Australia’s education sector has become a two-tier system of advantage and disadvantage, the Gonski review into schools funding shows.

The report argues that $5 billion in annual recurrent funding is needed to address the trend, which report author David Gonski cautioned was calculated in 2009 terms – meaning it would be higher today.

”Importantly the report says that differences in educational outcomes must not be the result of differences in wealth, income, power or possessions,” Mr Gonski said, releasing the report.

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A two-tier system of advantage and disadvantage … David Gonski’s take on Australia’s education sector. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

”There is growing evidence that an increased concentration of disadvantaged students in a school has an impact on education outcomes.”

In the past 10 years, Australian children have slipped from being equal second in reading among OECD countries to being equal seventh. They have slipped from equal fifth to equal 13th in maths.

But the report also showed that disadvantaged children were underperforming at schools to a greater degree than children from privileged backgrounds, and were more likely to earn low incomes as adults.

In 2009 the median weekly income for adults whose highest level of education was year 10 or below was $671. For those with a graduate diploma, it was $1438.

”There is also an unacceptable link between low levels of achievement and educational disadvantage, particularly among students from low socio-economic and indigenous backgrounds,” the report found.

It showed the effect of disadvantage on students’ opportunities, with 60 per cent of children who are not proficient in English, and about 30 per cent of indigenous children considered ”developmentally vulnerable”.

In 2009, 56 per cent of children from low socio-economic backgrounds completed year 12, compared with 75 per cent of children from high socio-economic backgrounds.

Almost 80 per cent of students in the lowest quarter of socio-economic disadvantage attend state schools, compared with 15 per cent who go to Catholic schools, and 6 per cent who go to independent schools.

In both NAPLAN and PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment, used by the OECD) measures, children from independent schools tended to have better results, followed by children from the Catholic sector and then government schools.

But in its four-page response to the review, the government raised doubts about the call for additional funding, saying ”in some areas, the Australian government believes that the scope of proposed new funding contributions may be too large”.

And it highlighted its intent to bring the budget back into surplus by 2012-13.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, told journalists she was determined to make the ”right budget choices”, which would ”enable us to have our economic settings right as well as to fund the things that are most valuable to our community”.

”I’d say to you, for us as a government it’s not an either/or equation between a budget surplus or funding the things that you believe in. It’s about making the two work together,” Ms Gillard said.

Follow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU

http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/786.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/786.html#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:20:45 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/786.html Click to play video Return to video Video settings

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All eyes on Gillard and Gonski

Reports of rebel Labor members’ plans to spill the PM and Gonski’s $5 billion cost, as online political editor Tim Lester runs over the day’s political news.

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  Federal government funding for every student regardless of the income of their parents or the wealth of their school is now part of a ”citizenship entitlement”, with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, yesterday in effect declaring it part of a new Australian compact.

  But while Ms Gillard committed her government to fund all schools regardless of wealth or need, she refused to commit the money that the long-running review of school funding says is needed to restore Australia’s ailing education system to health.

  The review, headed by the Sydney businessman David Gonski, proposed an overhaul of school funding to be backed by the injection of more than $5 billion to reverse the slippage in Australia’s school performance, warning that the nation’s global competitiveness was at stake.

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  Ticking all the boxes … David Gonski at the release of the long-awaited review into school funding at Parliament House yesterday. Photo: Andrew Meares

  But Ms Gillard repeatedly refused to commit to the funding. An official government response cited the need to return the budget to surplus next financial year and warned that ”the scope of the proposed new funding contributions may be too large”.

  Instead, another round of consultations and working parties will be established with stakeholders including state education ministers. Parents, too, would be encouraged to have their say.

  Mr Gonski’s panel was ”strongly of the view” the new funding arrangements were needed to ensure differences in educational outcomes in Australia were not the result of differences in ”wealth, income, power or possessions”.

  The review proposes a new Schooling Resource Standard to be based on the cost of educating children in high performing schools. It would be lower than the present average funding but with loadings added to address those factors known to affect student performance such as low socio-economic status, disability, indigenous background, remoteness, school size and English proficiency.

