Snod. posted:

Is a $6000 toaster actually code for a minimum wage employee to toast poo poo for you

Doctor Spaceman posted:

https://twitter.com/GrogsGamut/status/730000459235090433

Amethyst posted:

El Scotch posted:

In the US former presidents have a secret service detail in retirement.

In Australia they look like their begging for a fare.

Mithranderp posted:

Regardless of $6,000 toasters, I hate the perpetuation of the 'trickle-down economics' myth. Cutting company taxes doesn't necessarily lead to more jobs--companies don't hire people just because they've got extra money, they hire people if there is more demand for their products and services.

Giving welfare recipients or lower-income earners even a modest increase in income will result in more demand for products and services because, funnily enough, poor people need to buy things. E.g. if I had an extra $20/fortnight I might be able to go to the hairdresser more than once a year, and on a large scale this would increase demand for hairdressers, and would lead to more jobs in hairdressing!

If someone on a higher income received $20 extra a fortnight, they might invest the extra money in shares or put it towards their mortgage, but it'd have little difference to their spending habits in general. Tax cuts for the rich don't stimulate the economy to the same scale that they do for the poor.

Mithranderp posted:

Gorbash posted:

What you want to look at (assuming you're over 25) are the allowable time rules for Austudy. This is probably the link you want, but hunt around that part if it's not: http://guides.dss.gov.au/guide-social-security-law/3/3/4/70


Does this sound like you?

Freudian Slip posted:

I wonder how Albo feels about being endorsed by the terrorgraph

Solemn Sloth posted:

Pretty happy considering he runs his own reds under the bed campaign against the greens

Birdstrike posted:

Greens under the sateen?

Negligent posted:

good career move Jack, a Bachelor of Attendance is a one way ticket to a job at McDonalds

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Greens in my peen.

Recoome posted:

honestly i'd like to know what auspol superstar negligent works as

Skellybones posted:

But does he vote?

Doctor Spaceman posted:

https://twitter.com/GrogsGamut/status/730000459235090433

Anidav posted:

A crowdfunding campaign to "buy Duncan Storrar a toaster" has raised more than its $6,000 target after the Aussie battler became a social media sensation for his appearance on Q&A on Monday night.

There was an outpouring of support on social media with tweets including the hashtag #IstandwithDuncan and #DuncanforPM.

The Buy Duncan Storrar a Toaster crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe was created by user Samuel Slammer Fawcett on Tuesday with a goal of $6,000.

"Hey — Duncan seems like a good bloke and every little bit of cash goes a long way," the campaign states.

"We reckon he deserves a bit of a helping hand so we've decided to buy him a new toaster.

"6 grand oughtta (sic) cover it. And if he has a little bit left over, maybe he can take his kids to the movies or something."

In the early hours of Wednesday, it had raised almost $8,000 with more than 360 donations made in eight hours.

Late on Tuesday night Mr Fawcett shared a campaign update: "Hey toaster lovers. Grab yourselves a piece of toast and watch this tick over 6K! By the time you read this we will probably have hit the goal."

quote:

Dunno, I never really like one of charities like this. We shouldn't need to do stunts like his, Duncan and other lower income people shouldn't be penalised or put down because "they don't pay enough tax". And sure as poo poo shouldn't have to need to explain their situation to clueless politicians who have no idea what people are going through.

Anidav posted:

I'm happy for him given the front page of the Australian is "ABC's budget 'victim' pays no net tax"

He's gonna need that money to sue.

quote:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/fed...88348d1508811ef
Duncan Storrar, the audience member on national TV who railed eloquently against tax relief for the wealthy, pays no net tax and relies on Austudy payments after a difficult life marked by ill health.

Mr Storrar, 45, caused a social media storm on Monday’s Q&A on the ABC when he personalised the claim that it was unfair to give tax advantages to high-income earners rather than the working poor.

He told the panel he had been on the minimum wage all his life because he had little education and a disability, which he revealed yesterday was a decades-long ­battle with post-traumatic stress disorder triggered by sexual abuse.

Visiting his partner Cindy’s housing commission home in Geelong, about 80km southwest of Melbourne, where his daughters, Indica, 8, and Jakayla-Rose, 6, are raised by their mother, Mr Storrar said his life had been tough.

He and his wife are separated and he lives with his mother, sporadically working as a truck driver on $16 an hour and ­relying on a $520-a-fortnight ­Austudy ­allowance to survive.

But he was not seeking more handouts, just arguing for an ­increase in the $18,200 tax-free threshold so he could survive when he worked reduced hours because of his ­illness. “A lift in the tax-free threshold will change my daughters’ lives,” Mr Storrar said, adding that he wanted them to go to university.

Mr Storrar is studying youth work and mental health at a not-for-profit disability educator.

“I get $16 an hour (driving trucks) ... there is this whole level of people like me, we work below the radar, we don’t complain and there is a whole heap of things set up to make it really easy for people to exploit us,’’ Mr Storrar said.

“One of the things is if you leave a job, you automatically lose your payments for 12 weeks.”

He added that it was unfair that the wealthy were getting tax breaks and incentives to invest. Instead, he said the government should allow housing commission tenants to buy properties from the government with the fortnightly subsidised payments.

Mr Storrar, who is a disenchanted former Labor voter who thinks it is now in the same camp as the Liberals, said he was upset by the response of the panel to his question about why the rich were getting tax breaks.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox, a panellist, pointed out that Mr Storrar would pay little or no tax.

Mr Storrar described Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer’s re­action — when she spoke about jobs and growth — as “disgusting”.

“Is that really what politicians think? Our country is not a business, it’s a country,’’ he said.

On ABC radio yesterday, Labor leader Bill Shorten said: “We understand, unlike Mr Turnbull, that a lot of Australians are doing it hard. That’s why we won’t go down the inappropriate path of providing a millionaire ... a $17,000 tax cut whilst people like Duncan get nothing in their tax and face harsh cuts.”

quote:

This stunt puts paid to the "fairness" argument once and for all. Mr Storrar receives housing benefits, Austudy benefits and pays no effective tax whatsoever.....yet wants more. He is a typical welfare parasite who has made poor life choices, yet wants those who contribute to this nation to support him. His life is portrayed by the ABC as tough! Apart from his spurious claim of an easily faked "disease" brought on by an unprovable catalyst. Rather than lift himself up by his bootstraps as most of us with "tough" lives have been forced to do; he's content to play the victim card. Storrar is a prime example of everything that is wrong with this nation today, and its spiralling plunge into the depths of welfare enablement.

Anidav posted:

There's that word again.

Bootstraps.