Auspol February 2017 - Choo choose your candidates wisely..

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol February 2017 - Choo choose your candidates wisely..

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Graic Gabtar: Dec 19, 2014; squat my posts

Anidav posted:

Should I put my net worth in another currency too?

If you want to go short term try dabbling in the GHB market.

gay picnic defence posted:

Whats the best way to deal with an apparent failure to vote notice from some local council election?

Can't really afford a fine.

Next time get one of those 'Piss off I've voted' badges.

Graic Gabtar fucked around with this message at 13:22 on Feb 22, 2017

# ? Feb 22, 2017 13:19

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 15, 2024 03:39

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

JBP posted:

Anyway what I'm saying is gently caress boomers they can suck a dick.

Wouldn't have this problem if you were more agile.

# ? Feb 22, 2017 15:36

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Looks like the government has found an innovative new solution to the problem of bracket creep... send wages backwards
http://www.theage.com.au/business/t...222-guifjc.html

# ? Feb 22, 2017 21:09

DancingShade: Jul 26, 2007; by Fluffdaddy

gay picnic defence posted:

Looks like the government has found an innovative new solution to the problem of bracket creep... send wages backwards
http://www.theage.com.au/business/t...222-guifjc.html

This innovative solution has been in place for quite some time. Surprisingly good comments on that article.

# ? Feb 22, 2017 21:46

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

https://twitter.com/clivefpalmer/status/834336677636091905

# ? Feb 22, 2017 22:30

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Solemn Sloth posted:

https://twitter.com/clivefpalmer/status/834336677636091905

Zen and the Art of Bullshit.

# ? Feb 22, 2017 22:47

The Before Times: Mar 8, 2014; Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.

Solemn Sloth posted:

https://twitter.com/clivefpalmer/status/834336677636091905

IDK why but I feel like this should be sung to the tune of "Touch-a me" from Rocky Horror

# ? Feb 22, 2017 23:54

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008

quote:

Pharmacist fights for licence after fake Viagra found at Sydney Children's Hospital

Thousands of counterfeit prescription pills made their way into Australia's official supply chain and ended up at a children's hospital in Sydney, an investigation has found.

The details of the 2010 incident have only recently come to light, as the pharmacist who supplied the fakes fights the cancellation of his licence.

A staff member at the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick was crushing Viagra tablets, which can be used to treat children with pulmonary hypertension, when she noticed something different about the pills.

"What [she] noticed was that the consistency of the tablets wasn't normal. It appeared to be a bit grittier than normal," Bruce Battye, the NSW deputy chief pharmacist said.

The hospital pharmacist phoned the manufacturer Pfizer to raise her concerns. Pfizer told her she had a counterfeit product.

When the counterfeits were analysed, authorities found they did not contain enough sildenafil.

NSW Health insisted the fakes were found before any were given to patients, but doctors said there could have been serious consequences had babies been treated with the counterfeits.

"[It's] extremely alarming that this happened," Mr Battye said.

Pharmacist fighting to reinstate licence in court

The counterfeit Viagra was unknowingly supplied by Symbion, one of Australia's biggest medical distributors.

In the three months leading up to the incident in June 2010, Symbion distributed more than 20,000 Viagra pills.

One of its suppliers was licensed pharmacist Mina Attia, who had sold Symbion fakes.

Following a lengthy investigation, Mr Attia had his registration as a pharmacist cancelled, but he is currently fighting that decision in the NSW Supreme Court.

He bought the drugs from an unlicensed supplier who sold stock from an unmarked van.

But Mr Attia told investigators he believed the pills were genuine, because they looked exactly the same as regular Viagra.

As soon as the counterfeits were discovered at the children's hospital, Symbion issued a voluntary recall of all the Viagra it had distributed since its supply had become contaminated.

It had sent the stock to more than 260 pharmacies, as well as three other hospitals. The company is refusing to name those hospitals and the regulator said it did not know where it all went.

"The TGA [Therapeutic Goods Administration] electronic recall records do not include names of the three hospitals," a TGA spokeswoman said.

Symbion said it had learnt from the incident and now only bought pharmaceuticals directly from the manufacturer.

The TGA said it had no record of any other counterfeit drugs entering the official supply chain.

Last year an Australian government operation made close to 90 seizures of illegal pills, potions and injectable drugs in a single month.

But expert Ken Gamble, who has tracked drug counterfeiters all over the world for major pharmaceutical clients, said that was likely to be a small fraction of what was coming in.

