The paper was quoting from a list published by the Department of Finance.

It noted that serving and former parliamentarians are entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in allowances a year for domestic and overseas travel, office fit-outs and family travel expenses.

“ For example, Mr Abbott was paid about $590,000 in entitlements for the first half of 2011, according to the department’s report, and Ms Roxon claimed about $190,500 for the same period.”

But for the first time the department has published a ”name and shame” list of the politicians who failed to examine the bill they ran up and check it off against their own accounts.

Every parliamentarian is provided with a six-monthly account, called a ”management report”, of what he or she has spent and asked to certify that the expenses were paid for proper reasons.

But politicians including Adam Bandt of the Greens, the Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, and the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, have not yet tallied their accounts for the public record, according to the department’s list.

Signing off on the accounts is not compulsory but in a 2009 Senate estimates hearing, Labor senator John Faulkner advocated for the ”naming and shaming” list as an important transparency measure.

”I certainly would not want to be a parliamentarian so named and that of itself, I think, would be a significant sanction,” he told the hearing. ”What people want to see is the management reports certified and provided to the department.”

A 2009-10 Auditor-General’s report pointed out weaknesses in the self-certification system, including that compliance by parliamentarians was voluntary.

Queensland Labor senator Claire Moore has spoken on this issue in Senate estimates and, together with Senator Faulkner, has advocated for greater accountability.

But what does that mysterious, economists’ word,  really  mean?

Getting more blood out of a stone, perhaps, by working smarter, not harder.

Frustration with the way we are expected to work is very common  and – all often – thoroughly justified.

Your correspondent has some experience with this, as joint author of a book on productivity, called “Because no Bastard Ever Asked Me.”

The anecdote, which led to that odd title, was  of a production worker,   Bob,  who worked in factory making  washing machines.

But too many of those washing machines were so unstable that they “walked” around laundry floors.

In desperation, Bob’s boss had hired consultants, to find out why.

As the consultants watched machines moving down the production line, Bob’s boss heard Bob, mutter “another bad one.”

Bob did that  once or twice more.

So the  boss asked him if he could identify machines that would “walk” before they left the factory.

“Yes,” Bob said.

“They have rough metal under the rim of their bowls.”

“We have had this problem for for a long time,” the boss replied.

“Why didn’t you speak up?”

“Because no bastard ever asked me,” Bob said.

(We still have a few copies of the book. Email me at alanthornhill@netscape.net if you want one).

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, also argued the case for increased productivity at the weekend, saying the government is pursuing it by:-

• A doubling of the investment in roads, rail and ports over the six years from 2008-09;
• Building the National Broadband Network, which will help drive down costs of doing business;
• A greater focus on skills, training and apprenticeships, including the $3 billion investment in the Budget;
• Putting a price on carbon pollution, which will help shift our economy to clean energy and low-pollution technologies in a way that provides maximum support to productivity growth;
• Promoting innovation through better targeting of tax incentives, and $9.4 billion in spending on science and research;
• Reducing regulatory barriers and business red tape by working with the states on consistent rules and processes, such as uniform occupational health and safety laws and a national occupational licensing system;
• Building on our tax reform agenda, such as cutting the company tax rate to boost competitiveness, and tripling the tax-free threshold to provide workforce incentives; and
• A Fair Work Act built on enterprise bargaining that supports firms’ efforts to be more productive, and balances fairness and flexibility.

That’s the government’s response to the Coalition’s argument that it is wasting taxpayers’ money.

It’s a wordy one,  though.

Meanwhile its rival, Virgin, will be providing 3,000 extra seats today, to help clear passenger backlogs.

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, described the action of Qantas chief, Alan Joyce, who grounded the airline on Saturday as “extreme” and said her government had acted as quickly as it could to restore the airline’s services.

The government won an order from Fair Work Australia, which Ms Gillard described as “the independent umpire” for a cessation of all industrial action, including the lockout.

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has accused the government of failing to intervene early enough, in the dispute.

Qantas has said earlier that it would resume services as soon as possible, but there were no passenger flights this morning.

