A charities watchdog will be axed, contentious changes to financial advice rules will be enshrined in law, and film classification procedures will be simplified as part of Federal Government moves to scrap thousands of regulations.

Introducing the changes into Parliament today, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the "red tape" repeal would get rid of 9,500 "unnecessary or counter-productive" regulations and 1,000 redundant acts of Parliament.

"Removing just these will save individuals and organisations more than $700 million a year, every year," he said.

But the Government has delayed a measure that would have watered down gender reporting requirements for business, saying it will "continue to consult" over that issue.

The Opposition is concerned about the Government's plans to change protections for people using financial services.

Labor brought in new laws last year, following the collapse of Storm Financial and Opes Prime and the loss of millions of dollars for investors.

The Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) laws stipulate greater controls on commissions, that advisers act in the "best interests" of their clients, and that they get agreement every two years from customers to continue receiving advice and paying fees.

But the Government wants to wind back the last two regulations and other measures.

Labor says the Government is using the red tape legislation to hide the changes, which it says will hurt consumers.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says it needs to be a separate bill.

"This is dodgy law, done in a dodgy way which will lead to dodgy outcomes," he told Parliament.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-19/red-tape-repeal-to-scrap-charities-watchdog/5330788

Most of the so-called "red tape" are necessary procedures to avoid the destruction of valuable stuff such as forests and to also avoid the public being short-changed by shonks in matter of finances... But the Rattus-in-chief want to help his mates, the wheelers and dealers, make a quicker buck on your back... This of course won't save any money as more protests will hit the streets and more litigation will hit the courts.

The Federal Government says regulatory intervention "may be necessary" in a bid to stamp out unfair credit card surcharges.

This week, the ABC reported that Australians had been charged $800 million in credit card surchargesin the past year, despite Reserve Bank rules designed to limit excessive or unfair charges.

MasterCard collated the figures and named the main offenders as airlines, taxis, major hotels and utilities companies.

Small Business Minister Bruce Billson also has the responsibility for consumer affairs as part of his portfolio.

Speaking to ABC Radio National, Mr Billson said the Reserve Bank's guidelines have had "some impact".

"But there's still a couple of businesses, some notable high profile examples, where the surcharge is being applied at spectacular amounts that look nothing more than an opportunistic grab for cash from consumers," Mr Billson said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-19/minister-warns-companies-on-credit-card-surcharges/5331116

RESIGN, DICKHEAD’ was one of the most popular signs at the Melbourne March in March last weekend — attracting the ire of Andrew Bolt. Banner creator Lyndon Morley sets the record straight.

...

Murdoch Family Inc and their subsidiary the LNP have turned Australian politics into a no-holds-barred bogan battleground of insults and insolence. While the NewsCorpParty is broadcasting every hateful remark it can use to whip its audience into a frenzy, it’s also easier to get time on the other networks by screaming obscenities than it is by conveying political goals.

If Tony Abbott hadn’t cut the ribbon on the floodgates of senseless ridicule in Australian politics, maybe my sign could be considered distasteful. If the Liberal Party had renounced ‒ rather than adopted ‒ mockery in Australian politics, maybe I wouldn’t be writing this right now.

In the garbage dump you’re trying to help turn Australian politics into, I obviously feel it was appropriate to call the Prime Minister a dickhead.

I can’t speak for everyone who dislikes the Prime Minister, but I think he needs to know how strongly that sentiment is felt.

You can’t just sell off parcels of our country without being told you’re a dickhead.

You can’t dredge our reefs, chop down our world heritage listed forests and kill our animals without being told you’re a dickhead.

You can’t abolish our important scientific and social institutions, oppress minorities or defund education, health and welfare without being told you’re a dickhead.

I think it’s fair to call him a dickhead. I hope that it sticks and that for the rest of his life, Tony Abbott is known as Tony Abbott the Dickhead PM.

read more: http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/tony-abbott-andrew-bolt-and-resign-dickhead,6296

environmental sainthood

We urgently need a Tony Abbott impersonator to continue the long and honourable tradition of mocking prime ministers.

In the 1970s there was a McMahon or Whitlam mimic at every party you went to. The incomparable Max Gillies had Bob Hawke to a tee. The best Howard was done by Josh Zepps, a brilliant young actor who worked on my old Friday News Review on 2UE and is now making his fortune on TV in New York.

Anthony Ackroyd managed a nicely oleaginous Rudd, and Amanda Bishop's Gillard was OK until she did that appalling At Home With Julia, the most excruciatingly unfunny show on ABC TV in living memory.

But we haven't got an Abbott, although he should be easy to do. The jug ears and Speedos are a gift, along with that curious habit of slowly clasping and unclasping his hands as he speaks. And there's that, um, halting, er, delivery: a slow thinker on his feet, he incessantly repeats himself in question time to give his brain a chance to catch up with his mouth. All grist to the mimic's mill.

Fame and fortune are there for whoever can pull it off. The nation waits.