"I don't think a lot of it is being detected," he said.

"We have done a number of orders into Australia doing trap purchases, test buys � none of our orders have been stopped. So, that's an indication they're not getting everything by any means.

"Antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, you see them all. Even some of the well-known sleeping tablets, but the big business, the big money is in sexual enhancement."

Most of the fake products are produced by syndicates in Asia and Latin America. Many contain the active ingredients � in varying doses.

Those who have seen the set-ups firsthand say the online counterfeits are not worth the risk.

"You are playing with your life if you buy it online," Mr Gamble said.

"There have been known cases of lead and other chemicals that are not supposed to be in there that have been out in the drugs by accident.

"So if it's in fact getting through to chemists or pharmacies or even wholesalers, that would be a major concern because it would put it out there all over the marketplace."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-22/pharmacist-fights-for-licence-over-fake-viagra-found-at-hospital/8292814

# ? Feb 23, 2017 00:28

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

JBP posted:

"Get hosed" works fine since it's not in the government's interest to actually prosecute non voters since there are millions of anti compulsory voting dudes waiting to emerge from the woodwork.

The actual cost of prosecution needs to be factored against any revenue possibility from the fine. If you show the slightest push back it isn't fiscally responsible to prosecute so you'd need to be someone who was publicly flaunting the law to be seen as a worthwhile case for enforcement. Plenty of people just pay up, call it a stupid tax/inconvenience fee.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...34d79f4fd019b8e

quote:

Terrifying truth about rape convictions: �It shatters your belief that the world is a safe place� FEBRUARY 23, 20178:28AM

Nina Funnell�s attacker left behind DNA evidence, and yet no one has ever been charged over her violent sexual assault.

THESE are the numbers that should terrify us all.

A report just released from the Crime Statistics Agency found that in 2009 and 2010, over 3,500 rapes were reported to Victoria Police. Of those, a tiny 3% ended in a court conviction. Even more startling, 41 police reports were made against alleged perpetrators who already had at least six prior sexual offences recorded. Nearly half (18) of those reports went nowhere. No charges, no court appearance, no conviction, nothing. And these are the rapes that have been reported. Hundreds of thousands of women in Australia have been raped or sexually assaulted and never go to police. Why are charges and convictions so difficult to achieve for sexual violence? That�s something Nina Funnell knows all too well.

NINA�S STORY

Nina was sexually assaulted nearly 10 years ago, by a man who held a blade to her throat in Sydney�s Hunters Hill. Despite police eventually finding DNA evidence from the crime scene, no one has ever been charged with her assault. �When you don�t get an outcome� she says, �you feel so powerless, and so much of the trauma of sexual violence is being powerless. It shatters your belief that the world is a safe place and that justice is something you can rely on.� Nina�s experience, traumatic as it was, became worse in her dealings with NSW police. After she escaped her attacker and was desperately running for home, she called 000. She told them what had happened to her. She was still out on the street and had no idea where the man who attacked her was. The phone operator took her details and disconnected the call. Terrified, and assuming the disconnection was an accident, she called them back. Again, still alone on a dark street, with a man who had held a blade to her throat still somewhere in the vicinity, they took her details and hung up. Luckily, she got home safely and waited for police to arrive. She says she doesn�t know how long that took, a common reaction for victims of trauma, when shock and adrenaline distorts their perception of time. The police took her back to the scene of the attack, where they found one of her shoes and her broken necklace.

Later that week Nina went back to the police station to review her statement and look through photos of known offenders in her area. �It was so shocking� she says, �there were hundreds of them. And as I was looking through them all, the officer who was showing me this huge book said to me �you poor girls, you just don�t understand the risks that you take and the dangers out there�. I was still bruised and shaking from the attack, and he thought I didn�t understand the dangers? It was Hunters Hill on Sydney�s lower North Shore and all I did was walk home.� Nina couldn�t identify her attacker from the photos, and she was told it could take up to six months to process the DNA evidence. Four months after the attack, frustrated, angry, and still recovering from the horror of the it, Nina couldn�t wait any longer, so she went to the media. After her story aired on Channel 7 the DNA results for her test came back within days. She knows, however, that most people don�t have that option. �It worked for me, but only because I had contacts in the media. What it meant, of course, was someone else got pushed from the top of the list.� The results found male DNA, but no match in the NSW database. Nina doesn�t know if the DNA was ever sent to other states for matching. �I know enough about sex offenders to know it�s very unlikely a man who attacked me the way he did only did it once. But the police couldn�t tell me anything about the investigation. It was incredibly frustrating, and just made me feel powerless all over again.�

