It’s a headline that writes itself today. As Albo’s cowards refuse to do anything about soaring energy prices to fix the budget, for fear of upsetting the Evil Gas Cartel, they are pulling no punches when it comes to the defenceless, infirm and disabled:
The Albanese government has revealed the National Disability Insurance Scheme will cost an extra $8.8bn,as it brings forward an independent review into the scheme.
Ahead of next Tuesday’s budget, the minister for the NDIS, Bill Shorten, confirmed on Tuesday the scheme was now forecast to cost more than $50bn a year by 2025-26.
Shorten said the landmark NDIS was “arguably Australia’s best addition to the social framework of Australian society in the 21st century”. However, he said nine years of Coalition neglect had left it “not in the position which I think Australians would like to see it in”.
Ah yes, that nasty Coalition. And where is the former head of the AWU on the Evil Gas Cartel? Nowhere to be seen.
But wait, there’s more smashing the vulnerable to come:
Health Minister Mark Butler accepts he may need to conduct an independent investigation into the system that has allowed billions of dollars to be rorted from Medicare without detection.
In an interview with the ABC’s 7.30 on Tuesday, Butler said, “that may well be where we end up”, but he first wanted to see the initial results of an internal report he commissioned earlier this week on the health department’s compliance and audit programs.
“Having asked the health department to inquire into itself, I’ve asked for a report on the existing systems and there will be further steps after that to ensure that we’ve got the best possible system to guarantee value for money,” he said.
This is the same Mark Butler that demanded a $7Gj fixed price for the Evil Gas Cartel. If this were to be attached to an export levy on war-profiteering gas (let alone coal) then it would crash the cost of living and deliver roughly $40bn in budget revenue:
At least $20 billion could be raised through a so-called windfall profits tax on Australia’s gas industry, with around two-thirds of voters supporting such a move, a new report finds.
The Australia Institute think tank has calculated that gas price rises, mainly linked to the war in Ukraine, boosted profits on Australian exports by between $26 to $40 billion.
No doubt both the NDIS and Medicare need reform. Especially the former. But that’s not the point. The optics here are dreadful and will remain so as long Albo’s cowards refuse to address the energy cartels.
Albo is from the projects, they said. His Mum was disabled, they said. He’s one of you, they said.
What they didn’t say is that he is the spineless plaything of war-profiteering energy cartels and a bully of the disabled and infirm.
