Hypation posted:

The only substantive power a retail worker has is the ability to quit and go somewhere else.

quote:

Victoria Police may introduce volunteer officers to "extend the effectiveness" of the force in times of serious budget constraints, according to a reform blue paper.

The paper, which indicates reforms to policing in the lead-up to 2025, proposes "a formal volunteer program for Victoria Police to supplement and support the activities of staff".

Captain Pissweak posted:

Just so I'm clear here, your point is "the system works"?

Or are you suggesting we cut weekday pay in general to funnel towards the people who work weekends (and almost definitely still work weekdays too)?

Senor Tron posted:

Yeah I'm not following your argument. It reads like you're saying that people working Mon-Fri should get paid less than those who work weekends, but those who work weekends shouldn't earn more than those who work Mon-Fri?

open24hours posted:

Hey guys, the government abolished penalty rates so you're all getting a raise to make up for it! - A Business Owner.

Quantum Mechanic posted:

No, the substantive power a retail worker has is the collective withholding of labour. That's what underpins our industrial relations system and is, in fact, why we have penalty rates.

quote:

Mystery Liberal donation: Reg Grundy gave $200,000 via secretive foundation
No donation disclosure form was lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission, even though it is required by law

Michael Safi
theguardian.com, Tuesday 3 June 2014 12.49 AEST



Australian television producer Reg Grundy has been confirmed as the source of a mysterious donation to a fundraiser linked to the Liberal party before the 2013 federal election.

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) records show that Akira Investments Ltd, a company based in the French Riviera playground for the mega-rich, Monaco, gave $200,000 last financial year to the Free Enterprise Foundation (FEF), a Liberal and National party associated entity.

Regulatory authorities in Monaco told Fairfax Media they had no record of the company. Australian corporate registers also showed no trace. Akira also failed to lodge a political donation disclosure form with the AEC, as required by law.

But an investigation by blogger Stephen Murray found that Akira was once listed as the owner of a superyacht, Boedicia, known to belong to Grundy, the pioneering producer behind TV hits such as Neighbours, Wheel of Fortune and Sale of the Century.

Murray also discovered that the company behind a website showcasing Grundy’s wildlife photography is headquartered at the same Monaco address as Akira Investments.

On Tuesday, an Akira director, Jo Cullen-Cronshaw, confirmed to the ABC that Grundy was the source of the donation.

"I made enquiries of [federal director of the Liberal party] Mr Brian Loughnane and was advised by him that the best way to maintain [Grundy and his wife Joy’s] privacy would be to make the donation through the Free Enterprise Foundation,” Cullen-Cronshaw said in the statement.

"As they are extremely private individuals they always prefer that any donation they make, political or philanthropic, remains anonymous."

Loughnane has denied giving Grundy the instructions, saying all Liberal party fundraising complied with AEC requirements.

The Free Enterprise Foundation came under scrutiny at a recent Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) inquiry into Liberal party fundraising on the NSW central coast.

The inquiry heard evidence that donations from property developers, which have been illegal in NSW since 2009, were sent to the FEF to be “washed” before being passed on to the NSW Liberals.

The foundation’s trustee, Tony Bandle, denied accusations by counsel assisting the inquiry, Geoffrey Watson, SC, that the FEF was “just a way of funding the Liberal Party”.

A former Liberal fundraiser, Ray Carter, told the commission that the FEF was routinely used to channel property developer money to the party, allegedly with the blessings of senior Liberals. “Everyone knew about it,” Carter said.

He said that when he asked Paul Nicolaou, the former head of the NSW Liberals’ fundraising arm, the Millenium Forum, whether sending banned donations to the associated entity was legal, he was told: “That’s what the Free Enterprise was for”.

Hypation posted:

(Surprisingly you might say) I am in favour of a basic income. It is a less complex and more efficient way of providing welfare.

Hypation posted:

If you were the ACTU negotiating new awards and AWAs with no penalty rates is this not the trade you would make?

SynthOrange posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-03/volunteer-force-could-supplement-victoria-police-under-proposal/5496410

Amethyst posted:

Who would volunteer to be a cop

Amethyst posted:

Who would volunteer to be a cop

Haters Objector posted:

The kind of people who shouldn't be cops

Gough Suppressant posted:

Abbott turning D-Day into a carbon tax stump speech actually makes sense.

