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[hidys]

Yes, NSW has the best electoral system. Antony Green praised it and suggested it be adopted for federal.

Unfortunately we also have the worst version of Labor in the country.

I'm not a huge fan of the idea that MLC's sit for 8 years.

 

[D.Lo]

I'm not a huge fan of the idea that MLC's sit for 8 years.

Sorry I should have just said 'balllot rules' I meant the voting system, not necessarily the government system.

 

[Jintor]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

Yay, you're back!

 

[Dryk]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

I expect a few lines of thoughts on each of the things you've missed on my desk by tomorrow morning.

 

[Fredescu]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

Did you kick down the statue of the ex Liberal PM we erected out the front?

 

[Shaneus]

Did you kick down the statue of the ex Liberal PM we erected out the front?

 

[A More Normal Bird]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

Here's a good news story for you:
Jackbooted Labor thugs to stomp all over efficient libertarian services:

Labor has released a discussion paper on how best to benefit from the growing sharing economy sector while still protecting consumers and employees.

A number of issues have emerged since the surge in popularity of sharing economy services such as Uber and Airbnb, including workplace protections, a lack of industry regulation, public safety factors and various models for taxation.

The assistant shadow treasurer, Andrew Leigh, said existing safeguards, which are mainly voluntary, can go only so far.

“But are reputation-based systems good enough to force out dodgy operators and keep consumers safe? Should leaving negative feedback be the only recourse open to someone who feels their rights or wellbeing have been compromised?

“Ensuring these expectations are met within the sharing economy will not necessarily mean extending all the same rules and regulations that apply to traditional operators to these new services.”

http://i.imgur.com/RUni8MM.jpg

He's history's greatest monster!

 

[Arksy]

Here's a good news story for you:
Jackbooted Labor thugs to stomp all over efficient libertarian services:

*Cracks knuckles*

Well, he seems to completely miss the mark with regards to Uber. You need to put in your credit card details in order to order a ride. This means they have your details, not to mention because it's all based off of your card, no cash ever exchanges hands. Both of these makes it safer for both the passenger and the driver. I'd trust my safety in a Uber car a lot more than I would in a normal taxi. I talked to a few Uber drivers in the states while I was over and they told me the company is ruthless when it comes to drivers with complaints.

AirBnB is a trickier one.

 

[wonzo]

 

[JC Sera]

bless murdoch

 

[Fredescu]

the company is ruthless when it comes to drivers with complaints.

Yes, they certainly do unfairly leverage their power to sack "contractors" (employees) using dubious metrics.

 

[JesseEwiak]

Yes, they certainly do unfairly leverage their power to sack "contractors" (employees) using dubious metrics.

Hey, c'mon, don't question the sharing economy! Look forward to bidding your wage daily, where if somebody undercuts you, they take your job. It'll be awesome. Everyone will have 100% labor flexibility!

 

[Dastardly Jerks]

Bill Shorten should try watching one. Then he'll know what actual opposition looks like.

 

[Fredescu]

Hey, c'mon, don't question the sharing economy! Look forward to bidding your wage daily, where if somebody undercuts you, they take your job. It'll be awesome. Everyone will have 100% labor flexibility!

The shitty thing about that response from Labor is that it's still focused on the consumer. Seriously, fuck the consumer.

 

[Yagharek]

Bill Shorten should try watching one. Then he'll know what actual opposition looks like.

Jesus fucking christ.

 

[A More Normal Bird]

Unbiased Speaker boots Liberal MP

Liberal backbencher Andrew Laming has been booted from the chamber in parliament for a day for pouring flammable bunker fuel on his hands during a speech.

Laming was named by speaker of the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop during question time on Wednesday for the stunt, meaning he will be banned from the chamber for 24 hours.

The MP for Bowman had poured the thick, black liquid on his hands on Tuesday night while supporting a motion urging cruise liners to use cleaner fuel.

“In his remarks, the member himself acknowledged the dangerous nature of the material,” Bishop said. “Setting aside the member’s offence in making use of props, it is highly disorderly to bring dangerous and flammable substances into either of the chambers.”

“I consider the member’s actions to be totally disorderly, disrespectful of the house and the federation chamber and potentially dangerous to the health and safety of members of and staff of the federation chamber.”

*Cracks knuckles*

Well, he seems to completely miss the mark with regards to Uber. You need to put in your credit card details in order to order a ride. This means they have your details, not to mention because it's all based off of your card, no cash ever exchanges hands. Both of these makes it safer for both the passenger and the driver. I'd trust my safety in a Uber car a lot more than I would in a normal taxi. I talked to a few Uber drivers in the states while I was over and they told me the company is ruthless when it comes to drivers with complaints.