  It recommends governments ”significantly increase” funding to schools where students experience multiple factors of disadvantage. It cites high concentrations of poor and indigenous students as having the most significant effect on educational outcomes.

  The resource standard would recognise that similar student populations require the same level of resources regardless of which sector they were in.

  Private schools serving disadvantaged students should be able to operate without collecting any fees.

  The panel, which operated under federal government direction that no school could lose a dollar in funding as a result of the changes, said the principal justification for funding wealthy schools was that governments had done so for many decades.

  Ms Gillard was much more specific. ”I do believe that as effectively a citizenship entitlement, people are entitled to see government support for the funding of their child’s education,” she said.

  Private schools were ”amazed” by Ms Gillard’s commitment.

  ”That was an extraordinary comment and we welcome it completely. I’ve not heard it from any Labor politician,” said Geoff Newcombe, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools in NSW.

  In order to protect private school funding the review recommends the minimum public contribution be set at between 20 and 25 per cent of the resource standard. A new model of assessing need in non-government schools is also proposed. It would be based on the capacity of parents to contribute financially to the school. Initially, this would be calculated from the socio-economic status of parents but Mr Gonski wants a more sophisticated measure to be developed.

  The review’s commitment that governments make reducing educational disadvantage a high priority was endorsed by teachers.

  Angelo Gavrielatos, the federal president of the Australian Education Union, said it was great news.

  ”The review has spoken and it has told us the current funding arrangements are failing our children and failing the nation. As Mr Gonski says we’ve been slipping and there is a risk of greater slippage unless we address this matter,” he said.

  ”We call on the government to get on with the job. We need a timetable for legislation this year so we see this new funding system put in place.”

  Both Catholic and independent school sectors responded positively to Mr Gonski’s recommendations but remain apprehensive about the government’s capacity to deliver change and warn that much work needs to be done to understand the implications.

  ”It’s a theoretical model but we don’t know where it takes us until you put the data into it and it doesn’t work without the extra $5 billion and we don’t have a firm commitment around that,” said Brian Croke, the executive director of the Catholic Education Commission of NSW.

  Follow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU

  ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/786.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/784.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/784.html#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:25:46 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/784.html The first draft of the government’s poker machine reforms legislation will be released today and comes a day after local clubs in the ACT agreed, in principle, to host a year-long trial of mandatory pre-commitment technology.

  The draft legislation, which industry and community groups will be consulted on over the coming weeks, includes placing a $250 ATM daily withdrawal limit from February 1 next year, with exemptions for venues in communities with limited banking facilities.

  The trial of mandatory pre-commitment is not included in the draft bill, which also requires the Productivity Commission to review and report on the results of the trial.

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  Precommitment will involve a minimum time for a player’s loss limit of 24 hours, with punters unable to play once they have reached their limit.

  Poker machine reforms have been a costly headache for the government and one Labor MP told the National Times today that it had been a lesson in “how to argue both sides of a bad argument”.

  “It is mystifying,” the MP said. “How do you stuff up on actually getting rid of the worst of the reforms? We got so much heat over trying to introduce pre-commitment and then it is canned but we get heat for backflipping on a deal no one wanted in the first place.”

  Prime Minister Julia Gillard last month reneged on her deal with anti-pokies crusader, independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie, after she secured an extra vote in the lower house, courtesy of the Peter Slipper Speaker deal.

  In exchange for his support of Labor in a minority government, Mr Wilkie secured a written guarantee from Ms Gillard in 2010 that she would pass legislation to tackle problem gambling by 2014.

  Mr Wilkie’s withdrawal of support meant that Labor’s hard-fought two seat buffer in the House of Representatives lasted just one month.

  The chief executive of ClubsACT, Jeff House, said yesterday that while the clubs had agreed to host the trail it was just the beginning of negotiations with the government, with many issues, such as compensation for clubs, technical specifics and the involvement of nearby NSW clubs, still to be sorted out.

