i got banned posted:

It's pretty simple why he said what he did when you consider he is a Monarchist

adamantium|wang posted:

quote:

Watching Abbott’s forthright performance, Obama remarked to aides: “We need a few more Tony Abbotts in the world,” according to US officials.

Scylo posted:

Last month we had Garnaut singing Bishop's praises, earlier this month there was a news limited piece praising her and now we have Hartcher doing the same thing. No idea why they all keep writing this.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/julie-bishop-a-firm-gaze-and-straight-talk-from-an-unflappable-foreign-minister-20140815-104nca.html

quote:

The things being said about him in Coalition ranks in ­recent days are remarkably harsh. This, for example, from a frustrated Liberal MP: “We work our butts off selling the Budget. Then along comes Hindenburg Hockey.”

Another line from a Liberal yesterday was: “People criticised Joe for going on holidays to Fiji. Now some of us are sorry he came back”.

A cricket tragic on the ­Coalition side said: “The highest scorer for the Opposition is actually the ‘extras’ column — and it’s mostly off Joe’s bowling”.

The Treasurer is so on the nose at the moment that the national newspaper, The Australian, felt the need to run a front-page article yesterday warning against any thought that he should be sacked.

He “goes from train wreck to car wreck and makes a bad Budget situation worse”, the writer conceded, but argued that dumping him at this stage would be even more damaging to the government.

Lizard Combatant posted:

Won't happen, but my god the tears on his stupid billowing face would be glorious.

Nuclear Spy posted:

It may look something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fcGRXBFANA

Orkin Mang posted:

Sounds like they're circling the wagons around Hockey. Is there any precedent for ditching a treasurer?

Orkin Mang posted:

Sounds like they're circling the wagons around Hockey. Is there any precedent for ditching a treasurer?

Nuclear Spy posted:

Just started watching this series, bloody brilliant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHQRZXM-4xI

WebDog posted:

So Abbott reshuffles in order to restore faith (as it's cheaper than a DD) and we have Mathias Cormann selling us budget 2.0?

Hockey to become minister for sports?

SadisTech posted:

Requesting Advice

Completely off-topic but I'm hoping someone who's done this before might be able to help out.

Since my mum passed away I've had to pay rent on her caravan and annex while waiting to find out if I have permission to sell it. It's in a long-term residential park that was previously administered by the Public Trustee, but has just been sold to a company that does retirement homes and the like. With the sale I have also been given permission to sell, which is good because otherwise it'd have to be torn down and carted away at my own expense.

I really need to sell it ASAP because it's costing me a bomb just having it sit there. I've had a lot of interested people but no-one willing to close the deal - until just now. However the guy who wants to buy it can't come up with the funds all in one hit and wants to pay a lump sum of about half and then sign a contract for $1000 per month until it's paid off.

The sale is all being handled privately and there aren't any fees or the like because it's not a property sale per se. So, my question is has anyone been in this situation? What should I know about creating a contract to ensure that it's legally binding if it should come to it? The guy seems generally trustworthy, but I'm loath to go into an arrangement like this with no legal protection if it should come down to it.

Any advice would be incredibly welcome as I can't find a lot of good resources particular to Australian law online.

Tomberforce posted:

In other news the bland spread of the Coles/Woolworths duopoly continues in Perth with plans to bulldoze the genuinely vibrant and interesting Subiaco Station Street markets and imaginatively replace them with...... a Coles! This is approximately 100 metres from a large Woolworths and about 1km away from the nearest large Coles. I guess they've cottoned on to people having an option to buy fresh produce at less than half the cost of the large supermarkets and have decided to put a stop to it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-12/plans-to-shut-down-subiaco-markets2c-open-mixed-office-and-com/5666336

Orkin Mang posted:

Sounds like they're circling the wagons around Hockey. Is there any precedent for ditching a treasurer?

Nuclear Spy posted:

If it happens, the SMH can just reuse this headline:

Doctor Spaceman posted:

What's the status on Hockey's lawsuit, anybody know?

