Remember when Hockey sat with Turnbull over the carbon debate, having him as leader would be as stupid as putting Turnbull back in as leader.

Getting back to old age pension increases, Centrelink says they are "usually" adjusted twice a year by two measures, the CPI index and the PBLCI.  Does the word "usually" mean that sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't? 

Well myself and MANY others don't like the choices --and we would be hard pressed to give our vote to anyone at this stage

PlanB - nice topic and relevant, hence the big response.

Naut - Response to your 20th Apr 2012 1:35pm post - I thought that comment was spot on and rather brilliant - made me smile, a lot. 

I can't really comment as I have been away and haven't kept up with the news. However, I don't agree with the cutting of any government services because they are at a minimum already, with the exception of maternity leave maybe??? I am not au fait with this particular benefit.

Most of us pay or have paid taxes all our lives and government services and infrastructure is what we pay those taxes for.  A surplus will do nothing for the average Australian.  What good is that money if it just sits there - nothing.  It needs to be put to work for the benefit of Australia and all Australians.

I don't even begrudge those that are alcoholics or drug addicts really, we can actually afford to assist such people.  It's the powerful wealthy elite that we can no longer afford - they are way more parasitical and costly, as they extract a lot, lot more from our public purse.

Well, I must say for someone who didn't think I was up to commenting, said more than I wanted and more than I should have!

This topic's comments were great to read, thank you.