Lizard Combatant posted:

Just noticed the Hockey-chair's legs

Vladimir Poutine posted:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/private-health-insurers-set-to-manage-patients-gp-care/story-fni0xqrc-1227031109206

Nibbles! posted:

I think we'll probably see even more of a shift away from news. News.com is already lovely click bait, they're trying to compete with the Mail now so it really is a race to the bottom.

Those On My Left posted:

Live stream of the Australian Human Rights Commission's inquiry into children in detention:

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

Distressingly, I think Morrison performed well. Counsel Assisting needed to be much more of an attack dog, and the President slipped up embarrassingly a few times.

ICAC posted:

Monday 25 August 2014
David Sharpe
Darren Williams
Matt Kelly

Tuesday 26 August 2014
Kristina Keneally
Ian McNamara
Nathan Tinkler
John Hart

Wednesday 27 August 2014
Tony Kelly
Warwick Watkins
Ross Cadell
Joe Tripodi

Thursday 28 August 2014
Eric Roozendaal
Craig Baumann

Friday 29 August 2014
Garry Edwards
Mark Regent
David Simmons
Bart Bassett

Quantum Mechanic posted:

Bart Bassett

That one's as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Him in front of ICAC is going to be hilarious.

Les Affaires posted:

Do you think Bart Bassett will be... hounded... by the media?

Mad Katter posted:

Who the hell names their kid Bartholomew Bassett.

Milky Moor posted:

Kommando posted:

The people have spoken...

quote:

As editor of the Lowy Interpreter Sam Roggenveen points out, Australia's image as a robust democracy is seen as one of our greatest soft-power strengths.
"So while Bishop was telling the Chinese ambassador how disgraceful Palmer's comments were, I hope she also found time to say that this sort of thing is commonplace in a democracy, and that as a nation we not only survive it but are even strengthened by the debate it provokes," he said.

Les Affaires posted:

BREAKING: You'll never guess what this one Greens Candidate said about a sitting NSW MP!

SMH posted:

Clive Palmer has softened the conditions under which his proposed emissions trading scheme would be launched, in an attempt to attract more political support for a new price on carbon.

The details of Mr Palmer's proposed trading scheme, which he first floated in an unlikely joint news conference with former US vice-president Al Gore in June, were circulated to the government, opposition and other senators on Thursday.

In a move that would make it easier for the conditions necessary for emissions trading to be met, Mr Palmer has dropped India from a list of countries that would have to take broad action on climate change before an Australian scheme would kick in.

He has also relaxed the conditions that must be met by the US, China, the European Union, Japan and South Korea for a scheme to be launched.

The Palmer United Party is hopeful Labor and the Greens will back the scheme in the Senate because the PUP proposal largely replicates the architecture of the carbon price passed by the Gillard government. But even if Labor and the Greens passed it in the Senate, it is unlikely the legislation would get through the House of Representatives, given the federal government's opposition to a price on carbon.

Neither Labor nor the Greens would comment on the latest PUP proposal on Thursday.

Mr Palmer, who announced this week plans to host a world climate change conference after November's G20 summit in Brisbane, said his intention was to relaunch the debate over carbon pricing after the federal government repealed the carbon tax with his party's support.

"The carbon tax was an arbitrary tax that was five to six times the international price and Australians realised that," he said.

"What we want is something that is fair, reasonable and that, internationally, doesn't affect our industries and jobs."

Mr Palmer described the proposal, which is expected to be introduced in the next sitting of Parliament which begins on Monday, as "good policy".

The legislation would give the Climate Change Authority power to determine if the international conditions had been met to trigger an Australian scheme. But either house could still move to disallow the authority's ruling.

Despite earlier suggestions from Mr Palmer that big trading partners would be required to install their own national trading schemes, the draft legislation now says they could also have in place "equivalent schemes" that are similar or have a comparable effect as any Australian emissions trading scheme.

The proposal also sets out that the trading scheme must not "unfairly impact" Australian businesses relative to the businesses of the US, the EU, Japan, Korea and China.

Sources close to the Palmer camp acknowledged that with the government unlikely to back the scheme, the move was more a political "symbol that carbon pricing will come back".
A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the Coalition's policy was not to support an emissions trading scheme, and instead it would continue to work with the Senate on its alternative direct action climate change policy.

"What is being proposed is a re-work of the carbon tax bill which was just repealed," she said.

Mr Palmer has previously suggested he could make government support for his trading scheme proposal a condition of PUP support for direct action.

Mr Palmer's senators will hold talks over the weekend to discuss whether their support for direct action will depend on the federal government shifting its position on a floating carbon price.

Environment groups, including the Climate Institute and WWF, have welcomed the amendment, but argue that the conditions set out in Mr Palmer's proposal have largely already been met by the five trading partners.

WWF national climate change manager Kellie Caught said there was "support among Australians for an ETS" because polluter-pays schemes were seen as fair policy.
"Tony Abbott has shown his willingness to listen and compromise on policies over the last few months," Ms Caught said.

"We think this is an opportunity for the government to take a look at this."

Mad Katter posted:

Who the hell names their kid Bartholomew Bassett.

Then again, I walked past a cafe the other day and some parents were shouting at their kid and its name was Napoleon.

quote:

Trucking analogy 'ludicrous'
George Pell is under fire for comparing the church to a trucking company which employs a sexual predator.

Milky Moor posted:

WebDog posted:

Pell's comments are pretty egregious given that a truck crashed in Adelaide this week, killing two and the company grounded the fleet as a result.