Endman posted:

This happened?

What kind of crazy rhetorical acrobatics were involved in twisting D-Day into being about axing the carbon tax?

Hypation posted:

No its not - the issues are separate.

I agree the issue of unpaid overtime is not appropriate for the reasons you outline. Here the issue is actually getting paid for working, rather than getting paid more to pick which days you work. The choice of working a weekend or not is primarily a matter of convenience and fitting it in to a person's 'busy' weekly schedule.


This café owner is actually supporting society by providing wages and experience to someone who would otherwise be on welfare (the employee or someone taking the job the employee would have got had the one they took not been available). The issue of bending the rules is irrelevant in this particular debate because it is a debate about what the rules should be. I also presume you meant to say the café owner is being supported by the employee - which is equally untrue because the employee is being paid. But here the societal benefits flowing from getting someone off welfare should be the primary concern for a government in making the rules.

[Of course you could say that everyone could be paid more or less, so everyone is supporting someone]

Hypation posted:

The system works provided the penalty rate is the fair value of the choice not to work weekends and promotes the workforce flexibility needed to reduce the value of that choice to workers to near zero.

Endman posted:

This happened?

What kind of crazy rhetorical acrobatics were involved in twisting D-Day into being about axing the carbon tax?

Endman posted:

This happened?

What kind of crazy rhetorical acrobatics were involved in twisting D-Day into being about axing the carbon tax?

SynthOrange posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-03/volunteer-force-could-supplement-victoria-police-under-proposal/5496410

Endman posted:

This happened?

What kind of crazy rhetorical acrobatics were involved in twisting D-Day into being about axing the carbon tax?

Senor Tron posted:

ewe2 posted:

He's an evil chicken, if he doesn't get human blood once a day he melts.

Van Badham has a good rant in the Guardian about the dumb pro-work for the dole arguments:


As usual, Abbott & Co try to resurrect God-King Howard evil recipe #128 in the hope that glory will cover them too. It's a loving cargo-cult. Meanwhile corporate interests rub their hands muttering "at last at last it begins".

Goffer posted:

Worked pretty well in the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WuRa1F37tc

Those On My Beet posted:

It's not iwc.

quote:

Australia's emissions cut target triples overnight thanks to failure to repeal carbon tax

Date
June 3, 2014

26 reading now

Peter Hannam
Peter Hannam
Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald

View more articles from Peter Hannam



Australia's greenhouse gas cut targets quietly tripled on Saturday night, from a 5 per cent cut by 2020 to a cut of more than 18 per cent.

The failure of the federal government to repeal the carbon price has triggered a far more ambitious emissions reduction target.

As of midnight May 31, the Clean Energy Act 2011 passed by the Gillard government sets a default target that is more than triple the previous 5 per cent goal.

Under the existing legislation, the government of the day was supposed to have decided on an emissions cap to enable the start of a carbon emissions market in 2015. Since no cap has been set, a default target is automatically generated.

This goal is based on a tally that is 38 million tonnes below the 2012-13 emissions level, shrinking each year by 12 million tonnes. In practise, since 2012-13 emissions were much less than expected, the resulting trajectory is also for a lower target by the end of the decade.

The default target is 475.8 million tonnes by 2019-20, equivalent to 18.8 per cent below 2000 levels, according to the Greens, who had their estimates confirmed by the Parliamentary Library.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the measure was inserted in the act to insure against ''a government like this refusing to set a cap''.

''It won't have realised because it never put its mind to the detail,'' Senator Milne said. ''By doing nothing more than we are already doing, we are getting to 18.8 [per cent] and if we put a bit of effort in, we can go even higher.''

A spokesman for Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, declined to confirm the government had overlooked the default.

''We have always said we will repeal the carbon tax - lock, stock and barrel,'' the spokesman said. ''We will cut emissions by 5 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020, and we'll do it without a carbon tax.''

The potential for a higher Australia target comes as the US prepares to unveil a much more aggressive climate policy of its own on Monday.

President Barack Obama is expected to unveil plans to slash emissions from existing power plants by 30 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030 – a move likely to add pressure for countries like Australia and China to lift their own objectives.