AirBnB is a trickier one.

They're accepting public submissions! Also I'll reply to your post in that other thread after I've eaten something.

The shitty thing about that response from Labor is that it's still focused on the consumer. Seriously, fuck the consumer.

I mean, they're the Labor Party. Who else are they gonna look out for?

 

[hidys]

Bill Shorten should try watching one. Then he'll know what actual opposition looks like.

Of FFS.

 

[Fredescu]

I mean, they're the Labor Party. Who else are they gonna look out for?

The highest bidder.

 

[wonzo]

The highest bidder.

aka ~the nsw experience~

e: speaking of nsw, i got my ivote in and it was a pretty easy affair. god bless optional preferential voting

 

[mjontrix]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

Oh yeaaaaaaaaaah!

 

[roosters93]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

oh you're back! Was just gonna post asking when'd you be back, since if you and markot were both gone it'd be a bit boring

aka ~the nsw experience~

e: speaking of nsw, i got my ivote in and it was a pretty easy affair. god bless optional preferential voting

I went to do an iVote but realised I was ineligible

Is it too rude to ask which of the following you are:


My real place of living is not within 20 kilometres, by the nearest practicable route, of a polling place
My vision is so impaired, or otherwise I am so physically incapacitated or so illiterate, that I am unable to vote without assistance
I have a disability (within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977) and because of that disability I have difficulty voting at a polling place or I am unable to vote without assistance
I will not be within New South Wales throughout the hours of polling on election day

 

[Elaugaufein]

*Kicks down the socialist utopia built in his absence.*

Welcome back. We've missed you, Designated Opposition Unit.

Of FFS.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if the ALP is actually involved in some complicated and nonsensical plot to deliver the 18-35 and Left-ish voters to the Greens. Because they've basically spent the last ~3 years doing their level best.

 

[DrSlek]

At this point I'm starting to wonder if the ALP is actually involved in some complicated and nonsensical plot to deliver the 18-35 and Left-ish voters to the Greens. Because they've basically spent the last ~3 years doing their level best.

 

[Elaugaufein]

So what you're saying is that I should start a Canberra-based company that makes Purple ties while the opportunity is still open.

 

[Shaneus]

At this point I'm starting to wonder if the ALP is actually involved in some complicated and nonsensical plot to deliver the 18-35 and Left-ish voters to the Greens. Because they've basically spent the last ~3 years doing their level best.

Fucking feels like that. I would've thought differently if Albo was heading up the ALP, but... yeah :/

 

[wonzo]

oh you're back! Was just gonna post asking when'd you be back, since if you and markot were both gone it'd be a bit boring

I went to do an iVote but realised I was ineligible

Is it too rude to ask which of the following you are:


My real place of living is not within 20 kilometres, by the nearest practicable route, of a polling place
My vision is so impaired, or otherwise I am so physically incapacitated or so illiterate, that I am unable to vote without assistance
I have a disability (within the meaning of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977) and because of that disability I have difficulty voting at a polling place or I am unable to vote without assistance
I will not be within New South Wales throughout the hours of polling on election day

p. much everyone bullshits and says they wont be in nsw/their electorate on election day

 

[Omikron]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-a...lv.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[Jintor]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-a...lv.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

lol amazing

 

[D.Lo]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-a...lv.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The Greens are an ' impotent lobby group' lol.

Except when they're necessary to form power (Gillard), in which case they pull Labor left and make them unelectable.

 

[Rubixcuba]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-a...lv.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Well, his not wrong.

 

[Elaugaufein]

1. Vote Compass explicitly doesn't tell you who to vote for. Given 2 different metrics (consensus of opinion and a social/economic left/right graph) it tells you which party your positions are closest too.
2. That happens both ways. I'm pretty solidly Green these days but the quadrant metric as often as not puts me closer to Labor than Greens. Partly because Vote Compass uses some bizarre interpretations of position from my POV and partly because I don't Strongly X much and that's often the difference between their positions.
3. I'm not sure this person understands preferential voting. If they do they may also be misrepresenting it.
4. The proposed solution questions are so biased in phrasing they may as well read "Only silly fanatics Vote Green. You wouldn't want to be one of them would you? VOTE LABOR"

 

[Dryk]

A Labor or Liberal candidate contesting an inner-city seat will almost certainly be far more progressive than their respective parties' state platforms. This also neglects the ability of these candidates to push progressive policy from within their own party caucus

It's a process that the average person has no insight into and the major parties have no interest in increasing the transparency of. It deserves to be neglected.

 

[wonzo]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-ab...medium=twitter

political stockholm syndrome

 

[danm999]

This is amusing. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-a...lv.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I thing I'm finding most baffling is that anybody would give Luke Foley full marks as a leader, Labor supporter or not.

