Auspol March - C U Next Trollday, Auspol - The Something Awful Forums

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Laserface: Dec 24, 2004

freebooter posted:

I've noticed this with fiction as well; I read the Best Australian Stories of 2010 (I think) a while back and while they're all good, definitely, they all have this same melancholy vibe, this horrible world of drug addicts and broken marriages and existential ennui and child abuse. I'm not saying fiction needs to be funny or uplifting, or even that any individual story or film could be held to fault, but the overall impression is one of unrelenting drudgery.

Which, yeah, lol, I know the thread's official position is that Australia is the eighth circle of hell, but it's actually in total contrast to the sunny, wealthy, enjoyable reality of Australia. British and American art has far more variety in terms of emotional vibe. Or is it a lingering cultural cringe thing, a sense that serious drama has to be depressing?

Pretty much exactly how I feel. Lake Mungo, a sorta-horror movie even had a similar tone to Animal Kingdom. Even reading (or rather, listening to my girlfriend read) Tim Winton books they all have that dull, depressive tone to them. I notice it in music too, especially with the Dole-wave style stuff and Indie music.

Its like all the creatives in Australia just cant get passed 'serious art' being dark and down feeling.

# ? Mar 23, 2015 23:46

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# ? May 27, 2024 08:19

CATTASTIC: Mar 31, 2010; ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Graic Gabtar posted:

Moron-Vision

# ? Mar 23, 2015 23:55

CATTASTIC: Mar 31, 2010; ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Rainbow lorikeets eating meat leaves bird experts astonished

CATTASTIC fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Mar 24, 2015

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:10

norp: Jan 20, 2004; TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP

let's invade New Zealand, they have oil

Pretty sure it's just nature preparing to wipe out Australians

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:13

ShoeFly: Dec 28, 2006; Waiter, there's a fly in my shoe!

Oops, the PM's in some more hot water over travel entitlements http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...323-1m61zz.html

quote:

Labor is demanding Prime Minster Tony Abbott detail what work meetings he scheduled in Melbourne on Sunday after revelations he used a taxpayer-funded jet to attend a Liberal Party donor's birthday party.

Mr Abbott began his Sunday in Brisbane then flew to Sydney to attend New South Wales Premier Mike Baird's election launch, which began at 11am and concluded just after midday.

The Herald Sun has revealed Mr Abbott then jetted to Melbourne where he later attended a lavish birthday party for Paul Marks at the Huntingdale Golf Club.

Mr Marks is the executive chairman of Nimrod Resources. The Australian Electoral Commission says that in the 2013/14 financial year, Mr Marks personally donated $250,000 to the Liberal Party. Nimrod Resources donated $500,000 in the same year.

A spokesman for Mr Abbott said the Prime Minister had "other work related engagements" in Melbourne on Sunday but did not specify what they involved.

"All travel was undertaken within the rules," he said.

Labor MP Pat Conroy, who chairs the party's Waste Watch committee, said it was an "appalling look" and demanded Mr Abbott detail his work commitments or have the Liberal Party repay the cost of the VIP flight. The VIP jets can cost about $4000 an hour to operate.

"I don't accept that explanation unless they [Mr Abbott's office] reveal what work engagements were undertaken in Melbourne," Mr Conroy said.

Assistant Defence Minister Stuart Robert also attended the event but his spokesman told The Herald Sun: "Stuart was at a private function and if he attends a �private function and there are travel costs involved, he pays for himself. No public money was expended on this private trip."

It's not the first time Mr Abbott's use of the VIP jet has come under fire. When the Prime Minister showed up late to a partyroom meeting last year he admitted to an angry backbencher that he was delayed by a press conference scheduled to justify attending an interstate fundraiser the night before.

"He's got form on this," Mr Conroy said.

"They were happy to reveal other work engagements in the past and he should this time."

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:15

starkebn: May 18, 2004; "Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"

ShoeFly posted:

Oops, the PM's in some more hot water over travel entitlements http://www.smh.com.au/federal-polit...323-1m61zz.html

This just adds to a looong list

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:30

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

CHANGE FROM WITHIN posted:

Labor�s Mark Butler has hailed a landmark deal to slash penalty rates as the realisation of Paul Keating�s economic vision, as the Abbott government said the complicated �machinery� of the penalty rates system could be further redesigned.

