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AusPoliGAF |OT| Boats? What Boats?

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T

tri_willy

Member
like fuck we were ever in trouble.

fuck abbott, fuck hockey, fuck the ipa, and most of all, fuck murdoch!!! all those cunts can fucking get nuked.
 
A

A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
bobnowhere said:
Australian economy is not in trouble, Joe Hockey tells NZ

The budget emergency is over apparently! Poor Joe, so hopelessly out of his depth.
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That is simultaneously one of the most accurate things Joe has ever said and one of the stupidest.

In other news the NSW government has basically gutted the state's domestic violence and women's services, amalgamating them into a general "homelessness" category. I've heard that the number of specialist refuges still operating in the entire state is now down to two. With very little planning or forewarning the majority of services/tenders have been awarded to the large faith based organisations such as Mission Australia, St. Vincent De Paul, etc... under the guise of streamlining/efficiencies of scale, though there was also talk that the reforms were aimed at solving the concentration of the homeless in the inner city. Neither reason makes a lick of sense when you look at what the reforms are actually doing; shutting down long-standing community organisations with local knowledge and experience across the state and exchanging them (not replacing, as replacing would suggest that they're doing the same thing when no plans indicate that to be the case) with outposts of city based groups with no experience of service provision in the regions.

Domestic violence specialists with decades of experience are being frogmarched out of women's refuges as part of mass redundancies under a shake-up of homelessness services.

Shocked refuge staff have decided on a vote of no confidence in the peak body, Domestic Violence NSW, which they claim has failed to protect women's shelters in the NSW government's homelessness reform.

About 40 refuges have indicated they will support the vote, according to SOS Save Our Women’s Services spokeswoman Roxanne McMurray.

''People who have been in the sector for decades are shocked that a peak body which is there to represent members would behave in this way,'' she said.

''We are deeply concerned about what we've been hearing from many refuge staff, who tell us they've been intimidated into not speaking out and had all forms of communication between each other banned, including emails and meetings.

''We know that the groups that want to continue treating women like palliative care clients, and not working in partnership, will not be able to deliver the new model successfully,'' she wrote.

''They lack proper governance, and management skills and this will be their undoing. We will still be here to pick up the pieces when they fail.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/domestic-violence-specialists-sacked-as-refuges-shut-their-doors-20140725-zwo6b.html#ixzz38d8J1DdJ
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The mentions of intimidation and coercion to not speak out match nicely with changes at the federal level, with Brandis seeking to gag federally funded community legal services. Because free speech for publicly funded organisations is immoral or something because of some completely warped interpretation of what taxes are. If only Arksy were here to explain.

For more on the NSW situation I recommend the following two articles by Anne Summers, or if you're in the state pick up a local newspaper, as there's likely to be a local service impacted by the reforms.
All this is happening because Pru Goward, now the Minister for Planning, but formerly Minister for Family and Community Services, in July 2012 set in train ''a major reform'' for specialist homelessness services.

The proposed reforms, called Going Home, Staying Home, required existing services to tender to retain their funding and management. When the tender details were announced, last November, there was widespread consternation.

None of the tender packages covered women-only services, and those that did cover domestic violence were for families rather than women. ''It was a big surprise,'' Gillian Cohen, DVSM’s general manager, told me, ''when the tenders came out and we were asked to tender for your area rather than for your refuge.''

There are a large number of other refuges not managed by DVSM and other specialist women’s services that cater for single women, women leaving prison, dealing with mental illness, post rehab and other crisis situations that simply were not covered by the tenders.

Partly this is because successive state and federal governments have bureaucratically forced women’s services into the ''homelessness'' silo for funding and administrative purposes. While it is true that domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness among women, this focus distorts what many of these services actually do: which is provide refuge, trauma counselling and transition to a new life for women and children escaping violence.
The other big change is that the ''big four'' religious charities (Salvation Army, Mission Australia, Wesley Mission and St Vincent de Paul) are now the main non-government providers of services for homeless people. Of the $16 million handed out for inner-city services, $11 million has gone to the big four via an invitation-only tender process, according to a document prepared by a women’s services advocate. Another person close to the scene has calculated that 62 per of the tenders have gone to these charities, either as lead agencies or as partners.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/pru-gowards-tender-touch-brushes-women-aside-20140626-zsmjr.html#ixzz38dApEQlP
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There was a lunch in Eden, in the state’s south, on Wednesday, where a large crowd turned out to mark the closing, after seven years, of the local domestic violence outreach service.

