MaliciousOnion posted:

If you take the ads out, 60 Minutes average level of journalistic integrity takes a dive

turdbucket posted:

lol nice, they uploaded a short video earlier crying about their space being occupied and that they were going to get the cops to help them (which they did).

Antifa Sydney posted about it https://www.facebook.com/AntiFascistActionSydney/posts/1304618686232811

thatbastardken posted:

the beirut police department?

quote:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/malcolm-turnbulls-ticket-to-deliver-fast-train/news-story/feae238d4c3a6253982e28ff4e156c94
Malcolm Turnbull is preparing to take to the election a radical new funding approach for nation- building projects, including a plan to develop high-speed rail links on Australia’s east coast that will boost regional centres and ease congestion in capital cities.

After issuing a warning to states that they could no longer treat the federal government as an ATM for major project funding, the Prime Minister is set to unveil a sweeping cities policy ahead of next month’s budget that will also transform the funding of Aus­tralian infrastructure projects.

A key plank of the government’s infrastructure and cities policy will be to use high-speed rail developments to encourage population growth in regional centres and ease growth pressures in Sydney and Melbourne.

The rail line to Badgerys Creek in western Sydney is the government’s first priority, but The Australian has learnt the Coalition wants this followed with links to regional centres such as Goulburn, as well as another link from Melbourne to Shepparton, to ­create a “pressure release valve” for major cities.

These would be the first links of a longer-term very fast train network that would eventually run all the way from Melbourne to Brisbane.

To fund the multi-billion-­dollar rail projects, including high-speed rail links and potentially the Melbourne Metro, the government will promote the use of “value capture” financing, which leverages the increase in land value resulting from new transport infrastructure to contribute to its cost.

In the lead-up to the May 3 budget, government officials are undertaking intensive policy work on the viability of using the financing model to pay for the high-speed rail network between Melbourne and Brisbane, a project that has been under consideration for more than 30 years and is estimated to cost between $60 billion and $114bn.

Government sources told The Australian the Coalition wanted the very fast train network to be built in stages by a private consortium that would be given access to a share of the potential uplift in land value resulting from the new infrastructure.

This would minimise the amount of taxpayer dollars needed to get the much-vaunted project off the ground, and ensure that the cost-benefit analysis for the project stacked up.

A similar approach was flagged by Mr Turnbull for the Melbourne Metro on Friday, when he said the government wanted infrastructure dollars to go further. “With this type of Metro rail infrastructure, it transforms the value of real estate. It transforms the amenity of cities and it is important to do your planning and analysis carefully so that you maximise the contribution that you can secure from that,” he said.

Anthony Albanese, the opposition transport spokesman, said the project would need some direct investment from taxpayers in addition to value capture.

“You need a combination of both (direct investment and value capture), that’s the truth. Anyone who comes and tells you you can do this for free is fantasising,” he told ABC radio.

Mr Albanese said a Labor-commissioned report into high-speed rail identified the need for 82km of tunnels – including 67km within Sydney – but projected an economic benefit of $2.15 for every dollar invested between Sydney and Melbourne.

He criticised the government for refusing to debate his draft law establishing a standalone High-Speed Rail Authority to spearhead the project.

“You need a structure,” he said. “It can’t just happen with a front-page splash once every year. You actually need a structure that will work to do the planning work, to preserve the corridor across the jurisdictions.”

Another option under consideration is to levy a so-called “betterment tax” on property owners, who would receive a substantial financial boost from the new transport infrastructure.

However, one Liberal MP familiar with the proposal said this would be an unlikely path for the government to pursue, given it would be politically unpopular. A betterment tax was used in the 1920s and 30s to pay for one-third of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and has been used occasionally by state governments to cover transport project costs.

The new funding approach promoted by Mr Turnbull would end the practice of the federal government giving cash handouts to the states for big-ticket infrastructure projects while allowing all tiers of government to reap the economic benefits of major project spending.

The Coalition’s approach to funding the high-speed rail network differs from the conclusions of a 2013 Labor-commissioned report, which said taxpayers would have to fund most of the upfront capital costs.

Minister for Major Projects Paul Fletcher said Australia’s “substantial infrastructure needs” could not all be met through grant funding by government.

“Therefore, looking at innovative funding sources is very important, and one important source is tapping into the increase in land value from major transport infrastructure,” he said.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Cities Angus Taylor said Australia needed more investment in our cities and “in connections between our cities”, but public financial constraints meant new and innovative approaches were needed.