  As the only jurisdiction with the technology, Ms Gillard has promised $37.1 million in compensation for lost earnings to ACT clubs. The funds will also cover the cost of installing mandatory pre-commitment technology on poker machines and boost counselling funding.

  Follow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU

   

  ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/784.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/782.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/782.html#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:57:58 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/782.html

  Julia Gillard. Photo: Andrew Meares

  Julia Gillard is the new chief executive of Australia. She’s a youngish, unmarried, childless redhead with a razor-sharp brain and the patience to wait in the wings for the top job to be delivered into her lap. History has an almost complete doppelganger in the figure of England’s first chief executive, the woman who turned a failing European backwater into the most powerful of the Renaissance nations.

  Put to one side a couple of minor differences between Gillard and Elizabeth I – virginity, a royal father and the divine right to lead – and Thursday’s tumultuous events in Canberra are an echo of the day 452 years ago when a subject of England watched the country’s new supreme leader walk past to claim her destiny and exclaimed: ”Oh Lord. The Queen is a woman!”

  Like Gillard, Elizabeth did not seek the top job but was handed the reins at a time of bloody factional discord – in her case, the religious split between Protestant and Catholic that had been ripping the country apart.

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  There was an economic crisis – the coffers were almost empty after war and other royal excesses, with only highly unpopular measures available to replenish them. And the nation was in stasis after several years under a vindictive, uncommunicative leader for whom ”consensus” was a dirty word.

  Elizabeth set about building one of the greatest empires the world had seen and the lessons of her 45-year leadership make her a fascinating role model for Gillard – or anyone wanting to win the hearts and minds of the team they lead.

  Like that other indispensable guide for women seeking the top job, Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, Alan Axelrod’s book Elizabeth I CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader Who Built an Empire, could be laying out a blueprint for Gillard. Although according to his thesis, she already has some of the Virgin Queen’s tricks under her belt.

  Be sure you’ll win. Elizabeth learnt at a young age how to keep her head when others around her – including her mother, Anne Boleyn – were losing theirs on the chopping block. Gillard likewise learnt early on how to navigate her way around Labor’s factions – something Kevin Rudd never managed, or bothered, to master.

  After the bloody suppression of Protestantism under Elizabeth’s half-sister and predecessor Mary, Catholics expected the new queen would come down on them as heavily in revenge. Elizabeth did not, although Parliament was desperate to quash Catholic worship once and for all. Elizabeth, like Gillard, always made sure to pick her fights. She once vetoed a bill about mandatory taking of communion, fearing that it would force a showdown by exposing practising Catholics to official scrutiny. Gillard watched the polls and waited weeks before forcing a showdown which she knew to be inevitable, and which she knew she’d win.

  Despite Elizabeth’s reluctance to take drastic action against her rivals, she acted swiftly when necessary. In the case of her chief rival, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth kept her at bay for years before finally moving on the insistence of her advisers. Mary was tried for treason and executed; Kevin Rudd can be grateful Gillard’s decisive action this week didn’t involve any separation of head from shoulders.

  Beware radical change. Axelrod writes that Elizabeth introduced change incrementally so she kept enough of the old to give everyone a sense of confidence. ”Strong-willed and decisive, Elizabeth came as a proverbial breath of fresh air, but not a whirlwind.”

  On taking office, she had to choose members of her Privy Council (cabinet) and while she chose to keep the best of the old queen’s team, there was evolution, not revolution at the top – a rule Gillard appears to be following.

  Always consider the middle course. Elizabeth eventually achieved a wonderful compromise between Protestants and Catholics: outwardly the country seemed uniformly Protestant, but they stopped killing each other and Catholics could relax.

  When Labor’s queenmakers acted this week it was to stop the rot of broken promises and a potentially lethal war over the mining super tax. Gillard’s first act as chief executive has been to seek some middle ground, and encourage everyone back to the negotiating table by pulling the government’s mining tax advertising.

