octave

BUT !.Why should Normal people have to end up with a "guilt-conscience" for Not buying down & outs shopping trolly.

 

spacesailor

A "guilty conscience"?. The only person who can give you a guilty conscience is you. If I wanted to help that person I would do it in a way that was actually useful and if I chose not too I am secure enough not to feel guilty.

And if 80% of their money was paid with a credit card not suitable for buying drugs, a lot of problems would go away.

Being trialled at the moment Cashless Welfare Card - Wikipedia

Also if you fail to look after yourself with basic hygiene. Just how arid-zone aborigines were expected to learn about washing when their circumstances traditionally made this impossible is a mystery to me.I honestly think the so-called bleeding hearts are secretly nasty racists for failing to recommend financial pressure to get aborigines ( and some whites ) to wash themselves more.

Many of the negative health outcomes are at least partially modifiable. More than 4 in 10 cancer deaths are linked to modifiable factors. We do know the factors that are likely to contribute to ending up in a hospital. To be clear I am far from perfect when it comes to lifestyle. There are also links between chronic illness and socioeconomic factors.

I guess the question is, to what extent should the government intervene to force people to adopt healthy habits and to lose weight or exercise more and to what extent do we look after people who smoke or have a bad diet, overweight doesn't exercise, drink too much etc.

CAN'T see WHY we (on that wait list) we shouldent know how much longer we have to wait. ( it didn't seem important at the start.)

I am guessing the reason you can not be given a precise time is that whilst everyone's case is the most important to them sometimes perhaps due to accidents etc someone in greater need jump ahead in the list.

I have been to casualty for myself and my father and I have always recognized that cases are dealt with by severity. I would hate to be treated before a young person with a life-threatening condition. Space I do have sympathy for your predicament and if it were up to me I would happily pay a few more dollars in tax to shorten waiting lists but as the last election showed most people are more interested in a small tax cut than improving the health system.

In 2013 too had to wait for a cardiac procedure that meant I could not do physical stuff and being a little chubby had to lose weight, because I could not exercise much so I had to rely on the other method of weight loss - diet.

It is possible to go backwards on a hospital wait list. They put you back if a more urgent case arrives, so you can go from a 3 hour expectation to a 6 hour at the outpatients. This happened to a guy I was with. We reckoned at this rate he would never be seen and we left.

I had an op about 3 years ago and after getting changed and waiting for several hours. Eventually, the young surgical registrar came and told me that my operation was being postponed. He was most surprised when I was not angry, of course, it was a little inconvenient but as I said to the surgeon I would rather suffer the inconvenience of postponement than being the poor person on the table whose life-threatening emergency caused the postponement.

We can't a near-perfect system without paying for it. I have had many many personal experiences with it over the past 5 years and at this moment my 91-year-old father is in hospital again. The system is not perfect but generally, it is pretty good in terms of what we pay compared to what we get.

One TENTH the Australian price !.I could almost afford this,

So you could go to India and pay for it plus airfares or you could have it done here as a public patient in a public hospital for free, other than waiting time what is your gripe?

[

"Start with something simple, easy to measure and everyone can be talking the same language: "Like counting twelve segments on your fingers. (using the thumb).

 

Who the sheet can count .

 

one ten millionth , of anything,

 

on a desert island !.

 

spacesailor

Like it or not metric is the language of science.

Who the sheet can count .one ten millionth , of anything,

You or I may not have a need in our everyday life to deal in one ten-millionth but a physicist might or a mathematician.

There was a story about a clinic run by australians planned for opening in PNG. It could offer half-price operations in theory, because it would be free from the australian legal system.Does anybody know more about this?

So if I have an operation in Australia as a public patient it cost me nothing, why would I fly to PNG other than perhaps a shorter waiting time for elective surgery?

Then Why are so many Australians going overseas for their surgery ?.

Are they? Where are they going? I know some people choose to have elective surgery overseas at there own cost but again what countries system would you rather have? The US?

How much will you pay for a hip replacement surgery, even if you have insurance?

The average cost for a hip replacement in the United States is around $32,000.

Using guidance on typical coverage levels from healthcare.gov, let’s assume your annual deductible is $1,300, your co-insurance is 20% and your maximum annual out-of-pocket cost is $4,400 a year.

If this is the first medical procedure you’re having in a calendar year, at these levels of insurance, your total cost for the operation would be $4,400, your maximum out-of-pocket cost.

While $4,400 is a whole lot less than $32,000, coming up with the money to pay that bill could be difficult for a lot of people. And, remember, that’s just an example. It’s not uncommon for annual maximum out-of-pocket costs to be even higher.

