Labor - The Bad, The Ugly and the occasional Good.

[Culprit]

The election is a long way off. Dutton and Co are banking on a Trump Presidency to give them some kind of momentum with their RW ideology. There's a lot to play out and the economy is the big one. 12 months is a long time in Politics.

[What'sinaname]

The States will fall first.

Parties become complacent and voters always seek a change. QLD, NSW and Vic will fall first. The ALP will get a second term federally and then fall.

[What'sinaname]

How good is Labor's youth crime policies going.

Record crime in QLD and now in Victoria.

[What'sinaname]

Labor's ABC have a mare.

Editing war footage to add gunshot sounds and now systemic racism.

Time to pull the funding.

[What'sinaname]

The first shift tom the right with QLD labor very likely to fall.

Labor's softness on youth crime will see QLD, NSW and Victoria all fall.

[SLORT]

The thing about Labor ~ all their members of parliament went to the same private schools as those in the Liberal Party. And then they went to the same universities, and studied the same courses (business and economics). So what would they know about "average Australia"? They haven't been true to their values for 50 years, just a gradual slip-slide over to where they really get their bread buttered...global corporate power. Every country is infected by the same plutocracy. Democracy is just the window dressing.

[What'sinaname]

QLD's labor has waited until 8 days out from an election to realise youth crime IS an issue. They have had since 2015 to do something to protect the residents, but only now are promising to do something. It's too late.

[SLORT]

Successive governments have made discipline a crime, so parents and teachers are scared of the kids. Don't worry though, it's by design. After all our prisons are privately owned. Gotta keep them full lest the share prices drop.

"privatisation of incarceration in Australia, something that is more prevalent here than in the US"

- https://www.vice.com/en/article/private ... n-problem/

[David]

The thing about Labor ~ all their members of parliament went to the same private schools as those in the Liberal Party. And then they went to the same universities, and studied the same courses (business and economics). So what would they know about "average Australia"? They haven't been true to their values for 50 years, just a gradual slip-slide over to where they really get their bread buttered...global corporate power. Every country is infected by the same plutocracy. Democracy is just the window dressing.

Albo's recent $4 million house purchase says it all, doesn't it? So much for representing the working class and being devoted to fighting Tories – he's looking at one every morning in the mirror.

I wonder what the person he was thirty years ago (before he got hollowed out by power and the party machine, if he ever was a person of substance) would think of who he has become.

That article about prison privatisation is pretty shocking, btw. I would never have guessed that it's more normalised here than in the US.

[SLORT]

Want another shock insight into a system of corrupt bureaucracy? Watch this video ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FVefGihBg0

This is about the way retirement pensions are structured for government agencies.

"The total cost for approximately 164,000 retired bureaucrats...who worked in Canberra...is approximately $335 billion (annualy)".

"David Anderson from the ABC...final salary of 1.1 to 1.2 million...entitled to 37% of his final income every year in retirement...over $400,000 a year until he passes away (he's about 55 years old)"

[What'sinaname]

Want another shock insight into a system of corrupt bureaucracy? Watch this video ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FVefGihBg0

This is about the way retirement pensions are structured for government agencies.

"The total cost for approximately 164,000 retired bureaucrats...who worked in Canberra...is approximately $335 billion (annualy)".

"David Anderson from the ABC...final salary of 1.1 to 1.2 million...entitled to 37% of his final income every year in retirement...over $400,000 a year until he passes away (he's about 55 years old)"

I call bullshit on this story.

$335 billion per year divided by 164,000 is over $2 million per person per year.

[stui magpie]

@SLORT do you have any more detail other than a speech by a stammering pollie?

I understood most of the old Public Sector pension schemes were closed back in the late 90's or at latest, very early 2000's because of the cost.

When i joined Telecom in 1985, I had to join the compulsory "super" scheme for the federal public service, the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme. You had to pay 5% of your salary into it.

At that time, when you retired, you had the choice of either 50% of your final salary for life PLUS a refund of your contributions as a lump sum or you could take 75% of final salary with no lump sum.

The Hawke/Keating government realised how much that could cost, so Keating first introduced compulsory super for all (also projected as a huge saving on the age pension) then set about introducing Defined Benefit schemes to the public service which were lump sum schemes based on years of service and final salary, but no pension. Once the super guarantee went from 3% to 9% the defined benefit formulas no longer worked so they started closing those funds and introducing accumulation funds where your and your employer contribution was invested by the fund and you got a lump sum on retirement. In a lot of cases, people had to agree to change fund type, some stayed in the closed funds but they were closed off to new entries.

So the reason for the history lesson is that I was under the impression that it was only Politicians and a minority of long serving federal public servants who still had access to the fixed pension funds based on final salary and years of service.

[SLORT]

Yeah, I stumbled across this video yesterday and was needless to say shocked by what he was saying.

I also realise I've misquoted him as he didn't specify timeframe. Maybe he means that 325b is the projected cost of those remaining on the current pension scheme?

I'd known about the politicians pension scheme and how it was finally closed down (for new members) in the last decade or two. When I get a chance I'll look into it further to find out where Senator Rennick is getting this information or if it's just a blatant, underhanded way of helping support the misinformation bill from Labor.

[What'sinaname]

Yeah, I stumbled across this video yesterday and was needless to say shocked by what he was saying.

I also realise I've misquoted him as he didn't specify timeframe. Maybe he means that 325b is the projected cost of those remaining on the current pension scheme?

I'd known about the politicians pension scheme and how it was finally closed down (for new members) in the last decade or two. When I get a chance I'll look into it further to find out where Senator Rennick is getting this information or if it's just a blatant, underhanded way of helping support the misinformation bill from Labor.

PSS and CSS Long Term Cost Reports

The actuaries to the Commonwealth’s defined benefit superannuation schemes have completed the 2023 Long Term Cost Reports (LTCRs). The reports estimate the long-term cost of providing superannuation benefits to members and monitor progress of the future financial position for the schemes based on updated data and trends. LTCRs for each of the Australian Government civilian defined benefit superannuation schemes are prepared by scheme actuaries every three years.

The 2023 Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS) and the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS) LTCR identifies that the unfunded liability for these schemes will continue to grow over the medium-term into the future, peaking at $190.5 billion in 2033-34 before declining to $62.4 billion by 2060. The liability represents the present value of member superannuation entitlements in respect of service rendered, less the value of assets held by the schemes.

The projected decline in liability by 2060 is largely due to contributors leaving the workforce, and deferred and preserved members commencing a pension or receiving a lump sum benefit. The CSS closed to new members from 1 July 1990, and the PSS was closed to new members from 1 July 2005.

https://www.finance.gov.au/government/s ... st-reports

[SLORT]

Yeah, seems like he's floggin a dead horse on this.
Such a convoluted scheme (and aren't they all) with the self funded super being tied in to it. If it was legal at the time then the government can't just wash it's hands of it now. For some reason it reminds me of when Britain abolished slavery and had to pay the slavers the reparations by borrowing money...they finally paid it off 2015... ( https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/fac ... 283908001/ )

Still, there are other areas that need to be looked at, such as how many houses the average member of parliament owns. And who knows how the share portfolios look for the average bureaucrat (at least we closed that trough on the politicians, unlike the USA where it's a free for all).