Anidav posted:

Absolutely and here's why!

Bankers Association chief Steve Munchenberg has refused to rule out a mining tax-style ad campaign to fight Labor's proposed royal commission into the banking and finance sector.
The head of the nation's banking lobbying cautioned the lobby group is not "actively considering" an ad campaign at this time, ahead of an expected July 2 double dissolution election, but said it remained on the table as one of a range of options under consideration.

And marketing consultant Toby Ralph, who has worked on 50 election campaigns across 3 continents including for the former Howard government, said he had "no doubt the banks can run a campaign that will turn the political opportunism of a royal commission into an electoral nightmare for Labor".
In 2010, the mining industry spent about $22 million on a six week ad campaign opposing Labor's proposed Resources Super Profits Tax.
The campaign effectively blew up Kevin Rudd's prime ministership and he was dumped by the ALP for Julia Gillard, who rapidly made peace with the big miners.

Labor proposed a two year, $53 million inquiry last Friday after a series of scandals at the Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and National Australia Bank, and allegations from corporate regulator ASIC that the ANZ and Westpac rigged the bank bill swap rate.
Mr Munchenberg told Fairfax Media that Labor had not made the case for a banking royal commission and that the ABA had "not ruled out" an ad campaign.
"We are not currently looking at such a thing [an advertising campaign] but we are actively considering an appropriate response from the industry. Our main focus at this stage is to highlight the fact of why we think a royal commission would not achieve anything beyond what is already being done," he said.

Mr Ralph said a campaign "would cost banks $20 million or so, being around one 10th of what they'd spend on responses to a commission".
While banks made easy targets, Mr Ralph said voters disliked politicians too.
"What makes campaigns of this nature successful is impact at the ballot box. I'd demonstrate the core truths, rather than simply claiming them, then run a marginal seat campaign talking about how a commission will increase mortgages, arguing that a vote for Labor is a green light for increased home loan rates. That would cost them seats."

Monash University economics professor Rodney Maddock has estimated the cost of the royal commission could run to $250 million - including as much as $50 million for each for the major banks.
Meanwhile, former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin accused Labor of playing a "dangerous game" with a fundamental pillar of the Australian economy.

" When the global financial system is under pressure, you don't want to be having a review based purely on politics. Banks are a key pillar of the economy and this is a dangerous game to play," he said.
Both sides of politics traded blows over the inquiry on Tuesday, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten arguing ASIC did a good job but pointing out it had been hit by a $120 million, four year funding cut in Tony Abbott's first budget in 2014.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said a royal commission would - as well as examining the financial sector - probe the power and ability of sector regulators, including ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
"Is Mr Turnbull really suggesting the right way of determining the resourcing and ability of ASIC is to have ASIC conduct an inquiry into themselves? That is what a royal commission is for."

Treasurer Scott Morrison, whose office released a fact sheet arguing ASIC had equivalent powers to a royal commission, questioned Labor push for the probe when it had ignored the findings of the royal commission into trade unions.
"It [ASIC] actually has more powers than a royal commission, because it can go ahead and rosecute ... it can act on its own motion, it can take referrals from ministers, it can compel witnesses," he said.
The federal government, which is under pressure from its own backbench for so rapidly ruling out the inquiry, has indicated ASIC could receive a funding boost in the May budget.
The government fact sheet pointed out both ASIC and a royal commission had coercive investigative powers, that penalties existed for failing to give evidence or concealing documents and that in both cases statements made under compulsion were not admissible in civil and criminal proceedings.

But Labor released a separate analysis from the independent parliamentary library that showed ASIC faced time constraints on its investigations, that ASIC's investigations occurred in private whereas royal commissions were typically conducted in the full gaze of public scrutiny and that when summoning witnesses an ASIC officer needed "reasonable grounds" for the summons whereas a royal commission generally faced no statutory prerequisites.

norp posted:

If you think no crimes have been committed with a particular type of gun in the last 125 years then I have a bridge to sell you.

News reports rarely tell you the model of gun that was used in the commission of a crime.

Kat Delacour posted:

A good graph that should be more prominent in the HECS debate (Click for article)

Mithranderp posted:

Just look at the way people carry on when someone tries to apply any sort of academic criticism to video games. If they can't handle even a simple feminist critique then it doesn't deserve to be art

GoldStandardConure posted:

LibertyCat: do you attend any arts festivals at all? Do you visit galleries or go to see a show at the theatre? You also said you would shut down the AIS, do you follow any sports at all?

Spudd posted:

Jackson Pollock is so loving good.