 

[Fredescu]

Well, his not wrong.

He votes for a party that doesn't do the things that he wants a party to do. There is another party that wants to do the things he wants a party to do. He won't vote for them because of the personal beliefs of his local members that aren't reflected in the party platform. I'm gonna go with yes wrong.

 

[Elaugaufein]

I dunno on one hand you've got to admire the optimism and faith.

On the other hand given current polling and voting history we won't even legalise same sex marriage before ~2020 (and economically that's at worst neutral) . Labor will give a conscience vote in 2017 but there won't be enough to carry it and they are fully aware of that. That's pretty damn sad given that even that would still make us pretty much the last Western democracy to do so. Or to put it another way: you're plan to drag Labor left ain't working very well.

 

[Yrael]

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...s-theres-no-doubt-tony-abbott-is-a-loose-unit

Whole raw onions are not a common feature of the modern Australian diet. Apart from anything else, most of us find that eating them is difficult and unpleasant: they burn your mouth and make you cry. As for the skin, it’s indigestible. Unless you’re on a dare, you’d probably rather have an apple.

In any event, you can’t do what Abbott did without practice. You need to want to learn to do it. It’s a kind of party trick, a piece of rugby club machismo that shows who, exactly, is the hardest man in the room. But instead of throwing down the gauntlet to a locker room or a public bar, Abbott is now basically yelling “Psych!” at an entire nation, a G20 economy, and a bewildered international community.

This kind of thing is not new for him. Figuratively speaking, he’s been eating onions for the entirety of his prime ministership, and longer. The red speedos, the fireman costume and the Lycra. The boxing, the “shirtfronting” and “selling his arse”. These are the words and actions of a man whose first instinct is to turn everything into a dick-measuring contest. The onion thing was weird, and part of the broader weirdness of Abbott, which seems to be ripening now he’s in office.

We’re told that voters in focus groups have taken to describing him as a “fool”. The usual response to such assessments from conservative commentators is to point to Abbott’s Rhodes scholarship, as if that institution is not simply an extension of the private schools where Abbott learned to think.

In any case, “fool” does not only signify a lack of intelligence. The voters polled might just mean that Abbott’s a loose unit. Who, at this point, could disagree? Christopher Pyne used that term to describe colleagues moving against Malcolm Turnbull on Abbott’s behalf back in 2009. Abbott’s response to rumblings about his own leadership was to tuck into a few bulbs; the question of his looseness is well and truly open for discussion.

First, there’s the whole question of his interactions with women. Abbott’s formative experiences of political activism involved fighting feminists over abortion. He later played “Vatican roulette” with a woman because he thought he would go on to become a priest, and when she gave birth to a child he thought was his, made the nation stand by while he thrashed out in public whether he was, in fact, the father. Politics came to resemble an episode of Maury.

During his uni years, two witnesses claim he punched a wall adjoining a female opponent’s head. People who have suggested that Barbara Ramjan made this story up have been forced to make public apologies under legal threats.

His political modus operandi went on as it started. He pursued Pauline Hanson, then Julia Gillard, with a peculiar relish that couldn’t quite be explained by the career advantages that success brought him. The defining image of his time as opposition leader was him yelling, in front of a sign calling Gillard a bitch.

Abbott’s weirdness goes beyond his treatment of political adversaries. There was the leering wink in Jon Faine’s ABC studio when an elderly sex worker called in to speak with him. There’s his belief that out there in voterland, women do the ironing, and that his decision to repeal the price on carbon was his greatest achievement for women. There was the discussion of the “precious gift” of his daughters’ virginity.

Later, he described the same daughters as “hot” in the Big Brother house. There was the rumination on how we might be able to find some middle ground on the question of marital rape. And who could forget his thirsty remarks about one of his own candidates, whom he praised for her “sex appeal”.

It’s not just that this combination of creepy come-ons and patriarchal protection is colossally sexist. It’s also that, like his boy’s own leisure pursuits, it gives the impression of a man who is wholly and worryingly out of time.

The rest of us are trying to understand how we negotiate peaceful progress in the pluralist landscape of 21st century Australia, where the goal of equal opportunities for men and women is a given. Abbott appears to mentally reside in a dreamworld situated somewhere in the first half of the last century.

He is always finding new and excruciating ways of confirming that he doesn’t inhabit the same era as the rest of us. Yes his casual invocation of the stereotype of the drunken Irishman insulted an entire nation on its national day. He also invoked a lost Australian world of ethnic and sectarian hierarchy, in which “the English made the laws, the Scots made the money, and the Irish made the songs”.