The Australian this morning revealed the country�s largest union has agreed to slash weekend penalty rates for the retail sector in a breakthrough deal in South Australia that could affect up to 40,000 workers and be replicated across the nation.

In the first agreement of its kind for small business in Australia, penalty rates will be abolished on Saturdays and halved on Sundays in exchange for a higher base rate of pay and other improved conditions.

Mr Butler, a senior South Australian frontbencher and candidate for Labor national president, said the bargaining process used to reach the deal between employers and the shoppies union is what Labor has supported for more than 20 years.

�This is what we envisaged when Paul Keating�s government put together the enterprise bargaining model,� Mr Butler, who worked for 15 years as a union official, said in Canberra.

Small Business Minister Bruce Billson said the template agreement, signed between the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association and Business SA, highlighted �the flexibility that�s in the current law�.

�There are mechanisms in the current law. Whether they are adequate, whether they�re responsive, whether one can navigate them, they�re important discussions for the Productivity Commission review,� Mr Billson told Sky News.

�Even this quite constructive and encouraging step forward, it still required a big industry association to navigate the procedural requirements and get to the point where there is a template agreement that a retailer in South Australia can discuss with their employees and see if it works well for all of them.

�How friendly is it to a smaller enterprise to navigate this machinery, which seems designed more for big organisations and representative organisations rather than for a small, nimble, agile smaller enterprise looking just to get ahead to create opportunities for themselves and their communities?�

�What�s Bill Shorten�s position? He sort of thinks we live in this nine-to-five, back-to-the-50s kind of economy; that�s not the case.�

Employment Minister Eric Abetz said the South Australian negotiators �should be applauded for taking a constructive approach�.

�It highlights the benefits of encouraging workplaces to sit down and negotiate terms and conditions that suit their specific needs,� Senator Abetz told The Australian.

�Setting penalty rates is a matter for the Fair Work Commission, but if workplaces can arrange a better deal on which they agree that complies with the law, they should be encouraged to do so.�

�The question is � will Bill Shorten and Labor support this deal?�

Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said: �I�m not going to start commentating on individual agreements that employees and employers strike in particular workplaces or in particular industries. I think that this shows that there�s flexibility in the system but I�m not going to comment on it beyond that.�

Labor parliamentary secretary Matt Thistlethwaite said the South Australian deal was �by all accounts, a win-win for the employees and the businesses involved�.

�This deal proves that you can reach arrangements with them but you need to consult with employees and you need to make sure they�re better off over all. That�s the test in the system: they need to be better off overall,� he said.

Assistant Infrastucture Minister Jamie Briggs, a South Australian, said the deal vindicated the coalition�s position that penalty rates were a matter for the Fair Work Commission.

�If employers and employees work together for their best interests then we�ll get a better result,� he said.

Independent SA senator Nick Xenophon says Saturday and Sunday are now regarded as ordinary trading days for the hospitality and retail sectors.

�It�s always been my position that there needs to be greater flexibility for small employers,� he said.

South Australian Family First senator Bob Day said the deal marked �the long overdue fall of one of many remaining barriers to getting a job�.

NSW Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm said Australians who wanted to work weekends had been priced out of the market by penalty rates. He also described South Australia as an economic basket case.

�Maybe somebody there has finally woken up to the fact that they do need to change if they�re going to turn it around.�

First agreement of its kind

The country�s largest union has agreed to slash weekend penalty rates for the retail sector in a breakthrough deal in South Australia that could affect up to 40,000 workers and be replicated across the nation.

In the first agreement of its kind for small business in Aus�tralia, penalty rates will be abolished on Saturdays and halved on Sundays in exchange for a higher base rate of pay and other improved conditions.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the agreement reached between the shop assistants� union and the state chamber of commerce could help reboot the struggling retail sector and stimulate jobs growth.

