Palmer is refusing to back the removal of ANY of the Labor tax concessions that were linked to the mining tax (school kids bonus, etc). That totals $9B.
Clive Palmer appears to have blown a huge new hole in the Abbott government’s budget – saying he will vote against Coalition plans to abolish the schoolkids’ bonus, the low income superannuation guarantee and a bonus for welfare recipients – at a total cost of more than $9bn.
Palmer is also demanding the government back his “dormant” emissions trading scheme to win support for its Direct Action climate legislation, a scheme Palmer had previously declared to be “dead”.
Within hours of his three senators being sworn in alongside other new senators, Palmer announced that, contrary to his previous declaration that Direct Action was a “waste of money” and his senators would not vote for it, his senators would support the legislation if the government backed Palmer’s alternative zero-rated emissions trading scheme.
And he also appeared to completely revise his position on the mining tax. He had previously said he would support it if the government retained an income support bonus for the children of veterans who had died in combat.
He has now added the schoolkids’ bonus, the low income superannuation guarantee, a bonus for low income earners and keeping the last of the tax cuts proposed by the former Labor government (which was not linked to the mining tax).
He said that if the government did not remove the measures from its mining tax repeal bills, he would combine with Labor and the Greens to consider the measures separately and then vote them down.
...
The mining tax-related cuts he wants to keep include:
• The schoolkids’ bonus – which provides eligible families with $410 per primary school child and $820 per high school child. Retaining the bonus will cost the budget $3.9bn over four years.
• The low income superannuation guarantee – which provides a $500 top-up to the superannuation accounts of very low income earners to make up for the vastly higher tax advantage super savings offer higher income earners. Retaining the guarantee would cost $2.7bn over four years.
• The income support bonus – a top-up for government benefits – at a cost of $955m.
Basically, if Clive sticks to his guns, which I suspect he might, Abbott has a completely ineffectual government. Which is delicious, since he tried his hardest to make the Gillard government just as ineffectual.
Wait do you mean the government succeeded in forcing the debate?
Ugh.
Edit: Oh wait I misunderstood what was going on and thought it was something else. I thought it was the Abbot government trying to force debate on the carbon tax to take advantage of the new senate - so I thought by 'guillotine' you meant the vote to stop this forced debate. How far off track am I here?
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The government wanted to push the vote on the carbon tax repeal through the senate and skip the debate, Muir voted against it (also going against Palmer, who he has a voting deal with) and now the debate has to go ahead. I have no idea what Muir is after. He likely doesn't support the carbon tax because of his deal with Palmer, but he's voting to go ahead with the debate. It's weird. I'm assuming the vote to continue with the debate is to try and introduce the amendment he wanted for the clean energy funding?
Who knows, could just be he can see clean energy technology is actually making money, so axing a bunch of schemes along with the carbon tax is ideological bullshit.
It is hilarious how much power he now has.
Given his obvious fondness for the motor vehicle industry, it'd be great if he used this to push for development of green cars in Australia. Just a pipe dream I suppose, but it could help the all-but-dead Australian car industry.
Who knows, could just be he can see clean energy technology is actually making money, so axing a bunch of schemes along with the carbon tax is ideological bullshit.
It is hilarious how much power he now has.
Given his obvious fondness for the motor vehicle industry, it'd be great if he used this to push for development of green cars in Australia. Just a pipe dream I suppose, but it could help the all-but-dead Australian car industry.
Nope. The Aussie car manufacturing industry is completely fucked. Nothing could revive it now. The only vehicles we can make here cheaper than overseas are the big 6 cylinder sedans, and no-one wants them anymore. There's no point building 4 cylinder cars here at a much higher cost than they can be built in Japan, Korea, and Thailand.
Palmer is saying right now in a press conference that his senators will not vote for a carbon tax repeal because he can't get them to include price gaurantees.
Palmer said he lodged his amendment last night for a power price guarantee and he had a "violent reaction" from the government.
The Palmer power price guarantee is that power companies - and possibly others - will be charge 250pc of the saving that was not passed on as a penalty.
When he explained to his senators the government reaction on the amendment, they resolved to vote against the carbon tax repeal.
Three days of the government learning what happens when you act like a bag of knobs and assume you can push your weight around to get your way and counting
No if we can get more then just the greens holding Abbott to account over this disgusting Asylum seeker issue maybe we can see some positive progress on our journey into not being a nation of selfish arseholes.
Edit: It should be noted that PuP is still voting down useful amendments like transferring to an ets right now.
Fucking Hilarious - the Liberals are now desperately trying to get the PUP senators on board - with less than 15 minutes before the vote must go ahead. The fact they hadn't considered Palmer might do this, and thus tried to gag debate, is so perfectly emblematic of their arrogance.
