adamantium|wang posted:

Can't possibly spend any money on refugee advocates, no sir.

quote:

Tony Abbott says Malcolm Turnbull isn't after his job
June 1, 2014 - 12:31PM
Judith Ireland
National political reporter


Tony Abbott has dismissed the idea that Malcolm Turnbull is going after his job, saying it is "perfectly reasonable" that senior Coalition MPs meet with members of the crossbench following Mr Turnbull's dinner with Clive Palmer last week.

In a sign of the delicate relationship between Mr Abbott and Mr Palmer, the Prime Minister would also not be drawn on whether he thought the Palmer United Party leader was honest.

"It's not my job to give a character reference for my political competitors," he told Channel Ten. "But on the other hand, it's also not my job to impugn the integrity of people who may well be our negotiating partners."

The Coalition faces a tough battle to get key budget measures through the Senate, such as the GP co-payment and changes to pensions, Newstart and university fees. Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party have all expressed opposition to the plans.

Mr Abbott has begun talks with incoming senators Bob Day and David Leyonhjelm but so far Mr Palmer has warned he will hold the government's legislative agenda to ransom until he gets more staff.

Last Wednesday night, Mr Palmer had dinner with Mr Turnbull in a Canberra restaurant in a move that sparked fears among Coalition MPs that it was an attempt to destabilise Mr Abbott's leadership, according to reports.

The Prime Minister on Sunday dismissed any suggestion about an attack on his leadership.

"I think it's perfectly reasonable for senior members of the Coalition to talk with independent and minor party senators because ... we have a budget to get through the Parliament."

Mr Abbott added that there was "nothing wrong" with Mr Palmer having a relationship with the Communications Minister and others.

"Over time, I'm confident that he will have a constructive relationship with the government."

Mr Abbott also hit back at opposition to the Coalition's first budget from other parties.

"Whether it's Bill Shorten, whether it's the Greens, whether it's others – it's one long chorus of complaint. And in the end, what the public wants is a government that knows where it wants to go," he said.

"The man with the plan has an extraordinary advantage over the person who has just got the complaint."

Mr Abbott said that he was currently talking to "various minor party and independent senators".

"They're really courtesy calls as much as anything," he said.

He conceded that it would not be easy to negotiate the budget through the Senate but appeared to take heart from history, noting that it was unusual for governments to have an upper house majority.

"And yet, almost no government has failed to get the major elements of its budget through."

quote:

Minister denies uni fees will jump
AAP

June 1, 2014, 11:59 am
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Education Minister Christopher Pyne rejects claims university funding will drive up course costs. AAP Education Minister Christopher Pyne rejects claims university funding will drive up course costs.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne rejects claims that the government's proposed rejig of university funding will drive up course costs for students.

Institutions which price themselves out of the market will have empty lecture theatres and tutorials, Mr Pyne said.

"Competition will drive prices down and students will be the winner in terms of quality and price," he told ABC TV on Sunday.

The comments follow speculation the government's slated cuts to university funding will bring hikes of up to 100 per cent for some undergraduate degrees.

University of Sydney analysis of a planned government reduction in course funding will mean fees for communications, social science, environmental and engineering degrees will skyrocket, Fairfax media reports.

A communications degree currently costing a domestic a student about $18,132, would carry a new price tag of about $37,000, the modelling suggests.

But Mr Pyne said some 200 universities across Australia will have to remain competitive in the education market and doesn't foresee an explosion in fees.

Despite the cost, students will still be able to borrow every single dollar from the government "at the lowest interest rate that student will ever see in any loan they will ever have in their lives".

Students enrolled in courses before the budget announcement will not be affected by the change, while those who have signed up since will be affected from January 2016.

quote:

"It's not my job to give a character reference for my political competitors," he told Channel Ten. "But on the other hand, it's also not my job to impugn the integrity of people who may well be our negotiating partners."

quote:

"We've seen real Julia, we've seen fake Julia. We've seen wooden Julia, we've seen teary Julia. We've seen 'All the way with LBJ' Julia, we've seen bible expert Julia, we've seen George Washington 'I will never tell a lie' Julia.

"The fact is, the one thing we've never seen is truthful Julia."