  Create your own image, or others will do it for you. Elizabeth never married and she milked the virgin image until her death at 70. She looked nothing like Cate Blanchett, but she used every trick in the 16th century book to enhance her natural pale skin and light red hair, as they were the ideals of virginal beauty. Her spin was so successful that centuries later she is still known as the Virgin Queen.

  She was also famous for her tight economic control, yet she invested heavily in expensive clothes and jewellery. As Axelrod notes: ”No leader of a serious enterprise can afford to neglect the shaping of an effective and powerful image that promotes the cohesiveness of the organisation.” Women who’ve watched Gillard’s progress up the ranks in recent years will have noticed how she has become progressively more groomed. On Thursday she positively glowed – and who wouldn’t if they’d just become the first female leader of the nation – with hair and make-up polished to perfection.

  A woman in a man’s world Tudor England believed women were intellectually and temperamentally unsuited to leadership. Not much has changed over the generations. Looking at Australia’s list of prime ministers, one would think we’d felt the same until this week. Elizabeth’s answer to this was ”prudence, boldness and genius”. ”She used her formidable intellect … to make herself absolute mistress of the facts,” Axelrod writes. Sound familiar?

  Elizabeth was a great speaker and performer. Her speeches to Parliament or troops about to head off to war stand today as examples for any CEO or PM in how to get it right.

  Gillard is one of Parliament’s most fleet of foot, with a well-honed sense of timing, theatrics and oratory. Fresh from the glow of savouring her victory, she gave no quarter to Julie Bishop in Thursday’s question time, responding to the ”same old Deputy Leader of the Opposition, serving her third leader”.

  Married to the job. Elizabeth’s unmarried state was a constant subject of discussion, but she resisted pressure to take a husband, devoting energy and cunning into avoiding it (to remain the mistress of no man). She portrayed herself as a selfless woman married to the job – to the nation.

  While she has never said as much, on Thursday Gillard spoke of giving ”the most loyal service I could offer … I love this country and I was not going to sit idly by”. It will be interesting to see how the country’s first unmarried prime minister and her partner, Tim Mathieson, handle what will no doubt become an increasing spotlight.

  The head that wears the crown. In Elizabeth’s final speech to Parliament in 1601 she noted: ”To be a king and bear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.” This is one of Elizabeth’s lessons that Rudd knows first-hand and Gillard is about to learn.

   

  ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/782.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/783.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/783.html#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:55:01 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/783.html Click to play video

  ANALYSIS: The The Sydney Morning Herald ‘s Political Editor Peter Hartcher comments on where Kevin Rudd went wrong and how Julia Gillard can avoid the same mistakes.

  Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has set three tests for new Prime Minister Julia Gillard – ending uncertainty over the mining tax, resolving the asylum seekers issue and suspending the troubled school building program.

  Ms Gillard will hold her first cabinet meeting today after toppling Kevin Rudd yesterday.

  “For a few days there will be tremendous excitement and that’s as it should be,” Mr Abbott told the Nine Network this morning.

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  “But then people will say, what’s really changed, what’s really different, can she fix our problems?

  “I don’t believe that she can stop the boats, I don’t think she’s got the guts to accept she was wrong and end the school hall rip-offs and I certainly don’t think she can fix the mining tax.”

  Treasurer Wayne Swan, now Deputy Prime Minister, said Ms Gillard had “very good rapport” with the community.

  While the leadership coup was orchestrated by factional figures, Mr Swan said the mood for change was spread broadly throughout caucus.

  “It was certainly swift but it was broadly based … right across the parliamentary party,” he said.

  Ms Gillard was no puppet, Mr Swan said.

  “I think the public is acutely aware that Julia Gillard is a very independent person,” he said.

  “She is fiercely independent, she has her own mind, she makes her own decisions and I think she took her decision in the national interest.”

  Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek said there were mixed feelings inside the Labor caucus about the tumultuous events of yesterday.

  “At the end of the day, however much human sympathy we have for people the country has to be governed,” she told the Seven Network’s Sunrise program today.

  Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said the Labor factions were wholly responsible for Ms Gillard’s rise.

