Where to for Tony ?

Someone made a post about Norway's pension fund. They have taken a long term view for the good of the country. Companies drilling for oil in the North Sea pay about 78 per cent tax. Those taxes go into the pension fund, which in 2019 will hold about $1 trillion. Norwegians have a high standard of living. Health care is free. Unemployment is around 2.6 per cent.

Education is also free in Norway, from primary, secondary to tertiary level and post tertiary. You can do a Masters Degree in Norwegian or English depending on the course and the university.

There are no tuition fees for attending public higher education in Norway, as all the costs are covered by the Ministry of Education and Research.

Students are also given the opportunity to apply for financial support (a part loan/part grant) from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund. The main requirement for support from Fund is that you are a Norwegian citizen. However, foreign citizens may also be entitled to financial support.
 
Someone made a post about Norway's pension fund. They have taken a long term view for the good of the country. Companies drilling for oil in the North Sea pay about 78 per cent tax. Those taxes go into the pension fund, which in 2019 will hold about $1 trillion. Norwegians have a high standard of living. Health care is free. Unemployment is around 2.6 per cent.

One thing to remember about Norway and the Norwegian Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration story is not just the level of taxation but the way the access licensing was originally set up.

The Government created a company called Statoil with the principle of 50 percent state participation in each production licence granted.
This was later amended so that sovereign ownership could be varied depending on circumstances.
They also created another company at a later date called Petoro to manage their interests in oil field, pipelines and onshore infrastructure.

Statoil was eventually privatised and floated with the Government retaining 67% of the shares.

Statoil is a Norwegian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is a fully integrated petroleum company with operations in thirty-six countries. By revenue, Statoil is ranked by Forbes Magazine (2013) as the world's eleventh largest oil and gas company and the twenty-sixth largest company, regardless of industry, by profit in the world. The company has about 23,000 employees.


In the early days the Government made it an obligation for license applicants that they would teach the Government representatives the ropes of oil exploration. They also gave preference to prospective license holders who were willing to source infrastructure locally. Hence the Norwegians have a healthy oil exploration equipment industry and export their expertise around the world.

If Australia had done something similar it would have been like BHP partnering with a Government enterprise to exploit iron ore. Possibly difficult with our States setup and the need to finance the sovereign share of development costs and the associated risk.
At least Australians have super funds where they can be part owners of BHP through their funds, even though the big miners are majority overseas owned.

TLDR; they not only receive royalties they have a share of the profits.
 
Australia is now in the mitz (spelling) of a long period of structural change.

Its not going to be pretty.

Neither of the major political parties are prepared to grasp it.

The greens can say whatever they like because they have no accountability.

The voters are stuck in a time warp, the middle class want to go back to the early 2000's (a time of nice increases in middle class real wealth and incomes).
But this time has moved on.

We get what we sow.
 
All Abbott has done is stop the boats.

He's trying his darn hardest to gip the majority of Australians but he's hit the wall. That fella that talks like Arnie has me in stitches every time.lol.
 
I think you are over generalising. Most small retail businesss are struggling to make ends meet. They arent out to rip off their customers.
That's irrelevant to consumers. All that matters is the product itself (price, quality, etc). Most consumers would not care if a business is struggling, or if the product is made in Australia.

To be fair, the same goes for businesses - most companies don't care if a particular employee is having personal issues/whatever. If there's a cheaper alternative (ie. outsourcing) they'll take it.
 
Did you not follow politics during that time? They squealed like stuck pigs, then squealed like stuck pigs some more.

In terms of Tony Abbott, the rumour mill is saying that he is running his office like Rudd did. Didn't work for Rudd, won't work for him. I don't know that this is true but it is disappointing if it is. I am fairly disgusted with this bunch of pollies on both sides of politics. They seem to be one of the biggest bunches of gimme, gimme, self entitled, selfish jerks that we have seen for a long time. Rudd was fairly ineffective, Gillard was fairly ineffective and Abbott seems like he will be fairly ineffective too.

