One in seven Australians on poverty line: report

[MediaWatcher]

AnotherOneAmerican, on 13 Oct 2014 - 20:12, said:

AlexRRR, on 13 Oct 2014 - 15:01, said:

How do you fix it? High earners need to be paying more tax, less tax breaks, the current property boom is being run by investors, we need a sales tax on property over a certian amount, we need to rejig negative gearing, we need excutives of companys to prove that there worth there pay packets, we need to bring back cpi increases for workers below a set limit.

Actually the whole western world needs to get rid of the single parent family.

That is what's really dragging all the developed countries down.

Sadly Australia has gone from being the best country in the civilized world to one of the worst in a very short space of time.

Strange you make a comment like that, besides your opinion, and a few disgruntled expats (some maybe social outcasts back in Oz), where do you get any stats to back up what you say. After 12 years, in Thailand, I have returned home, taking my Thai family, they will always be better off here, than Thailand.....ALWAYS. Too many of you are being selfish and thinking only of yourselves, you will NOT be around forever, and many won't give a rats about those left behind.

[motorsaimang]

lmao $400 of DISPOSABLE INCOME is low? Plenty of people in the US, Canada or Europe have income of $400 a week.

Agree on the nanny state but shit I had a package of 90k at 24 and saved 40k in just over a year. We got it good full stop.

[mikiea]

you want high earners to pay more taxes? and what would that do? nothing, nothing at all. since when did it become ok to spend other peoples money? stop your whineing, stop living above your means,stop planning how your gunna spend money that is not yours to spend. you have let your beautiful country full of proud strong workers turn into a crybaby nanny state. hmmm.....my prez obama loves voters like you :-)

[tw25rw]

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Having lived in 4 countries including Australia, it is an over regulated, over taxed nanny police state but it does have nice beaches and ability to earn good money without an education

UK is the same without the beaches and the money making opportunity .

Life on the dole in the UK is much tougher than Australia.. I've done both.

[midas]

" And I'm not even far off the mark for Sydney? "

The small house in Surry Hills, in inner city Sydney, in fact is a converted 7x6m parking garage, which featured in an episode of Grand Designs Australia, is going up for sale in a month. The owners, including original architect Dominic Alvaro, are asking for a cool $1.875 million. on a tiny 42sqm corner plot,

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/09/small-house-in-sydney-is-selling-for-1-875-million/

So the price of a small house in Sydney has now gone up to 1.8 Mill, right?

yes........for a 42 metre plot. I'm telling you it's the modern equivalent of the tulip mania and this craze has been going on now for almost 2 years.

Granted that small one in Surrey Hills is well located for the city centre but these ridiculous price trends can also be seen in the suburbs

A plain house in an average suburb has sold for $2.385 million as desperate buyers keep blowing their budgets

In 24 years I have never seen anything like it," Mr Vaughan, of McGrath Epping, said. "There's just no rhyme or reason behind it." The CommBank Home Loans report found one in five homebuyers paid over budget for their last property for fear of missing out. More than half panicked and negotiated a price before doing their due diligence, putting them at risk of mortgage stress.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/a-plain-house-in-an-average-suburb-has-sold-for-2385-million-as-desperate-buyers-keep-blowing-their-budgets/story-fncq3era-1226714027139

[MickGC]

Jesus who would want to live in Australia? NZ is cheaper and the people far nicer. My sister lived in Bundaberg, visited once never again, horrible, expensive and as dull as ditch water. Worked with a bloke in the UK in 1970 who had just come back from OZ. They did the 10 quid assisted passage I think, anyway on the way from the dock to where they were staying his mrs decided she did not like it so they came straight back, probably right.

They were called 10 Pound Poms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Pound_Poms 25% went back home. 75% stayed. Many could not put up with the heat, insects, snakes, food, culture etc. Sound like Thailand? Probably more return from here when you factor in all the broken hearts and loss of retirement funds caused by their Thai lady loves. At least in Australia the government and other agencies will supply the necessary assistance to get you back on your feet to have another go. If you are willing of course. By the way, most of my mates are Poms

[Nignoy]

If the Australian government would stop paying its unemployed,single mothers 7500$ for everykid they pop out, stop paying drug and alcohol addicts a full disability pension,but most important of all, make the lazy barstewards work,queensland fruit farmers have to bring in Koreans and Vietnamese to pick their fruit. aussies are scared of hard graft ,at the moment the Australian government has just signed a contract with Spain to supply 2000 workers to build a tunnel in western Australia,australia has made a rod for its own back, it has created a population where aged pensioners are being taxed and harassed left right and centre , and the under 50,s to highly qualified to soil their hands with manual labour and who think Australia owes them a living!!!!