  “This goes to show that this infection of these faceless people has now come from Sydney down to Canberra,” he told ABC Television.

  “One of the greatest benefactors of that, obviously, is the new Prime Minister.

  “She’s there by reason of a factional deal and I don’t believe for one moment that this wasn’t planned over a number of weeks.”

  The Nationals were concerned Ms Gillard had no connection to regional Australia, Senator Joyce said.

  Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says he is keen to meet Ms Gillard more frequently than the two meetings he had with Mr Rudd.

  The anti-pokies campaigner says there is a lot more the government could do on gaming and he hopes Ms Gillard will discuss the issue with him.

  Senator Xenophon, who shares the balance of power with six other crossbenchers in the upper house, believes a federal election could be held as early as August or mid-October.

  It was later pointed out to Mr Swan that the previous two treasurers to serve as deputy prime minister – Paul Keating and Peter Costello – both aspired to the top job.

  Mr Swan said the pattern ended there.

  “No I don’t, and I have no ambition to do so,” he told ABC Radio.

  Financial Services Minister Chris Bowen denied the move to oust Mr Rudd began before Wednesday.

  Mr Bowen told ABC Radio discussions about a leadership challenge began on Wednesday, and he wasn’t aware what role right-wing powerbroker Bill Shorten played.

  “As far as the cabinet and the caucus were concerned, we were remaining on track with the former prime minister,” he told ABC Radio today.

  “The day before yesterday soundings were taken and the decision was taken to challenge.”

  Factions alone couldn’t decide the leadership, Mr Bowen said.

  “Faction leaders can’t simply decide that they’re going to make a change,” he said.

  “They have to have the views of the caucus behind them and in this case the caucus overwhelmingly had a view that a change was required.”

  Health Minister Nicola Roxon said Thursday had been a very difficult day.

  “For many people this is like your parents getting divorced,” she told ABC Radio in Melbourne this morning.

  Ms Roxon said she was close to both the former prime minister and the newly minted Ms Gillard.

  “But as Julia has said, the time came to make a decision about whether we needed to change direction on some issues,” she said.

  “This is an opportunity to change in some areas where we were getting off track.”

  AAP

  ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/783.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/765.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/765.html#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:57:42 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/765.html

  “Rudd and Swan … believe in building things” … Bob Katter. Photo: Glenn Hunt

  CABINET ministers scratching for savings to meet the government’s pledge to return the budget to surplus have been angered by a decision to quarantine hundreds of millions of dollars for a pet project of the colourful Queensland independent Bob Katter that is not yet economically viable.

  The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, promised $335 million to the CopperString power project, in which Mr Katter’s brother-in-law has a large financial interest, during negotiations to form government. She stuck by the pledge even when Mr Katter did not support Labor.

  The Herald understands the money promised to CopperString will be quarantined, remaining in the budget for CopperString or another north Queensland power transmission project.

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  It will not be moved to the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, where funding decisions will be made by an independent board.

  But industry experts doubt the viability of CopperString after its largest potential customer, Xstrata, chose to source power from a local generator and the Queensland government-owned Ergon Energy also entered a power purchase agreement with the rival.

  Ministers forced to find difficult savings during the gruelling budget process have questioned why money for an unviable project that does not appear to be proceeding should be protected.

  Mr Katter’s position is particularly sensitive because he has been touted as a crossbencher who could support Labor if Kevin Rudd were to return as leader. He said Mr Rudd is a ”friend” and a ”mate” and ”a lot of Kevin’s thinking would be similar to my thinking”.

  But he is also close to the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, telling the Herald he believed the government would honour its commitment to CopperString because ”both Rudd and Swan are out of Queensland and they believe in building things”.

  A 2010 report by Rod Sims, then of Port Jackson Partners, found there was a compelling economic case to create a ”clean energy corridor” between Townsville and Mount Isa, but recommended it be left to energy users to decide whether they wanted to use the new transmission line or locally generated power.

  CopperString is half-owned by the construction company Leightons and the development company CuString.

