers to work our land.

Well when its the fan, the demand for food will see a big increase in
community gardens and hunger will drive people back onto the land.
It will, hopefully, happen gradually.
I read an article recently which said the developing countries will not
become like us, but that we will become like them.

That has a ring of truth, don't you think ?

My bush block has solar and water, so effectively I could live there for next to nothing just needing some stock for food and a veggie patch. The cities may well be reserved for the elite, but even the elite rely on the masses for their incomes.

Those hardest hit by any huge downturn, are those who rely so heavily on others to produce what they so often take for granted.

As farmers die off, and given their average age is 57, that's a given, many will suffer much harder than others.

With unemployment rising at a great rate our economy is headed for consumer recession. Why do conservatives have to have a pool of unemployed. It's a manufactured crisis.
We will never be short of food, farming will end up on the stock exchange, and farmers will reside in collins street next to the NXE.
AT 3.3 billion / month over budget, and unemployment rising things can only get worse.
It's a delima that can be avoided with leadership, with Abbott not capable of any sort of leadership, and content for unemployment to run rampant we are in for lean times.

579, you can't be serious !
What makes you think the government has control of what is happening ?
The Labour government lost control of it also, and there is very little
that any Australian government can do about it.

Eventually, unless our governments can make a massive shift in policies
we will be like Greece, facing a choice to default on our loans or
go bankrupt and suffer government collapse.

The very last thing the government wants is higher unemployment, but
until they realise what is happening and adapt to the Zero Growth
economy it will get worse.
Bill Shorten is no hope, all he was able to parrot on Lateline was;
Growth, Growth, Growth, Growth, Growth, Growth.
He is not aware that struggling for growth is the problem.

Abbott told everyone the carbon tax was like a “python squeeze”, and an “economic wrecking ball”, that would “clean out your wallet” by driving the cost of groceries up and up, and involve even 70 per cent increases in the power bill, not to mention that it would “wipe out jobs, big time”.
So I think people may now be rather jaded by what’s happened since the carbon tax was removed.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, unemployment has actually increased and is at its highest level in the last 10 years, and households only got a measly 5.5 per cent reduction on their power bills instead of 50-70 per cent (in fact, in Queensland power prices still went up), and the overall cost of other goods continued to rise at levels similar to the recent past.
You could say it was a failed exercise, it only pleased the coal burners and co2 levels have been increasing ever since.
Sorry Bazz, but i am serious we are in dire straights with the biggest problem being business and consumer confidence at an altime low.
That is the one thing that must be avoided by government.
We need leadership not a heap of lies and backflipps.
Growth can be stimulated, but not by this govt; they have their needs to curtail growth and kill the economy.

Sorry 579, you really do not know what is going on.
No blame on you for that as you have a majority in company.
As far as I am aware there is only one politician in Canberra that
understands what is happening, that is Barnaby Joyce.
Because he is only one in cabinet he cannot get them pointed in the
right direction. Martin Ferguson also understood which way was up but
he is now persona non grata in the Labour Party.

The carbon tax would have collapsed under its own weight sooner or later.
That tax was no more than a distraction and a nuisance. It would have
stood in the way of what has to be done.

A sustainable zero growth economy will be very hard to implement and I
am not able to make detailed suggestions.
I know that a number of infrastructure projects should be done now
while we have the money, but they are really poking around the edges
of the problem.

It would require enlightened economists and engineers to move in that direction.
The only suggestion we hear are more wind and solar farms.
Unfortunately they cannot do the job.

Like a comedian timing the punchline to a joke, Joe Hockey saved his best line about wages until the end.
"The government's income has fallen below expectations," he told a bleak December national accounts press conference. "We have falling commodity prices and we have weaker wage growth."
Wage growth is slow.
Yet low wage growth is what Hockey's colleagues have been pushing for all year.

