Hockeynomics

[Gozu]

Joe Hockey is back as shadow treasurer and now pulling a similar stunt as he did after the '07 election when as the Libs IR spokesman he came out said he never realised how extreme WorkChoices was and now supposedly you can't ping the Libs $11 Billion black hole costings bungle on him as he was "kept in the dark". Lightweight.

JOE Hockey has revealed to colleagues he didn't see disputed Coalition campaign costings until the last minute during the election campaign.

As well as not seeing the costings, prepared by Andrew Robb, he has also conceded to colleagues that policies were being released during the campaign without him being aware of the "full box and dice".

Coalition insiders say there were two sides to the debate, with Hockey critics arguing he "went missing" during the process and Robb critics arguing it was his job in the Melbourne headquarters to sort out costings.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 5919871022

Not good enough, Sloppy Joe.

[Gozu]

Speaking of Hockeynomics, "Dudfella: Liberal hitman botches the job":

When the gravel-voiced Ian Macfarlane walked into Julie Bishop's Parliament House office on Wednesday afternoon, it started out as the delivery of a political death threat.

But Mr Macfarlane's call on the deputy leader of the Liberal Party quickly exposed him to be a lousy mafioso.

"Andrew Robb wants to be the deputy leader," he told Ms Bishop, "and we've got the numbers."

He went on to explain that it wasn't really about Ms Bishop. Mr Robb's real target was Joe Hockey, the shadow treasurer, he said.

Mr Robb was being blamed for the opposition's embarrassment over the exposure of problems with its costings in the election campaign, said Mr Macfarlane, when it was Mr Hockey's fault.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/dudfella ... 159cz.html

Thankfully these clowns didn't get in.

[Psyber]

And, in balance, looking at the other sides intention to deliver on their policies, and/or their budgeting skills:

http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/arti ... 06C41B.asp?

NURSE practitioners are expected to be funded through attendance MBS items, but there are concerns the rebate levels will be too low to make them financially viable in general practice.
The government is expected to structure the items and the rebates to reflect the complexity of care provided. However, there are serious concerns about the rebates that will be offered.

Australian Doctor has been told the rebates will be insufficient to be viable for general practices wanting to employ nurse practitioners — raising questions about the ability of the reforms to improve access to care, particularly in rural and aged care.

The Australian College of Nurse Practitioners said, “in an ideal world”, it wanted the rebates to reflect what nurse practitioners earn in the public system — about $109,000 a year.
But the college believed the fees would fall far short because the government had only budgeted around a $15 million a year for nurse practitioner reforms.

Perhaps we would be better off without a government of any sort!
It also sounds like I might earn [net] more as a nurse practitioner in the public system than I did in my last few years in private specialist practice in Melbourne.

[purch]

And I thought this thread was going to be about IPCC-discounted hockey sticks!

Joe who?

[Psyber]

A couple of other Economic issues not worth a new thread so here is the nearest match I think.

http://www.mjainsight.com.au/view?post= ... ember-2010

E-health system stalled
THREE months after Medicare started the $90 million mandatory Healthcare Identifier (HI) system it is yet to sign a contract for service delivery, according to a report in The Australian. The original $57 million, 2-year contract for Medicare to design and build the system on behalf of National E-Health Transition Authority expired in January. The HI system is largely lying idle, as software developers await final specifications from Medicare so they can build product interfaces for software used by doctors.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/802 ... e-one-off/

Access Economics says the much touted budget surplus in 2012/13 could prove to be a one-off as it doesn't expect high commodity prices to be sustained.
The federal budget is at risk of returning to deficit in 2013/14 after the much touted surplus in 2012/13, because commodity forecasts are too optimistic, an independent forecaster says.
While Access Economics expects revenues will total some $6 billion more than official forecasts over this financial year and next, it believes high commodity prices are unsustainable.
"Despite all the hoo-ha by politicians over the 'return to surplus', we see the five minutes of fiscal sunshine before re-emergence of a deficit," Access Economics director Chris Richardson says.

[Leaping Lindner]

I presume that's the same Access Economics that the Coalition DIDN'T use for their Budget costings.

[Psyber]

I presume that's the same Access Economics that the Coalition DIDN'T use for their Budget costings.

Who really cares?!
My actual point is that both lots of politicians [and their supporters on sites like this] are still running the propaganda war at full tilt.
I thought that, here, it could use being balanced up with some equally unbalanced selections from the media.
Presumably no one really believes this election is over..

[Leaping Lindner]

I just found it interesting that Hockey was on ABC radio yesterday quoting Access Economics and yet his own party didn't "trust" them to do their costings. I just wonder sometimes if Pollies think we are goldfish with zero memory.

[Psyber]

I just found it interesting that Hockey was on ABC radio yesterday quoting Access Economics and yet his own party didn't "trust" them to do their costings. I just wonder sometimes if Pollies think we are goldfish with zero memory.

Yes they do, and as history proves they are usually right. It works in local councils too.
Voters fall into two groups; the committed [left or right], and the confused.