The airline had to wait for clearances from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

The lockout left thousands of passengers stranded – and many Federal members wondering if they could get to Canberra, for vital Spring sittings this week.

It also disrupted the travel plans of thousands of Australians, including many who wanted tickets to Melbourne, for the Melbourne Cup tomorrow.

The Qantas lockout followed the airline’s announcement, back in August, that it would cut at least 1,000 jobs.

Efforts to get Qantas planes back into the air resumed, before Fair Work Australia, at 2pm Sunday.

FWA issued its cessation order twelve hours later.

The dispute has further damaged business confidence, particularly in the small to medium enterprise sector, which depends heavily on air transport.

Yet, what our politicians decide can have a big impact on our personal budgets.

The proposed carbon tax legislation is, very much, a case in point.

The House of Representatives approved it today, on a 74-72 vote.

The 19 Clean Energy Bills, which contain it, now go to the Senate, which is expected to vote on it later today.

They are likely to be approved there, too.

So how will all this hit your pocket or purse?

Well, you probably won’t be hit directly, with the new tax.

It will apply only to about 500 of Australia’s biggest polluters.

The main impact, for most of us, will be through flow-on effects, through things like higher electricity bills.

Jobs, like those of factory workers, employed in industries that compete heavily with imports, could also be affected.

The government argues, though, that a low carbon economy is needed, to prevent Australia falling behind other countries, which are also moving to clean energy.

People, on social security, will be compensated for the extra costs, that will come with the new tax.

That will be done through changes to social security, family assistance, veterans’ entitlements, military rehabilitation and compensation, farm household support and aged care, and for what the government calls “related purposes.”

Under the Government’s plan, there will be a new Clean Energy Supplement.

That will deliver a 1.7 per cent increase in pensions, allowances and family payments.

The extra assistance will mean:
• Up to $338 extra per year for single pensioners and self-funded retirees, and up to $510 per year for pensioner couples combined.
• Up to $110 per child for a family that receives Family Tax Benefit Part A.
• Up to $69 extra for families that receive Family Tax Benefit Part B.
• Up to $218 extra per year for single income support recipients and $390 per year for couples combined for people on allowances.
• Up to $234 per year for single parents in addition to the increased family payments they receive.

Will that be enough?

Independent organisations, like the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence, which have checked the government’s figures, think so.

Indeed, the Brotherhood has congratulated the government on all this.

What about the rest of us, though?

The wage slaves, who are not on welfare.

Well, several important tax reforms have been announced, to coincide with the new carbon tax.

These include the government’s decision to raise the tax threshold to $18,200 from July 1, next year.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has even been talking of raising the threshold to $21,000, as soon as the government can afford to do so.

Voters have long memories, so Treasurers, must be confident that such promises are realistic, when they talk like that.

But – as its name implies – the proposed Clean Energy legislation is really meant to be about tackling global warming, not just changing tax laws.

The government, itself, admits that the transport sector accounts a big slice of our greenhouse gas emissions.

About 15 per cent in fact.

So won’t the carbon tax hit us at the petrol pump?

Not unless you are driving a heavy truck.

That is a vehicle of 4.5 tonnes, or more.

Light vehicles, like the family car or tradie’s ute will be permanently excluded.

What about air fares.

Domestic air fares will be hit.

On the best estimates, though, the tax would add about $2 to the price of a seat on a flight between Melbourne and Sydney.

Why not wait for until you are on the plane, for your coffee, instead of having it at the terminal.

That way you’ll come out ahead.

The airlines, though, won’t have to pay the tax on the fuel they use on their international flights.

Australians now mainly use cards, for mid level payments, of $50 to $500.

And the use of credit cards, rather than  debit cards, is growing.

Reserve Bank Assistant Governor, Malcolm Edey, revealed all this – and more – in a speech to a payments industry conference in Sydney.

He said, too, that:”BPAY and internet banking are used frequently for bill payments and high value transactions.”

Next, in order to understand the attributes that people value for point of sale payments, we asked people what factors influence their choice of payment method at the checkout.

