Drug Testing MP's

[MongyMan]

i challenge you to go be a poly for a week mate sure they get paid alot but they have a shit job.

 

HaHa, I had a shit job once too. Funny though I cant seem to remember a single restaraunt lunch or ever being picked up by a limosine. There was that seminar I went to, but we didnt get a lear jet, we got a mini-bus that broke down on the way .

 

Peace MongyMan

[Ruen]

people on DSP dont work and many of them can. many of them a frauding the system. to divert money for centrelink they need to tax the population which you all chuck a fuss about. but if they don't raise centrelink payments and lower taxes you are less likely to vote for them.

 

 

if you feel politicians should do a better job maybe you should stop public opinion being contradictory to itself. We are one of the most taxed developed nations in the world. but we are one of very few to have an acceptable welfare system. whilst it may not be perfect it is one hell of allot better then in the United States Britain or Canada.

 

 

Another reason for politicians to be paid a large amount is the exact reason we pay judges incredible amounts. The more a person earns the less likely they are to take a bribe. If you want a politician to earn the same as a DSP which if im right is 400 a fortnight to 10 000 a year then anyone would be able to bribe the politician or judge for only a few hundred dollars. if a judge is making 300k+ a year and the politician is making 100k+ a year they are much less inclined to take bribes.

 

 

A backbencher is paying $35,850 a year income tax. that means that the lowest paid politician covers the cost of 3 and a half people on DSP. That is from income tax alone. they are paying almost 10 times the national average income tax which is $4725, aswell as it being over 1/3 of their annual income. This is prior to rates GST etc.

 

hmmm i was going to use this to demonstrate how an increase in DSP would exponentially be amplified in what they pay in tax compared to what the average income earner would but lovely Centrelink wants to charge me to find out the number of people receiving DSP.

 

 

Mongy man have you ever had to sit in a debate for 24+ hours listening to every word so you can make an informed decision on whether a drug which is beneficial for society but also happens to be against the public interest should be legalised to so young teenage girls who fall pregnant can more safely and with more confidentiality receive an abortion(RU486)?

 

you have a very misguided view about what politicians do. Find me a politician that isn't John Howard or his cabnet lackies who even has time for lunch most days of the week.

[Al B. Fuct]

Mongy man have you ever had to sit in a debate for 24+ hours listening to every word so you can make an informed decision on whether a drug which is beneficial for society but also happens to be against the public interest should be legalised to so young teenage girls who fall pregnant can more safely and with more confidentiality receive an abortion(RU486)?

 

1. I was there for those debates. I didn't get paid. I didn't starve to death, either.

2. Teenaged girls are NOT the most common users of termination services. Women in their mid to late 30s and early 40s- who have already had their children if they want any- seek more terminations than any other group.

3. RU486 was most definitely in the public interest; Newspoll showed >86% support for taking RU486 out of the hands of the Harradines and Abbotts and putting it under control of the TGA- approving meds is their gig. Neither Harradine nor Abbott are GPs or OBGYNS.

4. The conscience vote on RU486 was carried by voice, but if there had been a count- it would have been a landslide. However, it's easy enough to know who voted for evidence based control of the drug:

 

House of Representative vote

 

AYEs (96)

 

Adams, Albanese, Bailey, Baird, Beazley, Bevis, Billson, Bird, J. Bishop, Bowen, Brough, A. Burke, Cobb, Corcoran, Costello, Crean, Danby, Edwards, Elliot, Ellis, Ellis, Emerson, Entsch, L. Ferguson, M. Ferguson, Fitzgibbon, Gambaro, Garrett, Gash, Georganas, George, Georgiou, Gibbons, Gillard, Grierson, Griffin, Haase, Hall, Hatton, Henry, Hoare, Hockey, Hull, Hunt, Irwin, Jenkins, Jensen, Johnson, Jull, Keenan, Kerr, King, Laming, Lawrence, Ley, Lindsay, Livermore, Macfarlane, Macklin, May, McArthur, McClelland, McMullan, Melham, Moylan, Nairn, Nelson, O’Connor, Owens, Pearce, Plibersek, Price, Prosser, Quick, Ripoll, Roxon, Rudd, Scott, Sercombe, T. Smith, S. Smith, Snowdon, Southcott, Stone, Swan, Tanner, C. Thompson, K. Thomson, Ticehurst, Turnbull, Vamvakinou, Washer, Wilkie, Windsor, Wood.

