The Australian has published Newspoll’s quarterly aggregated federal polling featuring breakdowns by state, gender, age and city/non-city, for which GhostWhoVotes offers full tables. This amounts to a relatively small dataset from four post-election polls, with total samples ranging from a modest 554 in South Australia to 1352 in New South Wales. The first of the four polls was something of an outlier in having the Coalition leading 56-44 – comfortably their best result in any poll since the election – but the next three tracked the broader trend in having the Coalition two-party preferred vote progress from 53% to 52% to 48%. Labor looks to have made the biggest gains among its weakest cohorts, namely male and older voters.
The state numbers have been added to the BludgerTrack model, and the display on the sidebar revised accordingly. This has tended to moderate the distinctions between the state swings, with the exception of Western Australia where Newspoll records a thumping 8% two-party shift to Labor – a result complemented by today’s Newspoll state result, which you can read about in the post directly below. The Newspoll figures for New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia were very close to BludgerTrack’s, but Victoria and Queensland were substantially better for the Coalition. Their addition causes the Coalition’s seat projection to improve by one each in the latter two states, which pans out to a net gain of one after accounting for a Labor gain in New South Wales.
BW
Salt is actually pretty harmless. About 10% of people with high blood pressure are sensitive to salt intake but otherwise it makes very little difference.
Fats and sugars would make a difference but are politically impossible.
We could certainly do more about alcohol which costs us a fortune in health costs.
Diog
fluoridation is probably the only one on the list that isn’t universal yet (most of our water supplies up here aren’t fluoridated) – and, of course, vaccination is a bit of a concern.
Because medicine is effectively socialised in Britain, and they thus have everyone’s medical details collated on line, they’re doing some interesting work using the data to identify potential health risks for individuals and working with them to try and avoid these developing.
Apparently the early signs are very promising, and proving to be cost effective – with the interesting spin off that, by targetting individuals, some of the wider community (e.g. friends and family) are also taking the message on board (so you change dad’s eating habits, because he’s identified as at risk from heart failure, and the rest of the family also change their eating habits).
It’s operating as localised trials at present (our DoN swapped roles with a DoN from a Scottish health service) but the outcomes so far are interesting.
Lizzie
[OTOH, where there is a choice of treatments, a less wealthy person may well choose the cheaper one closer to home.]
Actually you’d be surprised. Most people choose the option closest to home irrespective of the cost.
Diog –
I’m thinking more of those very wealthy who don’t really move in the regular health system at all.
Flying to the US or Europe for the latest treatments in this or that.
Using their own very well paid doctors/specialists who only treat VIP clients etc.
Or have I been taken in by lurid fiction and media fantasy?
Global equity markets continue to boom – but here in Australia?
Peal Puny…like the Greens!
ASX200 up a lousy 30 points to 5350.
The Monkey should be kicked to death then sent out in the ocean in a chaff bag.
Go stick it Graham Morris and Alan Jones, the market reckons Peta’s pet sux!
Z
That would be possible in the UK but almost impossible here.
Still they have to try something new so good luck to them.
I think you will find that all visits to your GP attract the $5 fee. The fee ceases after your 12th visit.
I’d imagine that your GP collects the $5 from the patient then receives $5 less when the claims are lodged.
Zoomster re social security in port-war Europe
____________________
In 1945 with the defeat of fascism,there was a marked trend everywhere to the left in Europe
The Attlee Labor Govt in Britain…the first majority one…introduced the national health scheme…the first such …and many countries followed suit…and other socialist measures
In France in 1945 after the Liberation De Gualle had formed a all-party coalition
The largest Party was the Communist Party which
had been centrel to the Resistance and they polled 35% of the vote,and wanted a coalition with the smaller Socialists
De Gaulle,was concerned about this and supported an all party coalition with a Socialist PM,,,and supported a major program of nationalisation of industries /confiscation of property from companies who had collaborated with the Nazis(like Renault) and a welfare state…with a National Health Scheme modelled on the UK’s …so France had much in common with the British under Labor…the same pattern was followed in most places in Europe…and one must remember most right-wing parties were guttered as many had collaborated with fascist regimes under the Nazis
In France after Liberation…many right-wingers had gone to prison (like Petain)or been shot… like former PM Laval…even a prominent writer and novelist Brassilac had been executed for the pro-Nazi opinions he expressedin variouds journals…so the right had been decimated
In Eastern Europe the Russians were seeing that the communist parties there were in power soon after liberation
BTW …I recommend you read “Paris After the Liberation” by Artemis Cooper… a grand-daughter of a Minister in Churchill’s wartime Govt…a great read which I have just finished over the holidays…a great pic of post war France and De Gaulle
Jackol
You’d need to be mega rich to do that and it would be very rare there would be a worthwhile treatment that in the US but not here.