Andrew Macintosh, an associate professor at the Australian National University, said the cost of cutting emissions was falling. ''The economic cost of meeting the 5 per cent target is likely to be significantly lower than previously forecast,'' Professor Macintosh said.

While the government remains confident it can secure enough votes in the new Senate after July 1 to repeal the carbon price, uncertainties will fester so long as the current tax remains.

For instance, should the debate linger to September trade-exposed industries will be eligible for many free emissions permits, said John Connor, chief executive of the Climate Institute.

“Retailers are beside themselves that they may have to rebill people,” Mr Connor said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/c...l#ixzz33XysqF1T

Sisgmund posted:

Preferred leader of the libs:

Turnbull 31%
Abbott 18%
"Someone Else" 19%

...someone else! Someone else! Someone else! Someone else! Someone else!

Those On My Beet posted:

It's not iwc.

SynthOrange posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-03/volunteer-force-could-supplement-victoria-police-under-proposal/5496410

Hypation posted:

The system works provided the penalty rate is the fair value of the choice not to work weekends and promotes the workforce flexibility needed to reduce the value of that choice to workers to near zero.

Hypation posted:

No. Retail workers do not have that power. Individual workers cannot dictate when their fellow workers will strike.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-budget-2014-at-a-glance-20140603-zrvyd.html?rand=1401770026377 posted:

The key measures in the Queensland budget handed down on June 3, 2014.

Economy:

Budget deficit: $2.27 billion
2014-15 fiscal operating surplus: $188 million
Forecast growth: 3 per cent
Dwelling investment forecast growth: 9.5 per cent
Unemployment forecast: 6 per cent
Key revenue sources (taxation, GST and royalties) revised down by $1 billion
Asset sales

Aiming for $25 billion in asset sales and private sector investment to reduce the state's debt to $55 billion
Sales would reduce annual interest bill from $4 billion to $2.7 billion
$5.2 million allocated in 2014-15 for Strong Choices advertising plan
$8.6 billion of anticipated $33.6 billion sales to fund Strong Choices investment program, including road, rail, school and community fund and the BaT Tunnel
Pensions and concessions

The Queensland government will not replace the entire $54.2 million in federal budget cuts from the value of pensioner concessions.

Fifteen per cent cuts are being considered to these maximum annual concessions:

Electricity Rebate Scheme, currently $321
Pensioner Rate Subsidy Scheme, $200
SEQ Pensioner Water Subsidy Scheme, $120
Reticulated Natural Gas Rebate Scheme, $68
Translink Transport Concessions: 50 per cent discount to drop to 35 per cent.
Debt

Average debt per Queenslander is $16,209
Western Australia is just under $13,000 and New South Wales just under $9000
The average debt per person in other states is $8834
Natural disasters

Since 2010-11 have cost Queensland $9.3 billion
Cyclone Ita damage bill: $450 million
Natural gas production

Ramp up in LNG production expected to boost economic growth to 6 per cent in 2015-16, before settling to 4 per cent in 2016-17

Infrastructure

$49.1 million to fund early works on the Commonwealth Games Village
$2.5 million per year for four years to fund the independent Gas Fields Commission
Health

$255.2 million to the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital and Centre for Children's Health Research
$369.8 million to the Sunshine Coast Public University Hospital
Justice

$31.1 million over four years for the establishment of 15 Safe Night Out precincts across Queensland
Police

$109.4 million for additional police officers
$110 million for capital works, information technology and equipment
Key announcements

$406 million over five years to overhaul the child protection system
$62 million for drought assistance, including fodder and water subsidies, rent relief and mental health support programs
Family primary production concession extended to include non-lineal descendants.

Quantum Mechanic posted:

I get the strong impression that what you are dancing around admitting here is that you do not want workers to have the right or ability to collectively bargain. When you say you want workers to bargain for penalty rates, you mean on an individual basis, going cap in hand to their boss every week and convincing them they're worth the 50% loading.

Tokamak posted:

I'm not convinced.

adamantium|wang posted:

Clive drove to work again today

Those On My Beet posted:

Iwc would've changed the topic to Tim flannery by now.

Fruity Gordo posted:

He's not IWC, check his rap sheet. He's such a pathetic weenie that he wants people to think he's IWC.