[samran]

How do you fix it? High earners need to be paying more tax, less tax breaks, the current property boom is being run by investors, we need a sales tax on property over a certian amount, we need to rejig negative gearing, we need excutives of companys to prove that there worth there pay packets, we need to bring back cpi increases for workers below a set limit.

Actually the whole western world needs to get rid of the single parent family.

That is what's really dragging all the developed countries down.

Sadly Australia has gone from being the best country in the civilized world to one of the worst in a very short space of time.

Try telling Malcolm Turbull or Clive James that. They'd deck you in 2 seconds flat.

[Strangebrew]

So 4 out of 5 Thai's live below poverty line. So how is that not mentioned? next

[kinmaew]

This is what pisses me off with the whole Asylum seeker issue. I agree rich countries need to help poor but they need to do it a little better with an integration plan.

Tell me how can people who come here with no skills ever hope to buy a house with the average cost AUD 500k

You see the bloody greens never want to enter into these type discussion's "Bring them all in, give them free health and benefits" meanwhile the rest of us pay tax through the nose and pay our own medical bills as the public system is useless.

Just throwing money at the problem does not solve it.

[kinmaew]

I blame Vegemite.

You are right actually. You know Vegemite is now Halal certified where Muslims may make up 1% of the population. You see we are bowing down to the Muslims just like the UK.

[sceadugenga]

Governments for the last couple of decades have manipulated unemployment figures to make things look a lot better than what they are.

Many people are considerably short of a full time job but because they work a certain number of hours they are not classed as unemployed.

Maybe they need some true under-employment stats.

Using the yard stick of the cost of a house, real wages are probably the lowest since WW2; negative gearing, a form of tax break for people buying domestic property as an investment, has driven house prices to a ridiculous level.

Young people are forced to start their families later and later because a double income is now almost essential to pay the mortgage on even the most basic home.

Edited October 14, 2014 by sceadugenga

[samran]

I blame Vegemite.

You are right actually. You know Vegemite is now Halal certified where Muslims may make up 1% of the population. You see we are bowing down to the Muslims just like the UK.

Can we deport idiots? What has halal certification of Vegemite have anything to do with the topic at hand?

[Krataiboy]

I suspect the majority of Australians on the poverty line are Aborigines, not luckless whites as so many rightly concerned respondents on Thai visa seem to imagine.

These native Australians have been discriminated against ever since immigrants began arriving in numbers and the way they have been treated for over half a century verges on genocide.

Sadly, most Australians I meet are either unaware of the racist history of their adopted country or, even worse in my view, try pathetically to justify he blatant discrimination against Aborigines - which continues today.

For anyone interested in a more enlightened perspective on the fate of the "lost tribe" of Oz, I strongly recommend the two documentaries made on the subject by the award-winning Australian journalist and film maker John Pilger, "Australia" and "Utopia".

Edited October 14, 2014 by Krataiboy

[GertrudeL]

omg, I was thinking to move there but seems like there is the same situation there... 1600 USD as min salary means that they are extremely poor. Just compare thais with 15k per month as cashier while meal will cost them 30-40 bath. Why Australia and not Thailand is claimed yo be the richest country of Asia?

[jacky54]

. Why Australia and not Thailand is claimed yo be the richest country of Asia?

Because Australia is not in Asia?

[MediaWatcher]

kinmaew, on 14 Oct 2014 - 07:44, said:

SheungWan, on 13 Oct 2014 - 18:41, said:

I blame Vegemite.

You are right actually. You know Vegemite is now Halal certified where Muslims may make up 1% of the population. You see we are bowing down to the Muslims just like the UK.

Bullshit, they are not "bowing" down to anyone, it is simply a marketing strategy... they have changed NOTHING in vegemite. Strange way of thinking.

[simple1]

I blame Vegemite.

You are right actually. You know Vegemite is now Halal certified where Muslims may make up 1% of the population. You see we are bowing down to the Muslims just like the UK.

You're trying to be humorous? BTW Vegemite brand is owned by a US company; Kraft

A few points…

I assume the report is based upon ATO declared income. There must be tens of thousands, if not low hundreds of thousands of Ozzies working cash in hand to supplement declared income / welfare payments.

Out of a Federal annual budget of around $400k billion it is estimated Middle Class Welfare is currently costing around $113 billion p.a. Family Benefit Support alone costs $20 billion p.a.

Baby Bonus was created to encourage higher birth rates in Oz, currently the Baby Bonus is $5k.

In many cases foreign workers are employed in preference to Oz citizens, as they are often employed, e.g. the seasonal agricultural sector, at below award wages.

Private medical coverage cost (30% of the annual insurance cost is tax deductible) is not overly onerous & cost does not increase based upon age, as it does in Thailand. 'No Gap' service providers are available in most cases. For private health care users nearly all medicines are subsidised as covered by the PBS.

Edited October 14, 2014 by simple1

[kingalfred]

Always thought Australia was becoming a place for the very rich and very poor.Cost of living rising fast and property prices out of reach for many ,politicians have screwed up and nothing changing much.

