Travel levy to assist funding consular services

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I thought that the tax take as a percentage of GDP was lower now than under the Howard government. And some people keep insisting that we are in a recession.


Whatever the statistics of the tax take of the previous government, we lived within our means and built up surpluses rather than in tree hugging la-la land...

All this lot can do is blow the budget out of the water, pander to every feel-good interest group then tax everyone and anyone (well not so much their working, down-and-out family holy cows so if your not one of those you can pay twice) to scramble to create paper balanced budgets... The idea that you can't have everything in some tough times, and that you don't go out of your way to screw with business confidence who either through company taxes or the income taxes of their employees pay for plenty of the spending, doesn't seem to occur to them...
 
Just make travel insurance compulsory. It's no different to car insurance. Every person heading over seas should be obliged to hold the minimum travel policy.

This would undoubtedly lead to an increase in premiums - so the end result is that travellers pay either way. Would also be very difficult to ensure compliance.
 
The compliance is like when you rock up at a hospital overseas, i'm pretty sure they will want to see some sign of insurance before they start running up the medical bills... You don't have, you don't get, unless the chief of mission thinks yoru story adds up to not being at fault... If found guilty later in a bona fide court you can pay back the assistance if you don't have travel insurance...

This stupid $25 million to win a security council seat (i wonder how many back handers went unrecorded) now requiring another $35 million of public servants is just another example of the spend up mentality this lot have... On top of boosting the foreign aid budget, and the Gonski School Review, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme and all the rest... Perhaps all very fine ideas but if you don't have the money you don't have the money and you maybe wait till some good economic times come back...
 
The compliance is like when you rock up at a hospital overseas, i'm pretty sure they will want to see some sign of insurance before they start running up the medical bills... You don't have, you don't get, unless the chief of mission thinks yoru story adds up to not being at fault... If found guilty later in a bona fide court you can pay back the assistance if you don't have travel insurance...


So youre bleeding out and you have to wait to see the "chief de mission". Doesnt sound too practical ?
 
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So youre bleeding out and you have to wait to see the "chief de mission". Doesnt sound too practical ?

If you didn't have travel insurance in the first place and were injured overseas to that degree, then waiting or not you probably deserve to die, or suffer to the extent that your foolishness could not prevent.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using AustFreqFly
 
So youre bleeding out and you have to wait to see the "chief de mission". Doesnt sound too practical ?


Yes I don't think if i'm bleeding out that the consulate/embassy would be the first place i would head to...
 
If you didn't have travel insurance in the first place and were injured overseas to that degree, then waiting or not you probably deserve to die, or suffer to the extent that your foolishness could not prevent.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using AustFreqFly

Deserve to die for not having travel insurance? You don't think that's a bit harsh?
 
Deserve to die for not having travel insurance? You don't think that's a bit harsh?

Not too much different to not wearing a seat belt and having a higher chance of dying in a car accident, even if the crash wasn't your fault.


It's written all over - if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel.

In any case, why should a medical incident require or demand the intervention or help of the consulate?
 
Just create a user pays system. If you need help you pay for it.


I don't do jetlag.

I got a better idea.

Just abolish the whole "consular assistance" thing altogether. Apart from possibly establishing identity, emergency passports and expatriation during established civil unrest or Acts of God, eliminate the whole 'drawing on consular assistance if in legal trouble etc.'

I really don't see why people overseas should have the protection of their country. Mind you, we barely have access to such protections when we are at home anyway.

Reminds me of the "preamble" which is at the front of Australian passports:
Now that I reflect on that statement, it's actually become clear how much of a naive and moronic anathema that really is.
<Snip>


An efficient consular service is an absolute necessity for our standing in the world. They don’t just help stupid travellers. They support Australians and their interests in myriad ways. Indeed the posting today about the JetStar incident in China talks about DFAT staff attending and looking after the interests of Australians. Should the pax on board be charged for this? How much would you suggest and why?

Three incidents I know about where people close to me have received consular assistance. I challenge anybody here to suggest there should be charges or that stupidity was involved.

1) Many years ago a friend had a close relation take very ill and needed to be medivacced back to Australia via a third country. Full travel insurance covered the expenses so no problems there, however one of the countries involved was very difficult for outsiders to deal with. Consular staff were of great assistance to ensure all went well.


