Thewlis posted:

Hey Auspol, quick question.
My Mum was notified that her company will begin mandatory drug and alcohol testing for all employees, and if they refuse they will be subject to disciplinary action. She works for a pharmaceutical company, and they're claiming that it's part of the government's OH&S requirements. Are they full of poo poo?

Gorilla Salad posted:

Talking to people at work over the last few days and one topic's been coming up a lot - superannuation. It used to be that most everyone I knew would contribute extra to their super each week. I stopped ages ago because it seemed painfully obvious to me that it was pointless and, unless I took up a career in politics, I'd never get to actually see my money.

Now that view is getting a lot more common - at least where I work. I know of at least ten people who have stopped making extra payments and they've remarked that payroll told them it was happening everywhere.

Nibbles141 posted:

People want the extra money in their pocket and/or it's only something like $500 extra that gets you a government contribution.

Those people need to work harder as hard work propels you into higher income brackets and then dumping your money into super becomes a tax dodge.

quote:

He [Bruce Billson] said the Government was more focused on collecting HECS debts from graduates who work overseas and do not pay taxes in Australia.

"We are in discussions through a dialogue with the UK for example about how we might interact with overseas governments where students from Australia, with a HECS debt, may be living in another country."

...

Bent Wookiee posted:

Just as an addendum to the recovery of HECS debt from dead people discussion this morning. This is relevant to those of you looking at heading overseas to avoid paying it back:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/abbott-rules-out-chasing-post-mortem-hecs-debts/5485736

Gorilla Salad posted:

Talking to people at work over the last few days and one topic's been coming up a lot - superannuation. It used to be that most everyone I knew would contribute extra to their super each week. I stopped ages ago because it seemed painfully obvious to me that it was pointless and, unless I took up a career in politics, I'd never get to actually see my money.

Now that view is getting a lot more common - at least where I work. I know of at least ten people who have stopped making extra payments and they've remarked that payroll told them it was happening everywhere.

Murodese posted:

I'm fairly sure that other countries are not allowed to collect tax on the behalf of another government.

Bent Wookiee posted:

Just as an addendum to the recovery of HECS debt from dead people discussion this morning. This is relevant to those of you looking at heading overseas to avoid paying it back:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-29/abbott-rules-out-chasing-post-mortem-hecs-debts/5485736

Mr Chips posted:

Do they even have any stats that show a significant number of people have been heading overseas and not paying their HECS back?

quote:

A Victorian mother is demanding answers after her teenage daughter's armpits were shaved by her teacher as part of the school's curriculum.

Melissa Woods, mother of 14-year-old Taylah, says her daughter was "extremely upset" when her armpits were shaved in front of two other girls in a classroom.

"I didn't understand why they had to do it," Ms Woods told radio station 3AW on Thursday.

The teenager, who has a disability, had been enrolled in a life skills program at Wangaratta District Specialist School in the state's north-east.

The teacher told Ms Woods that her daughter would get picked on if she didn't shave, she said.

"I spoke to the teacher the very next day and she told me that she has the right to do it, it's part of the curriculum."

But Ms Woods hadn't given the school permission, saying her daughter had previously told her that she didn't want to shave.

"That's invading her rights as a person to decide whether or not she wants to get it done or not."

She wrote to the school principal, who wrote back explaining how it is part of the curriculum and she regrets not having a permission slip for her to sign, she said.

Ms Woods has since written to the school's regional director for a better explanation.

The school has been contacted for comment.

i got banned posted:

Good to see that Liberal guy getting stripped of his award for having an opinion. Imagine if they did that with Nobel prizes. You can't retrospectively take back an award, does he have to hand back the physical part of the award? It's just so awkward and makes no sense.

Murodese posted:

I'm fairly sure that other countries are not allowed to collect tax on the behalf of another government.

quote:

The International Monetary Fund is one of a number of influential groups now raising concerns that austerity budgets in a post-GFC world not only contribute to inequality but also act as a major brake on sustainable economic growth. The IMF's vocal stance is particularly significant because it comes from the group most synonymous over the past three decades for advocating big social service cuts to spur growth.

