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There are many good policy ideas implemented in Australia. The superannuation system is pretty good - it has problems but overall is good for the country. The
by brc 15y ago
There are many good policy ideas implemented in Australia. The superannuation system is pretty good - it has problems but overall is good for the country.
The healthcare system also manages to tread a fine line between having a public safety net (ie, everyone gets free treatment) but also encouraging private health insurance and private healthcare for those who can afford it.
There are many sensible insurance regulations around, such as compulsory third-party-personal insurance that comes attached to vehicle registration, so that if you're a licensed driver driving a licensed vehicle, even if you run over 50 pedestrians you're covered for their losses and they are all covered for medical insurance, compensation payouts and rehabilitation.
The dividend tax system is also quite good, in that, if you're an Australian taxpayer, you can claim a tax rebate on the dividends you receive from revenue arising from an Australian company. So an Australian company pays tax on it's earnings, then pays some of those earnings out to taxpayers via dividends. The dividend recipient can then claim what is called a 'franking credit' on that dividend which is offset against their own earnings. It sounds complicated but what it essentially means is that Australian corporate income is only taxed once - you don't get double taxed for paying out dividends. As a result, Australian companies pay healthy dividends, which underpins investment in Australian companies by individuals requiring income from shareholdings.
Of course, there are some dumb policies as well, but in general things work pretty well, and, as the article says, quality of life and income spread at ranked very highly in world terms.
- vacri 15y agoThere are many sensible insurance regulations around, such as compulsory third-party-personal insurance that comes attached to vehicle registration, so that if you're a licensed driver driving a licensed vehicle, even if you run over 50 pedestrians you're covered for their losses and they are all covered for medical insurance, compensation payouts and rehabilitation. That's the case in Victoria with the TAC, but I'm not sure about the other states.
- brc 15y agoIt's the case in all Australian states. I don't know if this is because of a copycat pattern, or if it originated from a Federal initiative, or why. I just know it is a good thing because it increases the pool of premiums and produces fairly even results for the victims of traffic accidents and prevents people being bankrupted for making a mistake while driving - unless they were driving an unregistered vehicle or DUI.
- caf 15y agoEven for unregistered drivers I believe there is a "defendant of last resort" scheme for personal injury claims.
- vacri 15y agoAt least with the TAC, it's medical coverage only. The TAC picks up the tab for all medical care in road-transport-related accidents. It won't help with property damage - run into a maserati and may still be bankrupted. Property insurance is still privately run (hence 'third-party' vs 'comprehensive' car insurance)
- brc 15y agoThat's the case in all states. You can still be bankrupted by not taking out third party property insurance, but physically maiming someone for life is an order of magnitude worse than writing off someones Ferrari by running into it. All Australian states have compulsory third party personal insurance attached to the vehicle registration.
- vacri 15y agoAh, thanks, good to know. I do know that ~15 years ago someone was complaining about the high cost of victorian car rego, which was basically due to the TAC payment he didn't have in his home state.