A Country Going Backwards …

In Australia, Government is no longer in the hands of the people.
It is in the hands of a billionaire ruling class. This is true regardless of which major party you vote for.
Today, Australians are entering into a world of economic slavery more severe than anything this country has ever experienced before. Without jobs or discretionary income and burdened with debt, they will become dependent on their ‘masters’ for trickle-down benefits, handed out with onerous conditions attached and always at risk of being cut.
You would be hard pushed to identify a country whose economic affairs have been so badly mismanaged, and its people’s prospects so severely damaged, as has happened in Australia over the past 40 years.
Policies highly detrimental to Australia’s workforce, were rolled out for the benefit of corporate elites, from the offshoring of our manufacturing base to the financialisaton of our economy, transferring much of our wealth to the financial sector.
With discretionary-disposable income disappearing and interest on our debts skyrocketing, aggregate demand is starting to falter.
Soon there will be nothing left to drive the economy.
What we are witnessing is the spectacle of a country going backwards.
That’s what happens when you give away your country’s industry and manufacturing industry, together with a huge chunk of its professional, high value-added jobs.
The initial response was to put wives and mothers into the work force, but now even many two-wage families are experiencing steep declines in their living standard.
Young graduates, meanwhile, are burdened with crippling student loans, without jobs capable of producing sufficient income to pay off those debts.
Many will never get to experience the thrill of buying their own home.
Now we are told that robots, automation and AI are set to take over many of the good jobs that remain, displacing whole swathes of Australian workers without a heart and their programmed minds, set to ruthless.
As consumer spending dries up, who will be left to purchase all the goods and services supplied by these robots and AI?
Last time I checked, robots don’t buy houses, furniture, appliances, cars, clothes, food, entertainment, medical services, etc.
Neither do they pay fees or taxes, which means funding for Social Security and Medicare is destined to collapse.
Why is no-one talking about this?

RBA Chief tells Australian homeowners to stop complaining, they’ve actually got it ‘pretty good’ ….

Reserve Bank boss Philip Lowe, the man who has inflicted 9 straight interest rate rises on Australian homeowners, said last week that Australians actually have it “pretty good” and should stop ‘complaining’.

Dr Lowe, who apparently lives in a $4 million house and earns over $1 million a year, told the media that ‘nothing keeps him up at night’.

In fact, his only real ‘worry’, is the growing “retreat from globalisation and free trade”, which he claims made Australia “a wealthy and prosperous country”.

It is a complete mystery to me how any economist, let alone one as eminent as Dr Lowe, can seriously think that offshoring a population’s productive capacities and skills base can possibly maintain a country’s prosperity for long.

In fact, it was globalisation which systematically dismantled all the elements needed for a free and prosperous economy in Australia.

The move offshore of production resulted in the moving offshore of our GDP, tax base, consumer income and irreplaceable career opportunities for young Australians.

The ladders of upward mobility that once made Australia an “opportunity society”, were kicked away in the interest of higher corporate profits.

Without growth in consumer incomes to drive the economy, the RBA substituted it with consumer debt.

This allowed Australians with stagnant or declining incomes to access more and more spending monies on credit, creating the illusion of growth.

The massive expansion of debt tied heavily to the property bubble is now coming to an end.

The ‘New Economy’ jobs we were promised, turned out to be insecure, casual jobs in non-tradeable services such as retail, travel, waitresses, bartenders, aged care and hospital workers.

Today, a thin layer of very rich people in Australia rule over those “who have been left behind”—a shrinking middle class and a growing underclass.

Australia’s median family income hasn’t increased for a quarter of a century, while real wages have gone backwards.

Many businesses now only survive well enough to service their debts, with most too broke to expand or raise productivity.

Even the good ones are so burdened with debt, they are in no position to invest further.

Offshoring jobs may have benefitted bankers, corporate executives and their shareholders, but it ruined the income and employment prospects of a whole generation of Australians.

The legacy today is a trillion dollar debt burden and a population facing the biggest decline in its living standards since World War 2.

Skyrocketing insurance premiums threaten people’s ability to live and prosper in North Queensland

 

Home insurance has skyrocketed everywhere, but property owners in the North are being slugged the most.

Many have chosen to opt out of insurance altogether.

According to the recent ACCC report, the rate of uninsured households in the North is now double the rest of the country.

The other day I had a call from a constituent whose mother had just received her latest home insurance renewal notice from Suncorp.

The poor lady was shocked to find her premium had increased more than 25% to $6,100.82.

(Over $1,000 of that amount was State Government Stamp Duty and GST).

The Mum is on a pension of just $26,000 a year, and a $6,100.82 insurance premium would reduce that to just $19,900.

She is not alone in this either.

My electorate phone rings constantly from people in distress after being hit with similar premium hikes, or even refused coverage altogether.

Those calls are just a drop in the bucket of what is happening throughout Queensland’s reef-adjacent regions.

Many are scrambling to find affordable coverage, often calling dozens of companies to find one willing to cover them at a reasonable price.

Flood cover is now pretty much out of reach for most people.

One couple told me they received quotes of between $15,000 and $20,000 for flood cover on their property in an area designated as ‘flood risk’, despite it never having flooded in the 30 years they had been there.

The blowout in insurance costs is adding significantly to the financial stress of households already struggling with similar hikes in mortgage payments, groceries, fuel and electricity.

Something needs to be done to fix it, and I’m not talking about another round of ‘disaster mitigation project studies’ money for councils either.

First up, stamp duty on insurance should be abolished. 

It’s a complete tax rort and needs to go.

Other things the government could do would be direct subsidies and rules that insurers provide a minimum number of policies in northern Australia.

Insurance is not a luxury, it’s a necessity, and it’s disgraceful that it is our old people and other vulnerable groups who are being made to suffer the most.

There’s only so much you can cut back on, when you’re a pensioner.

Thanks A MILLION Queensland State Government for delivering a record allocation $381.24 million some of which is in shared services for neighbouring electorates but will support the Mirani Electorate – 3rd in a row!

Shout out to the Minister, Glenn Butcher MP$40.4 million for the new Mt Morgan Water Pipeline. This was my special project – the one every political person said I’d never get!
The Queensland Minister Glenn Butcher MP, called me aside before he walked into the House to deliver the Budget, to discuss the delivery of the pipeline project, such a great outcome for Mount Morgan, we just need to sort the Fitzroy Agricultural Corridor next.
I am grateful to Minister Dick, Minister Mark Bailey MP Minister Mick de Brenni for:
$20.6m   Sarina Hospital
$4.5m     Ooralea Trade Training Centre
$15m       Mackay Ring Road, Stage 1
$122.9m Rookwood Weir
$59.4m   Rockhampton Ring Road
$56.5m   Walkerston Bypass
$50.4m   Stanwell Power Station overhaul
Two programs to support the Mirani people thanks to the Health Minister Yvette D’Ath MP:
$6.8m     Homelessness Services, Rockhampton and Mackay
$4.1m     Mental Health Services, both areas.
This is about 50 percent more than last year; also a record.
This is what being a Member of Parliament is all about – getting the best outcome for the electorate!
Thank you Minister Grace Grace MP
$300K    Bouldercombe State School
$200k     Dundula State School
$1.5m      Kinchant Dam Outdoor Centre
$930k     Maintenance for schools in the Mirani electorate
$436k     Minor Works for schools in the Mirani electorate
$200k     Mount Morgan State High School
$250k     Swayneville State School
Not all of the budget has good news for our Electorate, the Coal Industry will be hit hard with the progressive royalty tiers. Understanding how this will affect the Industry when implemented is yet to be fully realised.