Kate🦋M©

“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, &, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” Goethe : No DM’s

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬.

Voters were warned. Many chose anger over scrutiny and slogans over substance. The result is a government increasingly concentrating power in the hands of ministers, with fewer checks, less accountability and more discretion.

Now even legal and accounting experts are sounding the alarm after Treasurer Jim Chalmers granted himself sweeping powers through the most consequential tax legislation in decades. Their criticism is simple: the changes were rushed, poorly thought through, and packed with unprecedented ministerial discretion.

This is what happens when governments are handed unchecked power. And those who voted for it can’t pretend they weren’t warned.

The people who enabled this don’t get to act surprised when the consequences arrive.

https://t.co/scYxwq8VZ5 via @australian

[Aidan Morrison @FootnotesGuy]

Here's the CEO of Snowy Hydro claiming that the Integrated System Plan (ISP) requires 649GWh of storage, which Snowy 2.0 provides half of.

Acutally, the ISP has always treated Snowy 2.0 as a committed project. i.e., a sunk cost.

It's presence is imposed, not required.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

This is embarrassing for Chalmers.

In 2016, the Turnbull Government (with Scott Morrison as Treasurer) received Treasury advice outlining various options to reform negative gearing and capital gains tax, including limits on deductions and a reduction in the CGT discount. Turnbull reviewed the proposals and explicitly ruled them out before the election. The issue was taken off the table.

Fast forward to 2025: Albanese and @JEChalmers publicly denied (50times) any plans to touch negative gearing or CGT. But Chalmers and Treasury were quietly developing a secret reform package themselves. Far from taking it off the table, they broke a clear election promise and announced the changes in May 2025; just 12 months after the election.

The lesson? People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, because they have a habit of bouncing back and smashing you in the face.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

The statistics suggest it’s not simply a case of these crimes being more visible because of online media or 24-hour news coverage. The evidence indicates the problem is actually getting worse. Greater awareness is important, but awareness alone does not explain the number of women continuing to lose their lives at the hands of current or former partners. That’s precisely why so many people believe stronger action is needed.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

What is happening in this country? This is an utterly shameful statistic.

𝐒𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝟐𝟗 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫.

Their names sometimes make the headlines, but most often they don’t. And even when they do, the outrage is usually brief. People quickly move on to the next news cycle.

There are calls for a Royal Commission. I think it’s time because this can’t go on like this.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@MichaelJacko70 Figures suggest $8bn over five years loss

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

Another example of the bloody mindedness of Labor ..

They have vowed to stand firm on their tobacco excise policy despite extraordinary analysis showing Australians are consuming 40% more nicotine than in 2017 and 80% are choosing illicit cigarettes and vapes, in revelations critics say prove the govt’s “misguided approach to illicit tobacco has failed”.

In a new experimental method used to capture the country’s total nicotine use along with trends in the illegal market, the ABS found the quantity of tobacco consumed per person had increased 22 per cent.

The figures follow Labor resisting any pause or decrease in the tobacco excise, defending its policy in the face of calls from premiers and economists raising alarm over the $8bn dive in projected revenue from tobacco tax collection over the next five years.

Despite the massive increase in nicotine use exposed by the ABS, which broke from historic analysis by combining all tobacco products and using wastewater data, the govt said its findings were line with latest advice and changed nothing.

Assistant Customs Minister Julian Hill doubled down on Labor’s view that enforcement was the solution to the black market trade, declaring a shift in policy on the excise would represent a “surrender” to organised crime and Big Tobacco interests.

Meanwhile the legal trade continues the crimes war continues, and revenue declines. In what world does that make sense?

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@TBH04758364 @JEChalmers You are alone in thinking that Ricky

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

Greens, David Pocock demand Chalmers wind back tax bill powers.

In case people are not aware of this .. what this effectively means is that @JEChalmers would have the power to fundamentally alter the tax law changes AFTER it ­became law.

Given the government has already moved to minimise scrutiny of its tax bill by allowing just two days of public hearings into its overhaul of the CGT and negative gearing changes then handing Chalmers ministerial powers to change it again after it’s passed is outrageous.

https://t.co/6YakqE3LAE via @australian

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

There won’t be a “rebellion”. There will be elections, debates and policy arguments, which is how democratic societies resolve disagreements.

