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What we're talking about
- Durkim on New Zealand Gangs Mm, yeah... Real funny, Randhil... more
- Kayli on The Boats God help me, I put aside a whole afteroonn to figure this out. more
- Raynes on Tax and Pollution Until I found this I thoguht I'd have to spend the day inside. more
- James Brown on Mark Latham Mark, you must fell as if you are pushing it uphill, but you are the hope of the side. Keep it up! more
- Michael on Halal certification The Halal Choices website is http://www.halalchoices.com.au/product_lists.htmlIt lists all the products that have been ... more
- a barker on A few facts on illegal boat people We are the Lucky Country, or are we?.15 years ago maybe.How many Indonesian Officials are taking a a bribe from the people ... more
- Robin on The Boats Hey,Thanks! Great post you have written on "The Boats ".Really I can say that your post is very informative, I'll come ... more
- dan on A few facts on illegal boat people From what i can see if we dont do something about this flood gate issue,we will have the same nonsense thats happening over ... more
- Randhil on New Zealand Gangs This info is the cat's pajmaas! more
- Keshawn on CMC Complaint into Queensland Health That's rlelay shrewd! Good to see the logic set out so well. more
- howard on Learning from one another? We are such a politically correct and multiculturally sensitive country Islamists are flourishing here. Just as they ... more
- PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
- PP on Halal certification Thank you for the Halal Choices and the info about Coles - I will not be purchasing meat from Coles henceforth. In the UK it ... more
- anne white on Halal certification A website that lists all Australian food products that are halal is, HALAL CHOICES.Also I phoned COLES (1800 061 562) and ... more
- john on The Taxi Industry No one have the right to do anything they dont want.. you want to drive cabs do it you are not force to do something you do ... more
- Diana on Halal certification I just found out about this today! Does anyone know how to get a list of products bearing this logo so we can boycott them? more
- lol on New Zealand Gangs lol... this isnt good at all more
- Ann on Support our Diggers Is it possible to buy this sticker? I'm sure any number of people would be proud to support our diggers by displaying the ... more
- Mimosa on Smith with PM Gillard You mean I don't have to pay for expert adcvie like this anymore?! more
- figsen/hypolgirl on Anna Bligh as President Hope you're checking this out Wobblyone. Your comment is one of the cleverist/funniest I have read. Couldn't stop laughing. ... more
Rip-off merchants
It beggars belief but there are maggots amongst us who will use any opportunity - including the terrible storms last week - to go jack. To rip-off the rest of us.
There's clear evidence that dishonest Queenslanders are putting in dodgy claims for the emergency payments on offer for the victims of the storms.
This stinks to high heaven.
The Federal Government is providing $1000 per adult and $400 per child through Centrelink.
The state government is handing out cheques on a needs basis. So far Queensland taxpayers have handed over $4.7M
As you would imagine there's no great system in place to administer these payments. Let's cut to the chase, it's predominantly an honour system. State Government volunteers have been manning the 6 community recovery centres. They haven't been putting people through too many hoops to establish how badly their homes have been hit.
There's now very clear evidence of maggots gaming the system. Trying it on. Police are investigating allegedly fraudulent claims at the community recovery centre at Everton Hills. And volunteers at the other sites tell similar stories.
Residents have to fill in a form providing their name address and the damage caused by the storm.
There are lots of stories. People who have spun cock and bull stories. Dozens of callers yesterday to my program talking about people receiving hundreds of dollars improperly - money that's meant for storm victims.
Imagine walking into one of those centres. Amongst people who have genuinely lost everything. Roofs off the house. Water through everything that's left. And the small amount of money we as a community have decided we'll hand over - well rip-off merchants have been getting stuck into that.
We used to have pride. There's no way any Australian I know would go jack on his or her mates like that. No way. And decent Australians would sniff them out. If you got a sense that someone was ripping off the system - we'd be all over them.
Can we be trusted? Has our community changed so much that we can't be trusted not to abuse the community's generosity?
Many of my listeners call for us to name and shame people who've taken this money when they're not entitled to it. And why not? It's our money - the community is entitled to know who's got it. Today I'll speak with the minister Lindy Nelson-Carr and see what it will take to set that up.