Meanwhile in Australia

Do I need health insurance for a hip or knee replacement?

Will I have out-of-pockets?

Public patients will have no out-of-pocket expenses for surgery in a public hospital. In contrast, if you are going through the private system, you will likely be met with out-of-pocket costs depending on your excess, which hospital you are admitted to and how much your doctor charges. You may also pay some out-of-pocket costs for the anaesthetist.

If you’re going through the private system, be sure to check with your doctor, hospital and health insurer to confirm these costs ahead of time.

Best performing health systems:

Which countries have the best healthcare systems? | APRIL International

Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care

List of countries by quality of healthcare - Wikipedia

Study ranks Australian healthcare system among world's best

Personally, I am grateful for what I have received from our medical system (which is a lot) my experience has usually been positive and by nature, I am a glass-half-full kind of person

It is possible to find fault with any system but by and large, we are fortunate at least that is how I feel about it

The government did it this way in order to limit their numbers and therefore the payments. I reckon we would be better off without any government interference at all.

With all of its problems, I would much rather have a serious illness or injury in this country than most other countries.

After doing a bit reading it seems that we are training more doctors than before and also more than most countries. The problem it seems is distribution. I lived in a country town where the local GP would do rounds at the hospital and aged care home as well as GP duties and as this town was on a major highway with one of the highest accident rates in the country they were also attending traumatic crashes. Doesn't sound like an appealing workplace for a young doctor with a large HECS debt.

This is worth a read for those who are interested in the more than just the headline.

How can Australia have too many doctors, but still not meet patient needs?

Excellent video.

That is a very low flying doctor service.

 

How did the doc pass away?

'Flying Doctor' John Hinds Killed in Irish Road Race Accident

I am not at all interested in bikes however my son who is also not into bikes but races on four wheels sent me a link to this video. I resisted watching it for ages thinking it would be grim and depressing but when I finally watched I found it to be fascinating and even humorous. It is about the late Dr John Hinds racing doctor. This guy used to give lectures detailing the many accidents he has attended.

It includes some discussion of safety equipment. As a non bike rider, I found this quite engaging. Not sure whether any of you bike enthusiast would enjoy it or not, it does go for 45 minutes.

NEW GRIPE."‘It snuck up on us’: Scientists stunned by ‘city-killer’ asteroid that just missed Earth"

 

(‘It snuck up on us’: Scientists stunned by ‘city-killer’ asteroid that just missed Earth )

 

They Don't want us poor mortals to know.

 

So we leave our look in Their banks.

 

AND work till the End.

 

spacesailor

Not really a conspiracy not to tell anyone but a failure to detect it earlier. This asteroid was approximately 100 metres in diameter and 70 000km away. Detection can only be as good as the resources put towards the task.

City-killer and just missed the Earth are the usual lame tabloid headlines. For more scientific and less sensational news -

A Giant Asteroid Just Skimmed Past Earth, And We Barely Noticed in Time

Good point, I'd forgotten about rates in rough calculations; probably more than $30,000 over the years. Another thing to factor is the selling agents fee which escaped my original guesstimate.

I think from memory, all write offs come off the top, eg: total sale value minus costs, expenses, inflation indexing etc.. Then it's that figure minus value of house & 2 hectares, divided by two = capital gain.

I think in our case we actually couldn't claim rates because our property was not income producing but your situation may well be different. Here is a link to a tax ruling. I have forgotten the details of exactly what we did but I do remember reading this document at some time.

Legal Database

I don't know whether it has any application to your situation or not but perhaps worth a read.

NO COMMENT.but lot of questions?

 

spacesailor

Space what sort of comments are after? A lot of questions? Well, a few but in order to make an informed comment, you first have to make the effort to become informed.

Well, I'll be trying to lower it as much as I can. With capital gain tax, selling agent fees, moving costs and stamp duty and other costs to buy the next home, if the homework isn't done right, it's easy to go backwards.

I understand that for sure, we downsized so my wife could retire and I am semi-retired which is the position we are now in (highly recommended). We wanted to cram as much as we could into super and luckily it has worked out well, not wealthy by any means but comfortable and as idle as I want to be.

Thanks Octave. I knew you could designate the boundary lines of the two hectares but didn't know it could be split into portions. That makes it easy if there are sheds and infrastructure a distance away from the house. I'll probably be going through all that CGT stuff next year if my property sells.

Good luck with it. Turned out not too bad for us but I won't say it was simple. It is hard enough learning information you are interested in but even harder when the subject matter is boring and detailed.