Ammonsa posted:

Restaurant Industry, Restaurant Industry Award 2010, I don't have a contract and get paid cash in hand haha it's kind of dodgy.

I haven't, what union should I be joining?

Lid posted:

More stuff re: Pyne.

tl;dr - THE FREE MARKET

Problem: getting into university is NOT a free market and requires ATAR scores in the first place to gain access to certain degrees, thereby you are already limited in choice. The Market is a closed market where the demand won't go down because people who can afford will continue to go and people who can't simply won't. Libertarianism running wild.

Those On My Beet posted:

That much is obvious. They are concerned about polling figures and by trying to front foot it they are running around contradicting each other and themselves because they have no real strategy to respond to the backlash.

ewe2 posted:

It's quite bizarre really. The strategy to hold back until they get a Senate to work with is unravelling. It bears out the belief among a few of us that they got the royal ride of their life from the media pre-election and never thought that far ahead. Why didn't their PR/lobbyists of genius predict the roadblocks? I get the sense that the sensible people got ignored in the rush to be libertarian heros; is discipline just an Opposition thing now?

quote:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected a controversial recommendation in a key Productivity Commission report that suggests drivers be charged for every kilometre of road use:
"Tolls are a fact of life. We pay for road tolls, we pay for roads through our taxes, we pay for roads through our registration and we pay for our vehicles, so there's already a significant form of user-charging. "This new form of user-charging, I suspect, is unlikely to ever be adopted by any government."

Nuclear Spy posted:

While going through past news articles, I'm still trying to get my head around this quote by Tony:

Replace tolls with healthcare, education, whatever you want...

gay picnic defence posted:

Pred1ct posted:

Gonna leave this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ggMgjYev4

gay picnic defence posted:

gay picnic defence posted:

Nuclear Spy posted:

There needs to be more Simpsons AusPol crossovers:

Sparticle posted:

Someone posted this page a few weeks ago.
https://www.facebook.com/Simpsonsagainsttheliberals

AVeryLargeRadish posted:

They really never did think beyond getting themselves into power, all that is behind their strategizing is sociopathic animal cunning, nothing deeper than that. You're watching a bunch of criminals panic and ransack the place as fast as they can, of course they're disorganized.

quote:

Immigration Minister Scott Morrsion has confirmed a man living on a bridging visa in Geelong has died after succumbing to the effects of serious burn injuries.

Minister Morrison said the burn injuries affected 90 per cent of the asylum seeker's body in an incident that occurred yesterday.

He said the male asylum seeker was of Sri Lankan nationality and had no family in Australia.

"Overnight a man who was on a bridging visa in the community passed away after suffering very serious injuries.

"I'm advised by my department that a man believed to be an illegal maritime arrival of Sri Lankan nationality suffered serious burns in an incident in Geelong yesterday morning, I understand he died of his injuries overnight."

Emergency services yesterday rushed to the Geelong suburb of Newtown in response to reports that a man was on fire near the intersection of Cairns St and West Fyans Street after 10.30am.

The man was taken to Geelong Hospital before being flown to The Alfred hospital’s burns department, where he later died.

Mr Morrison said the man's death was not caused by an assault, but refused to give further details.

"I have not yet been advised that his family has been notified [so] it is not appropriate to release his name or other details," he said.

Minister Morrison said the man had been given a bridging visa in May and again in July, after arriving in Darwin in January last year.

Police are investigating the incident.

"I don't want to confirm anything at this point until we have a better picture from police, and in particular once we have been able to go through the identification issues," Minister Morrison said.

Mr Morrison also confirmed that protests are continuing on Christmas Island, but refused to confirm reports that some asylum seekers have sewn their lips together.

"I'm advised that situation is under control at the moment. It's not uncommon for peaceful protests to occur in detention facilities," he said.

"It's not helpful for refugee activists to dramatise these events and seek to whip them up in the public mind because frankly that is the purpose of these protests."

More details to come.

quote:

An asylum seeker living on a bridging visa in Melbourne is dead after suffering serious burns.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the man was rushed to Melbourne's Alfred Hospital after a "very serious incident" on Saturday morning, but died overnight.

He suffered burns to about 90 per cent of his body.

"There are many matters about this incident which are still not known at this time," Mr Morrison told reporters on Sunday, adding that the man's injuries were not linked to an assault.