“There’s many projects that could fit this model, whether it is rail to Badgerys Creek, whether it’s the Melbourne Metro, or whether indeed it is high speed rail between regional cities and the capitals — they are all projects where we are interested in looking at innovative approaches to financing,” Mr Taylor told The Australian.

“Each project needs to be assessed on its own merits but I certainly see great opportunity to invest more and fund innovatively, and in the process address historical underinvestment in our cities.”

A parliamentary inquiry into value-capture models for high-speed rail infrastructure has heard that development of six regional centres between Sydney and Melbourne could accommodate a large proportion of the estimated eight million population growth forecast for the two cities by mid-century.

open24hours posted:

I bet the private sector is just falling over itself to take a 100 billion dollar risk.

quote:

Radicalised prisoner who carved jihadist slogan into fellow inmate's forehead should be rehabilitated, terrorism expert says AM Posted 39 minutes ago

Radicalised inmates should be rehabilitated rather than isolated in high security, a terrorism expert says, after a prisoner and former Australian soldier was bashed and had a jihadist slogan carved into his head by a radicalised teenager he was sharing a cell with.

The 40-year-old prisoner, beaten by his cell mate at the Kempsey prison on the NSW north coast last week, will be transferred from hospital back to jail in the next few days. The 18-year-old radicalised inmate has been moved to the SuperMax prison in Goulburn but counter-terrorism expert Clarke Jones said that was not the right response. "If they're placed in high security and they're isolated or segregated, often that contributes to someone who may have already exhibited signs of radicalisation," he said. "It sometimes compounds the feeling of isolation, marginalisation or the original reasons we've got them there in the first place." Instead, Mr Clarke suggested prisons should create environments to help radicalised inmates or those on terrorism convictions. "We need to create the environment that fosters and enhances the chance for rehabilitation and that doesn't happen in maximum security prisons," he said. Mr Clarke used the example of Khaled Sharrouf who was in prison for five years, went to fight for Islamic State in Syria and was killed. "He had significant mental health issues and they were obviously not dealt with properly in his time of incarceration," he said. "He certainly wasn't in an environment to create any type of rehabilitation ... then he was released a worse person."

A spokesman for the Public Service Association, which represents prison guards, Steve McMahon said there was no information in the system that would have raised the alarm about placing the two prisoners together. "The Government is continuing to push us," he said. "They're pushing us to take prisoners into the system well beyond the capacity. We've been requested on a number of occasions now to take three prisoners per cell in some locations." He said it was possible there could be a similar attack in the future. "On a number of grounds, yes, it's possible that we may have more unrecognised, self-styled administers of justice amongst radicalised inmates who want to do this," he said. "And then there's always the risk that two grown men, unrelated grown men, placed in a cell the size of an average backyard garden shed, will not get on and they will fight. So it's a matter for us balancing out the best-case scenarios."

quote:

Electrolux factory rolls out its last ever fridge as production moves overseas AM By Melanie Pearce Updated about an hour ago

Australia's last refrigerator factory, the Electrolux plant at Orange in central west NSW, will roll its last fridge off the production line today, after producing around 12 million fridges in its lifetime.

Key points:

In 2013 Electrolux announced production to be moved overseas
Closure marks the end of more than 70 years of whitegoods production in Orange
Plant pumped estimated $70 million annually into local economy
Electrolux factory began in 1942 as a WW2 munitions plant

In 2013 Electrolux announced it would close the factory and move production overseas. The company said they had decided it was more cost effective to make fridges in south-east Asia and eastern Europe. General manager Mark O'Kane said not only will the closure be a blow for the town of Orange, but also for Australian manufacturers seeking to compete globally. Of the remaining 300 employees at Electrolux's fridge factory, 210 will have their last day tomorrow while 90 will stay on for up to eight months decommissioning the plant. The Electrolux factory in Orange began in 1942 as a World War Two munitions plant. When that closed a deal was struck with the company Email Ltd — initially operating as Emmco and Elcon — and a whitegoods factory was born. From 1946 the factory made household goods including fans, stoves, washing machines and freezers, but more recently it has been fridges only.

Some of the remaining 300 employees of Electrolux look back on what the factory has meant to them and its role in Australian history and manufacturing. At its peak it employed more than 2,000 people and it was during this time the Queen visited it on her 1970 tour. One of the Electrolux factory's longest serving remaining employees, Phil Johnston, has seen a lot of changes in fridge making in his 44 years. "We used to get the steel in black, we used to fold it, paint it, we had our own paint shops here, we used to do chrome plating, anodising, powder coating, we used to do everything here, in house."