ACCI chief executive Kate Carnell said she was pleased the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees� Association (SDA) had acknowledged that penalty rates were an �obvious� problem for small businesses and said the agreement provided scope for an agreed national template.

�We are pleased that the SDA has focused on what is a very real problem and we would hope that sort of focus happened more broadly across Australia,� she said.

�This template approach gives these smaller retailers a real �opportunity to compete better with larger retailers, and also look at how they can grow their business and employ more people, particularly the significant number of youth that are unemployed.

�We are hopeful that this would flow across Australia.�

Amid a political impasse on changing industrial relations laws, the deal has also highlighted the ability of business to use the enterprise bargaining framework to win ground on penalty rates.

The government has asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a public inquiry to examine the workplace relations framework, but has ruled out making any changes before the next election.

The template agreement signed between the SDA and Business SA can be adopted by small businesses if agreed to by employees, and would apply to about two-thirds of the state�s 60,000 retail workers employed in small and medium-sized businesses.

It reduces penalty rates for Sundays from a 100 per cent loading to 50 per cent, cuts public holiday rates from 150 per cent to 100 per cent, and abolishes penalty rates on Saturdays and weekday evenings.

In exchange, workers will �receive a higher base wage than under the award, a guaranteed 3 per cent annual pay rise, and an unprecedented right to refuse to work on Sundays and public holidays. It also gives permanent workers the right to every second weekend off.

For a full-time shop assistant, the base rate of pay would jump by 8 per cent from $703.90 a week to $760 a week.

Each workplace would still need to submit a signed agreement to the Fair Work Commission to pass the �better off overall� test to come into effect.

Rhett Biglands, a former AFL footballer who owns Nike Rundle Mall in Adelaide, said penalty rates on public holidays had previously made it uneconomic for him to open. The template model was a positive move for small business, he said, and would allow �employees such as 22-year-old Danielle Pipicella to benefit.

�Anything that would help me open on those public holidays and Sundays would help me out and help my customers out, and would provide more employment for young people,� he said.

Business SA chief executive Nigel McBride, who negotiated the deal after being approached by SDA state secretary Peter Malinauskas, said the state�s busin�esses were �suffering� under the national award system.

He said given the absence of political will from the Abbott government to tackle unaffordable penalty rates � particularly while SA suffered the country�s highest unemployment rate of 6.9 per cent � business needed an urgent �solution. �We want a fundamental overhaul of penalty rates, but we have to have a pragmatic alternative because it is clear to us that nothing is going to change,� Mr McBride said.

�This will be a first in Australia. It is the leading national example of a peak chamber and a peak union getting together and saying we are unhappy and let�s have a compromise.�

He said the union movement had been in �utter denial� about the impact of penalty rates on jobs growth nationally, which he believed would pick up if business adopted the new agreement. �This is an important acknowledgment by the country and the state�s largest union that penalty rates have got to be addressed, and that in the SME sector, penalty rates are really having a negative impact.�

Mr Malinauskas said the union had not conceded penalty rates were a problem, and had instead demonstrated the current enterprise bargaining system worked. �If employers want to address the issue of penalty rates, they should do it by negotiating with employees and their representatives, not by unilaterally cutting entitlements via the Fair Work Commission,� he said. �The penalty rate structure that exists within the award should be maintained and should not be taken away, but if employers are wanting to do something about penalty rates, they need only negotiate with their employees.�

He said the big win for workers was securing the right to refuse to work on Sundays and public holidays.

�The political argument from employers and conservative commentators on this issue is that there are all these people who are working on Sundays because they want to work on Sundays � this puts that principle to the test.�

Restaurant and Catering Industry Association chief executive John Hart said the hospitality sector would welcome a similar deal. �I am sceptical that positivity towards negotiation is widespread among unions,� he said, �but I am very pleased that at least in South Australia, and at least in retail, they have seen the light.�

SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said penalty rates were an important issue for workers, but the right to refuse to work weekends and public holidays was a significant achievement of the agreement. �Voluntary work on a Sunday in the retail industry in this country is an amazing step forward. I wouldn�t be surprised if other branches might be interested in doing something similar.�

I dunno if this is good or bad.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:51

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

The SDA are known scum and should be booted out of wider union movement.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:55

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

Does the higher overall pay make up for the loss of penalty rates? If so, it could be a good thing.