Police are investigating the death and also working to formally identify the man, who was living in the community and receiving "necessary support", Mr Morrison said.

He arrived in Australia in January 2013 and was first granted a bridging visa in May the same year.

The minister extended the government's sympathies to the man's friends and overseas-based family.

Fruity Gordo posted:

A young refugee self-immolated in Victoria

Fruity Gordo posted:

A refugee likely self-immolated in Victoria
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/06/01/serious-incident-kills-asylum-seeker-govt

Captain Pissweak posted:

I'm pretty sure exactly this happened not three months ago.

Lid posted:

More stuff re: Pyne.

tl;dr - THE FREE MARKET

Problem: getting into university is NOT a free market and requires ATAR scores in the first place to gain access to certain degrees, thereby you are already limited in choice. The Market is a closed market where the demand won't go down because people who can afford will continue to go and people who can't simply won't. Libertarianism running wild.

quote:

More than 500 Afghans resettled in Australia after helping Defence Force
Updated 36 minutes ago

More than 500 Afghan nationals who helped Australia's mission in Afghanistan have been resettled in Australia under a "discrete" relocation program, the Government says. Defence Minister David Johnston said the employees and their families, including interpreters, were assessed to be at risk of harm after providing critical support to the Australian Defence Force and Australian Government agencies in Afghanistan. "Many of these employees were placed at significant risk of harm by insurgents in Afghanistan, due to the highly visible and dangerous nature of their employment," Mr Johnston said in a statement.

The majority of those already settled in Australia arrived over the latter part of 2013 and early 2014.

The statement said the Government had wanted to conduct the process "with a high level of discretion, given the sensitivities and risks involved for the applicants and their families". It is understood the Afghan employees and their families were keen to settle in Australia and said they were eager to start new lives and establish themselves as soon as possible. The families were provided with accommodation, health services and household assistance. "Many have already commenced employment or vocational training opportunities and their children are enrolled in school," Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews said in the joint statement. Following the completion of Australia's mission in Uruzgan and the departure of Australian Defence Force personnel from the province, Australia will continue to provide training and advisory support to the Afghan National Security Forces.

Foundry Dancer posted:

I've yet to see anyone pointing out how there's currently only a cap on the maximum fee that a university can charge (that's right?), and no cap on the minimum fee. That being the case, there's absolutely nothing currently stopping universitites from lowering their fees if they wanted to. Obviously then, the maximum cap is not preventing them from lowering fees. Thus, removing the cap won't make prices go down.

I mean, I know that Pyne's argument is just ideological bullshit, but this seems likie a simple and obvious argument that anyone can understand, even an Australian voter.

Fruity Gordo posted:

Yep, in Balmain. Second refugee self-immolation in two months. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-11/tamil-asylum-seeker-self-harms-in-sydney/5383318

quote:

A message from the Prime Minister - 70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Prime Minister

This week the world will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The D-day landings changed the course of human history.

As part of the commemoration, I will join seven Australians who were there 70 years ago.

Over 3,000 Australians were involved – including 2,500 air force personnel who provided air support for the Allied landings.

Following the D-day commemorations, I will be travelling to Canada and the United States – and will be joined by Australian business leaders.

My message to overseas investors is that Australia is open for business.

The Government’s Economic Action Strategy to lower tax, cut red tape and encourage trade will improve the competitiveness of businesses – so that we can build a stronger Australia.

We welcome investment and we are making investment more attractive by scrapping the carbon tax and the mining tax, cutting 50,000 pages of red tape and ending the “analysis paralysis” on major projects.

Our international partners can see that our Budget is again under control, we are tackling debt and deficits and we are serious about building a strong and prosperous economy.

This year Australia hosts the G20 summit to encourage growth around the world and I will be advancing that cause during this trip.

The United States, Canada and France are long standing friends. We stood together at D-Day, we trade every day and we have always shared a commitment to democracy, to enterprise and to people’s right to be free.

adamantium|wang posted:

he actually did it

he managed to make d-day about the carbon tax

e:

Fruity Gordo posted:

This is the young man who set himself on fire yesterday. His name's Leo. He was afraid of being sent back to Sri Lanka and tortured.