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2015 Australian Budget |OT| "Joe Hockey's last chance, it's only fair."

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Hamlet

Member
Indeed - I've been receiving texts all evening from mates about it, mostly facetious. Actually reading the cliffnotes on the SMH one could be forgiven for not knowing which party this budget belonged to (well, at least until you get to the bit about national defence spending and foreign aid cuts).

I missed the Leigh Sales interview, I hope it gets put up YT or similar soon.

It's up on Youtube - Budget 2015: Joe Hockey talks to Leigh Sales
 
That's the point. The hope is that for every $1 they give back the equipment purchased creates a multiplier effect on income earned by the business which is then taxed. The money also gets spread around the economy which lifts everyone up. $20K won't buy you a Porsche but it will get you a Van and some tools. IT startups might have a chance in Australia now - $20K in combination with lean startups is perfect! 10K equipment, some fibre, some licenses (not sure about the deductions on that) and a few K left that is now freed up for idea generation and coding will make a difference hopefully, with the Steam tax Aus and Oversea services will be on equal playing field.

And if the LDP is right about the rumors the Labor party has walked away from the Government over the electoral law changes, and the Greens won't budge so it's dead in the water!

I mean what's to stop shady people from exploiting it. What do you actually need to start a 'small business'? An abn right? Couldn't people start a small business just to buy 20k worth of computer equipment and then 'close the business ' the next week?
 

shink

Member
We don't, it's typically in the 1.5-1.8% region. The global average is 2.3%.
Maybe it's because I don't actually know what they use it for but I feel we don't need to increase defence spending by $2.7b when there are other sectors in more need.

I mean what's to stop shady people from exploiting it. What do you actually need to start a 'small business'? A bsb right? Couldn't people start a small business just to buy 20k worth of computer equipment and then 'close the business ' the next week?
No it's not that simple if the ATO audits you. Having an ABN doesn't mean you're in business. Plus if you do this as a sole trader and don't meet the non commercial losses tests, your 20k expenses can't be offset against your other income.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Sta...-your-business/Are-you-operating-a-business-/
 

Yrael

Member
Holy shit, Leigh Sales is not taking any prisoners. She's tearing into Hockey even harder than Sarah Furgeson did last time (and Furgeson did one hell of a job last time), and it is glorious.

I had a big grin all the way through her interrogation of Joe Hockey.
 

The Mule

Member
Medical research: Health savings will help fund a Medical Research Future Fund, which will have an initial injection of $10 billion.
As someone studying bioinformatics, this is nice to see.
 
I like what Mark Carnegie Said:

"If this was a Labor Budget, it would be on the Front page of The Australian labelled a Tax and Spend Budget."

The whole thing goes so far against all the rhetoric from the Liberal Party since before they were in government that I'm wondering who is wearing the Joe Hockey suit.
 

Card Boy

Banned
I am going to buy a gaming PC and claim 100% on tax, small business or not. I think I am entitled after getting shit on.
 
Emma Alberici tearing strips off Corman ATM!

Already called him on his made up numbers and he's accussed her of being a Labor plant.

Labor has a leader?

I believe he's the guy with the giant forehead. Though probably his best speech was his budget reply from last year. It will be harder this year with nothing obvious to rail against, he'll probably have to go after the stuff from last year that is still working it's way through the system.
 
I will say that is is a bewildering budget - it's almost something Labor would do. The Coalition must be that desperate to try and do something like that, but it's difficult to think that the electroate will find it convincing after all the "debt and decifict disaster" nonsense.

Also, from what I'm seeing is so far, the verdict from pundits is that this budget isn't gonna make anyone happy, and is essentially worse than doing nothing.