Wages are growing at their lowest pace in 16 years, and they're growing far more slowly than they were during the global financial crisis. At just 2.6 per cent a year, the pace is way down on the 4 per cent-plus enjoyed during the crisis and the mining boom that preceded it, and is neck and neck with the consumer price index. That's right, real wages are stagnant. They are barely increasing and the consumer price index is barely increasing. For the first time since the late 1990s, the buying power of the Australian pay packet is holding steady.

For the budget it means less income than expected from taxing wages ($2.3 billion less this year, the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook said) and bigger-than-expected government payouts

We were having hard times when labor was in office, but nothing like it is now. Instead of having one problem now we have problems on multiple fronts, at the same time.
This is the result of Abbott’s outrageous budget measures. It not only has hit the workers it has hit business, to the extent of confidence has flown out the window.
When a nation loses confidence in its government, turmoil will prevail, and no amount of changes will rectify the problem, only compound it. All of this in twelve months.
We are hemorrhaging 3.3 billion per month, with no end date.
This is not what we were promised, and not what we voted on.

No 579, you misinterpret what is happening.
The low growth in wages and the stagnant real wages and the price
index not changing is exactly what will be needed.
It is happening despite governments trying to stir it up.

This is what zero growth is about. This is the new economy to which we
will have to adapt. At present it is being imposed on the government
whether they like it or not.
What the politicians do not understand is that they cannot change it.
What they need to do is to adapt to it.

Our politicians, like those in Europe have not fully grasped what has
happened. As soon as the tight oil in the US finishes they will
realise they are in a new boat with the rest of us.

The endless pleadings of self-interest, there is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day. This is the persistent tendency of men to see only the immediate effects of a given policy, or its effects only on a special group, and to neglect to inquire what the long-run effects of that policy will be not only on that special group but on all groups. It is the fallacy of overlooking secondary consequences.
Abbott just can’t help himself, how many times has someone had to try and smooth the torrents of his misogynistic speech for him.

Bob Baldwin, a man who once compared the impact of Australia’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions to that of a single strand of human hair on a 1km bridge, has been appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of the environment.

baldwin The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s ministerial reshuffle. Baldwin will assist Greg Hunt, after previously being assistant to the Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane. It comes just a few weeks after Abbott sent Trade Minister Andrew Robb, another climate skeptic, to chaperone foreign minister Julie Bishop at the Lima climate talks.

In a speech in China in 2010, at the APEC SME summit, Baldwin said that the climate had been changing for millions of years – a favourite meme of the climate denier community – and even praised Rupert Murdoch as “the starting point for green innovation”. This is what he told the Chinese:

The monk is out to wreak havock on au.

Official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unemployment data showed unemployment surged to 6.4 per cent last month, a 12 year high. Private gauge unemployment surveys from Roy Morgan more accurately place unemployment at 12.2 per cent.
The loss of jobs is putting pressure on wages. In the last two quarters, according to the ABS, wage growth has failed to keep up with inflation – i.e. real wage growth is negative. Wage growth is now the worst in 17 years.
But the biggest concern is in the youth unemployment sector. A report from the Brotherhood of St Laurence released today show youth underemployment is now at levels not seen in 36 years and unemployment is at 13 year highs. It has many social ‘scientists’ warning we are creating an entire generation that will be jobless. Housing affordability will be the least of their concerns.
It’s no wonder Tony Abbott wants to cut this cohort loose to save his budget
Consumer confidence declined another 0.2% to 110.2 in the week ending 14 December, consolidating the 3.1% fall in the previous week.
• Deteriorating confidence in the economic outlook over the next year has driven the fall over the last fortnight with the sub-index down a cumulative 13.7%. This suggests the ‘sticker shock’ from the weak GDP print and the continuing negative news flow around the Federal budget is weighing on consumer confidence.
• ‘Household finances compared to a year ago’, the sub-index most correlated with household spending has been more stable.
Business confidence dropped sharply last month to the lowest level since mid-2013, prompting National Australia Bank to become the latest major forecaster to predict two official rate cuts in 2015.
NAB chief economist Alan Oster said the weak outlook for export prices and likely “more severe deterioration” in unemployment meant the Reserve Bank of Australia would cut the cash rate by a quarter-point in March and August. Rates will then be kept at a record-low 2 per cent until late 2016, he said.