LibertyCat posted:

OK Farmer Brown may have poached an emu with a lever-action shotgun in 1903 or something, but it seems a stretch to go from "someone may have possibly committed a low profile crime in the last century" to "what kind of poo poo stain wants to put these guns on our streets PANIC PANIC THIS IS TERRIFYING NEW TECHNOLOGY "

Lid posted:

Charges have been formally filed against the 60 Minutes team currently imprisoned in Lebanon over a failed child recovery operation.

Four charges, including one relating to kidnapping, are expected to be brought against reporter Tara Brown and three other members of the 60 Minutes team, Channel Nine reported.

The group are expected to go before a judge within the next few hours.

lol

Jumpingmanjim posted:

https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/719799320677982208

blaze it

open24hours posted:

Even you can surely admit that the reason this gun is legal is due to an oversight when they were drafting the law. That it applies only to pump actions isn't because they didn't want to ban lever actions, but because they didn't know about them.

LibertyCat posted:

I think it looks like someone gave an autistic chimpanzee a paintbrush and too much caffeine. I guess beauty really is in the eye.

LibertyCat posted:

Don't think I'm some kind of robot who doesn't appreciate art tho. I have been to the Louvre, Sistine Chapel and a bunch of world renowned artistic sites. I enjoy exploring weird new genres of music on youtube. I play two instruments (admittedly nowhere near pro level, I play just because I enjoy it) and started when I was in primary school. Editing MIDI files is fun.

I am not kidding when I say I was more moved during the events of the Mass Effect series than I ever was by the works of Beethoven or Leonardo da Vinci. Saying video games aren't art is purely snobbery - how dare the hoi polloi have a say on what is and isn't art. Based on sales figures I'd rather see video games subsidized than some overpriced work selected by unelected wankers that is only appreciated by a tiny fraction of society.

Recoome posted:

Isn't Vatican City where they keep the dudes who concealed paedophilia in the church?

Qld police website posted:

Airsoft weapons, under current legislation, irrespective of muzzle velocity, cannot be lawfully possessed in Queensland. As an Airsoft firearm cannot be used in Queensland lawfully it cannot be imported into Queensland. Unlawful possession of such weapons may result in prosecution for weapons related offences.

There are currently no approved ranges conducting sports or target shooting allowing Airsoft firearms within Queensland. Furthermore, these firearms cannot be possessed for recreational shooting.

Airsoft weapons are defined as a prohibited import under schedule 6 of the
Customs Prohibited Imports Regulations 1956. Australian Customs Service advises that generally, Airsoft weapons do not meet the required safety standards to allow importation.

quote:

Should the Airsoft firearm replicate a military style assault rifle (Category D) then the Airsoft weapon will also be classified as a Category D weapon.

Similarly should the Airsoft firearm replicate a machine gun or sub-machine gun (Category R) then the Airsoft firearm will also be classified as a Category R weapon.

hooman posted:

Chris Berg with his most recent entry into the "dumbest thing said this century" competition:

"Tax havens perform an important function by putting downwards pressure on domestic tax rates. They are the global economy's escape valve - preventing sclerotic Western welfare states from pushing taxes up and up."

Citation needed Mr. Berg.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-12/berg-are-the-panama-papers-really-such-a-scandal/7316618

GoldStandardConure posted:

I have no problem with the licensing and regulation of paintball markers though.

Spudd posted:

We should start an AusPol Gallery where every poster submits art and whoever is voted best gets to perma-ban LibertyCat.

LibertyCat posted:

I was more moved during the events of the Mass Effect series than I ever was by the works of Beethoven or Leonardo da Vinci.

BlitzkriegOfColour posted:

Not only the stupidest opinion I've heard all day, also the worst opinion I've ever heard on the Internet.

tithin posted:

having it is important for the expression of our culture.

LibertyCat posted:

I am not kidding when I say I was more moved during the events of the Mass Effect series than I ever was by the works of Beethoven or Leonardo da Vinci.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

I had chills when I learned that the Reapers were created by an AI in order to harvest organic beings to stop them from creating AI that would kill all organic beings. Truly the most moving piece of fiction in centuries.

Mad Katter posted:

I wonder why this was suggested to me

Higsian posted:

LibertyCat posted:

Sure, but at the same level and requirements as 12ga shotguns? Should they need to be locked in a safe that is bolted down (not fun for renters)? Should paint balls be legally considered ammunition? Should a special permit be needed every time you want to buy a new marker even if you're already licensed?

If you own a paintball marker is it OK for the cops to visit your house at random just to make sure you are keeping it and the paintballs locked in a safe?