It had been attached to the Bega Women’s Refuge which is being handed over to Mission Australia as part of the state government's Going Home, Staying Home homelessness reforms, and which is now limping along, most of its staff having gone or been let go, and unable to take in women fleeing violence.

A woman from Nowra seeking refuge at Bega recently was turned away, Gabrielle Powell from Bega Women’s Resource Centre told me.

She had also heard of another woman who had rung the Domestic Violence Hotline only to be told that she might be able to find a bed in Darwin.

A few weeks ago in this newspaper, in response to my previous column on this subject, Gabrielle Upton, the Minister for Family and Community Services, accused me of making “false” claims that refuges and women’s only services were set to close.

Well, Minister, in case your staff has kept you in the dark about this, you need to be aware that a number of services have closed (Eden, Erin’s Place in Lane Cove, Killara in Randwick, Innari Housing in Marrickville, Katakuku Women’s Housing, Wyong and Lotus House Indo-Chinese Young Women’s refuge to name those I have been able to confirm) while others are being transfomed beyond recognition and with the likelihood they will no longer be able to deliver the specialist and sensitive services needed by women (and children) in crisis.

(Asking refuge workers to fill in a 20-page referral form for women seeking emergency help, as happened this week with one of the large faith-based organisations that have “won” control of most of the refuges, is not the way to do it.)

I have spoken to a number of women who have had past or present involvement in the women’s refuge movement and, like me, everyone is reeling in shock at what has happened.

That it came without warning, that there was no piloting of the new arrangements, that there was simply no category for some existing services to apply for, that policies to address homelessness swallowed up the specialist issues around domestic violence – all these aspects of the “reforms” have left service-providers in a state of disbelief.

“There was no consultation,” Jozefa Sobski, convenor of Women’s Electoral Lobby NSW, told me. “We had no idea”. WEL is seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister to voice its concerns.

“They’ve stolen our refuges,” a long-time women’s activist said. And that, indeed, is the nub of what’s happened.

Even where refuges will stay open and keep their old names many will change - in staffing, in function and in character.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/nsw-government-closes-doors-to-women-fleeing-violence-20140724-zwhwz.html#ixzz38dBCfxe2
Click to expand...
 
Q

Quasar

Member
Jeez the new unemployment policy is amusing. WFD expanded to all with a requirement of 25 hours a week (which means I guess 5 hours every day plus travel time) whilst at the same time requiring them to spend the copious amounts of other spare time to find and apply for 40 jobs a month.
 
M

markot

Banned
Quasar said:
Jeez the new unemployment policy is amusing. WFD expanded to all with a requirement of 25 hours a week (which means I guess 5 hours every day plus travel time) whilst at the same time requiring them to spend the copious amounts of other spare time to find and apply for 40 jobs a month.
Click to expand...

They must be punished!
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Quasar said:
Jeez the new unemployment policy is amusing. WFD expanded to all with a requirement of 25 hours a week (which means I guess 5 hours every day plus travel time) whilst at the same time requiring them to spend the copious amounts of other spare time to find and apply for 40 jobs a month.
Click to expand...

Turns out there may be a certain amount of genius at work!

Tasmanian Times said:
100,000 youth producing 40 applications per month means 4 million applications per month. The remaining 620,000 unemployed (20 applications per month) would deliver a further 12.4 million applications each month, giving a grand total of around 16 million applications per month.

With those kinds of numbers each month, the private sector and government will urgently need more staff to process, sort and respond to those applications, as well as keep records in case of Centrelink checking on the individual unemployed. It’s a veritable miracle of job creation.
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A Miracle of Job Creation!
 
B

bomma_man

Member
I assume that the government will be ditching their inflation focused monetary policy and implementing policies that encourage full employment


….
 
A

A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
At the very least sales of stationary and shredders should go through the roof, giving a much needed boost to the vital office supplies sector.
 
R

roosters93

Member
wonzo said:
Yeah, most of the time they're just binned due to the applicants name, age, postcode etc.
Click to expand...