Mr Oster also lowered his growth forecast for the economy, saying it will average 2.5 per cent in 2014-15, down from a previous outlook of 2.9 per cent. Unemployment is set to reach 6.75 per cent, rather than 6.5 per cent.
The revisions were driven by another slump in business sentiment, with NAB’s monthly index of confidence falling 4 points to 1 point, close to the level at which pessimists outnumber optimists.
The slump confounds claims in recent weeks by Treasurer Joe Hockey that business sentiment remains solid.
Mr Oster also lowered his growth forecast for the economy, saying it will average 2.5 per cent in 2014-15, down from a previous outlook of 2.9 per cent. Unemployment is set to reach 6.75 per cent, rather than 6.5 per cent.
were driven by another slump in business sentiment, with NAB’s monthly index of confidence falling 4 points to 1 point, close to the level at which pessimists outnumber optimists.
The slump confounds claims in recent weeks by Treasurer Joe Hockey that business sentiment remains solid.

The economic problems that Australia faces are the result of failure by of previous governments of all descriptions over the last 15 years or so, to understand what is going on and plan for the future.

The first problem which was not addressed is that all mining booms come to an end sooner or later, and it is a great mistake to base a countries economic future solely on mining revenue. A mining super profits tax should have been introduced, as soon as it became clear that a mining boom was in the offing, that is at the beginning of the Howard years. The generated revenue should have then used on productive infrastructure such as transport, eduction of skilled workers, and assisting industry where appropriate. The result of this failure has been to pump up the Aussie dollar way above any sensible value, and as a result it has become extremely difficult for Aussie manufacturing firms to compete either with imports or to export into international markets.

The next problem we have is the the present government is trying to use solutions for problems that occurred during the Regan and Thatcher years to solve present day problems, where they are totally inappropriate. The situation is very different today than during that period. Inflation is a non issue, union power has been reduced to acceptable levels, and income tax is no longer a burden on the economy.

The immediate problem is the fall in government revenue and the increasing burden of pensions, due to the aging population, this can only be solved by increasing taxation and reducing government spending. It is no longer a choice of either or it has to be both. It is also has to be accepted that government deficits will continue for some considerable time, but at least they are unlikely to lead to inflation in the medium to short term

Interesting discussion:
I notice that 579 has referred to high youth unemployment.
I see that in Spain & Portugal 18 to 25 year olds the rate is about 40%.
Some say it is higher, but whatever it is, it is a major problem.
What is now needed is a new way to employ younger people.
Work for the dole is an unconscious attempt to find a solution.
This will be one part of the new economy. China will continue to wind
down its economy so resources sales to there will never recover even
if it does fall to a baseline level.

We must look to ourselves for a living and forget international trade.
I did read that international cargo traffic has fallen considerably.
I have not been able to find official figures but it does seem likely.

We need to find a way to get young people interested in food production.
We need it to feed ourselves and we can make some extra by selling to the world.

As oil sales decrease Middle East countries that believe they can live
on that income will start lowering their living standard and like
Egypt will become very unstable. What political effect this will
have on the West is anybodies guess, but it might increase the belligerence
of Islamic terrorists. Income from the Jizah tax is declining as
they kill and exspell the Christians and others.

Those countries may become so weak that we can ignore them and get on
with learning how to manage our own countries without the need of
large amounts of oil.

I do not see how we can support large numbers of people
who do not work at supporting themselves.
Work for the dole seems the wrong concept.
We need a work for food concept.
That work needs to feed others such as the aged, children and
the disabled. We do that via taxation and one way or another that is
what we will still need.
We need to construct a new system as the Transition Movement has
indicated and is groping its way towards that objective.