The objective of the Coalition will be to broaden and increase the $5 fee to visit your GP.
Once the revenue raised equals the amount raised by the medicare levy, it can be abolished effectively ending Medicare.
You’re safely looking at mission accomplished at 10 to 20 years.
I haven’t been following things too closely recently, but has Abbott or any other member of the government said anything about this recommended $5 fee or is it still just a finding from a committee?
Nemspy
When Howard won government in 1996 he introduced the 30% rebate for private health insurance to dent Medicare.
The latest will be the Monkey’s version.
I never realised that Diana Cooper’s granddaughter was christened Artemis! Nice.
Nemspy
As far as I know all that happened is a document worked up some years as a suggestion to Govt has been sent to the Commission of Audit.
Who knows – they may have binned it.
The Press are finding it hard to fill the pages at the moment, I’d say.
Just to help Sean realise the “value” of good workers I started two new staff today.
One handed in her notice at another newsagency a month ago in order to move to Melbourne. When that move fell through her job had already been taken. Fortunately, she heard about my needing someone urgently and came for an interview last week. She came with a top ref. from her former boss – so instantly employed.
The other is a 17 yo ex year 12 taking a gap year and replacing one who’s having a holiday before going off to uni. in February.
The salary for a full time worker in retail is about $38,000 per annum. and they deserve every dollar they earn. My customers repeatedly compliment me on the staff at my newsagency.
Also Sean, they get a Christmas bonus and can choose when to have time off within the confines of the roster – ie. they co-operate with each other and are allowed to swap shifts when they need to.
A happy staff is essential, Sean, even in a business that is undergoing major technological change.
Remember – treat them the way you would like to be treated.
Philomena…the film
_____________
Bob Ellis gives a great review to the outstanding Judy Dench film on the travails of an un-married Irish teernager trapped in the hell of a convemnt/prison/laundry in Ireland and has her baby adopted out without her knowledge
The film looks at her efforts ..with the help of a journ.. to find the now adult offspring
Wonderful stuff from Dench…always an outstanding actressm and a great story
As Ellis says ..the film will do more harm to the Catholic Church than any Royal Commission.”……but such awful events occured here too in places like a famous old convent in Abbottsford in Vic
see review
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/
Even though I don’t have private cover, I am in favour of the private rebate. It’s something that would make me consider private cover in the future.
As for the $5 thing. It seems like something that would draw needless ill will for very little financial gain. I certainly don’t think $5 is unreasonable. How many bulk-billing doctors still exist, anyway?
I think a sustainable Medicare is something we should all support. I think the $5 fee is pointless and probably won’t even happen, but you can rest assured that Medicare is here to stay. What you call “dented” others might call “shoring up”. I’m by far the most left-wing member of my family and there’s not one person I know who supports the destruction of Medicare. No party that wants more than 10% of the vote would make changes beyond tweaks.
[CTar1
Posted Monday, December 30, 2013 at 3:03 pm | Permalink
Nemspy
As far as I know all that happened is a document worked up some years as a suggestion to Govt has been sent to the Commission of Audit.
Who knows – they may have binned it.
The Press are finding it hard to fill the pages at the moment, I’d say.]
That was my feeling, too.
I’d suggest that a few of the people here who feel as though the media has a primary mission to make the ALP look bad and the Coalition look good consider some of the headlines floating around today “Abbott Flags Bulk Billing Fee!” – “Why Tony Abbott wants to charge a $5 fee for emergency room visits” and the like.
As far as I’ve seen, Abbott hasn’t said squat about the subject.
It’s just the media being the media.
Wow Tisme sure does have a hide showing himself ($5 about a third of what I spend for lunch) after Ruawake put him away yesterday.
Apparently Tisme operates a highly successful IT business where he makes exactly $100k a year.
The catch is that Tisme does not take out private health insurance YET is insistent that he only pays the Medicare levy and NOT the Medicare surcharge.
Why don’t you contact Morrison’s office, Tisme?
He might have something there for you to help him stop the boats 😆
Well, up to a point. Why has this submission been highlighted? Given it’s a submission by Terry Barnes:
There’s reason to believe this is more directly connected to Government policy or strategy than just any old random submission.