Bifauxnen posted:

Hello friends, I came to share the best video game art

LibertyCat posted:

Based on sales figures I'd rather see video games subsidized than some overpriced work selected by unelected wankers that is only appreciated by a tiny fraction of society.

Anidav posted:

Absolutely and here's why!

Bankers Association chief Steve Munchenberg has refused to rule out a mining tax-style ad campaign to fight Labor's proposed royal commission into the banking and finance sector.
The head of the nation's banking lobbying cautioned the lobby group is not "actively considering" an ad campaign at this time, ahead of an expected July 2 double dissolution election, but said it remained on the table as one of a range of options under consideration.

And marketing consultant Toby Ralph, who has worked on 50 election campaigns across 3 continents including for the former Howard government, said he had "no doubt the banks can run a campaign that will turn the political opportunism of a royal commission into an electoral nightmare for Labor".
In 2010, the mining industry spent about $22 million on a six week ad campaign opposing Labor's proposed Resources Super Profits Tax.
The campaign effectively blew up Kevin Rudd's prime ministership and he was dumped by the ALP for Julia Gillard, who rapidly made peace with the big miners.

Labor proposed a two year, $53 million inquiry last Friday after a series of scandals at the Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and National Australia Bank, and allegations from corporate regulator ASIC that the ANZ and Westpac rigged the bank bill swap rate.
Mr Munchenberg told Fairfax Media that Labor had not made the case for a banking royal commission and that the ABA had "not ruled out" an ad campaign.
"We are not currently looking at such a thing [an advertising campaign] but we are actively considering an appropriate response from the industry. Our main focus at this stage is to highlight the fact of why we think a royal commission would not achieve anything beyond what is already being done," he said.

Mr Ralph said a campaign "would cost banks $20 million or so, being around one 10th of what they'd spend on responses to a commission".
While banks made easy targets, Mr Ralph said voters disliked politicians too.
"What makes campaigns of this nature successful is impact at the ballot box. I'd demonstrate the core truths, rather than simply claiming them, then run a marginal seat campaign talking about how a commission will increase mortgages, arguing that a vote for Labor is a green light for increased home loan rates. That would cost them seats."

Monash University economics professor Rodney Maddock has estimated the cost of the royal commission could run to $250 million - including as much as $50 million for each for the major banks.
Meanwhile, former Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin accused Labor of playing a "dangerous game" with a fundamental pillar of the Australian economy.

" When the global financial system is under pressure, you don't want to be having a review based purely on politics. Banks are a key pillar of the economy and this is a dangerous game to play," he said.
Both sides of politics traded blows over the inquiry on Tuesday, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten arguing ASIC did a good job but pointing out it had been hit by a $120 million, four year funding cut in Tony Abbott's first budget in 2014.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said a royal commission would - as well as examining the financial sector - probe the power and ability of sector regulators, including ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.
"Is Mr Turnbull really suggesting the right way of determining the resourcing and ability of ASIC is to have ASIC conduct an inquiry into themselves? That is what a royal commission is for."

Treasurer Scott Morrison, whose office released a fact sheet arguing ASIC had equivalent powers to a royal commission, questioned Labor push for the probe when it had ignored the findings of the royal commission into trade unions.
"It [ASIC] actually has more powers than a royal commission, because it can go ahead and prosecute ... it can act on its own motion, it can take referrals from ministers, it can compel witnesses," he said.
The federal government, which is under pressure from its own backbench for so rapidly ruling out the inquiry, has indicated ASIC could receive a funding boost in the May budget.
The government fact sheet pointed out both ASIC and a royal commission had coercive investigative powers, that penalties existed for failing to give evidence or concealing documents and that in both cases statements made under compulsion were not admissible in civil and criminal proceedings.

But Labor released a separate analysis from the independent parliamentary library that showed ASIC faced time constraints on its investigations, that ASIC's investigations occurred in private whereas royal commissions were typically conducted in the full gaze of public scrutiny and that when summoning witnesses an ASIC officer needed "reasonable grounds" for the summons whereas a royal commission generally faced no statutory prerequisites.

LibertyCat posted:

I am not kidding when I say I was more moved during the events of the Mass Effect series than I ever was by the works of Beethoven or Leonardo da Vinci.

hooman posted:

Chris Berg with his most recent entry into the "dumbest thing said this century" competition:

"Tax havens perform an important function by putting downwards pressure on domestic tax rates. They are the global economy's escape valve - preventing sclerotic Western welfare states from pushing taxes up and up."

Citation needed Mr. Berg.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-12/berg-are-the-panama-papers-really-such-a-scandal/7316618