A new article on Resilience website is by an Italian professor saying
much of what I have posting here.
You might be interested to see a somewhat similar opinion.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-12-22/review-the-great-transition-the-end-of-growth

To manage this transition will need close co-operation between
political, technical science and the financial system which will face
a challenge that will need a complete reeducation.

A kicked-over trolley in a puddle of blood: that is the image stamped on the front of the new marketing guide Buyer's remorse: why anti-brand values are killing consumerism. The guide's thrust is simple - kiss the shop-till-you-drop age of conspicuous consumption goodbye.
Greet the dawn of the "post-consumer" - a virtuous entity "more conscious of community rather than status, value instead of indulgence, and basic needs not bling," writes the guide's trendspotter author Alan Fairnington. In Fairnington's view, in response to the rise of ethical consumption, firms can and must raise their horizons: adapt or die - of shame, perhaps.
Open consumption has become embarrassing, according to analyst Scott Goodson in a July 2009 Business Week confession that he shops online when nobody is watching. Underlining Goodson's misgivings, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report released in March this year stated that "rampant and excessive consumption" is waning.
During the recovery, a business' success will depend on recognising that shoppers remain in recession mode, the report said. Quelling impulse, shoppers will spend with deliberation and purpose, it added.
According to Fairnington, the purposeful shopper will shun designer goods because of their cost and questionable class. Cheap goods will be shunned too if their price is kept low through sweatshop exploitation, Fairnington claims, painting the community-conscious shifts in spending as overdue and enlightened.

AU jobless rate at 6.3 and no doubt will g higher as christmas sales finish. The figures are starting to look grim compared to much of the world.
We desperately need govt leadership, to pull out of this bog. Can we find that leadership or will there be more of the same.

Not got the msg 579 ?
There will not be more business as usual.

The United States is back, and ready to drive global growth in 2015.
After long struggling to claw its way out of the Great Recession, the world's biggest economy is on an extended win streak that is edging it closer to full health. But the new year doesn't look quite so bright in other major countries.
China is slowing as it transitions from investment to consumption. Japan has slid into a recession. Russia appears headed for one. Europe is barely growing
Six years after its financial system nearly sank and nearly that long since the recession ended, the United States is expected to grow in 2015 at its fastest pace in a decade. Its expansion from July through September—a 5 percent annual rate—was the swiftest for any quarter since 2003.
That pace will likely ease a bit. Still, the economy is expected to expand 3.1 percent next year, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics. It would be the first year of 3 percent growth since 2005.
The acceleration of U.S. growth is a key reason the global economy is also expected to grow faster, at about 3 percent, up from 2.5 percent in 2014, according to economists at JPMorgan Chase and IHS Global Insight.
So much for Abbott backing China to run a world bank.

Yes 579, you definately have not heard the message.
It was expected that the US GDP surge would end around 2017/2020 with
the decline of tight oil production.
The fall in oil prices has changed that scene.
It will now end by the end of 2015, ie this year if the low prices
continue and the tight oil companies wind up their drilling.
Note the number of lease approvals fell 40% in October and by 60% in November.

The US has generated their growth thanks to tight oil but at current prices it must end.
That will push the price up again and the US economy will wind back again.
Try your local library for a copy of Kenneth Deffreys book "Beyond Oil".
He describes exactly what is happening now with the volatile oil prices.
We will get a small number of these cycles and it will then end as will growth, permanently.

Bazz with all of this 'factual' information getting around, it gives plenty of notice for deviation from what is supposed to be.
The world is full of people with crystal balls that allow them to predict the future.
With Abbotts bombastic approach to unemployment, is exactly the wrong direction to be in. We should have been riding that same wave instead.
Twelve months does not last long Bazz, that is an astonishing prediction , and not one i would follow.
Cheap oil can end as quick as it started, but i think it is serving a purpose at the moment.
Russia, middle east, will be on their knees, and maybe think it's time to behave themselves.

