the Pension Assets Test to be
implemented on 1 January 2017.
So here's fair warning to all politicians of any persuasion, this
group of aged voters may be about to make the greatest impact on any Federal
election in history, ignoring them may be the start of a changed political
environment in this country.
Change the Entitlements
I absolutely agree, if a pension isn't an entitlement, neither is
theirs. They keep telling us that paying us an aged pension isn't
sustainable.
Paying politicians all the perks they get is even less sustainable!
The politicians themselves, in Canberra, brought it up, that the Age of
Entitlements is over:
The author is asking each addressee to forward this email to a
minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to
do likewise. In three days, most people in Australia will have this message.
This is one idea that really should be passed around because the rot has to
stop somewhere.
Proposals to make politicians shoulder their share of the weight now
that the Age of Entitlement is over:
1. Scrap political pensions.
Politicians can purchase their own retirement plan, just as most
other working Australians are expected to do.
2. Retired politicians (past, present & future) participate in
Centrelink.
A Politician collects a substantial salary while in office but
should receive no salary when they're out of office.
Terminated politicians under 70 can go get a job or apply for
Centrelink unemployment benefits like ordinary Australians.
Terminated politicians under 70 can negotiate with Centrelink like
the rest of the Australian people.
3. Funds already allocated to the Politicians' retirement fund be
returned immediately to Consolidated Revenue.
This money is to be used to pay down debt they created which they
expect us and our grandchildren to repay for them.
4. Politicians will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
Politicians pay will rise by the lower of, either the CPI or 3%.
5. Politicians lose their privileged health care system and
participate in the same health care system as ordinary Australian people.
i.e. Politicians either pay for private cover from their own funds
or accept ordinary Medicare.
6. Politicians must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
Australian people.
7. All contracts with past and present Politicians men/women are
void effective 31/12/16.
The Australian people did not agree to provide perks to Politicians,
that burden was thrust upon them.
Politicians devised all these contracts to benefit themselves.
Serving in Parliament is an honour not a career.
The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so our
politicians should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, then it will
only take three or so days for most Australians to receive the message.
Don't you think it's time?
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX Parliament and help bring fairness back into
this country!

Don't even go there HG. It is a heavy weather topic.

Whilst politicians do enjoy generous pensions and so forth, those conditions do reflect the generally held belief in the morality and viability the ponzi scheme that is the welfare state.

It's a scheme that relies on people who aren't yet born having contracts on their lives signed in order to provide free stuff to people who are living here and now.

So yes, curtailing the wages/pensions/allowances of politicians would save the taxpayer some money, but the real issue is the welfare state at large and the shrinking pool of taxpayers who fund that welfare(most people pay zero net tax).

I give it another 20 years until this giant social experiment completely fails, in the way all ponzi schemes fail. The sooner the better in my opinion.

I agree in part the old scheme was wrong, probably Ok when introduced but not in modern times.

But it did change in 2004. Current parliamentarians get the same type of superannuation as the rest of us..

Parliamentarians are required to make contributions towards the cost of their PCSS pension during their parliamentary service at a rate of between 5 and 11.5 per cent of their basic salary.

Instead of a yearly pension they can also elect to take a lump sum. Politicians who entered parliament after 2004 are subjected to a standard superannuation scheme, with 15.4 per cent contributions.

So more generous than standard...but not higher than some people in the workforce.

What is generally reported in the media is those in office before 2004....who are entitled to the old scheme. Some benefits such as the gold card have been been cut back.

Interesting article and stream about the universal basic income for when robots take over the world. Sounds like a whole world of grief for 3rd world countries and large countries with low populations like Australia.
theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-the-dangerous-idea-of-2016-70395?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2028%202016%20-%206392&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2028%202016%20-%206392+CID_322a635d8f2f03755e4c70817be96ac8&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Universal%20basic%20income%20the%20dangerous%20idea%20of%202016

Select to expand quote

Wander66 said..
Interesting article and stream about the universal basic income for when robots take over the world. Sounds like a whole world of grief for 3rd world countries and large countries with low populations like Australia.
theconversation.com/universal-basic-income-the-dangerous-idea-of-2016-70395?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2028%202016%20-%206392&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%2028%202016%20-%206392+CID_322a635d8f2f03755e4c70817be96ac8&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Universal%20basic%20income%20the%20dangerous%20idea%20of%202016

Very interesting. As the author notes, there's a lot of things we can fix before going down the path towards Universal basic income (UBI).

BTW, I don't think Australia's low population density is necessarily a problem in an era of increasing robotic labour. For example, the "labour" cost of building and maintaining our large network of roads, railways, etc. will fall as these tasks become mostly automated. So will the cost of transporting goods when autonomous (self driving) vehicles rule our roads. It just begs the questions what all those workers will do instead. So our #1 focus should be on creating new jobs...

I'd highly recommend watching this 18 minute presentation before going down the UBI road:

Part of the reason ill sail to nz before the cutoff.

Hi HG
agree on need for change
but

best to keep politics out of this forum
likely to be divisive
there are other forums on Seabreeze of elsewhere
regards
and thanks for the help yesterday!!!
David

vive la revolution,
1+,
It'll all end in tears anyway,
Anarchists Unite,
and finally,
the more things change the more they stay the same.