[MJP]

Always thought Australia was becoming a place for the very rich and very poor.Cost of living rising fast and property prices out of reach for many ,politicians have screwed up and nothing changing much.

Sounds a bit like Blighty. A friend moved to Aus around five years ago, he's a GP, his wife a specialist nurse. Had an email from them recently saying they were moving on to NZ because the cost of living in Aus was becoming unbearable, property prices meant home ownership was out of reach.

If you're not in mining or other very well paid employment it's a struggle in Aus from other accounts I've read.

[ClutchClark]

Always thought Australia was becoming a place for the very rich and very poor.Cost of living rising fast and property prices out of reach for many ,politicians have screwed up and nothing changing much.

Sounds a bit like Blighty. A friend moved to Aus around five years ago, he's a GP, his wife a specialist nurse. Had an email from them recently saying they were moving on to NZ because the cost of living in Aus was becoming unbearable, property prices meant home ownership was out of reach.

If you're not in mining or other very well paid employment it's a struggle in Aus from other accounts I've read.

MJ,

So what has happened to the Real Estate market in NZ in recent years?

Has this Oz fever taken hold there now?

Cheers

[MJP]

Always thought Australia was becoming a place for the very rich and very poor.Cost of living rising fast and property prices out of reach for many ,politicians have screwed up and nothing changing much.

Sounds a bit like Blighty. A friend moved to Aus around five years ago, he's a GP, his wife a specialist nurse. Had an email from them recently saying they were moving on to NZ because the cost of living in Aus was becoming unbearable, property prices meant home ownership was out of reach.

If you're not in mining or other very well paid employment it's a struggle in Aus from other accounts I've read.

MJ,

So what has happened to the Real Estate market in NZ in recent years?

Has this Oz fever taken hold there now?

Cheers

I've no idea. Matt seemed to think it was a lot lot cheaper and preferred the way of life. He's a country boy anyway, so he could be talking about way out in the sticks.

[neverdie]

neverdie, on 13 Oct 2014 - 16:59, said:

White Christmas13, on 13 Oct 2014 - 16:45, said:

neverdie, on 13 Oct 2014 - 16:28, said:

White Xmas. your boring me.

$20 will buy you a lo so brekkie in Sydney, out in the crap hole somewhere.

Inner trendy sydney will cost you more, some places $5 or more just for the coffee. Out at my Sydney home, $20 might just cover the tip, so I guess it all depends what sort of grub u eat.

Sydney is not Perth.

regards

nd

I bore you do I? We not talking about Sydney the subject is Australia get it ?

Eggs ben @ kings park cafe - Perth = $19

Latte = $4.5

menu attached.

http://www.botanicalcafe.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Botanical-Breakfast-Menu-Sep14-sample.pdf

total $23.50.

Greasy joes or maccas = $10.

get it?

You're being a little unfair in your comparison, Kings Park Café has ALWAYS been pricey. To be fair you need to take a random sample, of prices, then average them, you seem to choose two extremes.

Thanks MW, I didn't realise that, I'm not a local there. Trust mrs ND to find the expensive place for egg ben.....she has a habit of doing that. To me, it was worth every cent, ate early there and spent the rest of the day in those wonderful gardens and back to the cafe for lunch 555555.

Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart and many places we've been, the $15-20 for a decent brekkie is the norm. 4-5 being the norm for a coffee. $20 for brekkie pp. is pretty much the norm in my eyes. life's too short to eat a greasy joes, for me anyway.

Aus is expensive, but it DEFINATELY depends on where one chooses to sit, whether your talking food or housing.

[DavoTheGun]

I agree with Neverdie, it has become a place for the Rich, and will become a Chinese country in the not to distant future, lived there most of my working life, it is an Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump. The only redeeming feature is you can get good food there, at a price!

[MediaWatcher]

DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:

I agree with Neverdie, it has become a place for the Rich, and will become a Chinese country in the not to distant future, lived there most of my working life, it is an Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump. The only redeeming feature is you can get good food there, at a price!

You seem to forget that "Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump" is the country that provided you with the income that has allowed you to now live in Thailand. There are millions who are quite happy living there, seems to me the people who complain about being "Over regulated" are the very people that the nation needs to "regulate", most are anti social in behaviour, hence enjoy the "freedom" of slack law enforcement. All to his own, Australia is better off with you.

[samran]

I agree with Neverdie, it has become a place for the Rich, and will become a Chinese country in the not to distant future, lived there most of my working life, it is an Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump. The only redeeming feature is you can get good food there, at a price!

Here I was thinking that Australia was on the verge of becoming a caliphate based on what some of TV's finest were saying.

And now you are telling me I'm going to have to get used to using bloody chopsticks for every meal?