Unless you're only able to work longer hours over the weekend, in which case you'll be losing regardless.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:57

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

It may seem like a good thing now, and in this particular deal it may be, but this is going to be used to convince other people to give up penalty rates and the 'increased' wage will slowly drift back to where it was before.

open24hours fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Mar 24, 2015

# ? Mar 24, 2015 00:59

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

Seagull posted:

Can someone give me a bite-sized rundown on electing people to the upper house in NSW? Preferably in terms of differences to federal, I want to make sure I'm explaining this properly to some mates asking me.

The short version is that it's very similar to Senate voting at Federal elections, especially from the perspective of an individual voter:

You can vote Above the Line, by numbering a single box above the line.
You can vote Below the Line, by numbering at least 15 boxes below the line. You do not have to number every box.

NSW has optional preferential voting, which means that you don't have to number all the boxes and that after reaching your last preference your vote is exhausted (meaning nobody gets it).

There are no group voting tickets in NSW; any preference deals parties do only affect How-to-Vote cards and advertising, and have nothing to do with how votes are actually allocated. A vote above the line is a vote for all 15(+) members of that party / group in the order listed, and nothing more.

As for what it means:

The Conversation posted:

The quota for election is 1/22 of the vote or 4.55%. However, because many votes exhaust, seats can be won on about half of that quota, so a little more than 2% can be enough to win a seat. In 2011, Pauline Hanson almost won a seat on 2.5% of the vote, but the Coalition and Greens just passed her on preferences.

The 42 current members are 19 Coalition, 14 Labor, 5 Greens, 2 Christian Democrats and 2 Shooters & Fishers. Unlike the Senate, the President of the NSW upper house, currently a Liberal, can only vote when there is a tie. The Coalition needs both the Christians and the Shooters to pass legislation that Labor and the Greens oppose.

The [21] members elected in 2007 will be up for election this year. In 2007, Labor won 9 seats of the 21 up at that election, the Coalition 8, Greens 2, Christians 1 and Shooters 1. The Labor 2011 wipeout produced a lopsided upper house that year, with the Coalition winning 11 seats to 5 for Labor, 3 Greens, 1 Christian and 1 Shooter.

The Coalition will not be able to repeat its 2011 success at this election, but if they win 9 or 10 seats at this election, they would have 20 or 21 total seats, and would be able to pass legislation backed by only one of the Shooters or Christians, rather than both, assuming that both these parties win one seat each at this election.

8 quotas is 36.4% of the upper house vote, and 9 quotas is 40.9%. However, owing to OPV, the Coalition would probably win a 9th seat with about 8.5 quotas, or 38.6%. In 2011, the Coalition�s upper house vote was 3.5% lower than its lower house vote, despite drawing the �A� column. Recent Federal and Victorian elections have shown big drops in major party support for upper house elections compared to the lower house. To be confident of winning a 9th upper house seat in NSW, I think the Coalition�s lower house vote will need to be at least 44%.

Owing to the 2011 wipeout election, Labor and the Greens cannot hope to gain control of the upper house until at least 2019, when the seats elected in 2011 are next up. If Labor wins this election, they will find it difficult in the upper house.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:01

Jerk Burger: Jul 4, 2003; King of the Monkeys

Endman posted:

Does the higher overall pay make up for the loss of penalty rates? If so, it could be a good thing.

Unless you're only able to work longer hours over the weekend, in which case you'll be losing regardless.

There is nothing good about the loving Union shafting their own members. What sort of bastard exchanges penalty rates for anything, and thinks it's a good idea.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:01

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

open24hours posted:

It may seem like a good thing but now, and in this particular deal it may be, but this is going to be used to convince other people to give up penalty rates and the 'increased' wage will slowly drift back to where it was before.

Yeah I fully expect it to just get gobbled up by something stupid and then small business will just never remember penalty rates existed before.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:02

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

open24hours posted:

It may seem like a good thing but now, and in this particular deal it may be, but this is going to be used to convince other people to give up penalty rates and the 'increased' wage will slowly drift back to where it was before.