2) A few years ago a family member suddenly died overseas, again travel insurance covered expenses, but consular assistance ensured that the body was repatriated back to Australia in a timely manner. No way did anybody in the family have the necessary expertise to deal with these complexities nor the ability during our grief.


3) Bangkok November 2008, I flew into the airport occupation by the yellow shirts. The reliefI got talking to a fellow Australian who knew the situation and could advise me was invaluable. I had travel insurance that had already told me I was covered so no problems on my end. The consular staff worked very well with Qantas to get us out in a timely manner.


Finally, high profile incidents like the Bali bombings are where consular staff prove their worth. Coordinating repatriation missions, helping victims get in touch with families etcetera are all essential tasks and not the fault of stupidity. Think about this, would you rather your family receive a phone call from Australian consular staff to tell you what has happened to you and what is being done? Or a call from local (i.e. foreign country) police saying there’s a problem?




Whatever the statistics of the tax take of the previous government, we lived within our means and built up surpluses rather than in tree hugging la-la land...

All this lot can do is blow the budget out of the water, pander to every feel-good interest group then tax everyone and anyone (well not so much their working, down-and-out family holy cows so if your not one of those you can pay twice) to scramble to create paper balanced budgets... The idea that you can't have everything in some tough times, and that you don't go out of your way to screw with business confidence who either through company taxes or the income taxes of their employees pay for plenty of the spending, doesn't seem to occur to them...

Yet “living within your means” doesn’t mean ignoring infrastructure. Whilst there were mistakes made in the stimulus package at least the government of the day did something. The frauds committed by private companies are slowly being dealt with and monies will be recovered. The NBN is an absolute necessity for our future and once it is built private companies will be lining up to take it over for free (i.e. privatise the profits and socialise the costs and losses). Here in BKK I can get complimentary internet (courtesy of Diamond status) that consistently downloads at >4,000 kilobytes per second at the Hilton Conrad. Can’t even dream of that in Australia at the moment nor would we ever get it if the Liberal party had their way.

[FONT=&amp]Nor has the current government allowed an organisation such as the Australian Wheat Board to get away with trading with terrorists. Fortunately for them and their mates the Howard government was able to delay and prevent prosecution (or even proper investigation) until the statute of limitations [/FONT] expired; thus letting their mates who traded with Saddam Hussein get away with heinous crimes that should have resulted in major jail sentences. A real scandal that will probably never be properly dealt with to conclusion.

As for spending AUD$25 million to win a seat on the security well done to the Labour government for taking the risk to contribute on the world stage. We need future thinking governments who can see and maybe even influence the big world picture. It is easy to sit back and whinge but an opposition needs to have a policy other than work choices to actually lead.
 
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An efficient consular service is an absolute necessity for our standing in the world. They don’t just help stupid travellers. They support Australians and their interests in myriad ways. Indeed the posting today about the JetStar incident in China talks about DFAT staff attending and looking after the interests of Australians. Should the pax on board be charged for this? How much would you suggest and why?

Three incidents I know about where people close to me have received consular assistance. I challenge anybody here to suggest there should be charges or that stupidity was involved.

1) Many years ago a friend had a close relation take very ill and needed to be medivacced back to Australia via a third country. Full travel insurance covered the expenses so no problems there, however one of the countries involved was very difficult for outsiders to deal with. Consular staff were of great assistance to ensure all went well.


2) A few years ago a family member suddenly died overseas, again travel insurance covered expenses, but consular assistance ensured that the body was repatriated back to Australia in a timely manner. No way did anybody in the family have the necessary expertise to deal with these complexities nor the ability during our grief.


3) Bangkok November 2008, I flew into the airport occupation by the yellow shirts. The reliefI got talking to a fellow Australian who knew the situation and could advise me was invaluable. I had travel insurance that had already told me I was covered so no problems on my end. The consular staff worked very well with Qantas to get us out in a timely manner.


Finally, high profile incidents like the Bali bombings are where consular staff prove their worth. Coordinating repatriation missions, helping victims get in touch with families etcetera are all essential tasks and not the fault of stupidity. Think about this, would you rather your family receive a phone call from Australian consular staff to tell you what has happened to you and what is being done? Or a call from local (i.e. foreign country) police saying there’s a problem?

