Jonah Galtberg posted:

Is United Voice a lovely union?

adamantium|wang posted:

Blammo.

adamantium|wang posted:

Nam Taf posted:

Today I realised that the most accurate portrayal of horse racing in film is in fact the scene from Gladiator where he yells "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"

adamantium|wang posted:

Amethyst posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-04/state-schools-using-debt-collectors-to-chase-fees/5866230


Australia is cool.

CrazyTolradi posted:

Reading that, I couldn't help but think that it was a total waste of time and money for everyone involved to send a $200 debt to a collector. The debt collector probably purchased the debt for under $100, and the cost of recovery would be more than anything they could potentially hope to recover.

NTRabbit posted:

Four candidates for Mayor of the City of Onkaparinga, and the least objectionable one can't spell or punctuate in his candidate statement.

Maybe next council elections I should run on a platform of seizing territory from neighbouring councils and ejecting foreign usurpers, the paperwork can't cost that much.

The Welfare Lobby posted:

Oh, hey there fellow Onkaparinga goon.

Yeah, a choice between two former Liberal MPs and two people who can't spell. We do have two Greens running for council though so it's not a total wash.

NTRabbit posted:

Which ones are the Greens? I already filled out my ballot

Nuclear Spy posted:

There is one running in Wine Coast Ward and Mid South Coast Ward. By the way, we're planning to have another SA Young Greens drinks on the 17th if you want to meet other goons, will post more details soon.

GoldStandardConure posted:

My sister went to Groove In The Moo and discovered that for every aluminium can you returned to the kiosk, they gave you a dollar.

Her and her friends made about $450 from picking up cans all night, and then went out for a huge breakfast the next day.

NTRabbit posted:

Ah, I'm in Thalassa ward. How young is young these days?

Adnar posted:

yeah in Europe it's common to pay a $1 deposit, whole gypsy families come to festivals just to do this

Anidav posted:

Word on the ground from people I know who work with them. Apparently, useless. BCR might know more than me wherever the beautiful poster is.

Nam Taf posted:

Today I realised that the most accurate portrayal of horse racing in film is in fact the scene from Gladiator where he yells "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?"

urseus posted:

Right? What a poo poo life. Pampered and well fed and surrounded by people who adore you and look after your every need, and all you need to do is run which is what you love doing genetically.

But then I guess it's pretty poo poo after a few years you have to go out to pasture and have sex all the time with hot females. Common. These horses are rock stars. A horse in this wild breaks it's ankle it starves to death in agony.

urseus posted:

Right? What a poo poo life. Pampered and well fed and surrounded by people who adore you and look after your every need, and all you need to do is run which is what you love doing genetically.

But then I guess it's pretty poo poo after a few years you have to go out to pasture and have sex all the time with hot females. Common. These horses are rock stars. A horse in this wild breaks it's ankle it starves to death in agony.

urseus posted:

Right? What a poo poo life. Pampered and well fed and surrounded by people who adore you and look after your every need, and all you need to do is run which is what you love doing genetically.

But then I guess it's pretty poo poo after a few years you have to go out to pasture and have sex all the time with hot females. Common. These horses are rock stars. A horse in this wild breaks it's ankle it starves to death in agony.

urseus posted:

Right? What a poo poo life. Pampered and well fed and surrounded by people who adore you and look after your every need, and all you need to do is run which is what you love doing genetically.

But then I guess it's pretty poo poo after a few years you have to go out to pasture and have sex all the time with hot females. Common. These horses are rock stars. A horse in this wild breaks it's ankle it starves to death in agony.

quote:

5 Nov 2014 The Australian DAVID CROWE DAVID UREN

Abbott ties reforms to G20 agenda

SAVINGS on health and education have been locked into Tony Abbott’s personal commitments at next week’s G20 summit, as the Prime Minister stands by the unpopular reforms and warns of similar hard decisions in next year’s federal budget.

Mr Abbott told The Australian yesterday that price signals on healthcare and market fees for universities would be part of the nation’s formal pledges at the G20 summit in Brisbane, despite attempts in the Senate to defeat the changes. Escalating the dispute over the stymied reforms, the Prime Minister revealed they had been written into Australia’s G20 commitments as part of a broader pledge on reform to public services that would continue into the next May budget. “Fiscal restraint is obviously going to be a continuing theme until such time as the budget is back in strong surplus — and the continued move from short-term consumption spending to long term investment spending will continue,” Mr Abbott said.