Or, as Penny Wong put it best:
It takes a certain type of arrogance and incompetence to impose a guillotine and a filibuster at the same time.
The liberals are in emergency mode trying to make last second concessions to PUP.
This from the party that would never negotiate with minor parties.
The vote is in a matter of minutes now. But here's something juicy:
Government-PUP huddle has just broken up and Palmer is playing hard ball. His last words apparently:
That's OK, the government can take it back to the reps (house of reps) next week.
And some last minute childishness:
The senate votes on Schedule 2-5 of the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 [No.2] repeal package.
Senators are completely confused over what amendments they are voting for. Christine Milne is worried that a swifty is being pulled. Wong is also unclear.
I'm a realist on this - the carbon tax will go next week - but the fact that Palmer followed through on his threats, and on the carbon tax of all things, gives me hope that Abbbott is now dealing with a Senate not afraid to push back.
Edit: If Palmer continues to be a thorn in Abbott's side, I wonder what tactics they'll use to get him out. There is that allegation into the $2M he spent on political advertising that Chinese mining investors are pissed about.
If they used that, in true Liberal style, they'd set up a commission to root out corruption that would first hurt Palmer before then taking a huge number of Liberal scalps. Or maybe they've learned from the last two times this happened.
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Abbott accusing asylum seekers in detention of blackmailing the government into letting them stay by attempting suicide. There are no WORDS for how angry this makes me.
Nothing says progress like moving backwards! I'd like to make some hyperbolic statement about bringing back some other idiotic societal policy but it's too depressing and they already have enough bad ideas on the plate.
edit: At least we got some good debate coming out of the senate. And this
I thought that, even with the absurdly optimistic assumptions forced upon the people making the forecast, that getting rid of the carbon tax would RAISE energy bills across the nation. Not that Republicans Liberals ever let a silly thing like proof or facts stand in their way.
I thought that, even with the absurdly optimistic assumptions forced upon the people making the forecast, that getting rid of the carbon tax would RAISE energy bills across the nation. Not that Republicans Liberals ever let a silly thing like proof or facts stand in their way.
As much as I like Penny Wong, I know she's probably never going to be in the running for PM. She's just too much of a minority. It's shit because she's a great politician but I don't think it will happen.
Penny's, what, asian lesbian female (female is of course implied in lesbian but I had to get the demographics out there)? Triple Threat, baby! I guess she'd have to go to the House of Reps instead of the Senate though
Penny's, what, asian lesbian female (female is of course implied in lesbian but I had to get the demographics out there)? Triple Threat, baby! I guess she'd have to go to the House of Reps instead of the Senate though
I suppose... but she seems to be the only person in Labor with any goddam passion at the moment.
Well yeah, given that she is not white, is gay, and is a woman basically means Abbott is taking a gigantic steaming dump over all people that fit those demographics, I can't blame her for remaining passionate about it.
The mining tax looks set to stay after the Federal Government and the Palmer United Party failed to agree on amendments to the repeal legislation.
The Senate last night voted to get rid of the mining tax but insisted on the Government keeping $10 billion worth of welfare support measures, including the SchoolKids Bonus.
Today, the Government rejected the Palmer United Party amendments in the lower house.
The Senate has refused to back the legislation without the amendments, which means the tax remains in place.
Also, have we talked about how insane the high-vis vest bollocks was? Ian MacDonald wore a high vis vest in the Senate while the mining tax repeal was being discussed. It was emblazoned with "Australians for Coal" and had been provided to him by said lobby group.
Fortunately even some of his fellow Liberals are pissed.
The state by-election in Queensland results are starting to roll in. At 40% votes counted, the 2PP vote has swung 19.4% towards Labor. That's certainly one big swing.
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Palmer is refusing to back the removal of ANY of the Labor tax concessions that were linked to the mining tax (school kids bonus, etc). That totals $9B.
Abbott must be learning fast that Palmer will not be easy to deal with at all - something surely everyone with a brain saw coming. To quote First Dog on the Moon "Clive Palmer is the Prime Minister now, apparently!"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/07/clive-palmer-switch-threatens-to-blow-9bn-hole-in-budget
Basically, if Clive sticks to his guns, which I suspect he might, Abbott has a completely ineffectual government. Which is delicious, since he tried his hardest to make the Gillard government just as ineffectual.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/10/24/why-is-the-rba-being-given-9-billion-of-your-money/
Delicious.