Lid posted:

Last I heard it seems a bit stonewalled as Fairfax is requesting the identities of the rich anonymous donors to that article and the Hockey side is refusing to comply.

quote:

"Good unions have nothing to fear from this royal commission,"

Lid posted:

Last I heard it seems a bit stonewalled as Fairfax is requesting the identities of the rich anonymous donors to that article and the Hockey side is refusing to comply.

quote:

Wayne Swan,

I'd like to take the time to tell you I support you and feel you were a better treasurer, MP and human being than our current malicious idiot Smokin' Joe Hockey who ingloriously holds the position you once did. I quake a the thought of what rampant bastardry and economic vandalism the sitting Federal LNP will conduct over the next two painful years.
I have lived in your electorate for a year now having moved from Macgregor and I had the sharp displeasure of meeting Rob McGarvie while moving in right before the election. As I was moving furniture a blue shirted goon going house to house caught my attention and tried to ask me to vote LNP. I quizzed him on his partys stance on the NBN and whether my new residence will have speedy internet. Unable to provide a response he called Rob over from doorknocking the other side of the road to answer my questions. Rob gave me a firm handshake and proceeded to deflect and declare my questions about NBN, uncosted policies, cronyism, 'boat people', hostility towards science and climate change to be unfounded and unimportant. On the topic of refugees he regaled me with a tale of his work in africa and their refugees.
When I pointed out that our refugees are coming largely from the Middle east and SE asia, were genuine refugees and not illegal, he told me I was wrong, I didnt know what i was talking about, and his posse of three blue shirted goons scowled at me. We continued to discuss these topics and i was told i was wrong again, until finally my girlfriend called me away to continue unpacking the house.

I'm a scientist, and the lack of a science ministry that might stop the continued slashing of the CSIRO budget concerns me greatly. I'm also very concerned about the inhuman treatment of a paltry amount of refugees being incarcerated offshore including children, on this both major parties are in the wrong here with the Pacific Solution being instigated by the Rudd Government and not being improved by subsequent ones. And the systematic destruction of the FTTH NBN by the LNP is something that fills me with bile.
I met a project officer for Cloud Sigma while in Geneva and he told me of the middleware work they were doing to join numerous vast databases together to provide comparative analysis to benefit health, education, disease tracking and outbreak management and linking other Big Data projects like social mapping and town planning. These lofty Big Data projects require speedy backbones like the NBN, and I feel we will miss out on this.

Rod McGarvie showed that he was unfit to represent my interests, choosing instead to dictate them to me.

I dont know how to end this, but I feel I have few avenues to take action so I'm choosing to write to my MP and express my views and concerns. Please take them under advisement and make a stand in parliament for me.
Thanks [Kommando] BSc. (Chem)

quote:

Dear [Kommando],

Wayne thanks you for your email regarding Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey’s short-sighted Government and has asked me to thank you also for your support.

Your encounter during the 2013 campaign with Mr McGarvie was unfortunate – however his unwillingness to listen to your perspectives and properly answer your questions was a precursor to the style of Government that we have seen unfold since Tony Abbott took government.

As you note, Tony Abbott’s priorities do not rest with allowing Australia to fulfil its potential in science and research (compounded by cuts to higher education more broadly) , nor with a properly constructed NBN to meet our future needs. Additionally, this Government’s attacks on the vulnerable are too numerous to detail here, but please note that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Labor’s spokesperson for Immigration and Border Protection Richard Marles have repeatedly called on the Government for greater transparency in relation to their treatment of people seeking refuge in Australia.

Wayne is appreciative of the time you have taken to share your thoughts with him.

While in government Labor pursued an ambitious social and economic reform agenda that included, among other things: the rollout of the NBN to support the inevitable requirements of business, households and our healthcare and education systems; the progression of carbon pricing for a clean energy future; once in a generation reform of disability support services with the introduction of Australia’s first ever national disability insurance scheme; Australia’s first national paid parental leave scheme; superannuation reform to ensure those on lower incomes would be better supported in retirement; reform of financial services to protect the best interests of clients; an historic increase to the pension and improved indexation arrangements; Australia’s largest ever mental health package to improve access to support, prevention, and early intervention; improved targeting of the private health insurance rebate; historic investments in schools and education; as well as the repeal of Work Choices legislation – all this while keeping interest rates at record lows and containing inflation and unemployment despite the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath.

Joe Hockey’s budget is a recipe for growing social inequality. Wayne, along with the rest of the Labor Opposition, continues to advocate for policies which will support Australia’s potential for economic growth but not at the expense of a fairer society.

Once more, thank you for your email to Wayne.

Kind regards,

Angela

Gough Suppressant posted:

But surely people who are innocent have nothing to hide

Kommando posted:

I got a reply from Wayne Swans electorate officer.

I emailed Wayne Swan on Thursday.


And the reply:


I'm reasonably satisfied with that response.

Those On My Left posted:

Your instincts about not going into this situation without a legally binding contract are absolutely rock solid. However, the question "How do I draw up a contract so that it's legally binding if I need it to be" is basically "can someone give me a crash course in contract law". You should be pretty skeptical of anyone who says they can do that for you.