  CuString is 95 per cent owned by John O’Brien, Mr Katter’s brother-in-law, and 5 per cent owned by Mr O’Brien’s son Joseph.

  The Gillard government says it is in talks with the Queensland government about the development.

  ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/765.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/771.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/771.html#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:56:48 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/771.html

  Waiting… Queensland independent MP Bob Katter could pocket a $335 million government grant for his CopperString power project. Photo: Domino Postiglione

  THE Gillard government is keeping open the prospect of a $335 million grant for Queensland independent Bob Katter’s CopperString power project, even though it has failed a key requirement for the funding.

  Despite Mr Katter not backing Labor to form government after the 2010 election, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, still promised him, in writing, up to $335 million for the project, provided major north Queensland energy customers chose to use it.

  But last October, Xstrata chose a rival consortium to power its Mt Isa operations and, in December, the Queensland government-owned Ergon Energy also entered a power purchase agreement with a rival.

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  Mr Katter said he was scheduled to meet the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, this week on the issue but had already been reassured the ”door was not closed” on the money. ”It is still reserved in the budget,” he said.

  Mr Katter is hoping his Australian Party will win enough influence in next month’s Queensland election to resurrect the plan, and wields influence in Canberra because he has hinted he could support a government led by Kevin Rudd.

  Mr Katter’s brother-in-law is a key player in CopperString Pty Ltd, which is planning to build the $1.5 billion transmission link between Townsville and Mt Isa.

  CopperString is half-owned by the construction contractor Leighton and CuString Pty Ltd. CuString is 95 per cent owned by John O’Brien, who is married to Katter’s sister, Geraldine. The remaining 5 per cent is held by Mr O’Brien’s son, Joseph – Bob Katter’s nephew.

  A spokesman for the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said the government’s ”commitment to securing north Queensland’s energy supply remains a priority … that’s why we have been working with the Queensland government, the CopperString consortium and other parties to open up these opportunities.”

  Follow Environment on Twitter  

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    The storm clouds in Canberra hovering over Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s leadership manifested in physical form today with the annual Prime Minister’s XI cricket match set to be cancelled due to rain.

    Ms Gillard was battered for a fourth day by mounting speculation that her hold on the Labor leadership was slipping.

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    Leadership struggle … Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd appear to be at odds. Photo: Andrew Meares

    A senior Labor source told Fairfax Media this week there had been a seismic shift in support away from Ms Gillard over the summer break with a portion of the backbench now backing former prime minister Kevin Rudd in the event of a leadership spill.

    The Gillard government failed to make up ground in the first Newspoll of the year, with its primary vote flatlining on 30 per cent and Ms Gillard ceding ground to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as preferred prime minister – though she still leads by a narrow margin of 3 percentage points.

    The next Fairfax/Nielsen poll – to be published on Monday – will come the day after Ms Gillard hosts her MPs at The Lodge on Sunday night. Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

    A supporter of Ms Gillard said all eyes would be on the poll and that “we are praying for the high 30s”.

    “It is pretty dire when the best you can expect is well below 40 per cent but there you have it,” the MP said. “If it dips back into the 20s then we have a real problem. Julia will have a real problem on her hands.”

    After campaigning at high profile events for Labor candidates standing in the Queensland election, Mr Rudd departed for Germany yesterday to attend the Munich Security Conference.

    It means he will miss an extraordinary caucus meeting that will be held before the Sunday evening function at The Lodge.

    Despite predictions by the opposition that Mr Rudd would bring on a challenge to Ms Gillard before the March 24 Queensland election, it is more likely that any confrontation would occur in May, when Parliament returns for the budget sessions.

    Parliament does not sit between late March and the May budget session but Rudd supporters were reported today as pointing to the possibility of a move when Parliament is in recess, based on the government’s performance in the first sitting session and the polls.

    A report in The Australian Financial Review quoted a Gillard supporter as saying there was now a sense of inevitability over a leadership showdown between Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd.

    “It is clear to me that it has got to be brought to a head at some stage,” said an MP who supports Ms Gillard. “It can’t keep going the way it is at the moment.”