Well yes 579 it is complex but the part of it to which I was referring
is really quite simple.
Tight oil drilling will come to a grinding halt as the price of oil
is now about US$30 below the break even level. Some dispute there,
a few have a break even about US$65.
At present many drilling contracts have already started and the money
spent so those wells will produce even at a loss.
The general annual decline rate of 40 to 60% will apply this year and
will not be replaced by new drilling.
That is why the opinion, not mine, is that the price will rise about
the end of this year.
Of course anything could happen ISIS could attack Israel and that would
change everything.

I agree the government AND the opposition are tackling unemployment
in exactly the wrong way, when unemployment is a result of the problem
not the problem itself.
There is a need for a new approach for national economics and only
a small number of economists have studied it and seem to be considered
a fringe group and not taken seriously.

"The index is now at its lowest level since August 2011, when it briefly fell below 90," he said.
"Prior to that you have to go all the way back to May 2009 to see a period when the index printed consistently below today's level.
"Respondents are clearly concerned about the outlook for the economy and job security. In addition there is ongoing disillusionment about the May budget, six months after it was announced," he said.
The people surveyed were most pessimistic about whether or not it was a good time to buy a major household item, marking down that sub-index by nearly 12 per cent. They were also particularly gloomy on what economic conditions would be like over the 12 months.
Wednesday's survey is the latest in a string of downbeat economic indicators. On Tuesday, National Australia Bank became the second of the nation's big four banks to change its call on interest rates next year after its closely-watched business survey revealed gloomy findings supporting two rate cuts in 2015.
NAB downgraded its growth outlook and increased its peak unemployment forecast. Its monthly business survey showed a retreat in business conditions during November, declining 8 points to a reading of 5 points.
We need a new govt; urgently.

579
Notice how they are all flapping about with all sorts of suggestions
about this and that. read your last post that says it all.
Indicators this, indexes that; it is all waffle !

You said;
We need a new govt; urgently.
What we need is both parties to sit down together and try and understand what is happening.

Clearly like the mainstream economists they do not have a clue.
We need a coalition government of all parties except the greens.
They know less that all the rest put together.
Alright, alright, let them in but sit them down the other end of the table.

If someone says we can have unlimited growth in a finite world
he is either a madman or an economist.

For much of the past year, the Republican Party has been doing its best to scare people. Its electoral strategy was dependent on people feeling that we are a nation in decline. The GOP knew that the only way it would do well was by making people feel bad about America.

The problem with that strategy? America is not a nation in decline. In fact, after staring into the abyss, we've come roaring back with a vengeance. Our economy is stronger today than it has been in over a decade.
America is in a better place today because we fought hard for our values and refused to give up in the face of relentless opposition. Just look at the facts.
Our economy is experiencing its fastest pace of growth in over a decade. The GDP rose to 5.0% in the third quarter of this year, and the deficit has been cut by two-thirds under President Obama, according to Treasury Department figures.
More Americans are getting back to work. We are in the midst of the longest stretch of private sector job growth on record, with nearly 11 million jobs added over 57 straight months.

In November, we saw the highest single month of job creation in nearly three years, and 2014 has already been the strongest year for job growth since 1999. And we are not only creating more jobs, but better-paying jobs -- wages are up and higher-paying industries are adding workers.
The American people are also saving money at the pump. In fact, the United States is now the world's number one producer of oil and natural gas, and gas prices are headed to their lowest level in 11 years -- a decrease that is expected to save American families $550.

Americans recognize the progress. They know that these numbers are more than statistics, they are signs of our nation's resurgence. The number of Americans who think that now is a good time to find a quality job is back to pre-recession levels, and we are heading into the new year with consumer confidence at a seven-year high.

