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quote:The Lowy Institute's James Brown has estimated Australia will spend three times more than the United Kingdom on World War I commemorations. heh
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Apr 17, 2014 17:08
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Implants posted:Yeah like I said I only know the stories not the guy (although I have met him and he did creep me out), but he must be a truly remarkable turd if even his lingering influence can provoke this sort of united response. I wouldn't say I know him well, but I've had numerous encounters and conversations with him. I was around when his grip on the young Right was just starting to be forcibly loosened, but the first time I met him I was a (disillusioned and increasingly so) member of the Greens and he decided from the first that I was far too left to be worth bothering with, so I quite luckily escaped any attempt at indoctrination. He's one of those high-functioning sociopaths who people either peg for exactly that immediately or are completely and nigh-irredeemably taken in by his magnetism. He's got charm for days. And it's really not so much that he's such a turd personally on the whole. His underlings are far less talented and far bigger arseholes. Yes, his politics are completely hosed, but he is an astonishingly good organiser and did a lot of legitimately good work for the AWU and in the way of recruitment. He just went 100% off the loving deep end when he was renounced by the national faction bosses (he hosed up so bad that the party Administrative Committee had to meet especially to figure out what to do with him IIRC) and he lost the AYL Presidency as a result. He just shut everybody under him off from the senior party and went all cult-leader and tried setting up his own faction, which was really the only avenue left open to him. It failed spectacularly and the Labortarians have been refusing to die with dignity for the best part of a year now. They've got hardly a hope in hell of getting anything in this QYL election, but there's an outside chance they might get a State Conference delegate. If they do, they could hypothetically cling to life for another year, but the Good Ship Renewal has far too many internal problems to stay afloat much longer. The odds are good that we actually know each other, or at least know a lot of the same people. Can you tell me anything about what you do or where you go to uni or maybe even who you know?
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Apr 17, 2014 18:55
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Smudgie Buggler posted:The odds are good that we actually know each other, or at least know a lot of the same people. Can you tell me anything about what you do or where you go to uni or maybe even who you know? I'd rather not do too much detail, but I've been doing what you might euphemistically called campaign support for quite a while now, and I used to do some policy stuff in NSW. That probably indicates my vintage so it's probably not too much to say that I did the obligatory law degree at QUT as a mature age student years ago so I'm well ahead of the current crop of QYL kids. They're a fertile recruiting ground for oppo though! We've almost certainly brushed past each other at some event or another, it's a small, small pond up here.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:55
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Last night at work a guy drank so much he power vomited salmon chunks and what ever loving else he had been eating all day into two sinks, all over the floor and onto himself. He said his drink had been spiked. In a pub. Full of dudes. His stupid friends called out two ambulances (taking them away from people needing serious help). Meanwhile when I walked past them to take out the trash he was pretty coherent and talking like someone who had just drank too much and one of the ambos said "well I think from the tests we have ran we can rule out that your drink was spiked". I had to clean up after this fat, gelatinous, over indulgent waste of human flesh. I get paid $22 an hour. I had to touch human vomit and mop it up, and unplug the sink with my fingers. This guy was a rude, obnoxious, selfish piece of poo poo and I just wish that he loving choked on his vomit instead of being able to breathe right now. I had to take 3 benzos later at home because I was so loving stressed out about the whole thing (I can get fined a poo poo load for RSA poo poo) Does Tony Abbott think I get paid too much? Y/N i got banned fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 02:57
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i got banned posted:Does Tony Abbott think I get paid too much? Y/N Depends who he's talking to.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:59
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Sitting in an office sorting out mandates is surely work worthy of $250,000 a year.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:02
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You can afford benzos so you definitely get paid too much, you loving leech.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:05
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i got banned posted:Sitting in an office sorting out mandates is surely work worthy of $250,000 a year. Actually it's more than double that (and has nearly doubled since 1999). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_Australia#Salary
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Apr 18, 2014 03:06
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Mithranderp posted:Actually it's more than double that (and has nearly doubled since 1999). That is disgusting, for anyone ever, to make that much money. It should be seen as a DSM disorder to want to make that much money. thatbastardken posted:You can afford benzos so you definitely get paid too much, you loving leech. Yours Sincerely, Tony Abbott Prime Minister of Australia i got banned fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 03:09
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Who else learned what an indentured servant was from playing Colonization (the original, obviously)
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Apr 18, 2014 03:18
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I'm impressed that our politicians get paid that much and they're still loving corrupt. I mean holy poo poo, is anything ever enough? (no.)
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Apr 18, 2014 03:18
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Australian parliament sits for 63 days a year, fewer than half of the sitting days in the UK (147), just over half of Canada's(118), and exactly half of the USA (126). So we've got among the highest paid politicians doing the least amount of work. Aussie Aussie Aussie! edit: grammar. The Before Times fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 03:28
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Mithranderp posted:Australian parliament sits for 63 days a year, fewer than half of the sitting days in the UK (147), just over half of Canada's(118), and exactly half of the USA (126). So we've got among the highest paid politicians doing the least amount of work. Aussie Aussie Aussie! idk I think we should cut teachers pay first look at all the school holidays they get
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Apr 18, 2014 03:39
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Also cutting pay is a far inferior way to improving the quality of parliament than cutting other things. Necks for example.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:40
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Much of this stuff is why I tend to distrust "career politician" types. People who want power that much are almost invariably the type of people who shouldn't have it.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:49
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Pretty much. They also have a fairly shallow understanding of working life for most people, and are usually guided by theories - usually bad ones - on things ought to be.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:50
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Alternately they're just arseholes.
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Apr 18, 2014 03:52
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So who's going to post the latest Brandis gem?
