Re: Share the pain
 

Silly yes. Unfair also

Re: Share the pain
 

Encourage to poor to look after themselves, rather than encourage them to have other people look after them ...... anything wrong with that motto?

Re: Share the pain
 

So it sounds like I give a lot. Oh well..... at least I will sleep well at night knowing I'm a giver and not a receiver.

Re: Share the pain
 

Nothing. But encouragement doesn't have to mean make it incredibly difficult for people to survive without even making a single effort to create work that you think they should be doing.

How about this motto? 'If you pollute, you pay'. I think that beats 'If you pollute, we'll pay you to pollute less, up to you'. Your motto won't apply to the top end who will receive welfare as an incentive to change. If you disagree with welfare, surely you disagree with it at all levels?

Also, what about the people who simply cannot change their circumstances and will lose out because of this budget, ie pensioners or those on disability pensions who can't work?

Re: Share the pain
 

We can swap if you like. My gross for this year is around $50k - and young spark is around $2.5k? I don't mind paying 30% of your gross :)

Re: Share the pain
 

It can't be easy for you. The four of us had around $50k income (including child and housing benefits - which we subsequently had to pay every cent back) for a few months after we first arrived here. It sounds like not a bad income but it takes discipline and very careful budgeting to survive on that.

Re: Share the pain
 

I'm fine and not budgeting that carefully as we have savings too - and I start a new job next week. It's the damned licensing that's been the biggest headache.

May see if we can get young spark into some sort of assisted employment though. Might have to wait until next year though when we've done 2 years

Re: Share the pain
 

What sort of salary range will you be looking at with all the licences?

Re: Share the pain
 

Should end up on $85k + with job I'm starting, but with license sorted could move to better jobs elsewhere. It will do me though - Adelaide is not as expensive as other areas when it comes to housing

Re: Share the pain
 

$85k is much more like it :thumbup:

Re: Share the pain
 

I might take you up on that. I'm doing about 80 hours a week right now, and spending most of the time living out of a suitcase. I get paid for 37.5 hours. Still want the swap?

Re: Share the pain
 

Holly smokes man. You've moved on to pollution. You get internet in that tree house of yours?

Re: Share the pain
 

How come the high number of hours Beoz? And the suitcase living? No fun I bet.

Re: Share the pain
 

I could write pages as to what is happening in some industries in regard to global competition, cost of doing business with Australia, and what all this means in 5, 10, 20 years time. But simply put, I cost too much on a global scale. When people leave the company in Australia their head gets replaced by 2 or 3 indians. They then fly and accomodate those Indians in Oz on short term business visas. But because Australians don't want to work with Indians based out of Mumbai us Australians end up doing all the work because we are local and we have the ability to think outside the box (Indians can only think in a linear direction).

So in essence I have 2 choices. Get a job elsewhere or compete with Indians and prove that one white guy is better than 2 or 3 Indians.

And that is what really pisses me off when people start moaning about the budget and the single parents. Well single parents, news for you. The 'now' is just the tip of the iceberg. The future and competition your kids are going to hit is what you really should be worried about.

Re: Share the pain
 

The question was about welfare, not pollution. But you successfully avoided answering it again.