The closure announcement has been a blow for Orange because the plant pumped an estimated $70 million annually into the local economy.

However Mr O'Kane said it also has significance for Australian manufacturers as they seek to compete globally. "Every major manufacturer in the world is in this south east region, specifically Thailand," he said. "They have government support, they have trade-free zones within these industrial parks and of course at the end of the day a labour rate of $2.50 an hour. "That is really hard to compete against, I'm really fearful for Australian manufacturing." 'It's going to be like leaving part of the family behind' Mr Johnston said he fears what such factory closures mean for future generations. "What's happening is that we're de-skilling our people," he said. "The politicians are now talking about having a smart, people who are going to go into new technology with new businesses, but that's going to take years to develop and not everybody is going to go to university, because people just don't have the ability to do that." Ron Finch said he has worked at the Electrolux factory for 44 years, and has witnessed major milestones in manufacturing history, including the introduction of computerisation. "That was quite significant and I remember the general manager realising his factory could stop for want of a barcode label, which was a bit hard to fathom." Mr Finch said that not many of the employees were "buoyant about the closure." "It's a profitable factory. The thing that a lot of us feel is just the impact on the town." Cheryl Seymour said she has spent nearly three decades at the factory and said it is going to be an emotional farewell. "We spend a lot of time with these people so it is like a family, so you have this close friendship and close bond and it's going to be like leaving part of the family behind," she said.

quote:

Port Arthur anniversary: Decision on Adler A110 may not arrive before temporary ban expires Australian Story By Greg Hassall Updated about an hour ago

A decision on the fate of the controversial Adler A110 lever-action shotgun has been delayed and may no longer be handed down before a temporary ban on its importation expires.

Key points:

Port Arthur massacre survivor started petition calling for heavy restrictions on Adler A110
Government placed temporary ban on gun, expiry date on August 7
Gun not specifically referred to in 1996 National Firearms Agreement, review to decide its fate
Howard "won't support" watering down laws
The decision was expected this month, which would have coincided with the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre, the event that led to the tightening of firearm laws.

Last year a survivor of the shootings, Carolyn Loughton, launched a petition calling for heavy restrictions to be placed on the gun, a lever-action firearm capable of shooting eight rounds in as many seconds.

A couple who were with Nanette Mikac and her daughters when they were murdered in the mass shooting at Port Arthur nearly 20 years ago break their silence. Ms Loughton lost her 15-year-old daughter Sarah in the Broad Arrow Cafe at Port Arthur on April 28, 1996, and was terribly injured herself. She still requires surgery 20 years later from a bullet wound to the shoulder. Until recently she had not given much thought to gun control, thinking the issue had been dealt with in 1996.
It was only after seeing a story on the ABC's 7.30 about the imminent arrival of the Adler shotgun in Australia that she was galvanised, starting her petition and contacting politicians. "The news report stopped me in my tracks," Ms Loughton said. "The person firing that gun had earphones on, it was very, very rapid fire. "You can't run that fast. It was truly, truly frightening."

Deal with Leyonhjelm puts automatic expiry on ban

Weeks after the story aired, the Federal Government placed a temporary ban on the shotgun. A short time later however, in exchange for Senator David Leyonhjelm's vote on border control legislation, the Government put an automatic expiry date on the ban of August 7 this year. The ban does not extend to a version of the gun that can fire six rounds. It remains available as a Category A firearm, the least restrictive category, and more than 7,000 have been imported into Australia in the past six months. A decision on the fate of the banned gun, and lever-action shotguns in general, is part of a wider review into technical aspects of the 1996 National Firearms Agreement, the deal pushed through by then-prime minister John Howard following the Port Arthur shootings. The review, underway since late last year, is being overseen by the Federal Government and conducted by Commonwealth, state and territory law enforcement and justice agencies.

Last month a group of senior officials considered a draft of the review and asked for more time to consider how to implement possible changes. This potentially pushes any decision beyond the expiry of the Adler ban, something the Government would not have anticipated when it made the deal with Senator Leyonhjelm. The review is politically sensitive and whatever the decision on the Adler, it is guaranteed to upset one side of the bitterly divided gun control debate. Gun control advocates consider the Adler's availability a significant weakening of Australia's gun control regime, which they argue has put a stop to mass killings and reduced firearm deaths in this country. For those on the other side of the debate, the gun simply updates century-old technology and they consider its ban an overreaction.