Police have to be extremely careful about the information they give to victims. If they tell them anything that might taint their evidence in court, it could mean the offender goes free. But they can explain the process to victims, and treat them with respect and dignity. �Victims might be traumatised, but that doesn�t mean they�re stupid. The communication process in my case was terrible. I just felt like they weren�t doing anything and didn�t care about what happened to me.� Worse was to come. Five years later NSW policeman Marc Osbourne was found guilty of three counts of filming a person engaged in a private act without consent after he videoed himself having sex with various women and showing the films to other officers at Gladesville police station. The same station Nina was taken to look at photos of sex offenders, and told she should be �more aware of dangers�. �I just felt violated all over again. I felt like that was the culture there, that the people who were meant to be taking my case seriously, the ones I was so vulnerable to, and put so much trust in, were laughing at sexual exploitation of women.�

THE PROBLEM WITH POLICE

Police, as Nina experienced, are the gatekeepers of criminal proceedings against sexually violent offenders. They decide whether to investigate a reported crime, and how thoroughly they are going to do so. They also make the decision about whether to take the results of the investigation to the next stage � laying charges and bringing the perpetrator to court. Most police take sexual offences very seriously. The problem, according to a wide body of research is not that they don�t care, it�s more commonly that they don�t understand the difference between the reality of sexual violence and the misconception of �real rape�. Police are less likely to press forward with cases where the perpetrator was the victim�s husband or boyfriend, where the victim and her assailant were on a date, where the victim was intoxicated, where she has no visible injuries, or where they believe she was not a �good� woman. It�s also not unusual for police to believe the myth that women commonly lie about rape.

The truth is that this is how most rapes happen. Most victims know their rapist. Not all victims can or do fight back. There is no such thing as �good� women and �bad� women. Not all rapists leave bruises. Rapists can be �nice guys� who have friends, families and communities. Victims can present as very calm and methodical. And women almost never lie about rape. In fact, women are forty-five times more likely to not report a rape than to lie about rape. This mismatch between belief and reality goes some way to explaining why so few rapes go beyond the initial report. There is, however, more to the story.

RAPE ON TRIAL

Misconceptions about rape persist beyond police, they carry through the entire justice system. Juries have been shown to �pay more attention to evidence of character and conduct than they do to substantive evidence of rape�. Defence lawyers know this, and therefore their most effective and regularly used tactic is to discredit the victim�s character rather than their evidence. Mitchell Peggie is a case in point. He was charged with sexually assaulting a 17 year old girl in Queensland in 2014, and was acquitted in 2015. A week after his acquittal, he raped a 21 year old woman, and was convicted. During the trial his victim was subjected to a gruelling cross examination by the defence barrister. He asked if she had been �moaning and gasping with pleasure� during the rape, grilled her about why she was wearing �sexy lingerie�, showed photos of her bra and underpants to the jury, insisted she was lying about the rape as revenge because she didn�t like the way Peggie treated her, and asked �What did you think was going to happen?� when she testified about agreeing to go for a walk with Peggie. After his conviction, yet another woman told the Courier Mail that Peggie had sexually assaulted her, but she did not report it to police at the time. Obviously, only in one of those cases was Peggie proved to have committed rape, but the brutal questioning of his victim in that trial demonstrates why so many victims are hesitant about taking their cases to court. Police and prosecutors, when they make decisions about whether to take a case further must take all these things into account. Where they think a case doesn�t have a reasonable chance of reaching a guilty verdict, they may decide, as much for the victim�s sake as anything else, to not take it any further. In many cases, victims will start to understand the process they will have to go through to obtain a conviction and simply decide it�s not worth it. Horrifically low reporting and conviction rates for sexually violent crimes has been the subject of several law reform commissions and numerous research project, but very little has changed over the last 40 years. Debunking misconceptions about rape in the public perception, and more importantly in all levels of the criminal justice system, is one essential step. But much more needs to be done to ensure that victims are given the belief, support and respect they so desperately need.

BREAKING DOWN THE STATISTICS

Australia - Less than 15% of rapes are reported to police.

