gay picnic defence posted:

If this is happening now when interest rates are at record lows imagine how it'll look if the RBA ever returns rates to normal. I wonder if they even can raise them to normal now, there must be thousands of people with loans whose interest rates float with the official cash rate, even the smallest rise might set off a wave of defaults.

Starshark posted:

Name one policy the Liberals passed.

Name one.

quote:

NBN Co has signed a signed a billion-dollar, four-year contract with a consortium of six partners for construction work in the Telstra hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) footprint.

Lend Lease, Broadspectrum, Fulton Hogan, Downer, ISGM and BSA will tackle the construction of the NBN in Telstra HFC areas, which span around 3.5 million premises.

NBN Co expects to have completed construction to 900,000 premises within the footprint by next August.

NBN Co renegotiated its $11 billion definitive agreements with Telstra in late 2014 to include the telco's HFC network. In April this year, the network builder gave Telstra an extra $1.6 billion to help design and manage the HFC network.

That deal means Telstra will manage the six new construction partners in consultation with NBN Co. The network builder will take over the HFC network management once the build is complete.

NBN Co declined to detail the total cost of the new construction deal. The contract is understood to be worth several hundred million in the first year alone.

KennyTheFish posted:

The marginal cost per train is not a lot once the track is there, and having a train every 10 minutes makes it convenient so people use it. The trains are not some strange future technology, they are on tracks running on those sorts of schedules right now around the world.

If the population projections hold, we need to do something about the sprawl in the major capital cities. We need more capacity to deal with it, and with the timelines involved we need to start soon.

Starshark posted:

Can't find a news article on this, but apparently Cash has said that the Libs have been good for employment even though full time jobs have dropped.

Name one policy the Liberals passed that helped employment.

Name one.

Lid posted:

The Nauru government has launched a bizarre broadside at Australian and New Zealand media, accusing the Guardian, the ABC, Fairfax and Radio New Zealand of “spreading lies” and failing “dismally” in an attempt to destabilise it.

Anidav posted:

So apparently the Perth hospital used materials sourced from a Chinese company which has done a fuckload of construction in Australia over the years claiming asbestos free materials. A related construction project in Brisbane is now also found to contain asbestos. So now everyone is trying to track down all the projects this company was involved in because it seems like the company was telling lies the whole time and selling Australia contaminated materials.

Lmao. So much for import regulations.

thatfatkid posted:

High Speed Rail connecting the major population centres on the east coast is a legitimately good idea.

1 - Will reduce domestic air travel between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Some of the most heavily trafficked air routes in the world.
2 - Will reduce traffic between said population centres. Thereby reducing road deaths and decreasing maintenance costs of the major highways.
3 - Will create a shitload of both unskilled and skilled jobs during the construction and then operation phases.
4 - Will allow for the Australian population to grow outside of the capital cities due to an increased interconnectedness between major population centres.
5 - Large scale nation building infrastructure projects are a good thing.

Sticko posted:

Malcolm will decide that it is too expensive, and to cut costs, people will use ponies for the last mile for each stop. These ponies will be bought for 10bil from Testra Equine.

Anidav posted:

So apparently the Perth hospital used materials sourced from a Chinese company which has done a fuckload of construction in Australia over the years claiming asbestos free materials. A related construction project in Brisbane is now also found to contain asbestos. So now everyone is trying to track down all the projects this company was involved in because it seems like the company was telling lies the whole time and selling Australia contaminated materials.

Lmao. So much for import regulations.

Frogfingers posted:

Not to mention we're exporting coal to import cheaper, shittier steel. Also the apartment fires in South Melbourne causes by fire retarded building cladding being unexpectedly extremely inflammable. There's a whole new industry in trying to make sure these imports are above board that hasn't materialised yet but is about a decade overdue already.

Sticko posted:

Malcolm will decide that it is too expensive, and to cut costs, people will use ponies for the last mile for each stop. These ponies will be bought for 10bil from Testra Equine.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Didn't this happen like a year or two ago with Chinese cabling that was catching on fire?

e:Nope, I was thinking of this.


Should've kept reading.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Didn't this happen like a year or two ago with Chinese cabling that was catching on fire?

e:Nope, I was thinking of this.


Should've kept reading.

Solemn Sloth posted:

Wow weird almost as if you can't trust self regulation

Beetphyxious posted:

No, dodgy electrical wiring was a thing too. Was sold at Bunnings and other retailers.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...2-1226737712105

Beetphyxious posted:

A Bolt has no standards.

quote:

Malcolm Turnbull evades questions over whether he donated $1 million to broke Liberal Party campaign Latika Bourke July 15 2016 - 9:21AM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declined to confirm or deny reports he forked out $1 million of his own money into the election campaign after the Liberal Party ran low on cash as a result of the leadership change. Liberal sources confirmed to Fairfax Media donations from the private sector dried up in the aftermath of the September leadership coup. The party's financial dire straits were so bad during the marathon eight-week campaign the Liberals had to scrimp on their advertising earlier to afford a blitz during the final week, when political ads are thought to be most effective. One Liberal MP said they were regularly approached and offered donations on the proviso they were not redirected to Mr Turnbull's federal campaign.