:'(


edit: first dog killin it

killthepoor.jpg
 
Y

Yagharek

Member
Live in remote areas? No jobs.
Can't get a job? Apply for jobs.
Apply for 40 jobs a fortnight? No responses.
No places to apply to? Move to city.
Find accommodation in city? Pay with dole money.
Apply for jobs in city? Cant get jobs since no experience.
Study in the city? Cant afford it due to rent, travel time, austudy allowance too small.

An exercise in creating slums and an underclass.
 
F

Fredescu

Member
Yagharek said:
An exercise in creating slums and an underclass.
Click to expand...

I really think this is the key to "selling" the welfare state to punters. Not chastising them for not caring about people, but pointing out that if the "safety net" is not good enough, a bigger underclass means more crime which means your shit is going to get stolen.
 
W

wonzo

Banned
Fredescu said:
I really think this is the key to "selling" the welfare state to punters. Not chastising them for not caring about people, but pointing out that if the "safety net" is not good enough, a bigger underclass means more crime which means your shit is going to get stolen.
Click to expand...
but it's easier for populists to blame immigants tho than point out the obvious

plus you wouldn't want to be SOFT ON CRIME
 
L

legend166

Member
So apparently Xenophon is introducing a member's bill that would allow people to use their superannuation towards a deposit to their first home.

This would benefit me greatly and needs to happen. Everything I've read on it says it's pretty much a win-win for everyone involved, except maybe superannuation funds. But stuff them.
 
M

markot

Banned
legend166 said:
So apparently Xenophon is introducing a member's bill that would allow people to use their superannuation towards a deposit to their first home.

This would benefit me greatly and needs to happen. Everything I've read on it says it's pretty much a win-win for everyone involved, except maybe superannuation funds. But stuff them.
Click to expand...

Real estate is the biggest bubble since hubba bubba.
 
A

Aarglefarg

Member
Applying for forty places a month could work for a little while for particular jobs (one or two jobs a day or two days with resumes in a CBD cold visiting smaller shops), but you run out of places and it will have to slow down soon enough, and this would include applying at places that don't want you unless you're experienced in retail.

As of next week I will be doing Work for the Dole in a federally-funded workplace. In the field I have 3.5 years of training as well as six years of experience in (a year overlapping). It is likely they will apply for federal funding next year to make my position paid, as this is part of the same organisation that applied this year to fund my position, but failed as the state-funded department I was in lost its funding.

To lose my ideal realistic job, the job my bosses wanted me to have, from a state liberal government decision around the time of the federal budget was unpleasant. The political parties lining up contributed to that unpleasantness. It is a real possibility that this federally-funded place will lose its funding next year, right at the time the changes will be coming into effect. A federal government decision putting me in this situation would have an extra dimension to it again.
 
M

mjontrix

Member
legend166 said:
So apparently Xenophon is introducing a member's bill that would allow people to use their superannuation towards a deposit to their first home.

This would benefit me greatly and needs to happen. Everything I've read on it says it's pretty much a win-win for everyone involved, except maybe superannuation funds. But stuff them.
Click to expand...

Realestate to the mooooooooon!

Should get some fancy financing deals, get a few properties and make some dollars!
 
A

Arksy

Member
Work for the dole is stupid. It's just a way for employers to undermine minimum wage with no incentive to actually employ them.
 
W

wonzo

Banned
Yagharek said:
Populists can only blame immigrants up until the point where they stop them from coming here.
Click to expand...
They'll do what they did during the Howard years, bame refugees for stealing honest "aussie jobs" while simultaneously opening the floodgates for immigrant workers and deregulate it to the point where they're often paid sub-minimum wages.
 
A

Arksy

Member
wonzo said:
They'll do what they did during the Howard years, bame refugees for stealing honest "aussie jobs" while simultaneously opening the floodgates for immigrant workers and deregulate it to the point where they're often paid sub-minimum wages.
Click to expand...

You can regulate or deregulate it all you like but unless they turn this country into a police state there isn't a government policy in the world that will stop the widespread abuse of migrant workers with illegal sub minimum wages. I was talking to a French tourist on a working visa and she was frustrated that all the jobs she could get were all illegal which meant her visa could be cancelled at any time.
 
D

Dryk

Member
wonzo said:
They'll do what they did during the Howard years, bame refugees for stealing honest "aussie jobs" while simultaneously opening the floodgates for immigrant workers and deregulate it to the point where they're often paid sub-minimum wages.
Click to expand...
Well they've already removed the regulation that forces people to actually give out the number of 457s they applied for.