Cartoon posted:

And nobody is suggesting the driver was a sexual predator....

quote:

The Australian newspaper, including its online version, is vocal when it comes to the economic debate about labour market flexibility, the need to end penalty wage payments, boosting productivity and skills development. It is a champion of market forces and limitless flexibility for employees so that firms can remain profitable and can continue to hire workers and keep the overall unemployment rate down.

It is with this in mind that a recent case study popped into the news.

A business is losing money, and lots of it. This is because of competition and technology at one level, but also because it seems to have a high wage base. The average wage per employee is, staggeringly, two-and-a-half times the national average. The firm only keeps going because of a huge cross-subsidy from the profitable arms of the overall company.

The brand is valuable — a 50-year-old icon in its field, which means it just might be possible to turn it around if some tough decisions are taken by management in terms of its staff and productivity efforts.

No, the firm in not the Australian car industry. No, not the building industry. No, sorry, not Qantas or the suburban cafe, allegedly struggling with exorbitant penalty rates for workers on a Sunday morning when diners pop in for a $21 big breakfast, which includes eggs of your choice, bacon, sausage, a hash brown, baked beans, mushroom and sourdough toast.

It is The Australian.

If I were to ask the opinion of writers and journalists of The Australian how management should react to the challenge it is confronting, I am sure the answers would revolve around lowering costs, greater productivity, wage cuts and getting rid of all the cross-subsidies to let the business sink or swim.

The likes of The Australian’s Judith Sloan, Henry Ergas, Chris Kenny and Adam Creighton have been writing about how labour market flexibility, in its optimal form, should result in wages cut when firms are doing it tough and losing money. They advocate that in addition to a pay cut, workers should become more productive — that is, doing more for a given level of pay. These gurus of free-market labour markets would, when aiming to boost productivity, suggest an extra column per week from the insightful Christian Kerr or yet another two made-up exclusives each day from Hedley Thomas or another look at the Rudd/Gillard tensions from Troy Bramston. Maybe for Troy, they can print the same column every other Tuesday, just above the fee-free ad for the Car and Gadgets column in The Weekend Australian.

Wow! How many pages could be filled each day if this came to pass?

It is more for less. This is a model to return the once great newspaper to profitability.

The fact that this loss machine at The Australian pays an average yearly salary of $178,000 is fantastic. There is so much fat that can be cut. It is not like the paper has been run as a lean, mean machine where savings options are exhausted, or that there has been an effort to boost productivity in the past.

A reduction in the average salary to, say, one-and-a-half times the average weekly earnings (still well over $100,000 a year) would be a great step, no, a necessary step, to allow this once great newspaper to become profitable.

If, however, The Australian fails to implement what is preaches to every other economic manager and policymaker and the business does go bust, it will be a sad day. It is always a tragedy when jobs are lost.

When jobs are lost in the real world, The Australian triumphs a need for employee flexibility. Take a job in a different city, pick fruit, whatever comes along — and don’t be a job snob!

If the worst happens and everyone at The Australian were to lose their jobs, the current writers could try their hand in the high-wage, high-labour-cost food and catering industry. Sloan, Ergas, Creighton and Kenny have all bemoaned, at one time or another, the crippling nature of weekend penalty rates in the food sector and how cafes and restaurants have to shut on Sundays because of these wages and employment conditions.

Well, if conditions are so wonderfully good in a cafe, we can look forward to stumping up to the funky local breakfast place one Sunday morning and see Henry Ergas raking in an excessive salary as he makes eggs florentine. Of course, Chris Kenny would be thrilled to be a barista making a carbon-free decaf soy latte while Judith Sloan beavers away on the home-made baked beans, poached eggs and cous cous infused with a hint of Atlantic salmon. Adam Creighton would be on the juicing machine — trying to get the market to determine the right mix of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries in the ideal smoothie.

The end game, of course, is that The Australian is not practising what it preaches. It is bleeding money, and the wage rates appear ridiculous. Writers don’t seem to write all that much, so the cost per square centimetre of copy (productivity, in other words) is dismally low.

The Australian needs to turn things around turn. If it is to follow its mantra to government and other industries, it must deliver massive cuts to the wages of its staff, getting them to write more.

It needs to show flexibility so Henry Ergas could be the culinary writer and Adam Creighton can prepare the crosswords and Judith Sloan on cartoons. Dennis Shanahan could have a satirical column on the Newspoll results each fortnight.

To the team at The Australian  — you know what to do. It makes sense, so go to it. Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility.

Milky Moor posted:

Votes are at 5077 - percentage is exactly the same.

Daaaamn.

quote:

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said that the last thing voters want is another election as he tried to hose down more commentary that his government has done a poor job of selling its budget.

Speaking to Adelaide radio on Friday, Mr Abbott expressed his reluctance to have a double dissolution election if key budget measures continue to be blocked by the Senate.

Nibbles! posted:

Any company with 5% child molesters would be down in instant, let alone one that new about allegations and decided to transfer people around and keep the police out of it.

Oh, and offering payouts on the condition of non-disclosure.

Quantum Mechanic posted:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/08/22/chris-kenny-barista-how-the-australian-can-become-profitable/

Crikey bringin' the sass:


For maximum lol, the article is written by an anonymous "senior economics commentator." Also

WebDog posted:

So Chris Kenney is a coffee frother?

BlitzkriegOfColour posted:

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM