all us aussies must be so rich but where did they put my share??

I wouldn't worry if I was you, Cate Blanchett will tell him how to run the country...... it would be funny, if it wasn't so sad!

Howard spent 8 years blaming Keating, the next 3 years doing nothing but lose the election.

All along the way he was raising interest rates and overheating the economy while claiming to be a great manager.

Rudd is doing FAR less blaming than little Johnny did.

Little Johnny is so up himself he is still ranting on, to any idiot who will listen, that HE is the only one with the answer. Many other zealots throughout history have held the same self-opinion.

It's a bit like the state Govt here in NSW, cant find any one who voted Morry in.. The son of migrant parents, how very proud they were 18 months ago.. I wonder what they think of their Losers son now.. What a waste of space he is.. Everyone is saying he will leave the job next year, Yeah!! Cant wait to see who his replacement is.. Michael

Michael,

Reba's a certainty :))))))

I said to my wife months before the election if Rudd gets in he will abolish the carer bonus, sure enough he has the pr''''.
I use get $600 a year, but the people who I feel real sorry for is the people on the carers pension, they do this horrendous job looking after their poor mothers daughters etc full time and now get a kick in the guts because they can not defend for themselves. There the ones who use to get the $1600.
Cheers Bruce
PS lets see he can say sorry to these people and let it going.

Bruce,

It looks like the little creep is after the senior's bonus as well. Looks like a lot of battlers will be nervous until the budget is released.

Thats exactly right, money stays here, about 90 % to be exact.. Michael

That's exactly right, money stays here, about 90% to be exact. Sounds like its all good. What is your source of info in reference to "abourt 90% to be exact." Cheers

It's futile to try and have an intelligent debate with Howard lovers.

By loving Howard, they reveal a lack of ability to reason. :)

And they will begin personal attacks with histrionics when cornered.

Gerhardp1,

Thank heavens that we have your unbiased, rational and balanced approach then.

I rest my case.

On what?

Since when has anyone offered $1 trillion to the Indonesians ?????? It certainly was'nt Australia.

was a Billion but i dunno how many zeros that has - spose i could check my ATM balance that might give some clues

Davoe,

Hahahahahaha I thought all you gazillionaires in the West knew all about multiple zeros before the decimal point :)))

Davoe, methinks you DID look at your ATM balance, that's how you got the extra zeros :)

Thank you Mike. Perhaps some of those so hardly done by can move to PNG, live like a king and recoup some of 'their' $23M.

I have news for you sir, I am 80 and I pay tax on my super. Where did you get the idea I don't?

MR1927 (NSW),

The Income Tax Rates Amentment (Superannuation) Act 2007 19 of 2007 introduced Simplified Super Rules that commenced on 01 July 2007. As a result there are even more tax free incentives now available on superannuation. There are now tax free lump sum and pension benefits if you are over 60.

The Reasonable Benefit Limit has been removed.

There is now no tax on the pre 1983 service component of your super benefit, however this may not apply to you now due to your age.

There is plenty of this info on the web just google "tax on Superannuation".

So if you are still paying tax on any lump sums or allocated pension you shouldn't be, suggest you have a talk to your financial adviser if you are.

Dead right Stuart. Part of the reason for international aid is it's a hell of a lot cheaper to spend money for peoples health and education in their home state then it is when they are in your home state.

Was going to post this myself Stuart but you beat me too it..Gives me the bleep s no-one is made accountable..It was never going to work with the Heli's to old for starters..,

They stuffed up and now they recoup through the carers,What a bad bad mistake mista Kev07...

Remember when they gave Indonesia all that money then did a cartoon of Peter Costello banging Johnny Howard from behind !

Grateful buggers heah !


Cheers

I know Defence Contracts are different from normal business contracts, but why would you pay such huge amounts of money, before the supplier demonstrates that the helicopter can be flown safely ?????

Will heads roll for wasting so much taxpayers money ??? No.

Mike,
Being a military contract, it doesn't necessarily have to work first time out, just that the idea seems a good one. To get it to work, will be a variation in the contract that costs roughly three times the original contract value. By the time it has reached the testing phase, it will have been surpassed by advances in "technology" which renders the original concept obsolete. To cure this requires a "new" contract to upgrade the systems at a cost of roughly three times the cost of the variation in the original contract...

And so on and so forth...

Naah. to strong for me. xxxx mid strength in huge quantities for this old bloke. Bundy might make me get an erection & i'am to old to know what to do with it!!

Barry,
22 cubes of ice in your rum stops the erection problem.

If you still have a problem use Winton bore water as a mixer, that will keep things limp and under control.

Barry, what's with the XXXX maaaaaate???? not a closet maroon are ya LOL :-)))

that's just name calling

Howard gave the the money to a country that had been devastated - PNG is "allegedly" one of the most corrupt countries? kevin 07 stated there needs to be more checking on where the money goes.

Golly, is it school holidays already ?????

Name calling

Tell tail

Hey Stu-k, thanks for the link I had no idea about this issue, it makes me sick to think that some of the people doing a very hard job on the lowest of wages are going to get screwed over this way. Has the world gone topsy turby? I thought the libs were supposed to screw over the small guys and labour give out free lollies to everyone, it looks like its all reversed.

