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[bobnowhere]

i liked the bit where george whatshisface used two seperate violent incidents to say "SEE MOOSLIMS ATTACKING OUR WAY OF LIFE" and then had to retract them because he jumped the gun somewhat.

actually i dunno that he retracted them. either way he's a humungeous prick.

He's already moved on from declaring everything terrorism to now ending the dole after 6 months so the generous tax concessions for the wealthy can be kept!

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/dole-payments-mp-george-christensen-wants-dole-payments-cut-after-six-months/news-story/61d03a242118d3ec3b3d46c554620359

 

[Dryk]

Tipping the worker/employer power dynamic even further in the employer's direction. That's the way to improve the workforce!

 

[bobnowhere]

It's not like Mackay is the bastion of full employment with the mining roll off and the surrounding areas are worse. Christensen really needs to think before he talks, if he thinks at all. He also better be donating that cash to the turtle sanctuary!

Apparently in the last few days the LNP almost became a separate party with it's own party room and it's own coalition agreement.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

So, who won the election?

 

[Elaugaufein]

So, who won the election?

The Coalition will form Government with a majority of either 1 or 2 seats (1 at this stage but there's a recount and possible by election in another seat).

Still don't know if they've got any real chance of getting legislation through the Senate.

 

[Candescence]

Holy shit, George Christensen is being fairly outspoken and being an absolute piece of shit lately, isn't he? Now he's advocating to have people on the dole have their payments cut off after six months to try and "encourage" people to get jobs by essentially threatening them. And he openly admits that he doesn't know what the unintended consequences would be (the obvious being a massive spike in crime, homelessness and mental issues), but nevermind that, we should be supporting scammy farmers who aren't willing to pay a living wage.

Seriously, fuck that guy.

 

[darkace]

Holy shit my fb feed had just exploded with people I thought reasonable posting dumb crap in support of Sonja whatshername. I can't believe it.

Best worst part: "I have lots of Muslim friends but I want them banned from Australia". I'm sure they are really close friends of yours indeed. If she had met any Muslims at all I doubt she'd be saying any of this....

Also perplexed and annoyed that Japan continues to be held up as some weird holy land for anti-islam people. Sure I don't need to tell you folks but most of the weird stuff people are saying (Japan being tough on Islam etc) is completely fabricated. It's really sad because despite the fear of isis Japan generally doesn't have any problem with regular Muslim people.

Had the same thing happen. These sort of incidents are always good for knowing who to delete from my friends list.

 

[Yagharek]

It's remarkable that people think that banning Muslims will achieve anything. Let's ignore for a fact that this is all Sonya Krugers fault and people listening to her opinions aren't automatically classified as dumb dumbs.

If you ban a group from arriving here, how are you going to regulate, logistically, people who convert? And more seriously, what does such a state regulating free thought look like? Communist China?
Soviet Russia? Pinochet's Chile?

Spoiler

pre 1960 australia?

 

[Yagharek]

Maybe australia 2016. What's this talk about indefinite detention? We really are becoming a nation ruled by fear, aren't we.

 

[Yagharek]

Holy shit, George Christensen is being fairly outspoken and being an absolute piece of shit lately, isn't he? Now he's advocating to have people on the dole have their payments cut off after six months to try and "encourage" people to get jobs by essentially threatening them. And he openly admits that he doesn't know what the unintended consequences would be (the obvious being a massive spike in crime, homelessness and mental issues), but nevermind that, we should be supporting scammy farmers who aren't willing to pay a living wage.

Seriously, fuck that guy.

Super tax concessions don't pay for themselves

 

[darkace]

Super tax concessions don't pay for themselves

To be fair, the LNP are trying to wind these back. And almost certainly suffered at the polls as a result.

And I can see an argument for ending the automatic renewal of unemployment benefits. With productivity gains low our natural rate of unemployment is increasing. I was seeing some writings that suggest we might actually be on it right now, which shows just how much our economy has stalled coming out of the mining boom. Decreasing unemployment benefits is one way to increase the amount of people our economy can support working without increasing inflation. Probably not the best, but there's an argument to be made.

Although I'm probably giving far too much credit to George's argument here.

 

[D.Lo]

To be fair, the LNP are trying to wind these back. And almost certainly suffered at the polls as a result.

they didn't suffer in the polls, they suffered in donations.

 

[darkace]

they didn't suffer in the polls, they suffered in donations.

The only reasons donations matter is for polls.