Arksy said:
Work for the dole is stupid. It's just a way for employers to undermine minimum wage with no incentive to actually employ them.
Click to expand...
I feel like having to force people to work for charities shows that you can't rely on people supplying charities willingly. I could be wrong on that though.
 
W

wonzo

Banned
Arksy said:
You can regulate or deregulate it all you like but unless they turn this country into a police state there isn't a government policy in the world that will stop the widespread abuse of migrant workers with illegal sub minimum wages. I was talking to a French tourist on a working visa and she was frustrated that all the jobs she could get were all illegal which meant her visa could be cancelled at any time.
Click to expand...

If only there was some kind of way to enforce legal laws, some kind of uhm, force of people…
 
A

Arksy

Member
wonzo said:
If only there was some kind of way to enforce legal laws, some kind of uhm, force of people…
Click to expand...

Haha. If only it were that easy. The government made several investigations into illegal work and the conclusion is basically always the same; "It sucks but for remote farms operating on thin margins it's either hire illegals or watch crops whither and die and the nation starve while the tourism industry becomes decimated because British backpackers aren't able to stay here for inordanate amounts of time.*





*Somewhat embellished
 
F

Fredescu

Member
Arksy said:
farms operating on thin margins
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Surely our vast array of competing supermarket chains allows them to sell their produce to the highest bidder, providing them with comfortable margins and therefore able to pay a living wage? That's how freedom works isn't it?
 
M

markot

Banned
I heard someone say that the accc going after coles for their fule coupons was 'tall poppey syndrome' >_>



Its pretty lame that the actual food makers, beyond the congolomerates, make so little. Youd think farmers would get more for their stuff!
 
Q

Quasar

Member
markot said:
Its pretty lame that the actual food makers, beyond the congolomerates, make so little. Youd think farmers would get more for their stuff!
Click to expand...

That's the free market for ya. Its why I try to buy my fruit and vege via farmers markets or at least indy green grocers and meat from butchers rather than supermarkets .
 
J

Jake.

Member
legend166 said:
So apparently Xenophon is introducing a member's bill that would allow people to use their superannuation towards a deposit to their first home.

This would benefit me greatly and needs to happen. Everything I've read on it says it's pretty much a win-win for everyone involved, except maybe superannuation funds. But stuff them.
Click to expand...

this is probably a good idea, but i only have about 7k in my super so whatever haha.
 
M

markot

Banned
Its pretty terrible to see Peter Slipper done over on trumped up charges.

I mean, its usually just a 'pay it back', unless you make the major parties mad.
 
W

wonzo

Banned
Department of Environment and Heritage worker killed in Moree

A Department of Environment and Heritage worker is believed to have been shot dead while attending a property 55km north of Moree.

Police confirmed a 51-year-old man had been killed at a property on the Newell Highway around 5.40pm on Tuesday.

Police say they arrested a 79-year-old Moree man at a nearby property without incident just before 11pm. He is assisting police with their inquiries at Moree police station.

A source at the department said the worker was a father of six and had been serving a notice on an elderly man at the property when he was shot.

The man was receiving the notice because he was suspected of illegally clearing vegetation.

Another worker was with the victim when he was shot, the department source - who did not wish to be named - said. He is understood to be in shock but is otherwise uninjured.
Click to expand...
 
D

Dead Man

Member
Absolutley fucking stupid work for the dole policy.

Also:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/w...n-court-suppression-order-20140730-zyc6m.html
WikiLeaks has struck again, releasing the text of a secret court order that cannot be published in Australia.

The anti-secrecy group has this morning published a Victorian Supreme Court suppression order that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange describes as “unprecedented” in scope.

The suppression order is itself suppressed. No Australian media organisation can legally publish the document or its contents.

In a statement provided to Fairfax Media, Assange said it was “completely egregious to block the public's right to know and suppress the media in any instance, and especially in cases of international corruption involving politicians and subsidiaries of a public organisation”.

“Despite the legal implications WikiLeaks publishes this suppression order, as it will others, to uphold our values of freedom of information and transparency of government - the Australian people have a right to know, we work to ensure this right for them, even when their government tries to obstruct it."

WikiLeaks suggests there has not been a comparable “blanket suppression order” since 1995 when the Australian government sought to suppress publication by Fairfax Media of details a joint US-Australian espionage operation to bug a new Chinese embassy in Canberra.
Click to expand...