Edit: Also, love how Joe Hockey looks like he's completely stoned on the front page picture of the Sydney Morning Herald.
 

jambo

Member
Journalists Forced To Fight To The Death For Early Copy Of Federal Budget

F314JV9.jpg


Worrying news has emerged from the Budget media lockdown, with reports confirming that Treasurer Joe Hockey announced that the political journalists in attendance would be forced to fight to the death in armed combat, with the victor permitted to read the single, leatherbound copy of the Federal Budget.

“Let the games begin!” Hockey cried, swathed in a purple velvet robe and wearing an ornate crown made of human bones, as the enormous steel doors of the chamber swung closed.

Backburner reporters on the ground confirmed via an elaborate system of smoke signals that at 1:30pm the room erupted into chaos, as journalists from every major news organisation began to engage in vicious armed combat. Veteran commentator Laurie Oakes was seen standing atop the scrum, deftly swinging a flail above his head, easily dispatching all those who approached him.

Make sure you read the whole thing at the link, it's amazing.
 

danm999

Member
Reads like a Labor budget honestly. Wonder how this will go over with the base, and how much will pass the Senate.

Small business changes should get through relatively unscathed and be popular, but given this will effectively worsen the deficit it may be the end of the Coalition's "debt and deficit" talk until after the next election.

The butting in while he was not even halfway through speaking wasn't a good look - her questioning was good though.

Pretty standard journo fare. Don't let the candidate give a non-relevant answer to your questions or you might as well just read a press release from them.
 

Shaneus

Member
Is this about the budget or about whining about Labor, so tiresome.
Ugh, I know. Frustrating and aggravating.

Beauty, thanks.

/edit: no pulled punches in that interview. Good sports all round.
Except for all the times he felt compelled to interrupt her. I was glad to see him sweating, though. He never does any good when going off-script, and I love it.

Reads like a Labor budget honestly. Wonder how this will go over with the base, and how much will pass the Senate.

Small business changes should get through relatively unscathed and be popular, but given this will effectively worsen the deficit it may be the end of the Coalition's "debt and deficit" talk until after the next election.
Like a Labor budget, minus the science plus the Rinehart pandering.
 

elfinke

Member
.Except for all the times he felt compelled to interrupt her. I was glad to see him sweating, though. He never does any good when going off-script, and I love it.

If you'd just let me finish... I'm getting to that if you'd just let me answer...

Yes, very annoying, but good on Leigh for sticking it to him, otherwise he'd just trot out the agreed party lines ad nauseum. I think he only managed one 'have a go budget' during the 9 minutes.
 

Arksy

Member
What do I think?

I dunno. I've taken a cursory look so far.

On the whole, the tax rises are not 'new' taxes but ways of plugging loopholes in the existing tax laws. People who get loans from the community and then bugger off to enrich another country should pay that money back, so I like that. While it's a logistical nightmare, and god it annoys me, we should be paying tax on digital goods that would normally be taxed if we walked into a brick and mortar store. Maternity leave double dipping is silly. Agree with spending more on defence. Farmers drought lifeline seems to make sense in a protectionist food security sense...but that's just a political reality in every country so I can't complain too hard there.

Removing the tax free threshold from foreigners on working holiday visas seems a bit stingy...but whatever.

Small businesses now face their lowest tax burden in thirty years, which is well needed. Plugging taxes for multinationals seems to make sense.

Seeing that no one here seems particularly angry about parts of the budget and is talking about other things such as Bill Shorten, media bias and interviews....I'm guessing that I should theoretically be more upset by this so called "tax and spend" budget...but I'm not.
 

Arksy

Member
What am I missing here?

If your workplace has a really generous maternity leave policy, why should people be able to get the government one in addition to it?

Not in the, this is what they promised sense, I mean.

In a complete reversal of the policy the Government took to the last election, new parents with workplace maternity leave schemes will no longer be able to access the Federal Government's policy.

Under previous arrangements parents were able to access 18 weeks of leave at the minimum wage on top of any private leave they had, but the Government says this policy of 'double dipping' will no longer be tolerated.