The AU dollar in freefall, could hit 50 cents. With a low dollar and cheap fuel this should be time for rebuilding our manufacturing, instead we are in no mans land with no direction.
Low wages growth has sent consumer confidence to the doldrums, business confidence has hit an all-time low. AU is in a mess.
Unemployment at a nine year high and rising is this Abbott’s plan to wreak the economy and impose another workchoices.
AU has had 22 years of successive growth, and now looks very weak. Our credit rating will be at stake also.
With interest rates non existent, we should be booming. We need direction not negative reactions from a non directional govt;
All of this out of a budget strategy that was way over the top, and all suited to the top end of town.
Business has given up on govt; and seen as a dead duck.
Something needs to change quickly or we are in diabolical trouble. Even the Date of an election could be enough to turn the tide. Lets hope we have a turn for the better soon.

The removal of the carbon tax was a failure, what has it achieved. Butch said it’s removal would create a boom in business, it shrunk confidence to an extent not seen for decades.
Abbott says the removal was his greatest achievement, for what no one knows. Work choices, is beginning to stir again, aimed at overtime and shift rates, for an industry that is over represented in the community.
Federal govt; needs to be fixed and soon.

Climate change and Abbott govt; are non existent, which doesn't sit well with most of AU citizens. That is another reason for swift action.

579
Of course the implementation and the removal of the carbon tax had no effect.
Worrying about global warming is the wrong problem to worry about.

The fall in the ERoEI of coal & oil means we need to get to work on
alternative energy sources and a high ERoEI backup generator.

What are your suggestions, I don't believe that you think only
political changes will fix the problem ?

Bazz a big part of the problem is political, to shut down initiatives that are aiding change for the better.
This govt is anti change ; and is stifling change to support his coal burning mates.
With that sort of mindset, how is any alternate means going to feel secure.
This lot have done their best to back-down on programs and manufacturing, creating unemployment unseen for 12 years.
We have now been set back years, all for the worse.

Federal government departments are spending eye-watering sums to know what the public is thinking and what the media is saying about them, new documents show.

In some of the more surprising disclosures, the Department of Defence is spending more than $500,000 a year on pay TV and, between July and October 2014, splashed $454,125 - or about $5000 a day, on newspapers, magazines and other publications. Another department also spent nearly $90,000 on books over four months.
We continue to monitor all departmental expenditure and will impose further cuts and further efficiencies in administrative expenditure where and as appropriate

A Fairfax Media analysis of the documents also shows seven departments splashed a combined $1.2 million on "market research" - in many cases focus groups and polling - in just four months. Dozens of government agencies are yet to respond to formal requests to reveal how much they also spent, suggesting the total bill is likely to be far higher.
For example, the Department of Defence refused to disclose how much it spent in market research between July and October but the bill for 2013/14 came in at $2.2 million.

579, you seem unaware of the massive waste the labour government
instituted. You should not believe everything you are told.

All that however is by the by, what we have is a government and
opposition that is dedicated to business as usual growth when the
future is different.
None of the cuts and projects are relevant. When the oil price rises
later this year or early 2016 there will be more economic problems for
the politicians to worry about.

Stop posting on Abbott Abbott Abbott and start posting on ways to
redirect out efforts towards a new economy fueled by a new energy regime.

What you say is impossible, simply because we are blessed with the Credlin Abbott govt; We can’t live in the past we are doomed to live in the present, and that is a tough ask. A govt; that is redicalised to the point of stupidity. So any talk of future developments will not occur while this regime is in power.

Senator Abetz said the Government is working to "reboot the economy" to provide opportunities for young Australians, listing Work for the Dole and several training and relocation grants as practical ways the government was attempting to get young people into work.

Mr Abbott has promised repeatedly not to change penalty rates but has asked the Productivity Commission review to examine Australia's industrial relations laws and report back in November 2015.
Mr Reith accused Mr Abbott of having "sat on" the commission, which he said was obviously a ploy to put off the decision-making until the last moment.