And the idea that people who have done well in Australia simply got lucky or somehow “sold out” others ignores reality. Many Australians built businesses, worked long hours, studied, took risks, saved diligently and made significant sacrifices over decades to improve their circumstances. People are still doing that today.

Australia faces genuine challenges around housing affordability, migration levels, infrastructure and economic management. Those issues deserve serious debate. But blaming entire ethnic groups for complex economic problems isn’t a serious argument, it’s scapegoating.

If someone disagrees with government policy, criticise the policy. That’s far more persuasive than blaming people based on where they come from.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

Judith Sloan today … worth a read

The Budget Is Taking Us Down The Wrong Road - Will Labor U-turn?

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@RaymondKeown3 @AlboMP It’s definitely a shocker and I can only imagine the internal rumblings.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

True to form @Albomp is telling bald faced lies about his abomination of a tax bill. This is what he claimed yesterday.

“The three right-wing parties and their allies — we saw some of the commentary of the ­allies this morning – want people to earn less, and they oppose ­income-tax cuts,” Mr Albanese said on Wednesday. HE IS LYING.

The opposition has been clear from the start. SPLIT the bill to enable tax cuts to go through and allow CGT and negative gearing to be properly scrutinised.

[Geoff Wilson @GeoffWilsonWAM]

Exactly @OwenRask 😂
What a disaster the Australian economy will be when the new government’s CGT and tax changes destroy the economy……
Private sector growth crushed, more taxes on everyone (especially low income and aspirational workers), housing even less affordable, and public sector bloat on steroids.
Brilliant strategy, comrades. 🙄
We must stop the new CGT!

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

“Boomers bad” isn’t an argument.

Judith Sloan raised a legitimate question about the connection between housing affordability and a range of unrelated tax measures in the budget. If the criticism is wrong, explain why. Resorting to age-based insults suggests you can’t answer the point being made.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@gwendoline1gon Good morning Gwen

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

Good morning and a helpful hint to start the day..

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@Boost_Samurai And yet people laugh 😊

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@OSuppukr28147 More weather dependent wind and solar? Controlled by govt? Tax payers footing the bill? If it’s not the worst it’s pretty close.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

‘Sovereign power’:

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has left the door open to an audacious union proposal to create cheap subsidised power for Australia’s struggling manufacturing and metals smelting businesses by nationalising a large chunk of the electricity grid.

The multibillion-dollar proposal by the Electrical Trades Union is designed to directly address the power cost pressures facing Australia’s heavy industrial sector, which have forced governments into a series of ad hoc rescue packages over the past two years.

But under a plan floated on Wednesday by the ETU and the McKell Institute think tank, such deals would be shelved in favour of a new government agency called Sovereign Power, which would build, own and operate renewable power projects.

The agency would then provide the additional power at a low cost to energy-intensive heavy industries, which in turn would lower prices for all other power consumers and speed up Australia’s transition to renewable electricity, the McKell report says.

https://t.co/jP4oeJzaFa

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@GROGParty We can’t even put ankle monitors on non Australian criminals.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@jeff32567916 And Morrison had a justification; contingency planning in a crisis. Chalmers has zero justification..it’s nothing more than a massive power grab.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@GailClifford7 I could not agree more. Criminal acts are now encouraged and applauded. Breaching the law is seen as a badge on honour. And people on here claim it’s only the left doing it. It’s not. It’s equally bad on the right.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@Rexdinasaur @AslanTheCat44 Thank heavens you found him Rex. Aslan is a rescue he was a stray. Whilst I have owned many cats he is my first ginger. They are definitely characters.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

It’s Happy Birthday to @AslanTheCat44

It’s my little buddy’s birthday today. He turns 12. He really is the dearest little soul. ♥️♥️

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@GailClifford7 another ginger 😊😊

[Rex @Rexdinasaur]

@Kate3015 @AslanTheCat44 A Ginger Ninja 🥷 Happy Birthday cherished one.
This is our Ginger Ninja Jonesy.

[Kate🦋M© @Kate3015]

@Rexdinasaur @AslanTheCat44 He’s lovely Rex