And Terry Barnes has been more than happy to give interviews on this and respond to media queries.
It seems very unlikely that this is just something the media picked up on their own because it’s a slow news day.
Centre
[Why don’t you contact Morrison’s office, Tisme?]
Or the ATO. 👿
Zoomster 1113 re Lady Diane Duff Cooper
________________
Lady Diane Cooper and her husband Duff…were sent in 1944 by Churchill …to reopen the British Embassy in Paris days after the Liberation…in a plane escorted by a flight of Spitfires which much iimpressed Parisiennes
On occasion they were visited by their son(Now Lord Norwich) and Artemis Cooper obviously draws on family stories of that time in “Paris after the Liberation”
De Gaulle insisted that the menu at the Elysee Palace must be based on the same food rations(very megre) as those of ordinary Parisians…the only thing in abundance was the copius wine cellar,,,so while the meals were sparse and booze was abundant(De Gaulle wasa teetotaler and had no interest in food ,and the formidable Madame De Gaulle was stern hostess who kept to the rations…and knitted constantly
The Coopers existed for their first weeks in Paris on UK army rations at the Embasssy
The beautiful socialite…Lady Diane(the”other” Diane as she has been called) was in fact a good cook having fed a small army of friends from a Kent farmlet… on it’s produce”)…where in wartime she had raised pigs and poultry
He husband was given a title later…Lord Norwich…today held by his son(Artemis’s father)
[but has Abbott or any other member of the government said anything about this recommended $5 fee ]
Abbott has. He was quoted in the papers yesterday.
Centre@1119
Are you saying Sean has been caught out lying? On the internet? Outrageous.
I wonder if the $5 medicare fee plan is some game of double bluff. Could the Tories be smart enough to drop a thing like this in the compliant media to generate a bit of fear and anger and then have Tone step off the plane later this week, all chamberlain like waving a piece of paper and saying “despite Labor’s mess, there will be no co-payment in my time.”
ABC Breaking news:
[At least 10 killed in explosion on trolleybus in Russian city of Volgograd – one day after train station blast]
As someone who has run a business let me say, ausdavo sounds like someone who is doing so, a person to employ if you looking for a manager, Sean sounds like a loser.
I would be very surprised if GPs would be expected to collect the co-payment and/or pass it on.
This will be an effective reduction of the rebate by $5 either at point of transaction or at the point of GP payment by Medicare. GPs will apparently be able to waive the payment on compassionate grounds – this points the GP in the firing line for complaints.
Very clever politics and it is no wonder the AMA is upset.
We MUST all stop being so engaged with Tisme
It is what’s called”The Silly Season” appropriately in his case
deblonay@1129
We should thank him for being a tory.
What an embarrassment if he supported Labor or was a green.
rossmcg:
I was thinking something similar yesterday. I wondered if it was meant to make Abbott look visionary, only they stuffed it up.
fess
reminds me of Howard – when his government was under fire for something, he’d raise a distraction. Nine times out of ten, whatever the distraction was was never heard of again once the media’s attention had been taken off the original issue.
The trouble is, with Abbott, is that there’s so many things his government’s under fire for, it’s hard to work out which one he’s wanting to distract us from.
frednk
Thank you.
To me it’s fundamental – your employees are the best asset your business can have. Those same employess, when paid a decent wage spend in the local area. Cut their pay and local businesses have less turnover.
This was the lesson of the Great Depression and the economic policies that preceded it. There is little doubt that Abbott and his surrounding coterie would love to take us back to that time.
Let’s not forget many of today’s rich families made their fortunes through others’ misfortune in the 1930’s. One example was Joe Kennedy Senior (in real estate and alcohol distribution).
A smart small business owner doesn’t want a repeat!
On an early point that someone made – yes a very large part of the health budget is spent on ineffective treatments; expensive cancer therapies, keeping the demented alive, treating 26 week foetuses are obvious examples but rationalising medicine should not be a job for doctors alone but must involve hard decisions by society and its politicians.
Ausdavo
That sums it up but what people like Sean also seem to forget is that for small businesses with a few employees it is those employees who can make or break the business. I imagine that in IT a disgruntled techie on starvation wages just needs to make a few “errors” to send the business down the gurgler.
Absolutely.
Politicians will naturally try to avoid making hard decisions fearing unpopularity, but there is no moral way of ducking the issues involved, and we all have to be engaged in and responsible for the decisions we make with respect to how much we spend on healthcare, where the line gets drawn and what the consequences are of doing this.
oakshott County
Hear! Hear!
