Politics is a dirty word

The Federal Government decision to spend $75 million on a Royal Commission to investigate the banking and finance industry will add to the country’s fiscal deficit. About the only good point is that the Royal Commissioners will investigate superannuation funds as well as banks. Compulsory Super has been a crock for all baby-boomers. It's OK for the high flying GenYers and subsequent generations with its generous tax breaks. But for those about to retire it has been useless. After a lifetime working and paying taxes those around 65 and 70 get little except the prudent savings accumulated over the years. One 70 year old has just cashed- out his super – the princely sum of $18,500. For most of the working life of people that age, superannuation contributions from employers were not available. Following the introduction of compulsory super, many only had limited part time employment and may have been largely self-employed. - taking meager living expenses out of business income.With a l...

The Australian Government is squandering another $1 billion on increasing the Landcare bureaucracy. Landcare Australia will merge with the National Landcare Network but the move is unlikely to result in more efficient service delivery. Historically, at least 60% of funds allocated to Landcare have been swallowed by employment and administrative costs for the unwieldy bureaucracy.Funding offices and staff in Canberra and in each state as well as regions has diverted most of the money which was supposed to improve environmental outcomes.Little money reaches the volunteer landcare groups who actually carry out on-ground works.There has been very limited assessment of the value of works undertaken compared with costs of administration.

Political changes in Zimbabwe may have major implications at home and throughout the world,Mugabe was the head of the ZANU terrorist group supported by China and North Korea. His rival for black supremacy was Joshua Nkomo who had his ZAPU guerilla troops in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) Mugabe emerged as the victor in the political power struggle following majority rule and began his reign of terror which saw massacres and the wealth of the country plundered through an incredible level of corruption. The ruling ZANU party will still control the Government,with a new strong man in control, Emmerson Mnangagwa, so things may not change for the people unless the new president is strong enough to restore the Zimbabwe economy. Prior to majority rule, the country (then Rhodesia) had a booming economy with full employment and massive earning from exports. Mugabe's incompetence saw the mining industry shut down - apart from supplying uranium to North Korea.Most other industries in the ...

The Government's decision to postpone Parliament because it feared losing a vote on the floor of the House, is outrageous. If the Government doesn't have the numbers to get on with its job then a snap election should resolve the problem for them.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced cuts in income tax in the hope of buying votes. But we don't need a Federal Parliament anyway, COAG should run the country - saving billions of dollars in unnecessary bureaucracies.

Politicians have allowed Australia'e economy to wallow along for decades, reaping the benefits of various booms which created the illusion of lasting prosperity. Now the mistakes of the past are coming home to roost.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/australias-economy-house-cards-matt-barrie/?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-hero-0-null&midToken=AQHcW-8--4iXvw&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=2HbSvPZgyyc801

Australian politicians who failed to declare possible dual citizenship when nominating for election should (at the very least) be required to pay the full cost of any by-election created by their failure to disclose. Politics in Australia has gone from the absurd to farcical. If would-be politicians can’t be bothered to fill in their nomination forms properly when seeking election why should taxpayers foot the bill for by-elections when it is recognised that they were not eligible to stand for Parliament. Their seats can be declared vacant, then if they want to renominate and get back on the gravy train, they can wait until the next normal federal election. Taxpayers should not bare the costs of unnecessary by-elections.

Attempts to impose sanctions on North Korea as a result of its continued testing of nuclear bombs and missiles have had little impact on the country’s military development. It is still trading with many countries in Africa and Asia. Pakistan provides nuclear technology in return for missiles and Zimbabwe granted North Korea access to the world’s largest uranium reserves. The only minor impact of these sanctions has been on the North Korean people.

Australians are sick of politicians. Fiddling with dual citizenship rules won’t change anything. We need some fundamental change to our constitution. There's little doubt that Australia is over-governed with vast armies of politicians and fat cat bureaucrats. Australians do not elect Prime Ministers, they elect local politicians who get together and appoint a party leader who is automatic ally Prime Minister if that party has a majority of seats in Parliament. A large part of the problem will be solved by getting rid of political parties. Currently, politicians owe more allegiance to their parties than to the people who elect them. A next step will be to abolish the extravagance of a Federal Parliament with all the costs associated with duplicating Ministers and Departments when each State already has working bureaucracies in place. Let COAG run the country .