    The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith – who is considered to be a possible third option in a ballot – said today that Ms Gillard was “doing a good job in tough circumstances”.

    Asked if he could rule himself out of the leadership race, Mr Smith told Sky News, “The leadership is not vacant.”

    There are signs within the government the ongoing speculation over the Labor leadership is taking its toll.

    The Labor powerbroker and Cabinet minister, Bill Shorten, displayed signs of impatience when questioned today about party unrest. When asked whether Ms Gillard should bring the issue to a head and call a vote, Mr Shorten replied with a clipped ”no” while speaking on Fairfax Radio today.

    When questioned if he stood by his previous statement that he did not harbour ambitions for the Labor leadership, he replied with a single word: ”yes”.

    And quizzed on the sore subject of Mr Rudd – who Mr Shorten helped oust – and whether the Foreign Minister had accepted that he would never be prime minister again, the factional boss said: ”I believe so”.

    The Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, lashed out yesterday after an unnamed factional boss, loyal to Ms Gillard, was reported in the Herald as saying Ms Gillard was in trouble.

    “I lose patience with people who are talking to journalists and there’s no name attached to it and you wonder who on earth it was,” he said.

    Mr Combet pointed to the challenges ahead of the government. “We understand the situation in the polls and the necessity to communicate our agenda successfully to the community and we’ll work very hard to do it.”

    The Manufacturing Minister, Kim Carr – who was dumped from his role as Industry Minister in the December reshuffle and is thought to be now firmly in the Rudd camp – ducked questions yesterday over whether Ms Gillard would and should remain leader, saying: “This is stuff that’s driven directly as a result of media speculation.”

    The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, said yesterday MPs were “on edge” and “nervous” because the government had taken “some tough policy decisions”.

    “People continue to underestimate how tough Julia Gillard is,” he said. “We have had a string of tough decisions through last year: the carbon tax, the mining tax; we have seen the decision around poker machines where we couldn’t get the numbers to get something through, so it is not surprising to see people are a little on edge because we have taken some tough decisions.”

    The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said he believed a move by Mr Rudd was imminent.

    “Look, all the signs are there. It is a very, very restless caucus,” Mr Abbott told the Nine Network this morning.

    “In the end it’s up to the Labor Party to choose which failed leader it wants to take into the election.”

    Mr Abbott said he expected that to happen before the Queensland election campaign got into full swing.

    “My instinct is he’ll make a move before the Queensland election because if Kevin is such a miracle worker in Queensland you’d think they’d want him there before the state election.”

    Bookies still favour Gillard

    Bookmakers have joined the speculation that Mr Rudd will challenge on Ms Gillard sooner rather than later, with one betting agency saying it was a matter of when, not if.

    Sportsbet.com.au this morning offered odds of $1.72 that Mr Rudd will challenge Ms Gillard before the end of the month.

    The online bookmaker is offering odds of $1.40 that he will challenge by the end of March and $1.20 that he will make a bid for his old job by the end of the year.

    “Where there’s smoke there’s fire. The writing seems on the wall that Rudd will try and get back at Gillard and challenge for the leadership of the Labor party – it is a matter of when not if,” said sportsbet.com.au’s Shaun Anderson.

    But Sportsbet’s odds show Ms Gillard is still favourite to be the Labor leader at the next election, although Mr Rudd has closed the gap.

    Senior minister, and fierce critic of Mr Rudd, Simon Crean is the third-most likely leader, according to the bookmakers’ latest odds.

    Labor Leader at next Federal Election (Prices in brackets from Tuesday January 24)

    $2.25   Julia Gillard           (out from $2.10)$3.00   Kevin Rudd           (in from $3.50)$4.50   Simon Crean         (steady)$6.50   Stephen Smith      (out from $6.00)$9.00   Bill Shorten           (out from $8.00)$17      Greg Combet        (steady)$67      Wayne Swan        (steady)$81      Chris Bowen         (steady)$201    Anthony Albanese  (out from $151)$201    Nicola Roxon         (steady)$251    Kate Ellis              (out from $201)$201    Nicola Roxon         (steady)$251    Peter Garrett        (steady)

    - with Richard Willingham

    ]]> http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/777.html/feed 0 http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/749.html http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/749.html#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:55:44 +0000 admin http://www.thisotherlife.net/html/749.html

    Tanya Plibersek says low income-earners shouldn’t subsidise the private health insurance of those on high pay. Photo: Andrew Meares

    High income earners face increased health cover payments – including up to $1300 extra a year for families – with the government poised to pass legislation to means-test the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate.

