If there's an INTRODCUTION section....sorry, I haven't been able to find it.

First and foremost, if you're a shareholder in a public company - particularly in the Mining/Resources sector - I am not interested in the criticism and abuse I'll be receiving after you've read this post.

There's been all this endless talk in the media from all the various political parties....the debt Labor has created, the Boat People, the Greens, the Liberals, the Boat People....this, that, and the other.  The list of different issues is endless.  But above all else, there are three issues that concern me more than anything else:

• Distribution of wealth.
• Population growth and immigration.
• Privatisation and state jurisdiction of basic utilities, particularly water.

Absolutely everything else takes a back seat to these issues.

When the Coalition (realistically, just the Liberal Party dictating terms to the Nationals) wins a landslide election in September, I have absolutely no doubt they will make huge inroads into reducing our national debt - no question about it.  But they are going to cut, slash, burn, privatise, and deregulate absolutely everything (with perhaps the exception of the Defence Force) to cut our debt.  And in the short term, it will work, although God help the poor and unemployed, because the Coalition won't.  But people who have skills and expertise that are in high demand (e.g. Engineers and Technicians in the mining industry) will be smiling all the way to the bank, but the vast majority of the population who do not have high-demand skills (e.g. the Retail sector, cleaners, hospitality workers, etc.) are going to be told to either work for slave wages comparable to the wages in Asia and India, or become homeless and starve to death.  But this is where I'd like to draw the attention of the Corporate community - when there's an enormous spike in poverty and homelessness, these people will soon turn to crime and our prison population will increase like never before....which we have to pay for.  Several years ago it cost just under $80,000 per year, on average, to imprison one adult inmate in Australia.  Our jails already are overflowing, yet the numbers are increasing.  Many people complain about the lenient sentences handed down to many offenders; this is mainly occurring not because our Judges and Magistrates don't want to lock these people up.  It's because our judiciary is only too well aware our prisons are already bursting at the seams and crippling our economy.  In South Australia (which is already broke), this has reached crisis level, and it's simply getting worse.  Because of the disease of Globalisation, we're currently using imprisonment as an alternative to provding employment.  Unless you're prepared to replace Centrelink benefits with Capital Punishment (which I'm sure Gina Rinehart would adore), we need to drastically rethink how our economy is being run.  We can do one of three things for each person in Australia:

The only realistic solution is providing MUCH greater financial incentive for the unemployed to take on education and training for skills that are in demand (the big problem is that Austudy does not include Rent Assistance), while bringing in some sort of scheme to encourage free birth control for the unemployed.  And forget about the Boat People for a few minutes....let's stop bringing in countless thousands of economic migrants; our greedy businesses are only bringing them in because they have been lucky enough to get training overseas (i.e. we don't have to pay for the training) and they will work for lower wages.  This is what has me seething with rage.  At ground-level, the best changes we could make would be the introduction of Rent Assistance for Austudy recipients, and have two entirely different sets of tax scales - one for normal wage earners and private business owners....and other tax scale for publicly owned, shareholder-based companies.  This would go a long way to helping Australia.  I'd also scrap payroll tax; this is a ridiculous disincentive for Aussie businesses to employ extra people.

The bottom line is, the people who profit from the very basic minerals, resources, and raw materials in Australia cannot expect their profits to keep increasing while our population keeps increasing.  If you want to boost your profits, start looking for initiatives to reduce population growth in this country.  The biggest socio-economic crime ever committed in this country was the introduction of the Baby Bonus by John Howard.  Thank the Lord that both Julia and Tony both agreed to scrap this madness.

It's time for the Mining and Resources sector to wake up and realise they live in a society....not in their own individual bubbles (i.e. their multi-million dollar mansions).  If not, Australia will turn into a country run by billionaire mining corporations paying for the elderly and those in prison.

Seriously though AR I get it.The way you are thinking is quite rational.But,and it is a big but,we live in a 2 party system and the middle of the road people like you and realistically me,although I am more to the right,will never really count because politics is not about the peoples wishes but the parties.

PZ547 wrote on Jun 25^th, 2013 at 2:47pm:



"Taking surface water, from a river, lake, aquifer, spring or soak, requires a licence, unless otherwise stated. Unlicensed water extraction is allowable in all jurisdictions if used for domestic or stock purposes, where landowners hold rights to water under the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993, or for miscellaneous purposes such as camping or watering travelling stock. New South Wales additionally recognises 'harvestable rights', where landowners can collect up to 10 percent of average regional rainfall runoff if stored in a 'small' dam (NSW DWE 2009b). Water use licences are required in South Australia and Western Australia if surface water is extracted from 'prescribed' or 'proclaimed' areas respectively but not from other water sources if the taking of water does not affect the water rights of persons downstream (SA DWLBC 2008b; WA Department of Water 2009a)."