Thanks Octave; I'm well versed in that as I have more than 2 hectares. The mate in question owns half of a property more than that 2 hectare limit. He lives on the property but it's the portion exceeding the two hectares that bumps his assets up.

Centrelink valuations can be dodgy and are well worth appealing if they seem unrealistic. They often use contract valuers who wouldn't know if their arse was on fire. I've had personal experience of that - not with my arse being on fire, but with dealing with one of those twits contracted by Centrelink. His valuation wasn't adverse to my situation but in phone conversations, I was quite astounded by his lack of basic knowledge on the subject.

 

It can be a bit unfair. Someone who has a rural residential block they've lived on most of their lives can receive a pittance % of the pension due to the size of the block, while their neighbour can have a ten million dollar house on less than two hectares and receive a full pension if his other assets do not exceed the limit.

 

Where I live, so far, it hasn't been a problem because of the type of district it is. If you have a larger property, they value the total property. Then they estimate the value of your house and two hectares. The difference between the two is deemed a non exempt asset. Because I live in a high growth/demand area, a two hectare block is worth just as much as a ten hectare block, so the difference is minimal. Where the mate on the disability pension lives, there is a much bigger differential between a two hectare block and a bigger one, so he is effected a lot more than I am.

 

Once you exceed the asset limit, your pension is reduced by $3 a fortnight for every $1,000 the limit is exceeded. So if you are $100,000 over the limit, you lose $300 per fortnight. If you live in a city and your non residence assets don't exceed the limit, you can receive a full pension. If you live outside of town on a few acres you can be forced to sell your property you've lived on all your life so you can get a pension.

 

Here's a hypothetical situation: You can have the arse out of your pants and be living on breadcrumbs, and so are forced to sell up and downsize so you can receive a full pension and feed yourself. Let's just say that over all the years you've lived there, property values have increased by great numbers. You can sell that property (more than 2 hectares) for 10 million dollars, then buy a ten million dollar house on less than 2 hectares and receive a full pension and live a bit better. Only hypothetical of course, as most people with 10 million dollars would buy a cheaper property and live as a self funded retiree on the balance. And be free of Centrelink to boot.

Yes, I am quite familiar with the 2-hectare rule having sold our 22-hectare property a couple of years ago. I think that often on the face of it, these rules can seem (and indeed often are) arbitrary. We were pretty fearful as people told us we would be up for tens of thousands of dollars. In the end, we spent a lot of time reading and researching and found that it was not so bad after all. We were told by non-experts that we must pay large sums of money to get a valuation that the tax department would accept but in actual fact as far as the tax department goes you can assess it yourself as long as you can show you have used commonly accepted practice. We ended paying a couple of thousand an thus far no nasty please explain letters, I think they have another 3 years in which to challenge it if they disagree but we are pretty confident it conforms to the law.

Don't get me wrong I am not defending Centrelink I am just saying that often things that seem outrageous on the surface when examined closely are perhaps reasonable given the tax take. I am just dealing with my aged parents and delving in the financial aspect of an aged care home. The reality is that the taxpayer does not want to pay the whole of a person's aged care expenses. My parents are far from wealthy but hey do own their own home and it seems fair enough to me that they are asked to contribute to the cost of their care.

I do sympathise with the plight of the person who owns more than 2 hectares. By the way, as far as the tax department valuation goes it can be any 2 hectares within the block and not necessarily in one portion. On my property, I chose 2 one acre portions, one which took in the entire river bank and one that cleverly went around the house, water tanks and other high-value assets leaving the taxable portion which was of a lower value.

Octave .Most information concerning traveling through somone 's land is often on the governments & public web sites.

 

when going to a lot of places like the simpson Desert, You Buy a permit from the government/Natural-parks department.

 

( Simpson Desert National Park (Department of Environment and Science) )

 

Cape-York.

 

( Parks and forests within Cape York Peninsula (Department of Environment and Science) ).

 

These parks are often run jointly by Government & landowner.

 

Took less than a second to find $100 worth of permits. ( CapeYork is likley to be over the $100 on it's own.(happy that its in Dual language)).

 

OME

 

"Wouldn't there be an almighty stink if "scholars" from some other culture decided to descent upon Westminster Abbey and started to dig up Britain's famous dead? "

 

Not at all.

 

We/They, are digging up every thing "Harold the great's been found, after his tomb was lost to antiquity.

 

Motorways demand the removal of consecrated graves daily, (such is Progress).