 

[bobnowhere]

Turns out some Labor ONP preferences were "accidentally" placed in the LNP ONP preference pile in Herbert. Thank god George Brandis is on the case. Labor have now blown out to a 70+ lead. Though it will probably end up in court as some soldiers on exercise and maybe some patients at the local hospital were denied a vote.

 

[Candescence]

To be fair, the LNP are trying to wind these back. And almost certainly suffered at the polls as a result.

Which is weird, because winding them back is bipartisan policy, it's just that Turnbull may have tripped up a little when trying to steal Labor's policy and one-up them only to come under fire due to certain changes apparently being 'retrospective'.

Really, though, most concessions from the Howard era really should be abolished, along with certain subsidiaries such as to the mining industry, since the mining boom is over and they're simply not remotely sustainable.

 

[Aarglefarg]

Turns out some Labor ONP preferences were "accidentally" placed in the LNP ONP preference pile in Herbert. Thank god George Brandis is on the case. Labor have now blown out to a 70+ lead. Though it will probably end up in court as some soldiers on exercise and maybe some patients at the local hospital were denied a vote.

There was a similar situation in Cowan, where about 200 Greens votes were put in the Liberal pile though 160 of them preferenced Labor higher. I don't know if there are more like this. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-11/anne-aly-strong-lead-after-cowan-vote-count-correction/7586746

 

[darkace]

Which is weird, because winding them back is bipartisan policy, it's just that Turnbull may have tripped up a little when trying to steal Labor's policy and one-up them only to come under fire due to certain changes apparently being 'retrospective'.

Really, though, most concessions from the Howard era really should be abolished, along with certain subsidiaries such as to the mining industry, since the mining boom is over and they're simply not remotely sustainable.

Really I'd be happy with the proposed changes without the retrospective limit. I don't really understand the point of that particular policy. It will never have much of an impact on government coffers, nor does it seem to achieve much of anything. I understand why they are chasing it given the ALP's attack on 'fairness', but it seems to me we'd be better off just implementing the policy without the retrospective limit so we achieve a more equitable system without the possibility of a government revolt.

I agree with you on the Howard policies though. They were never sustainable.

I'd also like to see the system changed so that the marginal tax rate of super contributions is uniform along all income levels. The flat 15% should be changed to make the concessional amount equal to the marginal rate minus 15%, to keep the systems progressivity.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Turns out some Labor ONP preferences were "accidentally" placed in the LNP ONP preference pile in Herbert. Thank god George Brandis is on the case. Labor have now blown out to a 70+ lead. Though it will probably end up in court as some soldiers on exercise and maybe some patients at the local hospital were denied a vote.

I've started to hear that the soldiers weren't denied a vote but rather never made use of the facilities provided to vote (which probably isn't a valid challenge unless the AEC was responsible for a failure to notify in some way).

The patients might be though.

 

[darkace]

Anyone heard about the detention centre abuses? Four corners ran an investigation finding what amounted to torture occurred to quite a number of children:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/07/25/4504895.htm

MT has launched a RC into the findings:

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...royal-commission-northern-territory-detention

 

[Yagharek]

If that's how indigenous children are treated by Australian governments in Australia, imagine how refugee children are treated by Australian governments in offshore detention centres where media are denied access by Peter Dutton.

There's never been a more exciting time to be an Australian.

 

[bobnowhere]

Anyone heard about the detention centre abuses? Four corners ran an investigation finding what amounted to torture occurred to quite a number of children:

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/07/25/4504895.htm

MT has launched a RC into the findings:

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...royal-commission-northern-territory-detention

Yet Manus and Nauru...

The feigned indignation is pretty hollow.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Yet Manus and Nauru...

The feigned indignation is pretty hollow.

Not inherently ? I mean it's not unusual for countries to feel a higher duty to their citizens than to others.

From a humanitarian viewpoint its equally horrific but from that of a nation state it's really not.

 

[darkace]

Yet Manus and Nauru...

The feigned indignation is pretty hollow.

Designed to do two different things. Manus and Nauru are designed to stop people drowning at sea through harsh measures on those who make it here. The other is a correctional facility designed to rehabilitate young offenders.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Designed to do two different things. Manus and Nauru are designed to stop people drowning at sea through harsh measures on those who make it here. The other is a correctional facility designed to rehabilitate young offenders.