 

NOs (50)

 

Abbott, Anderson, Andrews, Baker, Baldwin, Barresi, Bartlett, B. Bishop, Broadbent, T. Burke, Byrne, Cadman, Causley, Ciobo, Downer, Draper, Dutton, Farmer, Fawcett, Ferguson, Forrest, Hardgrave, Hartsuyker, Hayes, Howard, Katter, D. Kelly, J. Kelly, Lloyd, Markus, McGauran, Murphy, Neville, O’Connor, Panopoulos, Pyne, Randall, Richardson, Robb, Ruddock, Schultz, Secker, Slipper, Somlyay, Tollner, Truss, Tuckey, Vale, Vasta, Wakelin.

 

[...]

 

In both Houses of Parliament, women senators and MPs overwhelmingly supported the Bill.

 

Politicians manipulate and generate public opinion to suit their party's agenda. If a party's agenda happens to represent the will of the people, all well and good. It usually doesn't.

 

Some pollies are hard workers. But how hard do politicians actually HAVE to work? Fact is, not very hard. You could be like Alan Cadman and never once listen to a constituent and show up only for votes that sound kinda interesting.

[MongyMan]

Some pollies are hard workers. But how hard do politicians actually HAVE to work? Fact is, not very hard.

Hear Hear

 

Mongy man have you ever had to sit in a debate for 24+ hours listening to every word.....

Nope, not that one, but I'd recon it would've been a great rest from some of the work I have to do, that I can assure you mate. Have you ever had to sit in a tractor driving backwards and forwards for 3 days straight trying to sow paddocks before the coming rain makes them impossible to drive on. Have you ever worked underground. Have you ever done a 14hr shift as a roofer in an outback summer. I could go on.

 

you have a very misguided view about what politicians do.

Maby I do. I don't think so though. Perhaps you have a misguided view about what hard work actually is Ruen?

 

Peace MongyMan

[Ruen]

i apologise for my incorrect use of RU486 but you still understand the point of my example.

 

alot of those jobs are hard i agree but you must admit compared to the job that the average 37.5k a year worker is doing pollies are general but not always working there arses off.

[WantDaChronic]

the problem with politicians is so obvious, yet so fucked up we dont even notice politicians see themself as representing the community and fair enough because thats what they are doing, BUT politicians have perverted that representation over the years to suit their own agenda. Instead of thinking along the lines of they were elected by the people and should be speaking with them constantly to see what problems are going on at the grass roots level, the believe they were elected to represent the people because of who they are and what they stand for.

 

tony abbot being the health minister at the time and a hard core christian said abortion was flat out wrong and that while he was in power, access to ru486 would be minimal at best. now what in the fuck does a male have to do with the right of a women to choose to end a pregnancy that she doesnt want to go through with? especially when he is not the father of the child and his religious beliefs forbid him from having an open mind on the matter?

 

i personally long for the day when a person gets into power that has grown up being dirt poor, taken a heap of drugs, believes in equality and above all is an athiest and wont let the fear of god interfere with making the tought decisions like the one made on ru486. unfortunately i think that even in an ideal world a leader like that wont get into power

[freddie]

people on DSP dont work and many of them can. many of them a frauding the system. to divert money for centrelink they need to tax the population which you all chuck a fuss about. but if they don't raise centrelink payments and lower taxes you are less likely to vote for them.

 

As some one who has been in the workforce for over 20 years (as a taxpayer) and now has a work related injury I resent this comment. I am on unemployment benefits and can't return to the industry i was in. I would probably be entitled to the DSP. Despite record low unemployment it is hard convincing an employer to accept someone who is potentially injury prone. I presume this is because of insurance problems. How would you know whether someone is defrauding the system or not unless you know their medical history? It is no fun surviving on a couple of hundred dollars a week. I doubt you would find a single person on the DSP who likes being there and would not swap it for a real job with proper wages.

[Ruen]

most people i know on dsp are frauding centrelink

[freddie]

most people i know on dsp are frauding centrelink

 

Thats strange, I know no one defrauding the system via a DSP. It would lead to a life of poverty or worse still, living with your parents. It is hard to get on by all accounts although it used to be easier. I think it's just a convenient section of society to pick on. We'll just have to disagree on this one.

[Indycar]

most people i know on dsp are frauding centrelink

 

haha, paints a good picture of the people you know then. Bunch of silver spooners that will take money from any source they can get.