    The means test, the legislation for which was rejected twice by the previous parliament, is worth $2.4 billion to the budget bottom line over the next three financial years and is critical if the government is to achieve its target to bring the budget back to surplus in 2012-13.

    The latest Treasury estimates say the rebate is worth $768 million in 2012-13 alone when the budget is forecast to deliver a threadbare $1.5 billion surplus.

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    The Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, introduced the legislation yesterday after negotiations with the crossbench MPs. The government needs the support of three of the six crossbenchers. The Greens MP, Adam Bandt, already supported the proposal and it is understood the independents Rob Oakeshott and Andrew Wilkie, who first signalled his support last July, are in agreement.

    Mr Oakeshott was not commenting publicly yesterday and Mr Wilkie said he was ”inclined” to support it.

    The government is counting on the legislation passing through the lower house next week and soon after through the Senate, where the Greens hold the balance of power. The means test would apply from July 1.

    In his successful election campaign in 2007, the then Labor leader, Kevin Rudd, promised not to touch the rebate, which the Howard government introduced in 1999.

    At the time the cost to the budget was more than $2 billion a year but Labor argues that has now blown out to almost $5 billion and has created a structural deficit that will cost $100 billion over 40 years.

    The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said the legislation was another broken promise by Labor and would exacerbate cost-of-living pressures.

    ”Australian households are paying a heavy price for Labor’s waste and mismanagement and its failure to manage the budget,” he said.

    High-income earners who drop their insurance will have their Medicare levy increased. The 30 per cent rebate will be phased down, starting with singles on incomes of $83,000 and families on $166,000. It will disappear altogether for singles earning $129,000 and couples earning more than $258,000.

    A family on a joint income of more than $258,000 paying $270 a month will lose the rebate altogether and pay more than $100 extra a month.

    Ms Plibersek told Parliament that those who cleaned the chamber at night should not be subsidising the pay of MPs.

    ”We’re talking about people in the community – some of them on say $50,000 a year – who can’t afford private health insurance themselves, subsidising the private health insurance of people including very high-income earners,” she said.

    Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton said he would ”do whatever it takes” to block the legislation but could not guarantee a future Coalition government would throw out a means test on the rebate.

    ”We’re looking at a number of measures at the moment which may further enhance the attractiveness of private health insurance,” he told ABC TV.

    ”There may be smarter ways that we can do that.”

    Mr Dutton said the Coalition would concentrate on ensuring there was a proper balance between the private and public health sectors.

    He warned that about 1.6 million Australians would junk their private hospital cover over the next five years and another 4.3 million would downgrade their coverage if the rebate legislation was passed.

    But the government has disputed the figures, citing Treasury modelling that suggests only 0.3 per cent, or 27,000 people, will drop out of the private system.

    Yesterday legislation was also introduced to enable pay rises of more than $40,000 for MPs and more for ministers and shadow ministers. It is supported by both sides.

    In a statement to Parliament, the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, reaffirmed the government’s pledge to return the budget to surplus next financial year but with the caveat that if the European crisis worsened, ”this will hit our revenues and obviously make it harder to return to surplus”.

    Last night the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, said the government would deliver a surplus.

    This week the opposition walked away from its commitment to return the budget to surplus at the same time as – if not sooner than – Labor, and now says that if elected, it would do so ”as soon as possible”.

    But senior Coalition frontbenchers continued to confuse the message, with the Senate leader, Eric Abetz, calling the return to surplus an ”extravagant promise”.

    Follow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU

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