Craig Hill Media and Consulting
Politics
Centrelink has a communication problem
My case officer at Centrelink has told me that they are not allowed to send or receive emails and the same rule applies with text messages. Apparently they don’t want to commit to anything in writing. This is compounded by the fact that it is near impossible to get through to them on the phone, … Continue reading
Leave Lidia alone, but lessons need to be learnt
Did the Prime Minister say that Lidia Thorpe has mental health issues? No, he did not, though many are misrepresenting what he said to advance their own agendas, claiming sexism and racism. Lidia’s behaviour was inappropriate, but those claiming to defend her are only vilifying her more, and harming the Yes Campaign of the Voice … Continue reading
Senator Fatima Payman speaks about The Voice, the RBA, the Greens and other issues
Senator Fatima Payman took to Reddit on Wednesday night to answer questions from the general public. Asked about her thoughts on the coalition opposing the Voice to Parliament, Senator Payman replied: “The Voice is about recognition and consultation, and it’s a shame the Liberals haven’t seized this opportunity to go on this path of reconciliation. … Continue reading
Patrick Gorman MP takes questions from the general public
Patrick Gorman MP took to Reddit on Tuesday night to answer questions from the general public. The Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister opened the discussion stating that the Australian Labor Party has been the greatest driver of progress in Australia over the last 122 years of Federation. He added that the Albanese Government has … Continue reading
Mutual obligations should be scrapped
Mutual obligations is a punitive system introduced by the LNP government in their dying days as a final swipe at Australia’s most vulnerable. Under the system, jobseekers must complete a range of tasks each month – such as job applications, education or training, or other personal development activities – to meet their requirements. The various … Continue reading
Open forum discussion with Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John
Thousands of Australians took the opportunity to participate in citizen-led democracy on Reddit on Tuesday 15 March, engaging Jordon Steele-John, Australian Greens Senator from Western Australia, with questions on a wide range of topics including the NDIS, nuclear submarines, cannabis legislation and inclusivity during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. Asked about whether The Greens … Continue reading
Centrelink payments to rise from Monday
Centrelink payments will rise from Monday 20 March, as part of the twice yearly increases driven by indexation. While the rises are welcome, they are still not enough. Single age and disability pension recipients and carers will receive an increase of $37.50 a fortnight, and couples a combined $56.40. The maximum fortnightly pension rate will … Continue reading
LNP single out NDIS cuts to pay for AUKUS
Peter Dutton has called for cuts to the NDIS to help pay for AUKUS, while steadfastly attacking superannuation changes that would affect only the very rich. This is yet another attack by the LNP on Australia’s most vulnerable, and one can only surmise that this was the LNP intention when they first announced the AUKUS … Continue reading
Open forum discussion with Owen Miller, Fusion Party candidate in Aston
Owen Miller, Fusion Party candidate in the Aston by-election, took part in an open forum discussion on Reddit on Tuesday 7 March. In this discussion, he took questions from the general public. In his opening, he stated that Fusion aimed to bring about a return to real Australian values, innovation and a fair go for … Continue reading
Is superannuation guaranteed?