Howard will not support any watering down of laws

The problem is that lever-action shotguns are not specifically referred to in the 1996 agreement. The agreement places tight restrictions on semi-automatic and pump-action rifles, putting those with a magazine capacity of up to five rounds in Category C (prohibited except for occupational purposes) and those with a magazine capacity of more than five rounds in Category D (prohibited except for official purposes). Types of shotgun that are not specifically mentioned in the agreement tend to be consigned to the least-restrictive Category A, which is how both versions of the Adler ended up in this category. The review of the National Firearms Agreement is looking into the classification of lever-action shotguns in general and is expected to clarify the situation. It remains unclear what happens if a decision is not reached by the time the ban on the eight-shot Adler expires in August.

A Government spokesperson could only say that "no decision has been made regarding the ban". One person watching the review process with interest is John Howard. He said he was "pretty dubious" about claims the Adler lever-action shotgun did not have the lethal capacity of semi-automatic weapons. "I'll naturally wait and see what the inquiry recommends," Mr Howard said. "But anything that to me looks as though it waters down the laws that are in place now, I won't support and I will argue that the Government shouldn't support." Mr Howard is proud of the gun control measures he fought to achieve in 1996 and is concerned to protect his legacy. "This ban has been so successful, and is so widely respected around the world, that I would not want any government in Australia to do anything that would weaken it," he said. On Friday, Mr Howard lent his support to a petition launched by Walter Mikac, who lost his family at Port Arthur, calling on state and territory governments to maintain strict gun laws.

quote:

Online streaming drives first increase in music industry revenue in years triple j By Ruby Jones Posted about 5 hours ago

The Australian music industry's revenue has gone up for the first time in three years, driven by a doubling in music streaming services, while music downloads continued their decline.

Key points:

Digital streaming now accounts for 62 per cent of music streaming market
Downloads, CDs continue to slide
Artists getting low returns from streaming services
New figures from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) show a 5 per cent increase in the value of Australian recorded music in 2015, the first upwards trend the industry's had in its wholesale figures since 2012.

The turnaround has been driven by a continued uptake in digital streaming, which now accounts for 62 per cent of the overall market. While the value of subscription-based digital streaming services, including services like Spotify and Apple Music, doubled from $23 million to $46 million, digital downloads and CD sales continued their decline. Digital downloads went down by almost 13 per cent, while CD sales fell 4 per cent, notably less than the 18 per cent decline in 2013. ARIA's statistics also showed vinyl sales increased by 38 per cent in 2015.

Streaming takes toll on artists' income

Online services have come under fire from big name artists — including industry heavyweights like Taylor Swift, who say they are not paying enough royalties to artists. A recent analysis by Death and Taxes showed Spotify paid $0.00521 per song stream. That money gets to artists via record labels and licensing organisations. In the Australian music scene, most artists feel the exposure is worth it, despite the lack of pay per stream. Al Grigg from indie band Palms does not know how much revenue he makes from Spotify, but estimates it is miniscule. "Even if it's a tiny royalty, it's probably better than people just downloading it for free," he said. "More people are hearing the band, and maybe then more people are liking the band, and they will buy a ticket and come and see you play live or they might buy a T-shirt, and then you are making your money that way."

Revenue expected to rise

Dan Nevin from Australia's independent music companies trade body AIR said working out how to maximise that exposure on streaming services was difficult. "It's great that independent artists can have their music found on a service that also has the biggest artists in the world, that is a fantastic thing," he said. "The flip side to that is the whole discovery element. How do we get opportunities on these big multinational streaming services?" While Nevin says there is not enough money in it for artists at the moment, he thinks when the services are making more money through more subscribers, artists will see the benefit. "It will get to a point I believe where it will overtake what the revenue of CD and digital were in its heyday, but we are quite a way off that," he said.

open24hours posted:

I bet the private sector is just falling over itself to take a 100 billion dollar risk.

IMHO they should be reserving the corridor, but the technology to make a high speed train from Sydney to Melbourne competitive with air travel is still a few decades away. Once Japan/China/Europe have 500km/h trains for sale then they should start thinking about actually building it.

Cartoon posted:

OK pundits. It's time to play terrorist or not terrorist again!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/prisoner-is-attack-on-fellow-inmate-should-be-rehabilitated/7315194

A/ He's a fooken terrorist!
B/ He's not a terrorist.
C/ Too soon to tell.

quote:

‘Go WCE, Stop the Mosques’, says banner unfurled by four Eagles fans

quote:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/05/eye-for-an-eye-iran-blinds-man-who-carried-out-acid-attack

In a literal application of the sharia law of an eye for an eye, an Iranian man convicted of blinding another man in an acid attack has been blinded in one eye, marking the first time Iran has carried out such a punishment.

