Medical and health records (and maybe even pensions) handed over to the private sector – OMG
Category: Home Other
RBA interest rates
Bad news for us retirees, the million dollar plus man at the RBA has decided to push the lever forwards and cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to 2.00% – bugger !!!
When I retired in July 2010 the cash rate was 4.5% and were getting 6.0% for the term deposit in our SMSF.
Tsunami warning
Knock knock power joke that has a poorer punchline
A government-sanctioned charge of $39 per customer is imposed to “customer acquisition costs” to “encourage competition” – unbelievable. Now we have to pay for their door knockers to do the rounds!
Knock knock power joke that has a poorer punchline
POWER retailers will slug struggling customers $65 million through a secret charge to fund door-to-door sales, cold-
Lunch at The Pie Shed in Scoresby.
Super funds prove less than wonderful
HUNDREDS of thousands of superannuation investors would have been better off forgoing the government’s tax breaks on contributions and putting their money in the bank, internal industry figures have revealed.
The Australian to charge for online content
Australian to charge $2.95 a week for all online content
Tim Dick
October 18, 2011 – 2:02PM
News Ltd will soon charge readers of The Australian $2.95 a week to view all content on its website and mobile phone and tablet applications, as the country’s largest newspaper publisher experiments with alternative sources of revenue in the face of falling advertising receipts.
It will be the first paywall for a general newspaper in Australia, an experiment that has achieved mixed success overseas by newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Economist.
Continue reading “The Australian to charge for online content”
MP pay boost
MP pay boost: One-off pay hikes of up to $300,000 a year for bureaucrats opens up moves to raise pay packets of Federal Members.
One-off pay hikes of up to $300,000 a year have been approved for high-ranking bureaucrats. Picture: Supplied Source: Herald Sun
FEDERAL politicians could be set for extraordinary pay rises, with the salaries of backbenchers tipped to almost double to $250,000.
Writing exclusively in The Daily Telegraph today, columnist Laurie Oakes said MPs expected backbencher and senator base salaries to rise $110,000 from $140,000.
The Prime Minister’s, ministers’ and shadow ministers’ even bigger paypackets may also rise in line.
The Federal Remuneration Tribunal is expected to make an initial report on political perks before the end of the year, with politicians expecting to trade extra payments such as allowances for bigger personal pay packets.
Any pay rise would likely trigger anger among unions, already unhappy about revelations this week the Tribunal was set to award five key top federal public servants pay rises of $250,000 to $300,000 – taking the chiefs of Defence and Customs, the Tax Commissioner, Auditor-General and the Australian Statistician to $800,000.
MPs receive a raft of handouts on top of their salaries including electorate allowances of up to $50,000, printing allowances of $75,000, a resettlement allowance when they lose office and post-career perks such as life gold passes for free domestic travel.
Ms Gillard, who earns $366,366, could earn as much as $650,000 under any new system, while Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s $259,000 could rise to $479,000.
The Tribunal would not say whether any rises would flow on to state and local governments, as can occur with annual rises.
This week increases to NSW MPs’ pay and entitlements were capped at 2.5 per cent.
Community and Public Sector Union assistant national secretary Louise Persse said such big pay rises were not a good look when its members were being told to accept pay rises of 3 per cent.
“There is no doubt that our public service heads and politicians work hard and should be paid appropriately,” she said.
“However, for the thousands of public sector staff across Australia on modest incomes, these increases may seem a bit rich.”
Opposition frontbencher Barnaby Joyce, who has called for the Prime Minister’s salary to top $1 million, backed paying politicians more but said he would be surprised if the rise was so much.
Toxic food imports – Today Tonight – Yahoo!7 News
A loophole in international trade agreements is allowing China to get vegetables into Australian supermarkets while avoiding chemical testing. Toxic food imports – Today Tonight – Yahoo!7 News
We checked the freezer…
Sure enough – Birds Eye frozen vegies in there.
Made in China.
What else is in there…
Bag of Heinz…
Made in New Zealand – I wonder.
Looks like New Zealand is China’s back door into Australia.
Door-to-door power hawkers face $1m fines
Door-to-door power hawkers face $1m fines
Brian Robins – September 14, 2011 – 9:16AM
A crackdown on electricity door-to-door marketers has been launched by the competition watchdog, the ACCC, which is concerned that the elderly and those with only a limited understanding of English are being targeted by some companies.
The newly appointed head of the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, Rod Sims, said criminal and civil penalties will be sought, with fines of up to $1.1 million for each company for each transgression.
“The ACCC will not hesitate to take swift action to enforce compliance,” he said at a conference held yesterday in Canberra.
Mr Sims said that in the first half of this year, the ACCC received 2000 complaints about door to door marketing by electricity companies. “That is a lot of complaints.”
Mark Franklin, executive officer with the NSW Ethnic Communities Council said his organisation has been concerned about targeting of families with English as a second language by some electricity marketers for some time.
“It’s been on our radar all year,” he said, “particularly with migrants who came out not long after the war, who are getting old, and are reverting to their native language, along with refugee and students who are on a low income.
“Often, they think the marketer at their front door is from the government, since they present with ID, clipboards and the like. Really, the migrant needs immediate telephone access to someone they can speak to in their own language.
“We have had cases of some migrants getting themselves into financial problems by signing up for contracts at times.”
Christopher Zinn of the consumer organisation Choice said: “There does need to be greater scrutiny. Consumer groups all have stories of door knockers who target particular groups, who seek signatures on contracts before they have explained all contract details, and the like.”
Energy Retailers Association of Australia chief executive Cameron O’Reilly rejected the latest criticism, saying his organisation had received recently approval from the ACCC for a new voluntary code covering door-to-door sales.
“There will always be issues with this form of marketing. We have taken comprehensive action, which has already been acknowledged by the ACCC, with authorisation of our new code of conduct.”
“My push back to that is: why has it taken this industry so long to react,” the ACCC’s Mr Sims said. “Why should you need a code in the first place?”
The ACCC is to also overhaul the way electricity prices are fixed in an attempt to stem the surge in prices, Mr Sims said.