Victoria: 2009 � 2010
7,066 rape, indecent assault and incest were reported to Victoria Police (of these, 3513 were reports of rape).
2,381 reports resulted in further investigation.
1,643 went to court.
631 recorded a conviction in Magistrates or Children�s court.
583 were transferred to a higher court (rape cases cannot be tried in the Victorian Magistrates court).
Approximately 90 rape convictions were recorded in higher courts.
Approximately 40 indecent assault convictions were recorded in higher courts.
Approximately 50 incest convictions were recorded in higher courts.

New South Wales: 2015
10,944 reports of sex offences made to NSW police.
1,734 reports resulted in criminal proceedings.
1,603 reports went to court.
932 reports found guilty.
523 offenders received a custodial sentence.

Sweden has one of the highest reported rape rates in the world this is because the Swedes have managed to improve reporting and prosecution. Maybe we should look at what they are doing right?

# ? Feb 23, 2017 00:37

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

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-22/pharmacist-fights-for-licence-over-fake-viagra-found-at-hospital/8292814

article posted:

He bought the drugs from an unlicensed supplier who sold stock from an unmarked van.

I'm innocent your honour!

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:00

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

A new era in productivity and profitability for small business awaits.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:05

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

open24hours posted:

A new era in productivity and profitability for small business awaits.

Did they?

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:11

cvisors: Sep 24, 2003; Carnage Visors; Sugartime Jones

here we go,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-23/weekend-penalty-rates-fair-work-commission-decision/8295758

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:11

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

Oh my lord. The ALP vote is gonna skyrocket

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:13

open24hours: Jan 7, 2001

You might be able to get away with this kind of thing during a boom, but not now.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:20

The Before Times: Mar 8, 2014; Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.

cvisors posted:

here we go,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-23/weekend-penalty-rates-fair-work-commission-decision/8295758

wages going backwards in tyool 2017

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:24

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

Bill Shorten has such an election winning hand.

gently caress Negative Gearing
gently caress the Banks
gently caress paycuts

How could you even lose the next election with political capital like that?

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:24

JBP: Feb 16, 2017; You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.

First they came for the penalty rate and I did nothing for I was not a penalty rate.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:25

iajanus: Aug 17, 2004; NUMBER 1 QUEENSLAND SUPPORTER
MAROONS 2023 STATE OF ORIGIN CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE

Anidav posted:

Bill Shorten has such an election winning hand.

gently caress Negative Gearing
gently caress the Banks
gently caress paycuts

How could you even lose the next election with political capital like that?

Because he's Bill Shorten.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:26

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

iajanus posted:

Because he's Bill Shorten.

Not even Bill Shorten could gently caress this up.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:30

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

You know how stagflation is the great boogieman of Keynsian economics.

What do you can what we have now? With flat wage growth and the most productive parts of the economy being rentseeking?

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:33

Seemlar: Jun 18, 2002

Anidav posted:

Not even Bill Shorten could gently caress this up.

Pretty sure Bill's stated position on this has been "the FWC is independent so we'll stand by their decision" so there isn't much room for him to come out guns blazing on it

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:37

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

Seemlar posted:

Pretty sure Bill's stated position on this has been "the FWC is independent so we'll stand by their decision" so there isn't much room for him to come out guns blazing on it

Actually he adopted the Greens lite position last month

quote:

Opposition leader Bill Shorten will promise in a speech on Wednesday evening that if the commission decides to reduce Sunday overtime - a move that could affect nearly 800,000 people in the retail and hospital industry - Labor will move to change the law to protect workers' take-home pay.

Mr Shorten's promise stops short of the Greens' pledge, during the 2016 election, to put a floor under penalty rates but enshrines in law workers' overall take-home wage.

The pledge to legislate in a speech at the John Curtin Research Centre in Melbourne goes further than Labor has previously promised.

Crucially, it will give the Labor opposition fresh impetus to campaign over the issue and take the fight to the Turnbull government over what is a key question for tens of thousands of workers, who rely on higher rates on Sundays to pay the bills.

The commission's decision on Sunday rates was due to be handed down last year and is being closely watched by business, employer and union groups.

A decision is now not expected until the end of February at the earliest. The opposition's political strategy depends on the commission's ruling.

By introducing legislation to protect penalty rates - which is unlikely to pass the House, but would likely pass the Senate - Labor will effectively be daring the government to vote against penalty rates, and for a reduction in wages.

Mr Shorten will say in his speech on Wednesday night that Labor understands "penalty rates are not a luxury" but, rather, that they help families put food on the table and petrol in the tank.