The convicted acid attacker, who has not been identified, was rendered unconscious in Rajai-Shahr prison in the city of Karaj on Tuesday as medics gouged out his left eye, according to the state-owned Hamshahri newspaper.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, from Iran Human Rights (IHR), an independent NGO based in Norway, condemned the blinding as barbaric. “Medical staff who cooperate with the Iranian authorities in this act have broken the Hippocratic oath and cannot call themselves doctors,” he said.

The man had been found guilty of throwing acid in the face of his unnamed victim five years ago in the city of Qom, blinding and disfiguring him for life. He was subsequently sentenced to be blinded in both eyes, paying a fine and 10 years imprisonment.

Although the convict was sentenced to lose sight in both eyes on Tuesday, the victim – who, under Iranian law, has the final say in the punishment – decided at the last minute to postpone the blinding of his right eye for six months. The attacker will be able to plead with the plaintiff to spare him from being blinded fully.

Acid attacks have been rife in Iran in recent years, usually driven by family feuds. Hamshahri reported that the man in this case had been hired by the relatives of his victim’s wife to take revenge on their behalf. It was not clear if he had carried out the attack for financial gain or whether he was related to the wife’s family.

Iranian officials, worried about the increase in the rate of acid attacks, have endorsed retribution, but human rights activists condemn it as inhumane.

Islam’s Sharia law allows for qisas (retribution) but it also advises clemency. Under Iranian law, victims or their families have the final say in such cases and can halt the punishment at any time.

Other acid attackers have also been sentenced to be blinded in Iran, but this is the first known case where the punishment has been carried out. In most previous cases doctors had refused to cooperate with the officials.

Raha Bahreini, a researcher with Amnesty International’s Iran team, said that punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is “an unspeakably cruel and shocking act”.

She told the Guardian: “Blinding is totally prohibited under international law, along with stoning, flogging, amputation and other forms of corporal punishment provided in Iran’s Islamic penal code and must not be carried out under any circumstances.”

Instead of meting out such macabre punishments, Bahreini said Iranian authorities “should raise awareness about violence including root causes, ensure that perpetrators of acid attacks are punished with appropriate and proportionate penalties consistent with international human rights norms, and survivors are provided with effective remedies, including compensation and psychosocial and medical rehabilitation.”

Another man, identified only as Hamid, was also scheduled to be blinded in Karaj on Tuesday, but his punishment was postponed at the request of his victim, Davoud Roshanaei.

“Hamid was about to be rendered unconscious on the bed when his father entered the room and asked me for more time,” said Roshanaei, who has been disfigured and lost sight in one eye as the result of the assault. “I gave them two more months to provide me with compensation for my treatment.”

In a highly publicised case in 2011, Ameneh Bahrami, a victim of an acid attack, received international praise after pardoning her attacker hours before surgeons prepared to blind the man with acid. Bahrami was disfigured and blinded in both eyes because she had repeatedly spurned her attacker’s offer for marriage.

Last year, a spate of acid attacks on young women in Iran’s top tourist destination, Isfahan, caused national horror and outrage. Activists claimed that unlike other cases across the country, victims in Isfahan had been targeted by hardliners for wearing clothes deemed inappropriate. The authorities have vehemently denied this charge.

Anidav posted:

Like the ALP as a whole is still terrible and has a lot of room for improvement but Shorten's gotten pretty good media training and he's sometimes very Gillard-esque in Question Time. The Royal Commission into banks and Negative Gearing propositions are sound and well justified outside the fact that they were originally Greens Policies. He would probably lose this election or at the very most get into minority government but the ALPs policy platform heading into the election has been very focused on the lower to middle class which is somewhat interesting because of how Liberal-Lite it was in 2013.

All they really need to do is come up with a more humanitarian refugee platform and there isn't too much to get angry here.

I probably need a reminder though.

quote:

The Liberal backbencher Andrew Nikolic has revealed he was involved in a plan to recover children from their Lebanese father when working in the southern part of the country as a United Nations peacekeeper in the 1990s.

open24hours posted:

The 'increase in democracy', if that's even a valid way of looking at it, is so minute as not to matter.

SynthOrange posted:

The ISIS slogan he carved on the guys head was 'eye for an eye' which honestly struck me as more of a biblical thing, but I guess it could also be in the koran.

SynthOrange posted:

Milky Moor posted:

this whole 60 minutes stealing children thing is the most bizarre poo poo i've ever heard

MaliciousOnion posted:

Can't wait for this month's word cloud.

Seagull posted:

unfortunate, albo could've been a really solid disappointment