So how do Australians choose how they will pay, when they are in a shop or at a service station?

“Perhaps not surprisingly, the most important factor was what they happen to be carrying with them at the time,” Mr Edey said.

“Beyond that, the main factor cited in determining how people pay is the speed of processing the transaction, followed by the ability to use their own funds and the ease of managing finances.”

He said speed is important, at the point of sale.

“… it helps explain why people continue to use cash for small value transactions,” he added.

That also points to possible future directions.

“…it also indicates that the current push towards contactless cards might be quite important for many consumers,” Mr Edey said.

He produced the graph below:-

So watch out.

Your correspondent, for example, was bitterly disappointed this week to discover that the email, telling him that $2.2 million was waiting to be deposited in his bank account, if he would only supply the account number, was actually a scam.  Damn. That money would have been very handy, right now,

Another, slightly more sophisticated scam also came to light this week.

We can thank an alert credit card fraud officer for that.

He queried a 1 cent charge on a client’s card, ringing his customer to  ask if this odd  transaction had been authorised.

It hadn’t.  Apparently the scammer, in this case, was one step ahead of the one holding that $2.2 million  for me.

He – or she – already had that customer’s credit card account number, presumably among several thousand others.

The idea, apparently, was to wait to see which card suppliers actually approved that 1 cent charge, on which accounts.  The door would then be open for other, bigger claims later.

These, sadly, are just two examples, among thousands.

The hard heads at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, are warning of several.

These include:-

Bogus holiday scams, involving expensive  travel clubs memberships, with bogus hotel and travel discounts

Similar scams on air travel bookings

Romance scams, which occur when a prospective partner you meet on line asks for a loan, to cover a bogus emergency

False charities, scamming you for donations.

Other scams include cold calls, telling you that your computer has been infected by a virus, and offering to fix it.

Always check.

Don’t be caught out.

Jeff Bresnahan, the Managing Director of SuperRatings, says:”…Australia’s super funds have been well and truly caught up in the May correction across world markets.”

He said the estimated loss – “as of yesterday” would be some 4.1 per cent.

Mr Bresnahan said, though, that this had followed “a solid gain” of 13.9 per cent over the previous 12 months.

He noted,  too, that Australian mining stocks had suffered a 2 per cent fall, immediately after the Federal government announced its new super profits tax, on the nation’s resource industries.

Thousands of Australians, who retired after the share market crash of late 2008, were shocked at the hit it inflicted on their payouts.

However, there have been significant gains since then.

Mr Bresnahan noted that.

“The solid long term results continue to reinforce the success of a diversified portfolio across various economic cycles,”
he said.

However Mr Bresnahan added a warning.

“…but the increased volatility within these portfolios is an interesting addition to the debate,” he said.

Mr Bresnahan said that complocatef the strategies that should be followed, in the new investment scene.

Indeed, the Federal Treasurer,Wayne Swan, who made the promise, said the cut would be “modest,” for Australians on average weekly earnings.

These cuts have been scheduled for some time.  The first tranche was paid in the Rudd government’s first budget and the second last year.

Mr Swan recalled all this, in a pre-budget television interview yesterday.

“…of course, as you know, we  are delivering the third tranche of our tax cuts,” the Treasurer said.

Mr SWan also said, though, that the most important thing Australians would see, in this year’s budget, would be the funding of overdue improvements to Australia’s health system.

“This is a very significant reform in the budget,” he said.

Tomorrow night’s budget, though, will definitely not be a traditional, big-spending election year budget.

Mr Swan is adamant about that.

The big spending, that came with the Federal government’s stimulus measures, in the wake of the global economic crisis, have now largely passed.

However Mr Swan  said that they had, definitely, been worthwhile.

“We were terribly exposed and what we did do was act decisively to put in place the most effective fiscal stimulus among advanced countries.” Mr Swan said.

There will be some late surprises in the budget, though.

One will be a new scheme, negotiated with Australian airlines, which will save the Federal government $160 million over four years, by wiping out frequent flyer points for MPs and their staff.