People with schemes that are more generous than the federal scheme will not be eligible for any payment, while those with schemes less generous will only be able to access the gap between the two.

The Government says the changes will net approximately $1 billion over the forward estimates.
 

Fredescu

Member
If your workplace has a really generous maternity leave policy, why should people be able to get the government one in addition to it?

No workplace will pay you for the whole 12 months leave you're entitled too. 18 weeks at minimum wage is a benefit to everyone, and less strain on the child care system.
 

Shaneus

Member
Seeing that no one here seems particularly angry about parts of the budget and is talking about other things such as Bill Shorten, media bias and interviews....I'm guessing that I should theoretically be more upset by this so called "tax and spend" budget...but I'm not.
I think everyone here is particularly angry about what *isn't* in the budget. Where's talk of the environment? Health? Renewable energy?

Edit: Let's have a look at some more of what else wasn't covered in last night's speech:
Firstly, spending:
Importing the UK’s nuclear waste: $26.8 million

Just in case you thought we didn’t have enough of our own nuclear waste, we’ll now bring back radioactive waste from the UK, to be stored at Lucas Heights.


Coal seam gas research: $100 million

Those noisy protests about coal seam gas extraction and coalmining may have had an impact, the government will fund research into how to protect waterways from these processes.


School chaplains: $60.6 million

The government will continue to shell out for school chaplains rather than ethics classes. The chaplains program is designed to help with students’ wellbeing, and they will be funded to the tune of $60.0 million every year for the next four years.
And cuts:
Foreign aid: $980 million

The foreign aid budget is one of the biggest casualties in the march back to a surplus. It’s slated to be slashed to $4.1 billion in 2015-16 despite Julie Bishop’s efforts to keep it intact. Aid to Indonesia has been cut by 40 per cent from $542 million to $323 million for 2015-16, but Treasurer Joe Hockey reckons it’s not personal, and the cuts were decided according to a fixed formula with no specific country targeted for reductions.


Climate change funding: Slashed

Climate spending will drop dramatically from $1.35 billion in 2014-15, to less than half this amount, with just $550 million expected to be spent in 2018-19 on reducing Australia’s carbon emissions.


Climate change technology: $3.4 million

The National Low Emissions Coal Initiative, designed to support the development and deployment of technologies that reduce emissions from coal use, has shrunk. The initiative will still receive $17.5 million over two years.
 

Arksy

Member
No workplace will pay you for the whole 12 months leave you're entitled too. 18 weeks at minimum wage is a benefit to everyone, and less strain on the child care system.

But..if it's less generous, you get the gap. Again, I'm not sure I see the problem.
 

Darren870

Member
But..if it's less generous, you get the gap. Again, I'm not sure I see the problem.

I agree with it too. It is preventing people from double dipping into the government funds when their workplace provides benefits as it is. I don't see a problem with the changes they made.
 

Mr_Moogle

Member
I probably could have probably got behind the liberal party if they didn't completely fuck up the NBN. Their FTN policy is going to seriously bite us in the ass in the future.
 

Fredescu

Member
But..if it's less generous, you get the gap. Again, I'm not sure I see the problem.

If your employer gives you 20 weeks, you got 38 weeks previously, and now you get 20 weeks. Greater demand for child care services that are already very strained and will receive no additional funding, despite additional demand being created.
 

Fredescu

Member
I agree with it too. It is preventing people from double dipping into the government funds when their workplace provides benefits as it is. I don't see a problem with the changes they made.

It's just a cynical rebranding of a policy intended to give someone an extra paid 18 weeks than they would have otherwise had. If their employer offers a full paid 52 weeks then I would agree, but that is not the scope of the change.
 

Myansie

Member
I agree with it too. It is preventing people from double dipping into the government funds when their workplace provides benefits as it is. I don't see a problem with the changes they made.

