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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Julia Gillard Debating the Flood Levy (Australia)

Well here in OZ we have a real battle going on about a flood tax levy that our PM (Julia Gillard) wants to introduce, and it really is turning into a battle. Most polls on the flood levy are showing that a lot of Australian people are not in favour of it, and neither am I.

Of course this has to be passed in Parliament for the tax levy to come in. There seems to be a fair bit of opposition to this at the moment, some MP's are waiting to see what the public reaction will be, they didn't have to wait long, it all started to hit home yesterday, as I said most are against. To make matters worse our PM didn't brief any ministers until a few hours before they met in Canberra.

There was a lot of people that donated to these floods, not only money, but a lot of people also put in the time to help with the big clean up, and are still at it, this also involved a lot of businesses pitching in as well. Just in Brisbane (the Capitol of Queensland) alone there were over 20,000 people signed up to help with the clean up, and I can tell you these people are not happy, there are a few swear words being spoken out amongst the mud.

On a radio station yesterday, 3AW, our PM was interviewed by Neil Mitchell, and all hell broke lose, e-mails and phone calls started, so they put the interview up as soon as it was over onto their web site, and they received well over 100 comments, I put my 2 cents worth in as well. If you would like to listen to the interview here is the link:- Radio 3AW Interview. You can also comment on that page as well if you like.

Andrew Bolt from the Herald Sun had a good piece on our PM as well, there is a video of an interview with our PM on Sunrise with David Koch, of course this interview was very mild, Kochy is a big fan of Julia's, so she is usually safe when appearing on the show. No comments at the moment on Andrew's site until the moderates come back from holidays. Anyway here is the link if you would like to have a look. Andrew Bolt Herald Sun.

On top of this tax levy, the Government has now decided to put up taxes on smokes, beer and spirits. As well most food items are skyrocketing because of the floods, we are also going to get another increase in our water and power bills again this year, power already went up on the 1st of January. Trust me interest rates will rise because of the inflation all this will cause, so we have that to look forward to as well. Thousands of people are without jobs at the moment because of the floods, a lot of smaller businesses said that they will not reopen, mainly because their insurance company won't pay out, so they just can't afford to reopen, which means of course all those people that were working for these small businesses no longer have a job at all. It's not looking good for us in OZ I'm afraid.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just got your e-mail.
I really think that this stinks,I also do not agree with this stupid levy, with me it's not the money but the princiable of the matter.

The Government is suppose to look after the people of the country, a lot of people got badly hurt because of these floods, that should never have happend by the way, we have plenty fo money, the Government seems to have heaps to waste, for once use the money were it can be useful, in Australia, for the Australian people.
Sue.

Mags118 said...

Hi Sue,
I'm glad you rang me, yes it's hard to comment I know, it usually takes me at least 3 clicks on preview before it goes through, when I'm not signed in. It's the same on some other bloggers sites as well, I'll have to see what else I can do about that, I was expecting it.

This Government is a nightmare it really is, there are so many people that are living in caravans, tents, with friends or family's, and not working on top of it. I really feel for the older people where their insurance company wouldn't pay out, there are a lot that are too old to start all over again, where on earth are they going to get the money to rebuilt.

Mags118 said...

testing comments a different way.

Anonymous said...

Well lets see how this goes, if it will be any easier.
Sue.

Mags118 said...

Hi Sue,
Yes I will keep it this way, a lot easier, the security window that pops up, you can enter this blog into it and it won't keep popping up on you. Thanks for your help.

Unknown said...

"... not looking good for us in OZ I'm afraid." And the icing on the cake is the expected upcoming visit of Anthony tomorrow morning, followed by Yasi later in the week, with a third cyclone in the West of the country.

Mags118 said...

Hi Malc50,
It doesn't look good, I've been watching it on the radar, I hope everyone stays as safe as possible during the next couple of days, very strong winds indeed.

I noticed on the radar that you have started to get some rain, so it's getting closer, take care malc50.

Red Nomad OZ said...

The mud tax is an interesting debate! If I have an unexpected emergency in my household budget, I reprioritise my expenses, cut back on some things, and ditch non-essentials. Why would I think I could spend the same as before and get all my neighbours to pitch in a couple of hundred each?? How is the mud tax different to this!!

Thanx for dropping in and commenting on my blog! Hope to se you back real soon!!

Mags118 said...

Hi Red Nomad OZ,
That is exactly right. To make matters worse I was reading where Queensland is the only State in OZ that doesn't have infrastructure insurance, as you may know Queensland always has floods, cyclones etc. how stupid of this Government not to make sure that all infrastructure is covered it beggars belief.

No wonder they need more money so incompetent. The story about the insurance was in The Australian
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