Or is it the Chinese Muslims who are taking over Australia.

I'm all confused!!!

[DavoTheGun]

DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:

I agree with Neverdie, it has become a place for the Rich, and will become a Chinese country in the not to distant future, lived there most of my working life, it is an Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump. The only redeeming feature is you can get good food there, at a price!

You seem to forget that "Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump" is the country that provided you with the income that has allowed you to now live in Thailand. There are millions who are quite happy living there, seems to me the people who complain about being "Over regulated" are the very people that the nation needs to "regulate", most are anti social in behaviour, hence enjoy the "freedom" of slack law enforcement. All to his own, Australia is better off with you.

While I must agree of some of what you say, Aus is a Nanny State, I recently spent a Month back there with my Thai Wife to show her around the country, managed to rack up over $1000 of Speeding fines, never went more then 5Km over the limit anywhere, Motorways, Highways,etc have Cops of Hidden Cameras, it is worse now then 3 Years ago, friend had a party for his Daughters 21st, had to get a Permit from Council and let the Police know because had invited more than 10 People, cost $100.

If that is not Over Regulated I do not know what is! many more examples I could give you, but to many. The USA enjoys much more Freedom for its people, because in in the Constitution.

Australia used to be a good place to live, NOT anymore, Trying to sell my house for more then a year, disputed by my Family , (Daughter).because I changed my mind about my Will, so far cost me $100,000 In Legals, and still can not put on Market.

the Court System stinks, only for the very Rich, should not be so, I hope I do not have to go back to the Bloody Dump again!!!

[MediaWatcher]

DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:59, said:DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:59, said:DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:59, said:

MediaWatcher, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:17, said:MediaWatcher, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:17, said:MediaWatcher, on 15 Oct 2014 - 14:17, said:

DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:DavoTheGun, on 15 Oct 2014 - 08:37, said:

I agree with Neverdie, it has become a place for the Rich, and will become a Chinese country in the not to distant future, lived there most of my working life, it is an Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump. The only redeeming feature is you can get good food there, at a price!

You seem to forget that "Over regulated, Over Taxed Dump" is the country that provided you with the income that has allowed you to now live in Thailand. There are millions who are quite happy living there, seems to me the people who complain about being "Over regulated" are the very people that the nation needs to "regulate", most are anti social in behaviour, hence enjoy the "freedom" of slack law enforcement. All to his own, Australia is better off with you.

While I must agree of some of what you say, Aus is a Nanny State, I recently spent a Month back there with my Thai Wife to show her around the country, managed to rack up over $1000 of Speeding fines, never went more then 5Km over the limit anywhere, Motorways, Highways,etc have Cops of Hidden Cameras, it is worse now then 3 Years ago, friend had a party for his Daughters 21st, had to get a Permit from Council and let the Police know because had invited more than 10 People, cost $100.

If that is not Over Regulated I do not know what is! many more examples I could give you, but to many. The USA enjoys much more Freedom for its people, because in in the Constitution.

Australia used to be a good place to live, NOT anymore, Trying to sell my house for more then a year, disputed by my Family , (Daughter).because I changed my mind about my Will, so far cost me $100,000 In Legals, and still can not put on Market.

the Court System stinks, only for the very Rich, should not be so, I hope I do not have to go back to the Bloody Dump again!!!

Wow, now I know what a "nanny" state is, one that fines speeders, you admit to this, and because off violent outbursts from young drunk/drugged youth. they need to inform the police, so they can react quickly to stop any violence occurring...wow, now that I know what a "nanny" state is, I'm feeling very happy that Oz is, in your words, a nanny state. Up until now I thought it was something terrible and would limit my rights and freedoms, which up until now, I'm 60, I have never experienced. Maybe I'm not one of those anti-social hoons. As for a "party permit," the only one I know of is if you want the street closed, for a street party... certainly up til 2011 no state/council had any bylaws requiring a "party permit," if NOT closing the street. Your story, about your house, makes no sense, your "will" would not be an issue until AFTER your death. Anyway, Australia is better off without you, you give Australia a bad name, whinging about it on rather pathetic personal reasons.

Edited October 15, 2014 by MediaWatcher

[Scott]

Keep the discussion civil, please.

[kkerry]

Part of the problem in Australia is many people want the latest and greatest but want it now rather than making sacrifices.

While I do wonder how people can afford to buy houses these days when starting out in life, and with the outrageous cost of water, power and government charges, I look back at how I did it. I went years driving the same old car, didn't go out drinking and eating every night, saved money by making my own sandwiches for lunch and by not buying three or four take away coffees everyday as I see some people do. I'm sure I wasn't the most fun person to be around back then but today I have it easy. I'm never going to be eligible for the pension but I don't need one. Try to live within your means and Australia for all its faults can still be a pretty good place to live when you look at the turmoil that exists in some countries.