Employers will just stop paying. What's the point when your contribution is cancelled out by the government? It means working mothers will receive less. The idea behind the policy is as a stimulus, to increase spending in the economy. This negates that aspect somewhat as businesses are spending less on employees. It takes away some incentive to have kids as the extra money would help. It's also in complete contradiction to the original overly generous PPL taken to the election as a promise and prime example of how good Abbott is for women.
 

Darren870

Member
It's just a cynical rebranding of a policy intended to give someone an extra paid 18 weeks than they would have otherwise had. If their employer offers a full paid 52 weeks then I would agree, but that is not the scope of the change.

Its a clear target at high income earners since they are the ones who would be getting employers to pay their leave. I work at a Big 4 bank and we only get 12. We would be entitled for an extra 6 through the government now.

Government assistance should be those who are on lower wages and can't afford to take time off. They aren't changing the amount of time the government is offering, just so people can't double dip. I'd be surprised if those on lower wage even got assistance through their company. I know my missus doesn't...

I would also be entitled to Childcare credit to kick start me going back to work.

(I say me/we as if I was a women having a kid...I'm not)

Employers will just stop paying. What's the point when your contribution is cancelled out by the government? It means working mothers will receive less. The idea behind the policy is as a stimulus, to increase spending in the economy. This negates that aspect somewhat as businesses are spending less on employees. It takes away some incentive to have kids as the extra money would help. It's also in complete contradiction to the original overly generous PPL taken to the election as a promise and prime example of how good Abbott is for women.

The employers contribution isn't cancelled. The governments is! Why would employers stop contributing then?
Should there really be incentives to have kids? That just sounds like a wrong statement. Kids should be planned and you should be financial able to support a kid if you choose to take on the responsibility. You can't just assume the government is going to help you all the time if you have one.
 

Shaneus

Member
The employers contribution isn't cancelled. The governments is! Why would employers stop contributing then?
The government's one is disabled if the employer contributes to the leave. So if the government will dive in, then there's no reason for the employer to. Or to put it from the employers perspective: "Why should I pony up for 12 weeks of leave for an employee when the government will chuck in 18?"

That's how I understand it, anyway.
 

Fredescu

Member
Its a clear target at high income earners since they are the ones who would be getting employers to pay their leave.

Lower income earners working for larger organisations are equally affected. Higher income earners working for smaller companies that do not have a paid maternity leave scheme are not affected. If it's targeting high income earners, it's not doing it very well.

Government assistance should be those who are on lower wages and can't afford to take time off.

In the particular case of maternity leave, I don't agree. You could have had a high income for a short period of time, not giving you the time to save up enough money to live off for a year. Or a bunch of other reasons. It's better for everyone that a kid spends as much time with their parents as possible early on. I think this benefits everyone.

If you really get rankled about millionaire parents getting 18 weeks of minimum wage, an assets test would be a better way of going about stopping it. Employee benefits aren't an indication of status.
 

Arksy

Member
The government's one is disabled if the employer contributes to the leave. So if the government will dive in, then there's no reason for the employer to. Or to put it from the employers perspective: "Why should I pony up for 12 weeks of leave for an employee when the government will chuck in 18?"

That's how I understand it, anyway.

Except that's not really the case. Usually the employers who currently have good/generous maternity leave programs are the ones who are good professional and highly paid positions and they entice people to work for them with generous benefits. This will really only impact on people with good to excellent jobs and not the low income earners.

Edit: I would agree with an assets test.
 

Myansie

Member
The employers contribution isn't cancelled. The governments is! Why would employers stop contributing then?
Should there really be incentives to have kids? That just sounds like a wrong statement. Kids should be planned and you should be financial able to support a kid if you choose to take on the responsibility. You can't just assume the government is going to help you all the time if you have one.

What incentive is there for an employer to offer 3mths ppl? If they don't the government covers it. The policy is cancelling itself to a degree. Not absolutely, as you mentioned employers with 12mths would still offer it. Plus there's the extra stimulus you've removed. It's an unnecessary piece of legislation that is creating more problems than it solves.

