Australian Flood Tax

One More Solo · 29 Jan 2011 at 10:52

rypt said:
Your foreign aid budget is >$3bn or something, stop paying that and suddenly you can afford the reconstruction

Stop being ridiculous. Developed nations have a responsibility to give foreign aid, and you speak about it as if it's a one way street. Aid given is almost inevitably related to political/diplomatic/commercial ends, as well as being a condition of United Nations membership.

SexyGreyFox · 29 Jan 2011 at 11:33

AndyT said:
and that the Australian nation share a good sense of solidarity with each other.

How do you know they are?
Nobody likes money being taken off them and I bet they're moaning their heads off (except those who will be affected by the floods).

Destination · 29 Jan 2011 at 12:22

Is the money to rebuild people's homes, or is the money to rebuild the countries infrastructure surrounding the homes which will have to be paid for by insurance?

Either way the govt is laughing as it'll create construction jobs and help out the economy in the short term.

rypt · 29 Jan 2011 at 14:40

One More Solo said:
Developed nations have a responsibility to give foreign aid

Err why?

Destination · 29 Jan 2011 at 14:47

rypt said:
Err why?

LOL, becuase we got where we are by exploiting them

Tefal · 29 Jan 2011 at 14:50

Hikari Kisugi said:
LOL, becuase we got where we are by exploiting them

correction, long dead people exploited other long dead people.

Cosimo · 29 Jan 2011 at 14:54

Tefal said:
correction, long dead people exploited other long dead people.

.... and their legacy lives on.

rypt · 29 Jan 2011 at 15:00

Hikari Kisugi said:
LOL, becuase we got where we are by exploiting them

Tefal said:
correction, long dead people exploited other long dead people.

And we only exploited them because we were ahead in the game compared to them

But then again, nothing stops Africa doing what China has managed to do ...

Some (many) parts of the world are just a waste of money and space

Jay.D · 29 Jan 2011 at 16:51

meghatronic said:
I was actually disappointed by this. It's further punishing the rich.

not even the rich.... $50,000 must be around £25,000.

Judgeneo · 29 Jan 2011 at 17:15

Jay.D said:
not even the rich.... $50,000 must be around £25,000.

More like £30,000 But as said earlier, the salary's are quite a bit higher down under

SexyGreyFox · 29 Jan 2011 at 17:33

Judgeneo said:
More like £30,000 But as said earlier, the salary's are quite a bit higher down under

When I used to watch that program about Brits moving to Oz and they would find them a choice of 3 houses/jobs, the salaries were always low compared to here.
According to that program $50,000 was a really high paid job.

Judgeneo · 29 Jan 2011 at 17:41

dmpoole said:
When I used to watch that program about Brits moving to Oz and they would find them a choice of 3 houses/jobs, the salaries were always low compared to here.
According to that program $50,000 was a really high paid job.

$50,000 is well paid, but not that much so.

I spent the Christmas period in Perth, and we were surprised at how expensive everything was. I was under a similar impression as yourself from watching holiday programs, but boy are they outdated.
WA has been going through a huge economic boom thanks to mining in the last few years. We found that eating out was always 20% + more expensive than the UK, tourist attractions were even more expensive. Supermarkets were very costly also.

If you have a trade (welding, plumbing, plastering etc) your looking at $80,000 plus. Even basic admin jobs pay well.