In an interview on his agenda for the gathering of 20 world leaders, Mr Abbott played down the chances of a major commitment on climate change and confirmed his plan to make the gender gap on workforce participation a key issue at the event. Central to Australia’s position is a reform commitment meant to add 2 per cent to the economy over five years — a growth impact worth almost $35 billion given that GDP is on track to reach $1.8 trillion by 2018. While a mammoth infrastructure program is meant to contribute half of that, Mr Abbott has now made the health and education efficiencies a part of the other half, alongside changes that could increase workforce participation by women.

Labor kept up its attacks on the government’s savings yesterday by warning that university courses would cost $100,000 if fees were deregulated and that states would lose $80bn in health and education funding over the long-term. Higher education spokesman Kim Carr said: “To get its way, the Abbott government appears to be willing to destroy the very thing it pretends it wants to improve.” Dismissing those arguments, Mr Abbott is making the budget reforms part of his official economic commitment to G20 counterparts including US President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Australian commitments have been checked by officials from two member nations and will be evaluated annually by the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“There’s a sense in which every country has submitted its economic proposals to peer review, and for sovereign nations to submit their proposals to peer review is quite a big deal,” Mr Abbott said. He added that the Australian commitments would stand even as they “run the gauntlet” of the Senate. While critics have blasted the government’s plan to raise $3.5bn from a GP co-payment and save $5bn by deregulating universities, Mr Abbott emphasised the need for productivity gains in health and education. “The big mistake that we have made for quite a long time, at least since the Whitlam era, is to conflate reform in these areas with more spending,” he said. “I guess you can always find things to spend your money on, but I don’t think the most urgent need in these areas is more spending.” Mr Abbott said Australia’s commitment at the G20 would be to promote growth through private investment rather than relying on public outlays. “Lower taxes, less regulation and long-term fiscal discipline are at the heart of our plan,” he said. “So deregulating the university sector, price signals in the health system, injecting higher productivity into largely public-sector-dominated parts of the economy like health and education, these are important elements of our overall economic plan to boost growth.”

Other nations are making similar commitments to be publicly released when the G20 summit ends on November 16, formalising a “Brisbane Action Plan” that would add $2 trillion to the global economy if all nations delivered on their promises. The Australian revealed on Monday that countries had already negotiated a new commitment on women and work, setting a target to reduce the gender gap in workforce participation by 25 per cent by 2025. Mr Abbott said yesterday that this would be Australia’s main proposal to tackle labour market reform — one of the subjects in the G20 talks throughout this year — and that his paid parental leave scheme would be one of the ways to reach the target. “When it comes to female participation we’ll be spruiking our fair-dinkum paid parental leave scheme and the need for a more flexible child care system which is perhaps not as institutionally oriented in the future as it has been in the past.” The Prime Minister said he wanted the government’s childcare reforms, which will respond to a Productivity Commission report handed to the government last week, to make it easier for childcare operators to reflect the “24/7” nature of the contemporary workplace.

Climate change negotiations have overshadowed some of the summit preparations as some nations, including France and the US, seek to put the issue on the agenda even as Mr Abbott emphasises energy efficiency instead. Mr Abbott acknowledged that French President Francois Hollande, who is hosting a crucial UN summit on climate change in Paris late next year, might raise the subject to encourage world leaders to make big commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “People are able to raise whatever subject they want in whatever forum they’re in — there’s no censorship on anyone,” Mr Abbott said. “My general view is that the G20 is an economic forum. It’s not a security forum, it’s not an environmental forum, so I’ll be focused on economic issues.”

Amethyst posted:

Do you guys think Uni fee deregulation will pass? I'm feeling real pessimistic about it

CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:

e: About that Tony Abbott huh, what a loving grub

Sanguine posted:

He's a right bit of work. Let me tell ya about this Morrison bloke - total waste of space.

You Am I posted:

Hey everyone it is Tony Abbott's birthday today, don't forget to add your birthday wishes to the Liberal Party Facebook page!

CROWS EVERYWHERE posted:

I don't support assassinating anyone, even Tony Abbotts, Scott Morrisons, or Literal Hitlers, because unlike them I consider literal murder and torture to be morally wrong. But I do strongly approve of giving them a good hard kick in the balls.

Amethyst posted:

Do you guys think Uni fee deregulation will pass? I'm feeling real pessimistic about it