I'm, let's say , skeptical of the idea that best way to resolve a problem of people drowning at sea, because the place they are in is bad enough that they are willing to risk death to escape, is to become a place that's worse than the place they were originally in (and ergo subjecting them to conditions they believe are worse than a reasonably chance of drowning at sea). It's a bit like solving the problem of the fire brigade being underpaid by preemptively burning down all the houses.

 

[darkace]

I'm, let's say , skeptical of the idea that best way to resolve a problem of people drowning at sea, because the place they are in is bad enough that they are willing to risk death to escape, is to become a place that's worse than the place they were originally in (and ergo subjecting them to conditions they believe are worse than a reasonably chance of drowning at sea). It's a bit like solving the problem of the fire brigade being underpaid by preemptively burning down all the houses.

Hey I didn't say it was the best way to do it, just that it's not really comparable. That said I don't think there's any easy solution here.

 

[Yagharek]

Designed to do two different things. Manus and Nauru are designed to stop people drowning at sea through harsh measures on those who make it here. The other is a correctional facility designed to rehabilitate young offenders.

Stopping people drowning at sea makes it all sound like sunshine and flowers.

The nature of the incarceration matters because that's what it is. Indefinite incarceration for no crime. Unless you return to the place you sought refuge from. And people get raped, assaulted and murdered there by police, guards and angry locals. And the indefinite nature of the lockup causes increased rates of self harm, anxiety and depression and eventually people mutilate themselves or set themselves on fire.

But at least they don't drown right?

What an exciting time to be an Australian.

 

[Yagharek]

Hey I didn't say it was the best way to do it, just that it's not really comparable. That said I don't think there's any easy solution here.

Easy solution: transport refugees yourself so they don't travel by people smuggler. Negotiate a regional or global resettlement scheme. Ensure right of return to their homeland is assisted when or if it becomes safe to do so.

It's not fucking hard.

 

[darkace]

Easy solution: transport refugees yourself so they don't travel by people smuggler. Negotiate a regional or global resettlement scheme. Ensure right of return to their homeland is assisted when or if it becomes safe to do so.

It's not fucking hard.

I think negotiating a regional or global resettlement scheme is hard pretty much by definition. There's no incentive for many countries to sign on.

 

[Yagharek]

The hard bit is selfishness. Not logistics.

 

[darkace]

The hard bit is selfishness. Not logistics.

That doesn't change that it's incredibly unlikely to happen.

 

[bomma_man]

is this satire

 

[Fredescu]

is this satire

Ben Pobjie is the author, so yes.

 

[bomma_man]

Ben Pobjie is the author, so yes.

good

 

[bobnowhere]

Mad as Hell needs even more Blade Runner references.

 

[Elaugaufein]

NT & Tasmanian Senate are done.

NT was the usual 50/50 CLP / ALP split (1 each)

Tasmania is interesting: 5 (ALP . including Singh but not the 5th Candidate), 2 (GRN), 4 (LIB) (in ticket order), 1 (JLN) . Not great for the Coalition or the ALP's 5th Candidate but pretty good for everyone else.

 

[bobnowhere]

Pretty childish behavior from Turnbull not nominating Rudd for the UN Secretary General. It's not like Rudd was going to win anyway but if he had said yes the story would have been over in about 30mins and now the story will run and run and run. With only 76 we now know who's in charge and it ain't Mal.

"He's not suited for the role," what a load of nonsense spin speak.

 

[Fredescu]

"He's not suited for the role," what a load of nonsense spin speak.

I mean, it's probably true that he isn't though, right?

 

[Elaugaufein]

Pretty childish behavior from Turnbull not nominating Rudd for the UN Secretary General. It's not like Rudd was going to win anyway but if he had said yes the story would have been over in about 30mins and now the story will run and run and run. With only 76 we now know who's in charge and it ain't Mal.

"He's not suited for the role," what a load of nonsense spin speak.

We knew who was in charge from election night and it wasn't Mal. Remember Abbott's speech that night ? I'm doubting he'll see Christmas as PM.

ETA - You have to admire the Australian's dedication to sledging the Greens especially the Socialist part, they'll even say nice things about the Victorian Greens to make NSW look bad even though it must make the poor writer's soul burn like a vampire in sunlight.

(It's also completely unnecessary since anyone likely to vote for the Greens already knows about the internal tensions from everything from the Monthly to the SMH.)

 

[darkace]

Rudd definitely wasn't suited for the role. He was a disaster as ALP leader.

 

[xevis]

I mean, it's probably true that he isn't though, right?

