— Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland, on the death of cricketer Phil Hughes
Home: Death of a co-payment
THE GIST. The Federal Government has confirmed that it is dropping its $7 GP co-payment plan. The idea, announced in the Budget in May earlier in the year, is being shelved while the Government considers "other options" to replace it.
CATCH UP. After winning the 2013 election, the formidable tag-team of Joe Hockey (Treasurer) and Mathias Cormann (Finance Minister) announced the 'National Commission of Audit', which was tasked with finding ways to make the government run more efficiently - no holds barred. After calculating that government spending on Medicare is on pace to increase by 80% over the next 10 years, the Commission recommended that bulk-billed patients "make a contribution" to healthcare costs by paying a $7 fee for GP visits and some other services.
LIKE A LEAD BALLOON. The co-payment idea - or at least this model of it - got negative grades from pretty much everyone without a Liberal Party membership. Labor has violently opposed the idea from its inception in May, though it is worth noting that Shadow Assistant Treasurer and economics PhD Andrew Leigh supported a co-payment back in 2003. The Australian Medical Association's attack on the co-payment probably had more teeth though - they said that the Government's healthcare reform package amounted to "harsh, unfair measures" that the government should "dump...immediately".
WRAP-UP. Tony Abbott analogised ditching the co-payment proposal to a "barnacle clearing" exercise. Presumably because it was hard, it sucked, and it had no heart.
Abroad: Chinese democracy
THE GIST. Hong Kong police have attempted to clear out pro-democracy demonstrators from the Mong Kok district, arresting 116 people including two high-profile student leaders of the protest movement.
CATCH UP.The so-called ‘Umbrella Movement’ wants fully free elections for the Chief Executive (CE) of Hong Kong, who is their head of government. The way it works now is that the CE is elected by a 1200-member Election Committee, made up of citizens and interest groups. But in August this year, the Chinese Government decided that as of 2017, they're gonna get the final word in the election process. Hong Kong gets to keep the Election Committee, but it only gets to nominate a couple of candidates for CE. China then gets to decide which one gets the job.
WE GOTTA GO DEEPER. Hong Kong was a British colony until 1981, and then basically under British control until it was handed over to the Chinese in 1997. But there were some important strings attached to the transfer: basically, the Hong Kong Constitution guarantees autonomy from China in most areas except the military. That's where Hong Kong got its capitalism and its independent legal system. The Constitution also guarantees 'universal suffrage', which you might think would give Hong Kong citizens the right to elect their own leaders. Maybe it's not surprising then that as many as 100,000 people took to the streets to protest the new 'electoral reform'.
THE OUTLOOK. Public support has waned a bit for the Umbrella movement, given the disruptions it's causing to transport and other public services. Nonetheless, the protests and sit-ins have been going strong for a couple of months now, and look to continue despite this latest crackdown.
Small-talk
Putin's Tiger kills goats. What's less surprising - that Vladimir Putin had a pet Siberian Tiger, or that he released it into the wild as a propaganda stunt? Anyway, local authorities in north-east China are claiming that the tiger has made a foray over the border and killed several goats. The next UN Security Council meeting is gonna be super awkward.
Cornwall's mystery 'logger'. A public pool in Falmouth, Cornwall is apparently being terrorised by a serial defecator. Serial. Defecator. Even more disturbing is the fact that the so-called logger always strikes at the same time - during the weekly 'children's rave'.
No longer the 90s. Creed frontman Scott Stapp (yes, you remember Creed) is apparently dead broke and homeless. Stapp, who reckons he's been swindled out of his money, says that "This is not the America that I want for my children and their future." It sounds like a bad situation; one that almost nobody deserves. Probably not even the guy responsible for With Arms Wide Open.