 

Even pre Roman building sites are always on the list of "DIGGS" !.

 

spacesailor

Many of those fees are for commercial operations such as grazing etc. In terms of the ordinary person going on holiday to a national park, yes there are some fees to camp, this is not unusual in National Parks. These fees seem reasonable to me

Camping and vehicle access permits (Department of Environment and Science)

Applying for a permit to travel through Aboriginal land, the outrageous sum of $0

Apply for a permit to access or travel through Aboriginal land | Western Australian Government

The permit system is designed to help protect the privacy of Aboriginal communities, preserve Aboriginal heritage and culture, safeguard the natural environment and to promote visitor safety.

Permits are issued free of charge.

You can apply online to travel through Aboriginal lands.

The online form is not to be used for mining activity.

Read all required information before applying for a permit.

If you have any queries, please contact the Permits Officer on 1300 651 077 or 61 8 6551 8000 or [email protected]

A mate of mine is on a disability pension. A few days ago, he was notified that his payment is reduced to $50 per fortnight because Centrelink re valued his property and he now exceeds the asset limit by another $150,000. Problem is, he's still disabled and can't work. He's going to appeal the decision, so it will be interesting to see the outcome. It's ironic that he voted for the government who only two months later took away his disability pension.

Brings to mind the famous Harry S. Truman quote - " How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you figure out who's hitting you.".

 

We have to pay for those tax cuts one way or the other.

 

Disability Support Pension - Assets - Australian Government Department of Human Services

Assets we don’t assess

There are some assets we don't assess. We call these exempt assets.

Exempt assets include:

• your principal home and surrounding land up to 2 hectares on the same title
   
  
• some properties larger than 2 hectares on the same title - read more about rural customers and primary producers
   
  
• your principal home, if you vacate it for up to 12 months
   
  
• granny flat rights where you pay more than the extra allowable amount
   
  
• principal home sale proceeds you’ll use to buy another home within 12 months - we deem the exempted amount and include it in the income test
   
  
• any property or money left to you in an estate, which you can’t get for up to 12 months
   
  
• accommodation bonds paid on entry to a residential aged care facility
   
  
• some income streams depending on when you purchased them
   
  
• Australian superannuation investments from which a pension is not being paid - this exemption is valid until you reach Age Pension age
   
  
• a cemetery plot and a prepaid funeral, or up to 2 funeral bonds, that cost no more than the allowable limit
   
  
• aids for people with disability
   
  
• money from the National Disability Insurance Scheme for people with disability
   
  
• a Special Disability Trust, if it meets certain requirements
   
  

I just googled up total costs for owning and running a car. The answer is 300 to 400 a week. More than I thought.

Octave .Most information concerning traveling through somone 's land is often on the governments & public web sites.

 

when going to a lot of places like the simpson Desert, You Buy a permit from the government/Natural-parks department.

 

( Simpson Desert National Park (Department of Environment and Science) )

 

Cape-York.

 

( Parks and forests within Cape York Peninsula (Department of Environment and Science) ).

 

These parks are often run jointly by Government & landowner.

 

Took less than a second to find $100 worth of permits. ( CapeYork is likley to be over the $100 on it's own.(happy that its in Dual language)).

 

OME

 

"Wouldn't there be an almighty stink if "scholars" from some other culture decided to descent upon Westminster Abbey and started to dig up Britain's famous dead? "

 

Not at all.

 

We/They, are digging up every thing "Harold the great's been found, after his tomb was lost to antiquity.

 

Motorways demand the removal of consecrated graves daily, (such is Progress).

 

Even pre Roman building sites are always on the list of "DIGGS" !.

 

spacesailor

Who gets this money? It sounds like goverment and national parks etc. The suggestion that aborigenes are getting rich does not seem to be born out. If aborigenes are getting wealthy from these payments they are doing a good job of hiding it.

[

I still have that memento, but packed away.No one else taken the back road from Alice the The Rock,

 

quite a few tolls & permits in Australia.

 

"Permits do not allow for stops between the East Alligator River (Cahills Crossing) and the Park boundary" NT.

 

"Cape york" The same, Tolls for the ferry plus permits. Last time I did it $80.

 

spacesailor

So space give us more detail, when did this happen? is this infortmation published anywhere or do you just find out when you get there? If a permit is purchased where do the funds go? You see space the yhing is you can convince me of anything if you provide evidence,

ANDDon't forget this & any Government can, like NZ, stop stop superannuation any time they want YOUR money !.

 

spacesailor

Total Bullshit. Please provide me with one documented case.