Sometimes it seems as if Abbott finds comfort in these largely forgotten prejudices. Almost unbelievably, this is the second time that he has been criticised for implying that Irish people are stupid — Ireland’s embassy complained when he told an Irish joke in parliament in 2011.

More dangerously, Abbott has made it clear that, like the Liberals of the 1950s, he thinks of Indonesia as somewhere between an existential threat and a third-world supplicant. In “stopping the boats”, apart from the cruelty he visited on refugees, he antagonised our neighbour. Only Abbott could follow this up with a lecture on human rights, in which he played the disappointed benefactor, tying aid to a criticism of the justice system of another democracy.

It goes on further. A good and depressing read.

 

[Jintor]

data retention passes the senate

my favourite part: turnbull names a bunch of different services you can use to bypass the bill

WHAT'S THE FLIPPING POINT THEN

 

[danm999]

data retention passes the senate

my favourite part: turnbull names a bunch of different services you can use to bypass the bill

WHAT'S THE FLIPPING POINT THEN

For Turnbull?

"Hey everybody, check out the law my idiot boss just passed."

 

[hidys]

So who is/is not getting VPN's?

Assuming you didn't already have one.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Its pretty funny/sad that even ~50% of Coalition voters think services should have to get a warrant for metadata access (to anyone) and that Labor chose to lay down and roll over on this anyway. Also rolling over when you're being wedged just makes the same god damn wedge more effective next time. Its why the Coalition has an edge on economic (in part) and national security issues to start with, if instead of saying "That's stupid and this is why" you say "Yes, you're right" then people will think that the other guy really does have a better understanding than you.

 

[shanshan310]

I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I've become so desensitised to murdoch headlines that my first thought was "oh they spelled kamikaze correctly, that's good".

So what you're saying is that I should start a Canberra-based company that makes Purple ties while the opportunity is still open.

I'd buy one!

 

[Rubixcuba]

Polling day!

 

[Quasar]

Cast my NSW state election ballot.

Nice that in the lower house only one god awful party (Hello Fred Nile) was on the ballot. See that its optional preferential now. Did take that option.

Beyond more cycleways what is the Cyclists Party platform?

How to vote papers. Oh so many. I do wonder who reads/uses them. I've yet to read one and don't know anyone who admits to use them.

Local P&C ladies, I love you, but sausage inna bun really isn't my style at 9AM.

 

[Quasar]

So who is/is not getting VPN's?

Assuming you didn't already have one.

I am on principle. Though with the spike in internet service plans I wonder just how much extra this will add up to. Add to that is now I have a need to upgrade my Modem/Router to one with VPN, which adds more on top again.

Just haven't decided which one. Finding one thats not terribly slow, and that keeps no records is my plan.

Which raises a question, do any gaming networks work over a VPN very well if at all?

 

[Dead Man]

Ummm... what?

http://www.news.com.au/national/pol...-to-49-year-olds/story-fns0jze1-1227281665031

AUSTRALIANS who are under 50 and out of work will be forced to work for the dole from July.

The move comes as part of an overhaul of the job placement system designed to cut red tape and put an end to wasteful taxpayer subsidised training that doesn’t lead to work.

Currently, only jobseekers aged from 18 to 30 who live in 18 trial sites across Australia are required to undertake compulsory work for the dole.

From July, the scheme will be expanded nationally and take in all job seekers up to the age of 49.

The federal government is poised to announce the results of tender process for its revamped $5.1 billion job services system, which will include a confirmation of the new requirements job seekers will have to meet from July this year.

The new mutual obligation requirements will see Australians under 50 having to undertake work for the dole programs for 15 hours a week, for six months of every year they remain unemployed.

Where is all this work going to come from?

 

[Quasar]

Ummm... what?

Where is all this work going to come from?

Yeah. I wonder about that. If TAFE fees had not also spiked I'd say it might just push people into training.

 

[wonzo]

Ummm... what?

http://www.news.com.au/national/poli...-1227281665031

Where is all this work going to come from?

from such incredibly valuable job skill training experiences like hosting community radio or painting rsl war miniatures!

 

[Quasar]

from such incredibly valuable job skill training experiences like hosting community radio or painting rsl war miniatures!

You know, my brief WFD experience working with PC recycling I found somewhat useful. It at least gave me more confidence in building/troubleshooting PCs and lots of free hardware.

 

[Dryk]

How to vote papers. Oh so many. I do wonder who reads/uses them. I've yet to read one and don't know anyone who admits to use them.

In my SA polling station at least there's a copy of each how to vote card taped up in every booth. Handing them out is pointless, but I guess the people have to take a break from putting up 4x4 displays of the exact same fucking poster at some point.