I would see if you can get legal aid or a community legal centre to help you draw up a straightforward contract. If you can't, you may be able to get a law firm (maybe a small suburban firm) to help you do it on the cheap.

If you are in Victoria, the Law Institute of Victoria has a list of law practices that will give you a free 30 minute consult. Other states might have something similar.

Jon Kudelka posted:

All Australian nationals returning from Scotland now required to prove they were not fighting for Scottish independence

quote:

Abbott told reporters, “It is nice to swap the RAAF jet for the bike.”

Pudding Space posted:

Annual Pollie Pedal Cycling Event

Brain injuries are a terrible thing - but I think it might be a relatively smooth transition for the PM.


Who am I kidding. Hope your bike disintegrates and you're promptly run over by a News Corp support car, you gently caress.

xutech posted:

How long before Abbott starts wondering why our police don't have access to military gear?

One last fearless journal posted:

6 Aug 2014 The Weekend Australian ANNABEL HEPWORTH

‘Fix budget, quit the argy-bargy’

SHEPHERD WARNS OF LOSS OF CONFIDENCE

NATIONAL Commission of Audit chairman Tony Shepherd has urged the Coalition and crossbench senators to reach a compromise on the budget, warning uncertainty will drain business confidence and distract the government from other important reforms. Amid escalating frustration in the business community about the Senate derailing the Coalition’s agenda, the former Business Council of Australia president and respected company director has likened maintaining current government spending levels to a “short-term sugar hit”. Writing in The Weekend Australian today, Mr Shepherd says that in the “toing and froing” on the budget, people have lost sight of why government spending needs to be cut.

“Special interest groups say not us but the naysayers are not offering realistic alternatives to reducing expenditure and returning the budget to a sustainable surplus,” he writes. If Australia continues down the fiscal path it’s on, there will be “no reserve” to deal with a future crisis. And failing to put the budget on a sustainable path will “saddle our children and grandchildren with our profligacy”. “But eventually we, and the rest of the world, will wake up,” he writes. “We will then be forced to take drastic action which will be far more difficult for the community and the economy to absorb.”

The comments come after Andrew Liveris, Australian-born chief executive of US multinational Dow Chemical, warned on Thursday that the “scary” new political paradigm was an “embarrassment on the world stage” over the past six years. Business leaders have been lining up to warn about the risks of a dysfunctional Senate as Joe Hockey has tried to negotiate deals on unpopular budget savings. Former BHP Billiton chairman Don Argus has recently decried as “nonsense” that budget measures could be blocked by the Senate and warned this could stunt the economy.

Problems with the political setting are expected to be discussed at this weekend’s closed-door ADC Forum retreat at Hayman Island, which will be attended by senior politicians, bureaucrats and chief executives. Corporate leaders from Telstra, BHP Billiton, ANZ and GE Mining have also warned about the budget impasse and called on the business community to back the government’s agenda — a call echoed today by Mr Shepherd, who writes that the Coalition was voted in with an election platform that made fiscal reform a central pillar. “I trust the minor parties and independents will recognise what the government is seeking to achieve and recognise this is not the time for sectoral or special interests to prevail,” he says. But he also says all sides will need to come to the table. “This will require negotiation with the minor parties and independents in the Senate and compromise on both sides,” Mr Shepherd says. “This is democracy.”

Long-term structural savings including the $7 GP co-payment, university deregulation and the fuel excise are opposed by the Palmer United Party, while other crossbenchers fear the impacts of the budget on low-income earners. While the Treasurer has crisscrossed Australia in a bid to secure support from powerful crossbenchers for his budget, doubts within Coalition ranks have emerged over his selling of a tough budget. The audit commission’s report warned that to “do nothing” would result in a string of deficits to 2023-24, while the situation would worsen after that.

However, it was released on May 1 — less than a fortnight before Mr Hockey delivered the budget. Critics say it was released too close to the budget, meaning there was not enough time to explain the structural challenges to voters and argue the need for action. Speaking to The Weekend Australian yesterday, Mr Shepherd said convincing people of unpopular reforms took time. “The Australian public are one of the best educated in the world and if things are explained carefully to them, even though they are not happy, they will come on board,” he said. “And this does take time.”

In his article today, he notes the commission’s report is not the budget. But both assume “we are living beyond our means” and that this gets worse in later years as the cost of spending on new programs, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, ramps up. Mr Shepherd writes today that tax reform is “necessary”, but bringing the budget back to a “sustainable” surplus by revenue measures alone would “strangle the economy”. He singles out the top marginal tax rate of 49 per cent and the company tax rate, which was higher than that in Britain.

Cartoon posted:

A master piece, of it's kind.