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Apr 18, 2014 03:53
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There's a new Brandis gem? How rage-inducing is it? On a scale from 1 to apoplectic.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:06
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Is this where he calls Penny Wong "the high priestess of political correctness" and goes on about climate science not giving denialists a good ear?
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Apr 18, 2014 04:15
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I used to think politicians should be paid generously because that was how you would attract 'talented' politicians, and that it would allow people from poorer backgrounds to go into politics. The more I think about it the more I wonder what the hell I was thinking. If you're a poor or talented person trying to make things better for the poor and or talented there's no way you're getting into politics no matter what the salary.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:19
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"Climate change is a real thing that is happening." - the vast majority of climate scientists the world over, who have spent decades researching and confirming this through empirical evidence "Maybe you're just stuck in the dark ages?  " - George Brandis, noted actual loving moron
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Apr 18, 2014 04:20
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quote:One side [has] the orthodoxy on its side and delegitimises the views of those who disagree, rather than engaging with them intellectually and showing them why they are wrong. This is both monumentally hypocritical and apocalyptically stupid.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:20
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Wait, Brandis is self projecting on climate scientists? Next thing you know he'll be saying we don't give creationists enough ear on how the Universe was made.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:27
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open24hours posted:I used to think politicians should be paid generously because that was how you would attract 'talented' politicians, and that it would allow people from poorer backgrounds to go into politics. The more I think about it the more I wonder what the hell I was thinking. If you're a poor or talented person trying to make things better for the poor and or talented there's no way you're getting into politics no matter what the salary. I think this approach would work well for jobs that are already woefully underpaid, like teaching. Unfortunately the more you offer, the more likely you are to attract self-interested assholes.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:27
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When Eddie McGuire was on qanda, he mentioned that his solution to all these corruption scandals is to pay politicians more and the audience wasn't nearly angry enough. I'm expecting this ridiculous pay inflation to go full steam ahead for a while.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:28
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Mithranderp posted:I think this approach would work well for jobs that are already woefully underpaid, like teaching. Unfortunately the more you offer, the more likely you are to attract self-interested assholes. Yeah, Ted Mack, noted 'good one', sums it up well. quote:http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/time-for-major-reform-of-the-way-we-do-government/5064518
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Apr 18, 2014 04:35
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Gentleman Baller posted:When Eddie McGuire was on qanda, he mentioned that his solution to all these corruption scandals is to pay politicians more and the audience wasn't nearly angry enough. I'm expecting this ridiculous pay inflation to go full steam ahead for a while. Still waiting for him to join Labor and have a tilt. poo poo that rumour has been around for years.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:39
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Gentleman Baller posted:When Eddie McGuire was on qanda, he mentioned that his solution to all these corruption scandals is to pay politicians more and the audience wasn't nearly angry enough. I'm expecting this ridiculous pay inflation to go full steam ahead for a while. That's only the carrot part of the equation. You also have to have the stick which currently is laughable. You need a body like ICAC with significant powers to investigate but also with the power to deliver summary execution to those it finds wanting.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:42
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I'm kind of missing Barrel already. Not for the other stuff, but more politicians should be ready for seppuku.
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Apr 18, 2014 04:50
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Pay them loving nothing and get people who are actually interested in helping out society and make being a politician a hobby or something. Make Cronyism punishable by death, make knowingly accepting a bribe punishable by head on a pike in the town square, make corruption burning alive at the stake. i got banned fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 05:18
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Will Brandis be inviting the anti-vacs and homeopathics into policy discussions? Can't stifle the debate now.
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Apr 18, 2014 05:35
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Mithranderp posted:Australian parliament sits for 63 days a year, fewer than half of the sitting days in the UK (147), just over half of Canada's(118), and exactly half of the USA (126). So we've got among the highest paid politicians doing the least amount of work. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Blah blah if we don't pay our Except that motoring party senator.
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Apr 18, 2014 05:55
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Honestly I'd take a dip in quality for a boost in integrity. Politicians don't need to be at the top of their field, they just need to be competent and honest.
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Apr 18, 2014 07:30
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Of course we don't get any of that at the moment, so it's a moot point.
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Apr 18, 2014 07:31
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You Am I posted:Blah blah if we don't pay our This argument holds water for teaching, but god forbid a funding increase for that.
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Apr 18, 2014 08:36
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I just got off the train in brisbane. Kids in 500 dollar leather boots just a few carriages away from a pair of homeless Aboriginal kids sniffing glue. gently caress this country and gently caress the people who have destroyed, exploited and marginalised my culture.
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Apr 18, 2014 08:42
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m8 australia doesn't have culture we're a hodgepodge *ignores numerous cultures each surviving continuously longer than any others on earth*
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Apr 18, 2014 08:43
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I can't justify earning a living here and putting money back into this hosed up place. I want out. My taxes go towards the literal torture of refugees. Also, yeah, the way people talk about aborigines like everything is OK now because some dude said "sorry" on behalf of white guilt. Totally wiped the slate clean guys, everything is fine from here on out! i got banned fucked around with this message at 08:58 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 08:52
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i got banned posted:I can't justify earning a living here and putting money back into this hosed up place. I want out. My taxes go towards the literal torture of refugees. Yeah been thinking a lot about this recently. Been trying to do my part to change things but it is just a big mess. Where do you even start trying to fix a country that appoints a guy Human Rights Commissioner that thinks it is time to have a debate about white people being able to call people the N word? Seriously I do not even loving know what to think of the ridiculous poo poo that has been going on. Like I have woken up in a badly written satire and want to say " Hey guys bit heavy handed with the fruitcake portrayal of conservatives." But it is real. Locking up little kids n places that make them go crazy, cutting funding to services for the poorest, cutting funding to science...I don't even know wtf to say about this poo poo... I do not want to participate in this loving insanity.
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Apr 18, 2014 09:13
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