Edit: HOLY SHIT
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/08/ricky-muir-seeking-to-save-the-australian-renewable-energy-agency
Ricky Muir is seeking to amend the carbon tax repeal bills to stop $435m in funding being stripped from the clean energy body.
I heard rumours of that, but I guess it turned out to be true!
I am smiling so much right now guys
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Vote to guillotine debate only failed by one vote somehow
Ugh.
Edit: Oh wait I misunderstood what was going on and thought it was something else. I thought it was the Abbot government trying to force debate on the carbon tax to take advantage of the new senate - so I thought by 'guillotine' you meant the vote to stop this forced debate. How far off track am I here?
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It is hilarious how much power he now has.
Given his obvious fondness for the motor vehicle industry, it'd be great if he used this to push for development of green cars in Australia. Just a pipe dream I suppose, but it could help the all-but-dead Australian car industry.
Nope. The Aussie car manufacturing industry is completely fucked. Nothing could revive it now. The only vehicles we can make here cheaper than overseas are the big 6 cylinder sedans, and no-one wants them anymore. There's no point building 4 cylinder cars here at a much higher cost than they can be built in Japan, Korea, and Thailand.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/10/carbon-tax-repeal-gets-senate-vote-politics-live
Also, The Liberals tried to gag debate AGAIN this morning.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/clive-palmer-set-to-thwart-abbott-government-on-carbon-tax-saying-his-senators-probably-wont-vote-for-it-20140710-3bo57.html
No if we can get more then just the greens holding Abbott to account over this disgusting Asylum seeker issue maybe we can see some positive progress on our journey into not being a nation of selfish arseholes.
Edit: It should be noted that PuP is still voting down useful amendments like transferring to an ets right now.
Or, as Penny Wong put it best:
The liberals are in emergency mode trying to make last second concessions to PUP.
This from the party that would never negotiate with minor parties.
Government-PUP huddle has just broken up and Palmer is playing hard ball. His last words apparently:
And some last minute childishness:
"The adults are in charge".
And count down to Abbott whining about mandates because he doesn't know how government works.
lol
Dewey defeats Truman.jpg
Edit: If Palmer continues to be a thorn in Abbott's side, I wonder what tactics they'll use to get him out. There is that allegation into the $2M he spent on political advertising that Chinese mining investors are pissed about.
If they used that, in true Liberal style, they'd set up a commission to root out corruption that would first hurt Palmer before then taking a huge number of Liberal scalps. Or maybe they've learned from the last two times this happened.
I hope they haven't.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-09/mothers-self-harm-wont-influence-coalition-asylum-policy/5583170
So it appears the asylum seekers were heading to New Zealand, and asked New Zealand for assistance.
So we actually intercepted people on the way to another country, and turned them back to the country in which they were being persecuted?
I didn't know we were joining America as world police?
Added to that the new 'thorough screening process' is a 30 minute sattelite phone call. Which we now offer as a service to other counties, apparently.
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This isn't actually surprising, right? I mean, it's stupid and moronic, but in a "Oh, of course you think that" kind of way.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/carbon-tax-is-gone-repeal-bills-pass-the-senate-20140717-3c2he.html
Nothing says progress like moving backwards! I'd like to make some hyperbolic statement about bringing back some other idiotic societal policy but it's too depressing and they already have enough bad ideas on the plate.
edit: At least we got some good debate coming out of the senate. And this
Ah well. Let's celebrate today as the day we sold out the future for some (potentially but probably not) cheaper power bills.
I believe that was the renewable energy target.
So fucking sad to lose the carbon tax. At least it'll only last as long as the Liberals are in power before an equivalent is put in place.
But goddam do we look like fucking morons to the rest of the world today.
Penny's, what, asian lesbian female (female is of course implied in lesbian but I had to get the demographics out there)? Triple Threat, baby! I guess she'd have to go to the House of Reps instead of the Senate though
Given the shit Gillard had to go through, I could understand some hesitance on the part of women in taking a shot at the top job. Hell, Wong herself's put up with some inane shit before. A sad state of affairs.
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Well yeah, given that she is not white, is gay, and is a woman basically means Abbott is taking a gigantic steaming dump over all people that fit those demographics, I can't blame her for remaining passionate about it.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-18/mining-tax-looks-set-to-stay/5607626
Also, have we talked about how insane the high-vis vest bollocks was? Ian MacDonald wore a high vis vest in the Senate while the mining tax repeal was being discussed. It was emblazoned with "Australians for Coal" and had been provided to him by said lobby group.
Fortunately even some of his fellow Liberals are pissed.
http://junkee.com/this-idiot-senator-wore-a-hi-vis-mining-vest-in-parliament-and-got-torn-to-bits-by-everybody/38235