If we want to really address the structural deficit in the budget, we will need a team of talented and dedicated politicians, working together to tackle government spending and tax reform. I don't think anyone would really describe the current Abbott Government that way. Another issue is they won't really be able to tackle tax reform without political capital, of which they have none but at the same time don't seem to be building it either. Still, it is early days. The first term of the Howard Government was rocky but it ended up building some political capital and making tax reforms.

Best post here.

The trouble today is the polls have no guts to do what is right and no brains to know what it is.

All about looking good in the media which is impossible.

Blaming the senate is BS. Each gov has challenges.

I supported the Libs and have been so disappointed. If Libs do not dump Abbott and Hockey they are stuffed next election but is Shorten any better?

Peter
 
I supported the Libs and have been so disappointed. If Libs do not dump Abbott and Hockey they are stuffed next election but is Shorten any better?
Not any better, is Shorten any different?

I opposed the last government for: taking money away from low income earners by dumping the superannuation co-contribution for low income earners, retrospectively making it more expensive to pay back uni debt, cutting funding to universities etc. Now I find the current government is wanting to dump the rest of the superannuation co-contribution for low income earners, retrospectively make it more expensive to pay back uni debt, cut funding to universities etc.

Why is this government doing the same things as the last government?

I thought a change of government would bring a change in policies. What am I missing? :confused:

Something good this government has done is start the process of rolling out a HECS-style loans scheme to TAFE students. I think this is a great idea. But it turns out that is a previous government policy too. Seriously! Has this government had a single original idea?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-19/gillard-announces-loans-for-tafe-students/3899330
 
Not any better, is Shorten any different?

I opposed the last government for: taking money away from low income earners by dumping the superannuation co-contribution for low income earners, retrospectively making it more expensive to pay back uni debt, cutting funding to universities etc. Now I find the current government is wanting to dump the rest of the superannuation co-contribution for low income earners, retrospectively make it more expensive to pay back uni debt, cut funding to universities etc.

Why is this government doing the same things as the last government?

I thought a change of government would bring a change in policies. What am I missing? :confused:

Something good this government has done is start the process of rolling out a HECS-style loans scheme to TAFE students. I think this is a great idea. But it turns out that is a previous government policy too. Seriously! Has this government had a single original idea?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-19/gillard-announces-loans-for-tafe-students/3899330

If you research you will find few ideas are really new.

For instance: there was free education before Whitlam for those worthy with the marks to provide it.

TAFE Is great but do we give free take to courses like watercolour, art, etc. How can these people repay the debt. When is a hobby a career?

Peter
 
TAFE Is great but do we give free take to courses like watercolour, art, etc. How can these people repay the debt. When is a hobby a career?

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Yes, there are actually people out there that believe this. I hope she enjoys her long and illustrious career as a barista.
 
TAFE Is great but do we give free take to courses like watercolour, art, etc. How can these people repay the debt. When is a hobby a career?
Fair point. I don't think it was going to be carte blanche though. I was thinking more of the career related qualifications as opposed to hobby courses. Governments appear to have had a bit of a snobby attitude to TAFE and trades. I don't really get this. I mean, if everyone is white collar, who is going to build their houses, fix their plumbing, fix there cars and everything else. People I went to school with went into trades, love it, are good at it and take a lot of pride in thier work. I don't think this is something to somehow be looked down on. And people opting for TAFE studies for their career education should not discriminated against because they are not getting a uni degree.
 
Fair point. I don't think it was going to be carte blanche though. I was thinking more of the career related qualifications as opposed to hobby courses. Governments appear to have had a bit of a snobby attitude to TAFE and trades. I don't really get this. I mean, if everyone is white collar, who is going to build their houses, fix their plumbing, fix there cars and everything else. People I went to school with went into trades, love it, are good at it and take a lot of pride in thier work. I don't think this is something to somehow be looked down on. And people opting for TAFE studies for their career education should not discriminated against because they are not getting a uni degree.

Agree completely.

I have two serious TAFE trade based qualifications and one Uni. The TAFE was more practical and income producing.

Go for it. I am a technical tradie and make very good money. Plus love my job!

Peter
 
"I'm here to look out for the interests of the voting public, not my elite corporate masters." - Tony Abbott

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"Hey guise, you think they fell for that? Lucky I was on the radio and no one was able to take a picture of me winking as I said it, amirite!"
 
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