Good point.

It's like if you were to get rid of the GST. Prices might go lower for as long as businesses can reap the marketing pull of "no more GST = cheaper stuff", but then it'll creep back up for that tasty 10% pure profit.

Capitalists are scum. The workers should own the means of production.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:03

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

Jerk Burger posted:

There is nothing good about the loving Union shafting their own members. What sort of bastard exchanges penalty rates for anything, and thinks it's a good idea.

True, but then this is the SDA, which is not a union, it's a management advocacy group.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:04

Amoeba102: Jan 22, 2010

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The short version is that it's very similar to Senate voting at Federal elections, especially from the perspective of an individual voter:

You can vote Above the Line, by numbering a single box above the line.

You can vote Below the Line, by numbering at least 15 boxes below the line. You do not have to number every box.

NSW has optional preferential voting, which means that you don't have to number all the boxes and that after reaching your last preference your vote is exhausted (meaning nobody gets it).

There are no group voting tickets in NSW; any preference deals parties do only affect How-to-Vote cards and advertising, and have nothing to do with how votes are actually allocated. A vote above the line is a vote for all 15(+) members of that party / group in the order listed, and nothing more.

As for what it means:

You can number multiple boxes above the line too.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:06

CrazyTolradi: Oct 2, 2011; It feels so good to be so bad.....at posting.

If your business is doing so poorly that paying penalties means you can't operate on a weekend, your business is doing pretty poo poo anyway and reducing penalties won't save you.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:07

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

Small Business Owners are some of the worst people I've ever encountered. It takes a special kind of shitness to take your complete lack of qualifications over matriculating year 12 and think it qualifies you to run a commercial enterprise, then to suck horribly at it and, instead of learning from your mistakes, you blame the 16 year old kid on the front counter because he had the audacity to live in a society that views working on weekends as inconvenient and thus deserving of greater remuneration.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:10

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

CrazyTolradi posted:

If your business is doing so poorly that paying penalties means you can't operate on a weekend, your business is doing pretty poo poo anyway and reducing penalties won't save you.

Family Owned Hardware shop owner posted:

Back in my day, everything is where it was supposed to be. Nowadays, kids are spoilt and rotten and raised wages out of greed. Much like a household budget however; you can only pay wages as much as you can afford.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:10

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

All you need to know about wedge politics.jpg

Only registered members can see post attachments!

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:10

dordreff: Jul 16, 2013

Anidav posted:

I dunno if this is good or bad.

Cutting penalty rates, even if it leads to higher pay in this specific instance, is very extremely bad because it sets precedent and encourages tory scum.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:11

duck monster: Dec 15, 2004

QUACKTASTIC posted:

Rainbow lorikeets eating meat leaves bird experts astonished

Darwins babies got freaky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_finch

(Also gently caress lorikeets. They are an invasive species in WA and the only other species of bird other than doves my cats allowed to kill)

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:12

asio: Nov 29, 2008; "Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs: A Developmental Guide for Brass Wind Musicians" refers to the mullet as an important tool for professional cornet playing and box smashing black and blood

Gorilla Salad posted:

[nerd post incoming]

I have two fundamental problems with privatising an essential service like power.

The first is that it's essential. The second is that it's a service.

It's nice when a government asset makes a profit, but that's not why they exist. They exist to serve the public and make our country run. When the government owns infrastructure, they tend to over build (yeah, once upon a loving time). So, if there's a sudden or sustained increased need for that service, they can cope.

But private enterprises don't do this. For one simple reason - they don't exist to make products or provide services.

If you ask someone what Ford does, they'll probably tell you they make cars. If you ask someone what Microsoft does, they'll probably tell you they make computer software and peripherals.

They're both wrong.

Ford, Microsoft and every other publicly listed company exist for one reason. To make money.

Ford makes money by selling cars. Microsoft makes money by selling computer software and peripherals. And so on.

Now, this is where most people jump in saying this is a pedantic distinction.

They're wrong about that, too.

Because remember those privately owned power companies? They're not there to provide all homes and businesses with a high quality, uninterrupted supply of electricity. They're only there to make money, too.

