Australian politics : un budget electoralist

A  budget to grab votes
by GDL

The most obvious reactions from all corners after the presentation of this years' budget was, what a turn around !!! Indeed that reaction is legitimate in the way it contrasts with the last one presented by the fat man with the cigar as in now commonly known the Treasurer, Joe Hockey.  Last year it was all about budget emergency, the deficit, that we cannot continue to live beyond our means, cut spending, it is all  Labors' bad legacy, GP co-payment as medicare is under pressure, the welfare budget too was a big problem, so indexing the pensions, six months waiting period for new starters, deregulating university fees making student paying more for their degrees, increasing the HECs debt interest rate, while introducing generous paid parental leave for the rich women of the North shore and Tourack, putting pressure on families, the sick and targeting mostly those at the bottom of the social ladder as well as low and middle income families. The budget then was the true face of the Liberals who favours more the rich than the poor, which hates the welfare beneficiaries and university students as they are seen to be leftists or labour's heartland voters. They needed to be punished by bearing the biggest burden of economic reform and budget repairs. No  doubt that last year's unfair budget was criticised by most journalists, analysts and commentators in the media so much so that the Libs were in turmoil and Tony Abbott came close of loosing the prime ministership. It was also a nightmare for the Treasurer who faced the wraft of the voters and virtually went into hiding. His position was, according to many, becoming untenable. He came close from being replaced by the rising star and super minister Scott Morrison.
This year's budget is more of a political document to attract voters and make them forget the bitter pill that was administered to the them last year. It was not a dull budget as we thought, but a budget which repaired the relationship between the voters and the government. It was a giveaway budget to attract voters by reducing tax for small business with other goodies, and generous to low and middle income families through child care benefits. The indexation of pensions was dropped instead pensioners with low assets will receive more and cut to high asset-owned pensioners and part pensioners. No change to superannuation meaning those with millions in their portfolio will continue to benefit from generous tax concessions. The GP co-payment dropped as well as the parental leave signature policy. It could also be termed a no tax budget.
The three measures above were the highlights and strong points of the Government's budget on which most  voters focussed. The reaction did  not take long and this week's poll put the government in a winning position and surprise, surprise, Tony Abbott is now the preferred Prime Minister!!!!. What a change of fortune for Donald Duck !!!! The budget sparked  a smell of early elections through its goodies and now with the polls showing the government in front will there be an early election, which should also trigger a double dissolution if the senate continues to block supply? The answer is in the wind of change although the PM is diplomatically avoiding this possibility. But as everybody knows politicians cannot be trusted on their words.
The Labor opposition was taken aback with such a budget coming from the Liberals, and they could not find flaws and grounds to criticise apart  form the generosity to high income families who will still get 50%  of child care benefits and defending the double dippers on maternity leave payment. The critical path to surplus was also contested as being too optimistic on growth.Bill Shorten's  reply speech was also very political with a touch of enhanced philosophy and looking for the future of Australia through more emphasis  on technology and science. It was also a brillant speech but which did not show where will the money be coming from to pay for these policies. He stumbbled so many times on this issue on ABC and at other interviews.

So with the turnaround it seems that we are now on the path of economic recovery far from a budget emergency. The deficit is under control; we are well into the path of surplus, money will just flows in, there is no revenue problem, government can continue to spend (on the increase as a percentage of GDP). There is no more need for reforms of taxation or superannuation, medicare is no longer under pressure nor is the welfare budget. Let's ignore the inter-generation report.  According to the fat man we can now confidently go out and borrow and spend to stimulate the economy. ( which is sluggish according to the reserve bank; cash rate is at only 2% no need to be an economist to understand that our economy is in dire strait). The job market will be plentiful, everybody will soon have a job  through the small business package. Vire mam, riez mam.
Well well all is now beautiful under the Australian sun, we are all happy and our future and those of future generations are secure. Better days are ahead of us according to Joe. So let's then relax , sleep tight and wait for the elections.
GDL

My next Blog will be on the social and economic reforms that Australia really needs.

Mauritian politics: les scandales de Navin Ramgoolam

Mauritian Politics:
Navin Ramgoolam:  l'homme aux millions....et scandales.