Ridiculous.
 
M

mjontrix

Member
wonzo said:
https://wikileaks.org/aus-suppression-order/

#smashthefash
Click to expand...

Spread this link far and wide - eventually most of Australia will know about it - rendering the entire suppression moot.

EDIT: More info about this - http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-new...nder-foreign-bribery-laws-20110701-1gudt.html

Full text incase the above article gets pulled down -

AAP

Six people and two companies related to Australia's central bank have become the first to be charged under Australian foreign bribery laws.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) warn they will chase down local companies after laying charges against Securency International and Note Printing Australia, while a senior Malaysian bank official has also been charged after being caught up in the bribery scandal.

The companies are subsidiaries of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), although the AFP says there's no evidence any member of the central bank was involved.

The charges relate to bribes allegedly paid to officials in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam between 1999 and 2005 to secure banknote contracts.

The prosecutions follow a complex, two-year probe by the AFP and overseas authorities and are the first under foreign bribery legislation introduced in 1999.

Investigations in Australia and internationally are ongoing, and the AFP anticipates more charges will be laid.

The charges against the companies carry a maximum fine of $330,000 per offence, while individuals face a maximum 10 years' jail and/or a $1.1 million fine.

"This sends a very clear message to corporate Australia," AFP Commander Chris McDevitt told reporters.

He said the government increased the penalties in February 2010 for companies involved in foreign bribery, so that the fines were $11 million, or 33 per cent of annual turnover, or three times the amount of the bribes.

Cmdr McDevitt said the six people charged in Victoria were former Securency and Note Printing Australia employees who held positions as chief executives, chief financial officers, and sales agents.

Malaysian authorities have also laid bribery charges against two individuals who each face a 20-year jail term if convicted.

In Kuala Lumpur, authorities arrested the former assistant governor of Malaysia's central bank, Mohamad Daud Dol Moin for allegedly accepting 100,000 ringgit ($A31,000) in bribes from Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad, a Malaysian businessman.

The bribe was allegedly to help Note Printing Australia secure a contract worth almost $30 million.

Cmdr McDevitt said the amount of the alleged bribes was for the court to determine.

The charges against the companies did not infer individual company board members took part in or knew about illegal activity.

The AFP started its investigation in May 2009, after a referral from the chairman of Securency.

There was an earlier referral in 2008, but it was believed there was insufficient evidence to pursue the matter at the time.

Securency International chairman Bob Rankin said the company had been charged with three counts of conspiracy to influence foreign officials, with two charges relating to Indonesia and one to Malaysia.

Dr Rankin said the company was considering its legal position.

He said the company's board had moved to ensure compliance with ethical business practices by renewing the executive team and terminating all agency arrangements, among other moves.

In a statement from the RBA and governor Glenn Stevens, the central bank condemned corrupt or questionable behaviour of any kind.

"Companies associated with the Reserve Bank and their staff must ... meet the highest standards of integrity and fully comply with the law," the RBA said.

The six men charged in Victoria appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday and all were bailed on their own undertaking.

Myles Curtis, 55, has been charged with three counts of conspiracy to bribe, while John Leckenby, 66, and Mitchell John Anderson, 50, have both been charged on two counts of the same offence.

Peter Sinclair Hutchinson, 61, and Barry Thomas Brady, 62, have been charged with one count of conspiracy to bribe and Rognvald Leslie Marchant, 64, is charged with abetting bribery.

Magistrate Donna Bakos ordered them to return to court in September for a committal mention hearing.

The two companies are scheduled to appear on July 27.

Allegation were raised in 2010 that a Jakarta businessman was hired to facilitate the paying of $US1.3 million in bribes to Bank Indonesia officials to win a lucrative contract in 1999.

The Indonesian central bank launched an internal investigation and summoned four former officials for questioning - Herman Joseph Susmanto, Christian Sudirdjo, Mardiyo, and I Made Sudana.

All deny any wrongdoing.

The bank on Friday refused to comment on the latest development.
Click to expand...
 
J

jgminto

Member
The idea of suppression is just idiotic, it's impossible to suppress info in these days of the internet. Sure, they can keep the populace that only reads Murdoch rags and gets their news from The Project out of the loop but they probably wouldn't have cared anyway.
 
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