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rpp/100-120/rpp109/11.html

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 25^th, 2013 at 3:02pm:



http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/austudy

If you qualify for Austudy, you may be entitled to other payments and services such as:

Payments & services
•Centrelink Online Services[10]
•Centrepay[11]
•Clean Energy Advance[12]
•Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card[13]
•Fares Allowance[14]
•Income Bank[7]
•Income Support Bonus[15]
•Pension Supplement[16]
•Pharmaceutical Allowance[17]
•Rent Assistance[18]
•Sickness Allowance[19]
•Student Start-up Scholarship

Did someone state that Austudy recipients don't get rent assistance?

                                    

http://www.awa.asn.au/WMLP_background_information.aspx?LangType=3081

bogarde73 wrote on Jun 25^th, 2013 at 3:02pm:


No, what I'm talking about is having two ENTIRELY SEPARATE tax scales, not a few additional taxes for companies.  This is not what we have at the moment.
Also, a separate "comapny tax" should be scrapped.

Quote:


Education and Healthcare will always be there, and is typically budgeted for, but an ever-rising prison population is a controllable variable, and it is one that is hurting our economy.  There was an article online a few months ago that talked about South Australia's MASSIVELY overburdened prison system - I'll see if I can find it soon.

Quote:


Ah yes, then that would explain why most of our Trade/Technical Colleges have been shut down decades ago, where now we have an alleged skills shortage.  Corporations and wealthy tax payers simply do not want to pay for the cost of educating and training our workforce, once they leave school.

Quote:




Quote:

Currently there is NO Government PBS Subsidy for the Birth Control Pill.  I know this because I have spoken to many women who have tried to get it - doesn't happen.  The issue of the unemployed having lots of children is the biggest problem we face, but people don't appreciate this issue.  At last the Government is subsidising the Morning After Pill for women with Health Care Cards....thank Christ.

Quote:


The last time I heard, Austudy Recipients do NOT get Rent Assistance.  If this has changed, please do tell....I'd love to stand corrected.
I truly appreciate your reply; you raised some very valid points - not all entirely correct - but valid, nonetheless.  Thanks.  On a side note, I have often been labelled a "soft do-gooder".  Not at all.  I think many, many Aussies need an almighty boot up the a**e, however I want people to realise two things:

• Australians always have, and always will, refuse to work for the types of wages earned in Asia and India.
• It's a HECK of a lot cheaper to provide realistic, stable employment (e.g. approx $45k per year) than what it costs to lock people up.

And you do it yet again: " The issue of the unemployed having lots of children is the biggest problem
we face, but people don't appreciate this issue."

Sorry, but singling the unemployed out as if the were a sub-human race that needs to be bred into
extinction is unacceptable and extremely offensive.

It's not the unemployed who are bleeding the welfare purse dry, it's the middle-class, who seem to
regard the ATO as their own exclusive bank, which simply holds 'their' money till they want it back.
And always far more than they've paid-in, and smack-all of it means-tested. Nothing gets admitted to
when it comes to Howard's vote-buying by showering the middle-class with bribes at the expense of
those that welfare was intended to support and protect.

It was one of Howard's biggest mistakes, and Labor has failed the country and the genuinely needy
big-time by not abolishing most of it. But they did means-test some of it, and that's a major reason
for the lemming-like rush to commit economic and social suicide by voting for an Abbott 'government'.


But hey, let's kick the unemployed in the face instead...... I've heard a lot of ideas, some good, some
bad, in relation to the unemployment issue, but to suggest that the should (or can) be bred into
extinction really takes the lollipop when it comes to seeing just how offensive and discriminatory we
can be towards the unemployed.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Jun 26^th, 2013 at 2:01pm:


So, you can predict at the age of 25 that you'll be unemployed at 30? Don't be naïve.

And if they do happen to be unemployed at 30, why do you persist in believing they got
there by choice, or that they'll remain there from then on till they die/get pension?

Seriously, I can't work out how some of you can believe the bullshyt that gets posted re
the unemployed. All it really shows is that many of you people are either extremely greedy
or monumentally stupid, or have a genuine (and dangerous) vicious/vindictive streak that
bears careful monitoring.

Or possibly even all three.