On the 10th December 2014 general elections the people f Mauritius clearly and loudly voted against Navin Ramgoolam and Paul Berenger's alliance. It was clear that they did not want continuity of Navin Ramgoolam's reign over Mauritius with or without the connivance of PRB. The reason was that they were sick of the outright corruptions, cover up. copinage, dictatorship, cronyism, immorality prevailing under the Labour Party. Navin Ramggolam was governing Mauritius as his own property doing whatever he wanted regardless of the legality or immorality of his actions.
People of  Mauritius knew a lot of his scandals and cover up but they were more discussed in the house rather than in the streets for fear of reprisals under a disguised dictatorship. Mauritians do not have a culture of going down in the streets as we saw for the "printemps arabe" or like manifestaions  in Thailand, Korea, USA or Australia. They are patient, they believe in democracy and exercise their civic rights and the votes when the time comes.
So at the last general elections they voted overwhelmingly to throw out Navin Ramgoolam and his corrupt government. Since the change the facts are proving that the people of Mauritius made the right choice. Nearly everyday the Mauritian press uncovers a new scandal and some of magnitude beyond belief. How comes that Navin Ramgoolam could have some Rs220 millions rupees in his house? Where does this money come from and why is it there? Then comes his association with Mr Dawood Rawat and how he apparently helped the latter to build an empire in a not honest way. Navin Ramgoolam is also allegedly accused of helping Rawat to create a ponzi scheme to rob Mauritians of their insurance money. Navin is now facing many accusations of money laundering, abuse of power, and forgery, etc...the latest is his involvement in the purchase of air planes and commissions received.
This ex-prime minister, according to what the people now know about him, and confirmed, is a shame for Mauritius.. He was using his power and authority to do doggy business with his friends and his mistress and pumped in as much as he could from the state coffins. He was endlessly travelling around the world at the expense of poor taxpayers and  offered himself the best hotels and restaurants and claimed millions in per diem.
Today, Navin Ramgoolam is facing justice and is being called by the police nearly every day for a new criminal case. He has already spend few nights in custody but is now out on bail. If proved guilty on all the charges against him (there are so many) it is said that he could be  spending some ten years in jail.
But he has already been judged by the people and the press and probably in the minds of  many Mauritian he has joined the ranks of the many African, Arabs and Asian corrupt dictators. This is how history will remember him.

To Jean Millais: Your commenst are posted below.
If you can't see it please contact me.
Thanks for your different views.

Australian Politics, The Libs are back in business

The Libs are back in business
by GDL

When I wrote my last blog " The libs in turmoil" things were really getting bad for the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, so much that he was pleading to the party not to make a bad situation worse. By his own admission he recognised that the situation was " bad".
The motion for a spill of leadership was defeated but the results showed that there was actually a revolt from the Libs backbenchers. To ease the tension, Tony Abbott asked his party members to give him more time and promised that he will do better, consult more and that there will be no more "captain's call."
Since then water has gone under the bridge and Tony Abbott has changed his style and modified his front bench. He has also dumped the unpopular and unfair measures announced in his first budget, among which the medical co-payment, the paid parental leave to the rich  women, the pension indexation. Since the revolt, things have smoothed out within the party and the government seems to be governing instead of inside fighting. The fortunes of the government and that of Tony Abbott look to be in better shape according to the polls. Tony Abbott is now as popular (or unpopular) as Bill Shorten. The government seems to have found a new spokesperson, Scott Morrisson, the Human Services minister, who besides being their best communicator, is now called Mr Everywhere( name given by Lisa of Channel 9). Graham Richardson on his program also describes Scott Morrisson as the most effective minister of the government. Scott Morrisson, whether you like him or not, has stopped the boats, one of the biggest promise of Tony Abbott while in opposition. Every decent Australian would agree that Scott Morrisson has managed to  stop this plague of "illegals" arriving en masse on our shores. No more boat arrivals, no more illegals, no more drowning at sea.
On the basis of his success as Immigration Minister, Scott Morrisson was promoted to Human Services to bring reform to this Ministry which has the lion's share of the budget. Australians are getting older and more and more people are on welfare and pensions. In the last budget the government targeted the sick, the students, the pensioners and all those on welfare for the savings. This caused an uproar and a backlash so much that Joe Hocket went in hiding...leaving it to Scott Morrisson to communicate to the people of Australia on future budget measures eg. reform of pension and childcare.
The last budget was a nightmare for the Abbott government as they were obsessed with returning back the budget to surplus, another of their big promise. In fact since they took office the situation has gone worse and the deficit is bigger. It is now obvious that neither in this term of office, nor in the next decade will any government be able to have a surplus budget. The government have given up on the surplus and will present a budget that will cause the least harm to families and the working class. As we are only  some 18 months till the next elections, it will be a dull budget, one which will not antagonise anyone with measures which will attract voters to their side. A budget to sweeten the mouth of the electorate.( faire la bouche doux comme on dit a Maurice).All these will be revealed tomorrow night (Tuesday 12 May 2015).
Conclusion, after the storm it is now the calm within the Liberal party and they are back in business.