"That's why, when I was the Minister for Workplace Relations, Labor changed the modern awards objective so that the Fair Work Commission had to recognise the sacrifice of working 'unsocial, irregular or unpredictable hours, and on weekends or public holidays' when setting awards."

"Yet now, when inequality is at a 75-year high and wages growth is the lowest on record . . . the Turnbull Government has done nothing to protect penalty rates. In fact – more than 60 members of the government, from Malcolm Turnbull down, are on the record arguing that penalty rates should be cut - or abolished altogether."

Cutting penalty rates would be un-Australian, Mr Shorten will argue, but legislating their level - a "stupidity" proposed by the Greens - would be "impractical".

Therefore, Labor would not "seek to legislate penalty rates, but if necessary, we would consider changing the rules, which guide the exercise of the commission's discretion. If the commission were to cut penalty rates for hundreds of thousands of already low-paid workers without sufficient compensation - leaving people worse off, Labor would not accept this."

The commission's review of awards in the hospitality, retail, restaurant, fast food, hair and beauty and pharmacy industries takes place every four years and there is a broad expectation in political circles that it could cut rates so that they are reduced to the same, lower, level as Saturday rates.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:40

You Am I: May 20, 2001; Me @ your poasting

cvisors posted:

here we go,

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-23/weekend-penalty-rates-fair-work-commission-decision/8295758

Oh yeah, really gently caress over those poors.

I hope people refuse to work Sundays and Public Holidays en mass over this.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:41

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

gently caress this government

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:45

JBP: Feb 16, 2017; You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.

You Am I posted:

Oh yeah, really gently caress over those poors.

I hope people refuse to work Sundays and Public Holidays en mass over this.

They won't because the industry already exploits people and doesn't slow down. Nothing will change, everyone will rock up.

I called someone out for advertising $18 cash per hour on a FB job board and loads of people sprang to their defense for "giving kids a chance to work".

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:46

I would blow Dane Cook: Dec 26, 2008

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:47

Webcormac McCarthy: Nov 26, 2007

The march of the boomers goes on

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:47

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Never thought I'd see that particular worm turn.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:49

Graic Gabtar: Dec 19, 2014; squat my posts

You Am I posted:

Oh yeah, really gently caress over those poors.

I hope people refuse to work Sundays and Public Holidays en mass over this.

ffs FWC.

Most probably can't afford not to work. Just directly tip them when you go out.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:54

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

Graic Gabtar posted:

Just directly tip them when you go out.

don't start that poo poo here

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:55

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

Lmao yes. This will add tipping. Exactly what Australia needs!

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:57

iajanus: Aug 17, 2004; NUMBER 1 QUEENSLAND SUPPORTER
MAROONS 2023 STATE OF ORIGIN CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE

Graic Gabtar posted:

ffs FWC.

Most probably can't afford not to work. Just directly tip them when you go out.

Oh good, we can go further down the Americanisation of our country. It's worked out so well for them, you know.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:58

Zenithe: Feb 25, 2013; _{Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.}

LOL if you think most of the people this affects can accept tips.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 01:59

JBP: Feb 16, 2017; You've got to know, to understand,
Baby, take me by my hand,
I'll lead you to the promised land.

Eagerly awaiting my first "this member has committed suicide" email.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:02

kirbysuperstar: Nov 11, 2012; Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

Graic Gabtar posted:

Just directly tip them when you go out.

Ahahaha

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:08

Graic Gabtar: Dec 19, 2014; squat my posts

iajanus posted:

Oh good, we can go further down the Americanisation of our country. It's worked out so well for them, you know.

How about we don't. The comment was in the context of people withdrawing their labour. I was just commenting on what I would do in preference to that.

Zenithe posted:

LOL if you think most of the people this affects can accept tips.

I don't.

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:09

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

The FWC even said that many people currently rely on penalty rates just to make ends meet, but who gives a gently caress. Guillotine the loving lot IMO

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:15

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

Hmm maybe now is a good time for change from within

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:16

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 15, 2024 03:39

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Solemn Sloth posted:

The FWC even said that many people currently rely on penalty rates just to make ends meet, but who gives a gently caress. Guillotine the loving lot IMO

This will adversely affect workers but improve trading hours!

That's the best outcome right? RIGHT? *works in gina's mine for 2$ a day*

# ? Feb 23, 2017 02:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol February 2017 - Choo choose your candidates wisely..

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