quote:

I have no doubt that discontent about gun laws played some role in the emergence of One Nation under Pauline Hanson. It wasn't the main reason, but it was a subsidiary and quite important reason. A lot of people who felt part of the gun culture, and I'm not talking about farmers here, I'm talking about people who like firing guns for fun, may have seen themselves as the part of society that had been passed by by economic change and felt left out and alienated. Pauline Hanson appealed to them.

That made it very hard. Rob Borbidge, the Queensland premier, was extremely courageous. He was different from any of the other National Party leaders because he was the premier of a National Party-dominated Coalition government. He'd only been in for a short period of time. I rang him and he said, 'John, this is going to be very, very difficult for me.' I said, 'I understand that Rob, but I've got to do it.' He said, 'Well I'll back you but please understand how difficult it's going to be for me.'

He never wavered. He was defeated at the next election and the strength of the One Nation vote in the 1998 Queensland election was the main reason why he lost. He paid the heaviest price of all and I've always acknowledged his courage.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

Unrelated: John Howard said yesterday that gun control was a significant contributor to the rise of One Nation.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/conversations/john-howard-gun-control-20-years-on-from-port-arthur/7133042

Frogmanv2 posted:

Along with 50 odd children and 100 plus women iirc

MysticalMachineGun posted:

So there's snap rallies to let the refugees stay tomorrow in all capital cities... except Adelaide. What the hell, Greens?

Vladimir Poutine posted:

I think the Young SA Greens consists entirely of people from this thread

turdbucket posted:

SAGreens are bad IMHO.

The Divine Orator posted:

Hey, just a lurker here but could you all maybe cut back on the Pavel stuff? It makes the thread really uncomfortable to read and given the state of Australian Politics it's kind of uncomfortable enough by default!

The Divine Orator posted:

Hey, just a lurker here but could you all maybe cut back on the Pavel stuff? It makes the thread really uncomfortable to read and given the state of Australian Politics it's kind of uncomfortable enough by default!

starkebn posted:

More Pavel please

The Divine Orator posted:

really uncomfortable

starkebn posted:

More Pavel please

Amethyst posted:

Sorry mate, this thread is wacky, edgy, and above all irreverent. Spamming images of an irrelevant model seems like the kind of thing people do in funny cool places like 4chan, so we're gonna keep doing it! Hell yeah! Auspol ftw!

Amethyst posted:

More Pavel please! I'm in on the joke, and laugh out loud every single time those images are posted. This is because I have a sophisticated sense of humor, and not because I'm an old dullard who has a vague sense of what "internet culture" is and try to replicate it like a cargo cult member.

The Divine Orator posted:

Hey, just a lurker here but could you all maybe cut back on the Pavel stuff? It makes the thread really uncomfortable to read and given the state of Australian Politics it's kind of uncomfortable enough by default!

MysticalMachineGun posted:

Not sure if uncomfortable is the right choice of words here but could we at least keep it work safe?

hooman posted:

Your idiotic meltdowns are far more childish and asinine than anything else that gets shitposted here. You are in no place whatsoever to critique.

Guardian AU posted:

This was the exchange between Michael Brissenden and Dreyfus this morning.

Q: So do you think the policy should be overturned?

The policy has been instrumental in bringing the flow of refugees to Australia by boat to an end.

Q: But do you believe it’s time to overturn the policy?

We did not envisage, when we introduced this policy, that two and half years on you would have more than 1,000 men, women and children languishing in indefinite detention. It is time for the government to do a great deal more to end the dreadful circumstances in which these men women and children -

Q: Is it time to end offshore detention?

I don’t think it’s necessary to say that, that it is time to end that policy. What does need to be done is that the government’s got to do a great deal more so that we don’t have people in this situation. Two and a half years is an eternity, particularly for children and this present situation can’t be allowed to continue.

Birb Katter posted:

I'm going to be unafuckinstralian here and reach a compromise unilaterally that takes into account your feels and the feels of others. Pavels will now be linked rather than embedded and tagged nws.

Remember though kids, nws can be fun but NSW is forever poo poo.

http://i.imgur.com/8VO1HZW.jpg

Amethyst posted:

I am, actually, since this thread has been rolling around pathetically like a bunch of moron children for several pages now, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with my influence.

Amethyst posted:

I am, actually, since this thread has been rolling around pathetically like a bunch of moron children for several pages now, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with my influence.

hooman posted:

Congratulations on not being the cause of this particular shitposting disaster. This clearly makes you a wise and good poster and not a huge idiot who melts down at the slightest provocation.

EDIT: I'm sorry Amethyst, I'm grumpy today and the whole refugee thing is really loving getting to me.

tithin posted:

Amethyst, friend, you are too uptight for this thread. Please return yo the best thread of all

open24hours posted:

More Amethyst please.

Anidav posted:

Double Dissolution is looking likely because Bill is weak and we want to vote for higher taxes apparently.

Sydney Mining Herald posted:

Peter Dutton signals likely visa ban for Return of Kings head Daryush Valizadeh

The leader of a "neo-masculinist" group that advocates the legalisation of rape is likely to be barred from visiting Australia.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh has no visa to visit Australia and hasn't applied for one.

But Mr Dutton, who just last month cancelled the visa of self-styled "pick-up artist"Jeff Allen on character grounds, made it clear he rejects Mr Valizadeh's views and he could have a hard time getting into Australia if he tries.

"People who advocate violence against women aren't welcome in Australia," a spokesperson for the minister said in a statement. "In the past people advocating violence against women have had their visa refused or cancelled."

"The minister has asked the department to continue to monitor this case."

Birb Katter posted:

While yes it is bad that we're using visas to block dissenting voices from coming to Australia and I'm sure it's being done at present so there is precedent to do it later at the same time it's nice to see people like this getting shafted.

starkebn posted:

Guardian AU posted:

Government monitoring social media accounts to hunt down welfare fraud
State and federal agencies outsourcing to private contractors to conduct surveillance on private accounts of people suspected of making false welfare claims

State and federal government agencies are increasingly outsourcing to private contractors to investigate and conduct surveillance on welfare and work-related claims, including through monitoring social media.

On Wednesday the Daily Telegraph reported the Department of Human Services had been gathering evidence from social media accounts and other online accounts in relation to cases about false Centrelink payment claims.

The department had been using information from accounts to debunk claims. The Daily Telegraph reported that in at least one case, posts from a Twitter account were used to prove two people who were claiming welfare as single people were in a relationship and had announced a pregnancy together.

Federal contracts showed a series of agreements with private investigators to conduct “security surveillance and detection” on behalf of the department.

Many of these contracts were for the primary purposes of conducting “optical surveillance”.

Questions have been put to the department about which organisations are conducting social media monitoring, and how much the department pays for these services.

But there is a broader trend across government to rely on private contractors to investigate claims of fraud or workers’ compensation claims.

NSW tender documents also show that Workcover NSW took on some of the same private investigators as the Department of Human Services to conduct surveillance on their behalf. Workcover NSW commissioned more than 10 private investigators from 2015-18 to assist them in conducting investigations and surveillance into Workcover claims. The contracts were worth more than $3m.

The use of social media analysis – or “open-source intelligence” – is a growing and lucrative field for private contractors, but has raised the concerns of some privacy advocates.

The Department of Human Services said it had discovered more than $2m in fraudulent claims through social media monitoring.