The Australian reported on Friday that Mr Turnbull, a multi-millionaire some estimate could be worth as much as $200 million, had dipped into his own pocket to fund $1 million worth of Liberal Party advertising. Asked to confirm or deny the report, Mr Turnbull's office declined to answer and instead said all donations would be disclosed and made public. "Donations to the Liberal Party are disclosed in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Act," a spokesman for the Prime Minister said. The Australian Electoral Commission says parties must disclose their donors identities each financial year, if their contributions exceed $13,000. But records for the 2016 election campaign will not be made public until February 2017. Asked about the apparent donation on Friday, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said he was "not aware whether the report is accurate but there is a process of disclosure enshrined in legislation and that process applies to everyone" (really? because...). Liberal Party finances took a hit earlier this year when the NSW Electoral Commission announced it was withholding $4.4 million in public funding from the NSW Liberals until the party formally disclosed who donated $693,000 to it via a controversial fundraising body, the Free Enterprise Foundation.

Cabinet Secretary and prominent New South Wales Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos has previously called for election donations to be declared in real-time to increase transparency and public confidence in the political process. In a statement issued on Friday morning, Liberal Party federal director Tony Nutt said any claim the party was "either in debt or broke is false", but he did not deny Mr Turnbull had contributed money. "The party's finances are soundly managed by the honourary federal treasurer, Andrew Burnes," he said. "Donations to the Liberal Party are disclosed in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Act."(a blatant falsehood see above)

quote:

Indigenous suicide: Thousands call for royal commission, prevention measures By Leonie Thorne Posted Thu 14 Jul 2016, 5:15am

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a royal commission into what researchers say are "catastrophic" levels of suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Suicide prevention researcher Gerry Georgatos created the Change.org petition addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and wrote that a royal commission is "the only shot we have left" at addressing the issue. "A royal commission is the most powerful mechanism in the nation," Mr Georgatos said. "It has the human resource power to do the deep examinations and put together the bevy of researchers that is required."

Telephone counselling

Lifeline on 13 11 14
Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
Headspace on 1800 650 890

Over 21,000 Australians have signed the petition since Sunday.

Among those calling for a royal commission are this year's National Indigenous Human Rights Awards recipients and several past NAIDOC winners, including Australian of the Year awards finalist Rosalie Kunoth-Monks. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP), which Mr Georgatos is a member of, has also previously backed a royal commission into the issue. Around 5.2 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths are officially registered as suicides according to ATSISPEP but Mr Georgatos estimated the actual figure could be closer to 10 per cent. "That's an abomination - moral, political and otherwise," he said. "It's the worst rate of suicide in the world through a racialised lens ... either [one in 19] or [one in 10 deaths due to suicide]. "These statistics are staggering and harrowing and should be leading to a royal commission."

People suffering from 'funeral fatigue'

Remote communities in Western Australia are hit the hardest, with suicide rates among the worst in the world, according to a report published in the Medical Journal of Australia last month. The research found that 102 of the 125 people who took their life in the Kimberley in the past decade were Indigenous. Dameyon Bonson, founder of Indigenous LGBTI suicide prevention body Black Rainbow, agreed a royal commission was needed. "They're losing people and going to funerals, so they're never out of this cycle of grief," the Indigenous Human Rights Awards recipient said. Wes Morris, coordinator of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC), played an instrumental role in initiating the first of three coronial inquests in 2007 which investigated suicide in the region after a string of 10 deaths in 2006. "People [in the Kimberley region] are funeral fatigued," he said. "I've lost track of the number of inquiries and submissions we've lodged dating back to 2007. "We have inquiries by death, two more inquests going on now, we've got the Coroner doing a fourth inquest in October, and none of this ever leads anywhere. The situation never improves." The report in the Medical Journal of Australia found that the number of suicides in the Kimberley region has more than doubled in the past decad'e.

'The number one resilience factor is culture'

Mr Bonson, who spent six years working in frontline Indigenous health services, said he saw some of the deaths as a response to "ongoing racism". "This isn't racism about name calling or not being sat next to on a bus, it's about the systemic exclusion of [Aboriginal people]," he said.

The elders left behind

There's a suicide epidemic in remote Australia. These are the people trying to pick up the pieces. Mr Bonson said the Hope Report, published after the coronial inquests, spoke to these systemic issues but the recommendations made are yet to be actioned on. Mr Morris said a major part of why current efforts were not working was the focus on treating Indigenous suicide prevention as a mental health issue, rather than an issue that should be addressed culturally. "We can't change the 200 years of Australian society, and in the next 50 years we will make some changes in improving the outcomes for Aboriginal people," he said. "But whilst we're doing all of that, what we need to ensure is that we're working on the protective resilience factors that make young people strong. "The number one resilience factor is culture — if people understand where they fit into the world and their place in the world and are proud of their identity, then that is the number one protective factor.

quote:

Tougher eligibility rules force thousands off the disability pension and into financial hardship Thursday 14 July 2016 6:50AM

The Federal Government's welfare-to-work reforms are pushing thousands of people off the disability pension and into financial hardship. Welfare rights organisations say their work is increasingly taken up with these cases. Tougher eligibility rules, first introduced by the Gillard Labor Government in 2012 and extended by the Coalition, have resulted in more than 30,000 people being taken off Disability Support Payments in the past year. It's the biggest annual drop on record. Those deemed to have a 'partial capacity' for work are moved onto the Newstart allowance, which pays $173 a week less than the pension. It's a big hit, and the Turnbull government announced in the May budget that a further 90,000 existing Disability Support Pensioners will face medical reviews over the next three years.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Starshark posted:

But think of the dogs no-one will want anymore, Chris...

starkebn posted:

this is getting serious

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-15/china-tells-australia-stay-out-of-the-south-china-sea/7631492?WT.tsrc=Facebook

Starshark posted:

Looks like it's time to start building Liberty Prime.