A widely-publicised internal paper by three of its senior economists released earlier this year questions the conventional market view that inequality has little or no negative impacts on growth. While it cautions that the relationship between growth and inequality is complex, the study concludes on the basis of its multi-decade, cross-country statistical analysis, lower inequality "is robustly correlated with faster, more durable growth".

Significantly, the analysis claims that the statistical evidence now generally "supports the view that inequality impedes growth". It points to a broad range of other research for why this might be the case. Growing inequality, for example, can slow or stagnate economic growth because the political and social consensus critical to achieving pro-growth policy settings is undermined. Or it crimps direct inputs into durable growth such as an economy's educational and skills base, investment flows or a healthy society.

Kegslayer posted:

You get taxed in the country where you 'earned' the income and I was still taxed in Australia when working overseas on Australian sourced income, in most cases you just get a foreign tax credit back for taxes you've paid to avoid double taxation.

They can definitely tax people who are overseas but the problem would be trying to find these people and also how much they earn.

gay picnic defence posted:

quote:

George Brandis accused of 'gagging' race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane over changes to race-hate laws

May 29, 2014 - 3:15PM
James Massola, Sarah Whyte


Labor Senator Lisa Singh has accused Attorney-General George Brandis of ''gagging'' race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, while allowing ''freedom'' commissioner Tim Wilson to speak on the government's proposed changes to the Race Discrimination Act.

During Senate estimates hearings, Senator Brandis also clashed with outgoing disability discrimination commissioner Graeme Innes over the downgrading of Mr Innes' role.


_{Race discrimination commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane with Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes who clashed with Attorney-General George Brandis during Senate estimates over the 'downgrading' of Mr Innes' role Photo: Andrew Meares}

Mr Wilson was asked during the hearing by Senator Singh whether he supported Senator Brandis' assertion in March that Australians have a ''right to be a bigot'', and on the proposed changes to the Race Discrimination Act, which the Attorney-General is preparing to alter again.

The proposed changes to race-hate laws set out in the Act have drawn an avalanche of protesting submissions from ethnic and communities groups, while Senator Brandis' own backbench has also strongly criticised the winding back of legal protections.

Senator Singh asked Dr Soutphommasane – a critic of the government's changes – to comment but committee chair Ian Macdonald ruled the questions out of order as it was ''hypothetical'' and sought an opinion.


_{''Freedom'' commissioner Tim Wilson at the Senate estimates hearing. Photo: Andrew Meares}

Senator Brandis said he was of ''aware of Dr Soutphommasane's views on this. I think Dr Soutphommasane's views are very well known to the public.''

But later in the hearing, Mr Wilson was allowed to re-state his clear support for changing the Act.

''I have made it quite clear that I support in the public domain changes to the Act. That includes the submission which is available on the website which is publicly accessible. I have not changed my view,'' he said.

''I have said with relation to the exposure draft that was put out by the government that it was a good basis to start the discussion about how it would be changed.''

After the hearing, Senator Singh said Dr Soutphommasane ''was gagged, in complete contradiction to Tim Wilson who was able to share his views on the RDA''.

''Senator Brandis initially stopped me from asking the question and accused me of being dishonest in asking for Dr Soutphommasane’s views,'' Senator Singh.

''This is a man who stands for freedom of speech yet won't allow a witness at the table to speak.''

Dr Soutphommasane said he accepted the chair's ruling.

''I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to express my serious concerns about the Race Discrimination Act exposure draft,'' he said.

Mr Innes' position, which was cut in the budget, receives nearly 40 per cent of all complaints to the commission, more than double the sex discrimination commissioner, the next most common source of complaints.

He told the Senate hearing people with disabilities would be severely disadvantaged by the loss of a full-time commissioner.

Senator Brandis refused to accept that the removal of the full-time commissioner is a downgrading of the role.

''To say it has been abolished or downgraded is a lie,'' he said.