A 2 per cent cap will also be placed on rises in Federal spending, in this year’s budget.

Australia’s new mining boom will also be reflected in this year’s budget.

Mr Swan admitted that this would allow the government to return to budget surpluses earlier than had been previously expected, after the crisis.

However we certainly won’t see a budget surplus tomorrow night.

Mr Swan  also said yesterday he would spend the rest of his weekend putting “the finishing touches” to what he  called “a no frills budget.”

“Our public finances are among the strongest in the world,” Mr Swan said.

Indeed, the Reserve Bank Governor, Glenn Stevens, had described them as being in “terrific shape,” the Treasurer added.

Some may regard the list of features, that Mr Swan spelt out, as impressive.

These were:-
-Very strict spending limits
-The biggest health reforms since the introduction of Medicare
-A big boost for superannuation Tax cuts for small business and
-More infrastructure investment.

However, with the Rudd government slipping badly, in recent opinion polls – and an election due later this year – there can be little doubt that Mr Swan would be feeling much more comfortable tomorrow night, if he could throw in one or two solid vote grabbing announcements.

The Treasurer says he won’t be doing that.

His brave statements, though, must hurt.

Unsolicited credit cards are a big no-no under Australian law.

However the bank did send out American Express cards, to certain  customers who had not requested them.

That was a mistake.

The cards went to NAB Qantas Gold account customers, after the airline made changes to its frequent flyer program, from April 1 this year.

The NAB described the new cards as “companion cards.”  They worked on the customers’ existing credit card accounts.

No new accounts were opened and credit limits were not changed.

However, its move attracted an adverse assessment from the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

ASIC, as the commission is known, “raised concerns” over the matter with the bank.

It said the law prohibits the distribution of unsolicited credit cards, unless they were specifically requested – in writing – by the customer.

This prohibition does not apply to replacement cards.

However, in a statement just issued, ASIC said the bank had “responded positively.”

The NAB had promised to write to all the customers concerned, asking if they wished to keep the card sent to them, if they have not already used it.

The cards sent to those who do not agree will automatically be “deactivated,” ASIC said.

Jawboning that is.  We haven’t heard that  word for a while.  But it’s right back in style now.

Jawboning, of course, is economists’ jargon for trying to talk up the economy, in bad times.

Some might see it as a mark of desperation.

But as regular readers know, the Reserve Bank’s assistant governor, Malcolm Edey, launched the season in Sydney yesterday, reminding business leaders that there are – apparently good -  reasons to expect that Australia will continue to perform better than most other countries  in the current global downturn.

Mr Edey also urged his audience to look for signs of improvement, including some that can already be seen.  He said these include  stimulatory measures, both here and abroad and the “normal cyclical dynamics.”

The Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, was just hours behind him.

He told reporters in Sydney that the latest retail sales figures show that the government’s economic stimulus packages are working.

Mr Swan pointed, in particular, to the 1.8 per cent growth the Statistician recorded in Australia’s retail sales over the December quarter.

That, of course, was on seasonally adjusted figures.

On trend figures, which the Bureau regards as more reliable, that growth was just 0.7 per cent.

In volume terms, which eliminate price effects, the picture was even more subdued.  Trend growth, on that measure, was just 0.3 per cent in the quarter, while seasonally adjusted figures showed 0.8 per cent growth.

The detailed figures were particularly interesting.

They showed that Australians continued to spend strongly on food, during the quarter, with supermarket sales rising  1.8 per cent.

But we are not eating out as much as we once did.  The nation’s cafes, restaurants and take away food bars all suffered reverses in the quarter.

So did Australia’s clothing and soft goods stores.

But Mr Swan wasn’t dealing with small stuff, like that.  His message was  firmly upbeat.

He pointed out that Australia is still doing much better than the United States, where retail sales plunged by 7 per cent in the December quarter.

“So this is a solid result,” the Treasurer said.

“And I think  it shows that our Economic Security Strategy has supported employment in Australia in this critical period.”

Not everywhere, of course.  Virgin Blue announced yesterday that it would be shedding 400 jobs.