Gov saves $billions on the back of the poor, sick, and old

How any gov could be proud of this is beyond me. Whilst giving $50 billion in tax cuts to business in proven failed "trickle down" ideology, the gov has ripped billions out of the poorest and most unfortunate Australians. The fact that they've succeeded in doing this gives an inkling of the suffering they've created in the most vulnerable of us. 

What's more they've royally fucked up the roll out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) meaning there's a huge backlog of applications that have been delayed in being processed, hence the gov spend in that area was less. They call that a "saving", not a fuck up.

After 25 years of uninterrupted growth Australia has 3 million people living below the poverty line, with inequality increasing. We have one of the lowest pension rates in the OECD, and the dole is beyond a joke. These are the people the gov has targeted for budget savings. Tell it to us that there are better economic times ahead. After a quarter century we're not holding our breath.

This gov has been the worst in that quarter century, yet they're crowing about it. How they can be proud of kicking us when we're down is beyond me. 

Also, quoting how many jobs were created is entirely misleading. How many jobs have been lost over the 5 years of the Abbott/Turnbull gov? The ratio of job availability vs number of applicants remains poor.

The Turnbull government has clawed back $4 billion from the budget deficit by making billions of dollars in savings from payments to disabled people, students and the unemployed. 


The figures from Tuesday's final budget outcome show the government saved $1.1 billion on payments for services for disabled Australians between July 2016 and July 2017. 


"On the spending side the largest item in terms of less-than-expected expenditure is lower than anticipated payments to the National Disability Insurance Scheme reflecting a more gradual transition of participants," Treasurer Scott Morrison said in Sydney on Tuesday. 


The government says the saving is also a result of fewer people being dependent on government support. 


"When you look back over the past 12 months we had 250,000 jobs created," said Mr Morrison. 


"So that was more people becoming economically independent in our society." 


The NDIS has also been hampered by roll-out delays that has prevented it from processing thousands of applications from disability providers. 


Overall, the government spent $2.5 billion less on all social security and welfare payments than it had estimated at the May budget, with biggest savings outside the disability sector coming from students, aged care, payments to families with children and general administration. Brisbane Times