Should there be an incentive to have kids? Or is it about removing the barriers to having kids? Either way at a macro scale that the government is looking at, the individual question of whether people fall into one of the above is irrelevant. The real question is does increasing ppl increase the birth rate and stimulate the economy. The answer is yes to both.
 
The employers contribution isn't cancelled. The governments is! Why would employers stop contributing then?
Should there really be incentives to have kids? That just sounds like a wrong statement. Kids should be planned and you should be financial able to support a kid if you choose to take on the responsibility. You can't just assume the government is going to help you all the time if you have one.

Its a net benefit thing. If the government doesn't contribute in addition to the scheme it makes sense for a business to remove their scheme (allowing you to use the government one) and then put the money that funded that scheme into other forms of compensation instead. That way the net benefit to the employee is the same as before this change (and the impact on the budget is as well, so the savings from this are likely to be significantly under the projection, at least after a year or so while companies adjust).
 

Arksy

Member
What incentive is there for an employer to offer 3mths ppl? If they don't the government covers it. The policy is cancelling itself to a degree. Not absolutely, as you mentioned employers with 12mths would still offer it. Plus there's the extra stimulus you've removed. It's an unnecessary piece of legislation that is creating more problems than it solves.

Should there be an incentive to have kids? Or is it about removing the barriers to having kids? Either way at a macro scale that the government is looking at, the individual question of whether people fall into one of the above is irrelevant. The real question is does increasing ppl increase the birth rate and stimulate the economy. The answer is yes to both.

That's almost as silly as asking why companies pay more than minimum wage. Same reason, companies want the best people working for them.
 

Fredescu

Member
That's almost as silly as asking why companies pay more than minimum wage. Same reason, companies want the best people working for them.

Eh, it tends to be unionised workforces that have the better maternity leave benefits. Government departments, universities, that sort of thing. The private sector is fairly poor in comparison. I don't claim to have awesome data on the maternity leave benefits provided by big business, but this idea that it's high flyers that get awesome maternity leave packages doesn't seem right in my experience.
 

Darren870

Member
The government's one is disabled if the employer contributes to the leave. So if the government will dive in, then there's no reason for the employer to. Or to put it from the employers perspective: "Why should I pony up for 12 weeks of leave for an employee when the government will chuck in 18?"

That's how I understand it, anyway.

You could have literally made a similar argument two days ago:

"The government provides 18weeks of maternity leave, why should we?" Yet employers still did, and they will continue doing so..

What incentive is there for an employer to offer 3mths ppl? If they don't the government covers it. The policy is cancelling itself to a degree. Not absolutely, as you mentioned employers with 12mths would still offer it. Plus there's the extra stimulus you've removed. It's an unnecessary piece of legislation that is creating more problems than it solves.

Should there be an incentive to have kids? Or is it about removing the barriers to having kids? Either way at a macro scale that the government is looking at, the individual question of whether people fall into one of the above is irrelevant. The real question is does increasing ppl increase the birth rate and stimulate the economy. The answer is yes to both.

See above. The same exact incentive existed two days ago that exists today. There is absolutely no reason an employer would change its stance on parental leave.
 
You could have literally made a similar argument two days ago:

"The government provides 18weeks of maternity leave, why should we?" Yet employers still did, and they will continue doing so..



See above. The same exact incentive existed two days ago that exists today. There is absolutely no reason an employer would change its stance on parental leave.

Because two days ago the benefit stacked, if the business provided 18 weeks and the government did as well, you'd get 36 weeks. Now it doesn't.
 

Darren870

Member
Because two days ago the benefit stacked, if the business provided 18 weeks and the government did as well, you'd get 36 weeks. Now it doesn't.

Yes, I understand how it actually impacts people who double dip. However, I don't see why employers would change their parental leave program based on this. That is what I was quoting and replying too.
 
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