Gov splits up welfare bill in senate - Labor triumphant

It's being called "operation budget repair" but it's more like trying to pick up the pieces after a train wreck. The gov is sticking by what's left of it's guns though and still insisting that it wants to pass everything. I'd say all bluster like SSJoe, especially that by splitting the bill up they're recognising that those parts of it that are cruel won't get through the senate. 

Oddly, the gov raves about the irresponsibility of Labor and the Greens in blowing a bloody great hole in the bottom line, and woe will the country now be. Hang on.....  if you follow that point logically, then the gov is literally saying that a rich country like Australia can't afford a proper welfare system, at the same time coal industries get bazillions and corporations pay fuck all tax. Would they really take such an absurd strategy to an election? Go to an election saying you're going to fuck over the poorest people in the country?

So the gov has dissected the welfare bill into four. The first one was just a bit of meh and sailed right through the senate. The other three are in limbo, or the too hard basket. My guess is the gov will quietly put them aside and hope like fuck that everyone forgets about what they were trying to do to this country.   

In a triumphant speech to parliament, Shorten said pensioners had prevailed over Andrews and Tony Abbott for the time being, but vowed to campaign against the plans at the next election. 

“Do not look at what this prime minister says; look at what he does,” Shorten said. “Make no mistake, this government wants to cut the indexation rate of pensions.” 

Andrews said Shorten had accepted $2.7bn worth of savings proposed by the government, but was still “in denial about the state of the commonwealth finances that he left at the end of his term in office”. 

Andrews said the other bills reintroduced on Thursday, including the age pension changes, would be subject to further consultations and negotiations with other Senate members. He declined to comment on the progress of negotiations with crossbench senators including those from the Palmer United party. 

Andrews indicated the stalled welfare measures would not be removed from the budget bottom line in the forthcoming mid-year economic and fiscal outlook, because the government was still committed to pursuing them in parliament. more