But what does this mean? Why bring it up?

For that we need to look no further than the California Electricity Crisis. Remember Enron? This is what they did in a nutshell:

The people of California thought Enron was there to power their homes, their streets, their businesses. They were wrong.

They deliberately shut down power stations to increase the price of electricity and increase their profits. Now, Enron did this in an hilariously illegal manner, but there are still ways private companies can gently caress an entire state and kill whole loads of people and never break a single law.

Imagine you're in Sydney and it's another of those killer summers, with temperatures over 40� all week. Bet you enjoy your electricity supply right now, hey?

But the Abbot/Pyne Power For 1000 Years PTY LTD Electrical Company sees that the price for electricity in Victoria is currently 3% higher than NSW prices. So what do they do? They send their power south and make a tidy bit of extra profit while Sydney suffers rolling brown outs. Heatstroke kills a bunch of young, sick and elderly people. Businesses are strained, some fail. Everyone's lives in Sydney sucks that little bit more.

The Abbot/Pyne Power Co. returns higher than expected profits that quarter. Shareholders are pleased.

THIS is why privatising an essential service is bad.

Companies aren't good or bad. That's not what I'm trying to say here. They're only the means whereby shareholders make money. You don't blame a scorpion for biting you. But you sure as hell don't trust your country's infrastructure to one either.

Government infrastructure exists only to serve the people. Because they're massively loving important and should never be defined by something so goddamn nearsighted as short-term profit when they are the backbone on which our entire nation is built.

There are some things which should only ever be the province of the state. Some things are more important than immediate profits. Some things that should get politicians hung from street lights when they try to gently caress with them to score cheap ideological points.

From the last page, but this is why everything should be nationalised. Even things the luxury industry would create better products if their stated aim was to create better products rather than to accumulate capital. I remember Quantum Mechanic trying to argue something different ages ago (but, some capitalism is good, guys!), but that just means you are ignoring everyone who is a part of that industry 'not important enough' to be deemed necessary.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:12

Birb Katter: Sep 18, 2010; BOATS STOPPED
CARBON TAX AXED
TURNBULL AS PM
LIBERALS WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN A LANDSLIDE

asio posted:

From the last page, but this is why everything should be nationalised. Even things the luxury industry would create better products if their stated aim was to create better products rather than to accumulate capital. I remember Quantum Mechanic trying to argue something different ages ago (but, some capitalism is good, guys!), but that just means you are ignoring everyone who is a part of that industry 'not important enough' to be deemed necessary.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:16

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

The luxury industry probably wouldn't really exist in the way it does now if everything were nationalised. Not a huge market for $100m yachts when everyone is a public servant.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:16

asio: Nov 29, 2008; "Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs: A Developmental Guide for Brass Wind Musicians" refers to the mullet as an important tool for professional cornet playing and box smashing black and blood

open24hours posted:

The luxury industry probably wouldn't really exist in the way it does now if everything were nationalised. Not a huge market for $100m yachts when everyone is a public servant.

Extend negative gearing to include literally everything

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:17

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

The problem I can see with nationalising the luxury industry (as opposed to the solution I'm more fond of: worker owned cooperatives operating in a state regulated market) is that you'll end up with a lack of diversity. When you've got a service that everyone needs the same result from (e.g. power, water, etc) it makes sense for a big, state-run organisation to run it. The amount of power a household needs to be provided is easy to legislate on. Luxuries are a subjective thing driven by the shifting interests of individuals and wider social trends. State-run organisations don't really lend themselves to the kind of fast adaptation a luxury industry needs to keep up.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:18

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

The trick is to have state run companies competing with each other. All the workers in the more successful company get a subsided stay at the state dacha.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:21

starkebn: May 18, 2004; "Oooh, got a little too serious. You okay there, little buddy?"

gently caress you to all those people in SA retail who only work weekends, hope you like your pay cut!

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:22

CrazyTolradi: Oct 2, 2011; It feels so good to be so bad.....at posting.

starkebn posted:

gently caress you to all those people in SA retail who only work weekends, hope you like your pay cut!