By what metric? He's a former head of state and former foreign minister. He's intimate with international politics and he has a pretty good understanding of the rising powers in Asia. What else do you need on your CV to be qualified for this job?

Completely bullshit decision from Turnbull, IMO.

(inb4: omg RuddGillardRudd omg carbontax)

 

[Fredescu]

A head of state who lacks the diplomatic skills to stop his own party from sacking him in his first term, who then sought to damage his own party as revenge. Might be just me, but I wouldn't be hiring him to head an organisation whose stated purpose is the promotion of peaceful co-operation.

 

[darkace]

Not to mention his complete inability to delegate, his dictatorial micromanagement, and his inability to lead in the face of opposition.

Rudd was a disaster. The sole good thing we got out of him was Gillard as PM. MT was right to knock him back.

 

[bobnowhere]

I don't think that many people think he's the best person for the job but it's more about the Coalition picking a pointless fight when they could have just waved it through and let the UN choose Helen Clarke anyway.

Looks like the NT governments, quite frankly puzzling, decision to counter-sue two of the youth detainees in response has been withdrawn. Not sure who thought that was a good idea in the current light.

There's an NT election in the next few months and these last 3-4 years will go down as one of the strangest electoral terms in Australian History. By memory: a coup while the Chief was out of town, members continuously changing sides, another coup that failed because the chief minister refused to sign the forms, interference with the police and it goes on and on!

 

[Elaugaufein]

I don't think that many people think he's the best person for the job but it's more about the Coalition picking a pointless fight when they could have just waved it through and let the UN choose Helen Clarke anyway.

Looks like the NT governments, quite frankly puzzling, decision to counter-sue two of the youth detainees in response has been withdrawn. Not sure who thought that was a good idea in the current light.

There's an NT election in the next few months and these last 3-4 years will go down as one of the strangest electoral terms in Australian History. By memory: a coup while the Chief was out of town, members continuously changing sides, another coup that failed because the chief minister refused to sign the forms, interference with the police and it goes on and on!

Pointless fights over appointments is in the Liberal DNA though. They seem far more willing than Labor to be openly partisan on such things (both initial appointments and replacing people).

 

[darkace]

Yes but imagine if they put him through and somehow he was selected for the job. We'd have that weighing on our collective consciousness for our entire term.

The LNP can be overly partisan, but this wasn't one of those times. Rudd simply wasn't capable of doing the job.

 

[trinest]

Rudd definitely wasn't suited for the role. He was a disaster as ALP leader.

lol

 

[Elaugaufein]

Yes but imagine if they put him through and somehow he was selected for the job. We'd have that weighing on our collective consciousness for our entire term.

The LNP can be overly partisan, but this wasn't one of those times. Rudd simply wasn't capable of doing the job.

Yeah, I actually agree that he's a poor candidate. Given his own party dumped him. On the other hand his own party was incredibly incompetent about it (since he was still popular with the public and they hadn't laid any ground work about him being a micro manager or anything and still didn't even after the coup). So maybe their judgement was bad ?

 

[darkace]

Yeah, I actually agree that he's a poor candidate. Given his own party dumped him. On the other hand his own party was incredibly incompetent about it (since he was still popular with the public and they hadn't laid any ground work about him being a micro manager or anything and still didn't even after the coup). So maybe their judgement was bad ?

Nobody was blameless in this time. But Rudd should definitely shoulder the mountain of the blame. His subordinates repeatedly told him his managerial style was ineffective but he refused to take any sort of constructive criticism on board.

lol

Well I'm convinced.

 

[Aarglefarg]

Rudd has released a series of letters from himself to Turnbull, about Turnbull promising to support him for secretary-general as recently as December. It shows that Turnbull wanted to take it to the cabinet so it wouldn't appear to be a 'captain's pick' but that this wouldn't change the outcome.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-...-turnbull-on-un-secretary-general-bid/7674038

 

[Candescence]

To be frank, appointing people from the "other side" for the UN delegation or nominating for Secretary General is a fairly usual custom, one that Kevin himself adhered to. This is just partisan politics in play, Kevin wouldn't have gotten the position anyway. Turnbull clearly did believe Rudd was perfectly qualified if the emails Rudd released are correct, but since he claimed that he wasn't and Rudd knows better, Rudd decided to expose Turnbull as an opportunistic liar and basically once again exposed Turnbull as bowing to the right-wing of his party to stay in power.

Turnbull could've at least appointed Kevin as Australian's UN delegate, rather than Cory fucking Bernadi.