Mr Abbott, as opposition leader, said on election-eve that there would be "no change to the GST" in his infamous interview with the SBS. In the same interview he also pledged there would be no cuts to the ABC – a promise he admits he has broken.

But since then, the Prime Minister has said the GST will be examined in the taxation and federation white papers, which are both due before the 2016 election
This govt; was hand tied right from day one

Poirot was once the labour party computer.
Now you have earned the Turing prize.
cnt d
Disconnected

One of the federal government's most prominent climate-change deniers has billed taxpayers for a series of books that argues global warming is a hoax.

MPs are allowed to buy publications including books, journals, magazines and newspapers as part of their taxpayer-funded allowances.

Queensland National MP George Christensen's latest expenses filed with the Finance Department show that he bought three books on climate-change denialism

Abbott on a secret mission o Iraqu and no doubt will come back and tell a bagfull of lies again. With no media allowed he could say anything and tell us something different again.
Is this Abbott’s open govt; Secretive and underhanded.

Following the success of his Iraq trip, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that he would prefer it if the press no longer reported on anything he was doing.
“It’s just really convenient,” explained the Prime Minister in what he claimed would be his final press conference. “You see, what’s been happening lately is that I do something and then the press reports on it and everyone gets really mad at me. It just seems like if there was no reporting then everything would be much easier.

“Look at Operation Sovereign Borders. We refused to let the press in on what was happening there and the hideous things we were able to get away with there, ah, I would laugh if I could ever stop screaming.”

He went on to deny that the lack of independent press coverage removed transparency and accountability.

“The world is confusing enough already. Every day we get these conflicting reports of what I say has happened and what the people who were there watching say has happened. Who can keep up? It’s just easier for me to tell you what’s going on and for you to shut up and believe me."

Newman promises to provide jobs, but can traditional industries deliver?

Posted about an hour ago Thu 8 Jan 2015, 7:31am

The Newman Government is promising to lift Queensland out of its current jobs hole if it's re-elected. The Premier Campbell Newman has flagged economic growth and job creation as a top priority, especially in sectors such as resources and construction. It's raised questions about whether those industries can provide the jobs needed.

Newman went to the last election with debt reduction and 4 % unemployment.

Abbott is happy to let business and public confidence go down the gurgler. With no words from our PM, and no suggestions of improving economic activities, business is left to flounder.

Australia is on autopilot while drifting off course, and no one to correct it's direction. Our govt; is a disgrace, nationally and internationally.

In 2014-15, NSW will receive 97 cents for every dollar of GST it pays, Victoria will receive 88 cents and WA will receive just 37 cents. All other states and territories receive more revenue back from the Commonwealth than they pay into the federal pot.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten warned Australians would face new or increased taxes - and funding cuts to schools and hospitals – under the reforms Mr Abbott had flagged.

"When Tony Abbott talks about 'adjusting states' revenues up', that means increasing taxes," he said.

"When Tony Abbott talks about he'll 'work with states on a range of tax reforms that could permanently improve the states' tax base', that means increasing taxes.

"Australians won't be fooled by Tony Abbott's egging on the states to ask for an increase in the GST – this is Tony Abbott calling for an increase in GST and other taxes."

Federal Labor says it's in for a tough fight to ensure millions of Australian workers keep weekend and public holiday penalty rates as business launches a push for industrial relations reform across the country.

"Work Choices is not dead," Labor senator Doug Cameron said on Saturday, following Fairfax Media reports that industry groups were campaigning to wind back and cut weekend and public holiday penalty rates, particularly in the hospitality sector.
"The Abbott government ... is behind this push by business to try to cut the penalty rates of ordinary Australian workers," Senator Cameron added.

He said around 4.5 million workers across the country depended on penalty rates to "actually put food on the table, take the family out to get a meal and go for a holiday once a year"