All good examples and I agree completely with you. Then you go completely OT...

....The NBN is an absolute necessity for our future and once it is built private companies will be lining up to take it over for free (i.e. privatise the profits and socialise the costs and losses). Here in BKK I can get complimentary internet (courtesy of Diamond status) that consistently downloads at >4,000 kilobytes per second at the Hilton Conrad. Can’t even dream of that in Australia at the moment nor would we ever get it if the Liberal party had their way.

Actually the telecommunication system in Thailand is characterized by BTO concessions and quite a lot of private companies that have delivered internet speeds you refer to without invoking a huge state owned monopoly such as the NBN.

Nor has the current government allowed an organisation such as the Australian Wheat Board to get away with trading with terrorists. Fortunately for them and their mates the Howard government was able to delay and prevent prosecution (or even proper investigation) until the statute of limitations expired; thus letting their mates who traded with Saddam Hussein get away with heinous crimes that should have resulted in major jail sentences. A real scandal that will probably never be properly dealt with to conclusion.

All very regrettable - that proper investigation was delayed into AWB, Craig Thomson the PM's involvement in a Union Slush fund and other possible illegal activity by public servants and politicians over time.

It is easy to sit back and whinge but an opposition needs to have a policy other than work choices to actually lead.

Again with the "work choices" stuff? The current government has been uniquely inept so the opposition has been opposing just about everything the current ALP government has done because its bad policy - maybe with the exception of finally attempting to fix border security and maybe NDIS (if there was any money to pay for it). I didn't see too many policies from Rudd before the 2007 election either and it didn't stop him winning that election so give it a rest about oppositions putting all their policies on the table this far out from an election.
 
And an article in today's Australian.DFAT has fallen to less than 1000 people for the first time in a decade.Maybe the priorities are all wrong with this government.
Australian Coastline to be excluded from immigration zone.Backed by the ALP caucus.Even the Liberal Party Room didn't cop that.
 
I don't understand why the standard every day tax take is deemed insufficient to run the country. Why a levy for this and for that? Its just tax by another name anyway.

We're not suffering the tough times of many comparable countries overseas, yet we can't live within a budget based upon the standard (and already rather high) taxation system? Goodness me, wait until those tough times actually come home - to run the business of the country will require massive taxation/levy/whatever increases.
 
Its all getting a bit OT, but is excising the whole of Australia the biggest triple back flip with pike farce you could possibly imagine, compared to the rhetoric this lot came into government with and the attacks they used to level at the Libs??? Especially after shutting it all down and now starting it all up again and going even further, its incompetence taken to a whole new low... It would be mildly amusing if it wasn't so pathetic... Then just read in the paper today about how they are thinking of imposing a 1/3 quota on boards of companies in Australia for people with 'deep asian experience'... Exactly what we need is the current bunch of clowns running the country to start dictating to business how they have to manage theirs?!?!
 
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Whatever the statistics of the tax take of the previous government, we lived within our means and built up surpluses rather than in tree hugging la-la land...

We lived within our means while introducing policies that will ensure we can't in the future. For example, tax free superannuation in the withdrawal phase, while we have an ageing population. Massive middle class welfare such as baby bonuses and health insurance rebates.

A lot of those surpluses were the result of selling the family silverware.

Wasn't the company tax rate higher under the Howard government than it is now?

I remember Costello selling basically all of our Gold reserves for $250 an ounce. But of course that was the fault of the previous government!
 
Seriously, here we have a cough system where US ... yes all of US are all paying for the stuff we never ever need to use. Whether you think its just or not, we ALL paid for Corby's great escape from the death penalty, for a crime that she was CONVICTED of, and that a conviction that was UPHELD by APPELLATE courts. Whether you are for or against the use of capital punishment, those are those laws of those countries. There is no use implanting our views on a foreign state, just because we grew up differently.

Make it user pays, raise a liability against a person. If they can't pay it, well pay if over time like they do with HELP and take x% out of your pay (or garnish one's unemployment benefits if necessary). Accrued balances incur interest at the annual rate of inflation.

When essential services such as the Ambulance Service of NSW is a user-pay service, why should NON-essential services such as consular assistance be FREE!

I am sick of paying for someone's else ignorance or flaunting of foreign laws, purely because they know that the government will come to their aid.
 
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