The Budget!!

[MilkingMaid]

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2014/s4004087.htm

The billionaire Federal MP Clive Palmer says his Palmer United Party will use its votes in the incoming senate to block some of the measures announced last night.

Mr Palmer says the budget is based on a series of lies.

CLIVE PALMER: First of all it's based on the fact that they say our debt is out of control. If you get the OECD figures you see Australia has got 12 per cent of its GDP in debt. The average for the OECD of all our advanced economies is 73 per cent.

[maternidade]

"Well I definitely oppose the co-payment. You imagine being a pensioner and earning $300 a week and you're 87 and you've got to go to the doctor four or five times a week and that takes up one third of your income because of the co-payment. "

If you're only on $300 pw one would assume you are on concession, therefore if you are going 5 times a week then in 2 weeks you would have met your 10 and it's then free

[Lottiemum]

i'm just glad my hubby won't be affected besides the co payment and the slight increase in prescriptions. i'm not sure how affected i will be yet but by the sounds i may as well kiss any hope of me being a special needs teacher goodbye

[Busy-Bee]

Comment from eminent scientist Lawrence Krauss on FB:

Disgusting news: OZ Fed budget last night gave $5m to primary school science ed BUT gave $245.3m to National School Chaplaincy Program!

This is the Australian government getting its priorities in order.

[delirium]

More money into that ridiculous program Fund real school counsellors, properly qualified without a religious agenda.

[Rose&Aurelia&Hannah]

More money into that ridiculous program Fund real school counsellors, properly qualified without a religious agenda.

This!

wifey of hubby who is always away. mother of two girls who are always amusing.

[wannawannabe]

Those with medicine degrees are paid accordingly- an average GP earns between $150,000 and $300,000 and a specialist $175-$350,000. Hence, the degrees have extremely high academic marks- people are clamouring to get into medicine degrees. I would fully expect a medicine degree from Sydney or Melbourne university to cost $200,000 with these changes. The graduate will earn that within 2 years.

Science degrees have slightly lower academic marks- usually an 80 or so ATAR- and starting salaries are around $80,000.

They can't get enough people into nursing- the ATARs are typically lower, and nurses are sadly, paid accordingly, because there is low demand to work in those positions.

I'm sorry but I do not agree with you at all.

The reason the ATAR is lower for nursing is because there is a such a large number of nursing positions available. An ATAR rank for a course is based on supply and demand - the higher the demand and the less supply, the higher the ATAR is. It is has nothing to do with the "intelligence" required for the degree.

There is an oversaturation of nursing graduates. South East Queensland (Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Brisbane and Gold Coast) currently has 7 universities offering nursing degrees with 1000+ students graduating each year. SEQ does not need 1000 nursing graduates each year, Queensland on the whole does not need that many nursing graduates each year plus there are universities in Cairns, Townsville and Central Queensland also pumping out nursing graduates.

There is not low demand for those jobs - there are too many nurses for the jobs available.

Doctors do not come out of uni earning $150,000. They start off on about $60,000. It takes another 8-10 years after uni to qualify as a specialist and earn "mega-bucks".

Science salaries do not start off on $80,000. Most science graduates are doing lab work and earning $30,000-$40,000.

I've been out of uni for 18 months and am earning $80,000+ as a nurse. I wouldn't really call that being paid a pittance.

I'm sorry but you have no idea about what you're talking about.

[ourbradybunch]

Is anyone really all that shocked that Tony Abbott has allocated so much to a school chapliancy program. Thats not even a political agenda in my mind. Its a personal one.

Deadset ********!!!

Sent from my SM-G900I using The Bub Hub mobile app

[delirium]

Is anyone really all that shocked that Tony Abbott has allocated so much to a school chapliancy program. Thats not even a political agenda in my mind. Its a personal one.

Deadset ********!!!

Sent from my SM-G900I using The Bub Hub mobile app

Of course it is! Especially since parents are pulling kids out of scripture in droves and principals everywhere are ending it altogether. If I wanted my child indocrinated under the guise of a support figure I would have sent them to a catholic school.

[Legeyt]

A lovely & heartfelt response by a close friend of my cousin to the budget (long but worth the read I think)
...
I never really use Facebook to make long, heartfelt posts because I try not to bother people. I will this time, though, so here goes nothing. I'm sorry if there are typos and I'm sorry if I offend anyone... it's like.. super late right now as I’m typing this.

After the release about the budget, I'm really freaking out about the state of the country. LOL. Isn't everyone?

My parents and I are refugees. When I was a child, they told me that Australia is a wonderful country. It's a country where the government is kind and will look after its people; that's why it's called the lucky country. My parents got divorced, something very normal in this day and age. Being a child at the time, it was a big thing for me, because suddenly dad was no longer there and my mum was in a deep depression. We were surviving on her disability pension. Hmm… There were days where I my little brother and I would go hungry. Those were bad times, but the school came to the rescue and were wonderful enough to provide us with food (funding for that got cut in my senior year, I think.)

There was another time, when I was younger... in year 7, I guess. So, 11-12 or so? My little brother got very sick and we had to walk to the doctor’s. I clutched my mother's green health care card in my hand like a lifeline because that flimsy plastic card was what allowed my little brother to see a doctor without the money we didn’t have. I remember I scrounged up 10 dollars that day so I could buy him cough medicine and have a bit left over for cough drops. I wonder what will happen to people in my shoes now that you need to pay money to see a doctor. Seven dollars means a lot to a family in need.

At 16, I applied for Youth Allowance and got it! I was over the moon! I could buy groceries! I could help my mother pay for bills and going hungry would be a distant memory. If I was very, very lucky then I would have enough money left over to spoil my little brother.

I cried in my senior year. I was worried I couldn't go to university because I couldn't afford the books. It was like a weight was lifted off my chest when I was told about HECS, about the extra bonus that would be used to pay for books. I couldn't wait to go to university, to grow up and pay taxes (yes, yes... taxes) just so I could return the money to the country that has held my hand for so long. A country that protected me and allowed me the privilege of an education. I wanted to grow up and pay taxes so the money could be used to help other people in my shoes.

My friends from overseas tell me about how bad their country is, how heartless, and I would think to myself, "Australia isn't perfect. But at least it cares for the people. That's what matters."

WELL. That went out the flippin' window.

Australia's coat of arms is a kangaroo and an emu. I thought this is because they are the two animals that are unable to take steps backwards. It was meant to show that Australia is a progressive country, and that it will always continue to move forward.

Tony Abbott has ruined that. He's ruined so many core aspects of being human, he can't even be considered Australian. I refuse to consider him as such because no human being would destroy the lives of so many in the name of a surplus to fight against a crisis that isn't even real.

For as long as I can remember, I was proud of my country. I had faith in my country. I've lost that now and I blame him, I really do. It might be unreasonable of me to blame a single person or their political party, but... at night I worry about not being able to find a job straight after uni, of six months in limbo and having no money while I look for a job. I'm not a religious person, but I'm definitely praying to someone or anyone to put a stop to this.

Guys, it's not Facebook Likes that the government hears. That button does nothing but make people feel as if they're doing something. It's action, standing up and protecting your rights that gets you heard. It's screaming (peacefully) at the top of your lungs that this isn't right that gets you heard.

I know I’m not alone in this. I’m one Australian of millions who will be affected by the cuts and changes proposed for the 2014 Budget, whose lives were made better by a government that helped provide for our education, that took care of us when we were ill and had nowhere else to turn to. They gave us a brighter future when all else seemed bleak, and now we don’t have even that.