''You shouldn't assume where this will end. It may be that in the end, the best allocation of function among the commissioners is to have only one person doing the disability discrimination work, especially with the NDIS coming and I will be doing more work with the president.''

But Mr Innes, who is also legally blind, shot back: ''To not view this as a downgrading is a fascinating point of view.''

Mr Innes said of the nearly 40 per cent of complaints to the Commission that come from people with disabilities, 45 per cent of them related to employment discrimination.

He told the Senate hearing that the role required 60 hours a week and that a part-time commissioner would ''undoubtedly not'' be able to fulfil the requirements of the role.

''Inevitably the number of complaints in this area will increase and there is systemic work that will need to be done by someone in the role of disability discrimination commissioner,'' he said.

The Commission's president, Gillian Triggs, agreed that the number of complaints was very high: ''Disability complaints comprise by far the largest component. It is 39 per cent and tends to increase each year.''

Also in the hearing, Senator Singh pressed Mr Wilson to ''specifically answer whether as human rights commissioner, whether you believe that people have a right to be bigots''.

Mr Wilson responded: ''People have an absolute right to freedom of thought which ranges from wonderful thoughts to some ...''

''I'll take that as a yes,'' Senator Singh interjected.

''No, the answer is that people in terms of freedom of speech have a right of freedom of speech within limitations.''

quote:

Mr Innes' position, which was cut in the budget, receives nearly 40 per cent of all complaints to the commission, more than double the sex discrimination commissioner, the next most common source of complaints.

...Mr Innes said of the nearly 40 per cent of complaints to the Commission that come from people with disabilities, 45 per cent of them related to employment discrimination.

Smegmatron posted:

Life Skills is code for "special needs but we don't fund anything to assist special needs so here's an easier curriculum."

I'm going to hazard a guess and say its a PE teacher trying to meet some life skills outcomes about hygiene or something. PE teachers are all just temporarily embarrassed sportsball superstars earning a crust making fat kids cry in between bouts of complaining about having to teach actual book stuff with words about things and stuff when there's a footy somewhere not being kicked and a fat kid somewhere feeling slightly better than miserable.

This is why PE teachers think it's ok to publicly shave children.

Halo14 posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQoT9xXRXtY

Haters Objector posted:

Sounds like you're mad about imaginary sitcom stereotype jock sports teachers got shaved by a sports teacher

Murodese posted:

If you're overseas for the entire tax year, you're not required to file a tax return or pay tax in Australia, though. Just the country you're residing in. In addition, countries that we share reciprocal healthcare with (ie. Belgium) don't charge you the medicare levy, but they do charge Australia for any medical treatment given to you.

adamantium|wang posted:

Senator Brandis refused to accept that the removal of the full-time commissioner is a downgrading of the role.

Nibbles141 posted:

Given that the government is seemingly ignoring the amount of complaints as to disability and employment whilst trying to strip the disability pension to force people back into work, cognitive dissonance seems par for the course

Mr Chips posted:

Does anyone know where to find the quintile breakdowns for a)income earned and b)fraction of total tax paid? (ie the top 20% of income earners make X% of all earned income and pay Y% of all income tax paid). I've been trawling the ABS but haven't found anything explicit.

quote:

Mother wants answers after teenage daughter's armpits were shaved by teacher

A Victorian mother is demanding answers after her teenage daughter's armpits were shaved by her teacher as part of the school's curriculum.

Melissa Woods, mother of 14-year-old Taylah, says her daughter was "extremely upset" when her armpits were shaved in front of two other girls in a classroom.

"I didn't understand why they had to do it," Ms Woods told radio station 3AW on Thursday.

The teenager, who has a disability, had been enrolled in a life skills program at Wangaratta District Specialist School in the state's north-east.


The teacher told Ms Woods that her daughter would get picked on if she didn't shave, she said.

"I spoke to the teacher the very next day and she told me that she has the right to do it, it's part of the curriculum."

Doctor Spaceman posted:

I know America makes an effort to tax its expats.

Haters Objector posted:

Sounds like you're mad about imaginary sitcom stereotype jock sports teachers