Pretty much this, it's a gently caress over to anyone who's a uni/tafe student trying to make some extra cash so they don't starve.

The big retailers are the only real winners from this, small business might think it's a great boost to them, but the real issues they usually have aren't with the amount they have to pay staff and lie in other areas like mismanagement.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:29

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

I love how the SDA are claiming that the "right to refuse to work on public holidays and the weekend" is somehow a victory.

I'm pretty sure those were rights that the workers already had.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:30

PaletteSwappedNinja: Jun 3, 2008; One Nation, Under God.

Gorilla Salad posted:

[nerd post incoming]

I wasn't talking about privatising the industry, I was talking about jettisoning the old infrastructure in the pursuit of new publicly-owned infrastructure that will better hold its value and won't be tied to fossil fuels. Putting essential services/networks in the hands of private companies is idiocy and it's not really something you can transition out of in any reasonable amount of time, I was just paraphrasing something I'd heard.

More to the point, I don't actually think it's a good idea or that any AU government could be trusted to do it, but that fart bubble of an argument I posted is more sophisticated than anything I've heard from the Libs or Labor in the runup to this election, all of which amounts to "we have to privatise because ???" vs. "we will never privatise because ??? unless we do, and we might, but maybe not!"

Like, they've never had good justifications for doing anything and they're usually transparently bad or self-serving but they're not even trying to explain any of their actions anymore and I wish people gave a gently caress.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:32

Thinking: Jan 22, 2009

Cartoon posted:

All you need to know about wedge politics.jpg

gently caress the shoppies, they're an unflinchingly cancerous fusion of greed and incompetence and any deal they broker will be a tremendous loss to employees anywhere

quote:

Barbara 14 MINUTES AGO
remember Gillard and the unions raising wages for young people? .. they were priced out of the market and because of the time restrictions kids couldn't work after school - even when they were happy with what the employer offered.

I remember being paid $7 an hour after school to work at woolies. Priced out of the market indeed.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:33

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

PaletteSwappedNinja posted:

Like, they've never had good justifications for doing anything and they're usually transparently bad or self-serving but they're not even trying to explain any of their actions anymore and I wish people gave a gently caress.

But if they talk about their policies they might lose! In a two party system why would you, just wait for the other side to make enough mistakes and cruise back into government with little to no effort.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:40

turdbucket: Oct 30, 2011

starkebn posted:

gently caress you to all those people in SA retail who only work weekends, hope you like your pay cut!

Don't forget those who work nightshifts either, everyone who doesn't work 9-5 Monday to Friday just got a pay cut. Nightshift penalty rates are extremely important, not many people appreciate how much it can gently caress up your life working opposite hours to everybody else. Having to work weekends is bad enough but waking up after your partner goes to work and getting home after they are in bed, to use the most common example really really sucks.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:40

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

I'm actually a small business owner. Paying Award rates I can give as little as $10.42 an hour to a casual (Under 16) on normal time [Shop Employees (State) Award (601)]. I don't have to offer them more than two hours at a time and I can stop their shifts on a whim. Definitely tough times in retail land.

The most outrageous thing I have found out about IR in NSW is your employer isn't oblidged to tell you what award or contract you are being employed and paid under. ffffffffffff

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:40

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

Cartoon posted:

The most outrageous thing I have found out about IR in NSW is your employer isn't oblidged to tell you what award or contract you are being employed and paid under. ffffffffffff

u wot m8

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:42

auzdark: Aug 29, 2005; Mercy is the cry of the soul that stirred,
Mercy is the cry and it's never heard.

Courier Mail reporting the important things again.

Interesting to see if kids join up for real life quickscoping, knives only rounds and playing Rambo to win sweet sweet weapon unlock points.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:44

Les Affaires: Nov 15, 2004

"Okay you got me, I'll sit this one out until next round... guys? next round? Uh, there's a next round right"

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:46

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 08:19

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

They've been doing the same thing for years. I guess it makes gamers feel like they'd be good for something more than cannon fodder.

# ? Mar 24, 2015 01:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol March - C U Next Trollday, Auspol

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