With Labor introducing changes to superannuation and the LNP promising to repeal those changes, Australians are once again left uncertain about whether they will have enough to retire on. Compounding that issue is the fact that it is now extremely difficult to get a full aged pension. First, let’s look at superannuation. For many years … Continue reading
The LNP want to wreck superannuation
Peter Dutton’s announcement that he will repeal Labor’s superannuation laws if he miraculously becomes Prime Minister is all the proof we need that the LNP should not be in government. The problem is that every government does something similar whenever they gain power, meaning there is no certainty for future retirees about their retirement. This … Continue reading
Centrelink’s “deserving” and “undeserving” poor
The Robodebt Royal Commission has heard that the former LNP government had a strong view of “deserving” and “undeserving” poor when it came to Centrelink. Exactly what this means is unclear, but it sounds very ominous. It seems to want to create division between those that the government see as worthy, and those they see … Continue reading
Negative income tax would help low income earners
Negative Income Tax is an alternative to the Universal Basic Income, and reverses the direction in which tax is paid for incomes below a certain level. It provides that wage earners above a certain level of income pay tax, while those below that level receive support from the government. As a grossly over-simplified example, the … Continue reading
Open forum discussion with Senator Malcolm Roberts
Thousands of Australians took the opportunity to participate in citizen-led democracy on Reddit on Thursday February 23, engaging Senator Malcolm Roberts from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation with questions on a wide range of topics including Lidia Thorpe, housing, inflation, and tax reform during the Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. Asked about Thorpe’s position on Indigenous … Continue reading
The safeguard mechanism misses the mark
The safeguard mechanism that Labor are proposing is far from perfect, but it is much better than what the LNP gave us when they first introduced it. The LNP did not properly enforce their mechanism, and it failed to reduce emissions. Now that Labor want to make it better and enforce it, the LNP are … Continue reading
We must never again allow a cashless welfare card
Peter Dutton is calling for the reintroduction of the cashless welfare card, blaming it’s scrapping on the rise in alcohol-related violence in Alice Springs and Indigenous communities. Dutton is not basing his assertions on facts. He is using a social crisis for political purposes to incite emotions against Aboriginal people. He has singled out the … Continue reading
The Greens are both right and wrong on housing
Labor’s plan to implement a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund is under threat from the Greens and the Opposition. Both parties need to take a breath and consider the realities of their situation. The Opposition need to realise that their job is to oppose government legislation if it is bad, and offer a better … Continue reading
Using porn to shame a work colleague is a crime
In any other workplace in Australia, distributing explicit photos of a work colleague to shame them would result in dismissal, yet Dominic Perrottet has gone in to defend Peter Poulos for doing just that. At the very least, Poulos should have been sanctioned. By failing to take any action, Perrottet is sending the message that … Continue reading
Bring Julian Assange home
Julian Assange, the Australian publisher who founded WikiLeaks in 2006, faces 175 years in prison if extradited from the UK to the US. Assange’s case is the first time in history that a publisher has been indicted under the US Espionage Act, but the Australian government have so far not stepped in to help him. … Continue reading
Was the Morrison government fascist?
Allegations of fascism are thrown around frequently to describe the far right, and often the term is misused to incite an emotional response against political ideologies that opponents don’t agree with. However, in the case of the Morrison government, the use of the word may have had some merit. Wikipedia describes Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology. It … Continue reading
The rise and fall of Lidia Thorpe
There can be no doubt that Lidia Thorpe has achieved a lot in her time, but like many before and still to come, she has shown a political naivety since coming to federal politics. Although she made significant achievements prior to entering federal politics, which we will acknowledge, she has been an absolute nightmare for … Continue reading
There’s no town like Alice – or is there?
There can be no doubt that the problems in Alice Springs are extreme, to say the least, but similar problems exist on Indigenous, remote and rural communities right throughout Australia. Nor is the problem confined to Indigenous people. It is happening right across the community. Alice Springs has come to the forefront in recent times … Continue reading
Universal Basic Income in Australia
Over the years, Australia just like other developed countries have been thinking of introducing a universal basic income (UBI). But what is it, and what are the arguments for and against? A UBI is a form of income that is offered by the government to its citizens with disregard to their employment status. This form … Continue reading
Voice to Parliament: the dirty tricks of the no-campaigners
Constitutional recognition through a Voice to Parliament would give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people agency to help inform decisions that impact their lives. Yet there are those that are against this purely on principle, rather than on any facts or details of the proposed Voice. Why is this so? First, let’s look at what … Continue reading
Bring back the CES (Commonwealth Employment Service)
Job Services Australia, or Workforce Australia as it is now called, has failed to live up to the promises the Howard government made when they introduced it in 1998. Originally known as the Job Network, it has devolved into a giant money making venture by about 30 multinational organisations, and offers few tangible services to … Continue reading
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