If you are reading this kevin 07 (and I know you are) your a fggt for taking this money away, give it back and do another sorry speech.

Don't be silly Jim, you know it's better to bag things than do anything... LOL

:-)

Richard

Sorry Jim, but I believe in helping my fellow Aussies first.

And to make the comment 'This dill is up to his eyes in debt because he spends more than he makes, simple really.'

Mate, how do you know what has happened in his life. Could have been ex-wife took him to the cleaners, laid off work, the last recession ?? These things got me into debt.

John,

Even exisiting off the Dole in Australia, one is far better off than than our fellows in our region.

Also John, I beleve we are are all humans on this earth. That we were lucky enough to be be born in Australia is our good fortune, perhaps we need to share some of our wealth?

Jim.

To say even living on the dole you are far better off than than fellows in other regions doesn't really take everything into consideration. After only 24 years of working and getting myself into a stable financial position, only debt being my mortgage which is small compared to most, I have been medically retired so my wage has been cut by 3/4 ( I am still earning more than someone on the dole) and my wife has had to resign also to assist me so we have lost her income. I can no longer afford to live in my home of the last 10 years and will have to move out and live with my parents which is a horrible thought at 39. lucky for us we have no children to worry about. Now this is a story that is played out in many other families throughout this great country and there are many people that are worse of than I but how does that knowledge get my home back, or my life for that matter. At this stage the only thing that I have left is my wife ( no I do not have my health) but even this is not a certainty and I won't blame her if she does up and leave. The cost of living in this country is geared to the average income so to say someone like myself who is now living way below the poverty line is better off than someone from a poorer country is ridiculous because I live here and here I am now poor and without a future.So don't sit there and say to anyone without knowing their story that they are better off here. And just so you know I have never been unemployed and have spent the 7 years in the Army and 11 as an Ambulance officer so I think I have done a bit for my country and my community and in my time of need there is nothing and know one to assist me and my family,and neither government has or will change this.

Hi Kevern, Sounds like life has dealt you a rough hand, and heres me moaning about my lot.

This country was built and continues to prosper by the hard yakka of the 'battler'.

He asks no quarter and is given none.

Hang in there my good friend, you still have a devoted missus, your family and your dignity.

Cheers.......Lionel.

Kevern,

Very sorry to hear of your dilemna.

However, people in other countries within our region, who find themselves in a similar situation, simply starve to death.

Regards,

Jim.

Lionel,

Go ahead and get a disability pension so then you can actually see what absolute crap you have just written.
Yes I am offended by what you have written,it wasn't my choice that I was deployed Overseas on Active Service only to be injured and then Medically Discharged.
I loved my career in the Army but if I only have the disability pension to survive on in the future then so be it.
I can't survive on the salary I'm getting alone cause my wife is unable to work as well at the moment cause she has a disability as well. She has Multiple Sclerosis and is required to return to Syndey at least 6 times this year for medical tests and appointments. All paid for by us.

So try and do it our way (a bloody lot harder than you)

Cheers Kev

Sorry Kev, my comment was not aimed at someone such as you. I live and work in an environment where rorting the system is rife.

I am not, by way of Contract, allowed to be specific and have to be careful in what I say, But:

I rebuild and renovate tax payer funded housing which are wrecked or destroyed on a regular basis.
The majority of tennants in these places can run, fight, drink and climb through someone elses window without much effort yet their goal in life is to convince the doctor that they should be on a disability pension rather than the lesser unemployment one.
The baby bonus is being abused. Some jobs I'm on we have the parents in one room drunk and drugged whilst in the next room 6-7 babys and toddlers lay bruised, soiled and hungry.

My comments were aimed at these people and a little tongue in cheek at the same time.

Again, Please accept my appology, the intention was not to offend you or anyone else that legitimately depends on pension of any kind. Thats what its there for.

Cheers......Lionel.

I have built/renovated more houses in remote Australia than I care to remember while in the Army (they called it training, I called it reconcilliation). So I know exactly what you are saying, I am just sick of the overall generalisations made about almost every social group within Australia.

Cheers Kev

Life expectancy in Mali is 49.51 years (Oz is 80.62 years).

Infant mortality in Mali is 105.65 deaths for every 1000 live births (Oz is 4.57).

GDP per capita in Mali is $1200 (Oz is $37,500).

Population below the poverty line in Mali is 64% (Oz is “not available”.

Electricity consumption in Mali is 412.9 million KWh (Oz is 236.7 billion KWH).

External debt in Mali is $2.8 billion (Oz is $757.9 billion).

Airports with paved runways in Mali is 8 (Oz is 317).


I'm sorry you can't afford a new plasma television but, looking at the above, I don't think we're doing too badly in Australia... do you?

CIA World Factbook - so you can see just how privileged you really are

Mike Harding

PS. PradOz, I wonder if you have ever visited a Third World country?

Similar to the backpedalling some of the self righteous hypocrites in this thread will now perform OR crawl away back under their rocks.

Your life sounds appallingly depressing and stressful. You are at risk of losing all that makes life seem worthwhile and meaningful. But you lack compassion for those worse off than you. This puzzles me - surely your own suffering has allowed you to feel what wretches feel?

nats.