This is why reducing the debate to Party Hack sloganeering doesn’t cut the mustard if people are actually looking for solutions.
Labor may very well want to preserve the Universal and Free Health Care flame. However, to do so they must be clear about what is included, how it is going to be funded and be prepared to make some tough calls. Otherwise, they’ll get picked off easily in the long term.
zoomster:
Definitely looks like a distraction, esp with Abbott offering commentary when he’s on holidays.
zoomster
I agree but it’s more than just a distraction, it’s also an attempt to frame public discourse on their terms. The idea is to create a perception that Government spending is being rorted by someone else. This time it’s medicare benefits, but it could easily be asylum seekers, childcare workers or the long term unemployed. Sure the numbers don’t stack up, but the Libs don’t exactly depend on the mathematically inclined to win elections.
More bombs in Russia…..
News just in shows Putin has a real poblem with the Winter Olympics in Sochi re security
Years ago I was on a tour of the old Soviet Union in summer
We spent some time on the Black Sea coast/Crimea… which has a lovely Mediterranen quality…Sochi is a lovely old sea resort favoured from Czarist Times (Stalin loved it too..and stayed there on holidays) and has major botanical gardens and much exotic vegetation. they grow tea in the foothills .and good beaches…not what one expects of Russia
full of hotels and resorts…and much good food too with the snow covered mountains in the background where many of the events will take place..
Soochi has a mild winter climate and has a good 24 hour rail journey to Moscow with many good trains(at which the Russians excell)..I think they have a new Hi-Speed train just now for the Games …but the overnight trains with sleepers are good
The suppression of the Chenchens and the people of Dagestan((Dags??) is a constant problem for Russia…the resistance has gone on since Czarist times,and Stalin deported many to Siberia fearing that they would collaborate with the Nazis after 1941
But Soochi is really nice…a a great spot for the Games..if secure?
Deb
[which has a lovely Mediterranean quality]
Doesn’t it what!
I’ve been and seen.
The ‘S’ bend roads and the stone ‘guard rails’, the climate, wine and beaches.
Like Nice and Menton must have been like in the 1920’s.
If only we could work out when was the right time to buy a bit of Real Estate there.
A pic. of the spendid New Moscow-Sochi hi-speed train(15 carriages too)
It is a double decker train …has bar and dining car too
Perhaps Putin might build us one from Melb-Sydney
http://www.russiantrains.com/en/page/moscow-sochi-train
Oh re Putin and train…I recall Abbott offended him didn’t he by arriving late for a conference
sorry..Melb-Sydney Hi-speed train deal is off
[How many bulk-billing doctors still exist, anyway?]
A lot.
[The proportion of GP visits being bulk-billed has hit a record high, with 82.4 per cent of GP services in the first three months of the year provided at no cost to the patient.]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/rate-of-bulk-billing-hits-record-high-20130513-2jifh.html#ixzz2ow26lPk9
rossmcg @ 1125
I hope that was meant to be a joke or you’re fantasizing like Tisme.
We are witnessing the preliminary attack by Abbott to dismantle Medicare.
The Liberals hate Medicare as it is perceived to be a socialist policy AND with Murdoch in his corner, nobody should really be surprised that he would attempt to abolish it.
Labor’s official response will be most interesting.
They need to call it what it is:
– A NEW TAX
– An Attack On Medicare
😎
The quality-adjusted life-year rules in medical economics. We imported it from NICE in the UK.
Centre
Not a joke and please don’t compare me to Sean. I guess it was a bit of idle fantasy but after pyne’s performance on gonski who is to say it might not be a Tory strategy to drop a few ideas out there and see what happens.
I know the Tories hate Medicare and I think most, well all really, of the current cabinet are pretty dumb. Anything is possible.
Unfortunately Labor dropped the ball in medical reform. They came to power with big plans but in the end the Rudd/Gillard legacy is a damp squib.
“Medical Reform” is almost impossible now. The interest groups, lobbies, rent seekers, and money, make only incremental change possible.
Although I can’t think of any area where things are worse now than there were in 2007, (in patient outcome terms).
The UK NHS:
[Migrants will have to pay at A&E – and all patients will have to prove they are not foreigners to get free NHS treatment ]
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/migrants-will-haveto-pay-at-ae–and-all-patients-will-have-to-prove-they-are-not-foreigners-to-get-treatment-free-on-the-nhs-9029586.html