TheBlackVegetable posted:

Why are they holding Kiwis on Christmas Island? Not that anyone else should be held there, but surely that's a dumb move politically?

TheBlackVegetable posted:

Why are they holding Kiwis on Christmas Island? Not that anyone else should be held there, but surely that's a dumb move politically?

Birdstrike posted:

Wayne Swan is dope.

Unimpressed posted:

This is a stupid policy from a govt trying to be "tough on crime".

At the same time, it's stupid that you can live here all your life and not be required to become a citizen, it's what enables these absurdities to occur like people who've lived here all their lives suddenly being deported to their "real country". They should change the laws so that your visa expires after 7 years or so, and you have ample opportunity to become a citizen. How is living here without being a full member of society (i.e. not voting) good for you or for the country?
I came here on a PR visa and could have kept extending it indefinitely, but as soon as it was possible, I became a citizen so I can vote (for Laybah ).

Box Hill Strangler posted:

ftfy

Unimpressed posted:

This is a stupid policy from a govt trying to be "tough on crime".

At the same time, it's stupid that you can live here all your life and not be required to become a citizen, it's what enables these absurdities to occur like people who've lived here all their lives suddenly being deported to their "real country". They should change the laws so that your visa expires after 7 years or so, and you have ample opportunity to become a citizen. How is living here without being a full member of society (i.e. not voting) good for you or for the country?
I came here on a PR visa and could have kept extending it indefinitely, but as soon as it was possible, I became a citizen so I can vote (for Laybah ).

quote:

We shall fight them on the beaches.

Drones will be flown above beaches, and 20 listening stations built along the NSW coast to track sharks in real-time, in a $16 million high-tech strategy to combat shark attacks.

The wide-ranging plan to protect swimmers and surfers with eco-friendly barrier nets, new technology and helicopter surveillance, will be announced by the Baird government on Sunday at Coogee Beach.

The five-year program represents a significant funding boost from the $1.5 million spent annually on shark meshing.
Sonar shark detection devices are to be trialled at five NSW beaches.

Sonar shark detection devices are to be trialled at five NSW beaches. Photo: Supplied

Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said NSW would be the first government to trial so many new shark mitigation technologies at once.

The use of shark-detecting drones will start in December, coinciding with the beach holiday season.

Real-time tracking of tagged sharks using 4G technology will meanwhile begin with 10 shark listening stations deployed between Tweed Heads and Forster on the north coast. The stations will include Byron Bay, Lennox Head, Ballina and Evans Head.
Australia has the highest rate of shark attacks in the world.

Australia has the highest rate of shark attacks in the world. Photo: Paul Johnston

Another 10 stations will be built at known shark attack locations.

The SharkSmart app will be upgraded to allow the public to receive shark alerts in near real-time on mobile phones and tablets. A similar system is being used in Western Australia.

North coast towns have been the worst hit by the recent spike in white shark attacks, and will be allocated two of the six barrier nets to be trialled at beaches.

The barriers, developed in Western Australia, reduce the risk of other marine life becoming entangled in the net.

Shark-detecting sonar systems will be trialled at five beaches, including at least one Sydney metropolitan beach.

The Clever Buoy uses sonar to detect and distinguish the type of shark, and sends a signal to an Optus satellite which alerts the local life-saving club.

Sonar buoys would be deployed near the 4G listening stations, to test their accuracy, the government said.

"After considering the advice from experts attending a recent summit in Sydney and consulting with communities including the North Coast, we will take a multi-faceted approach to the issue of detecting and deterring sharks," Mr Blair said.

"We are proud to be the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to adopt an integrated approach toward keeping our beaches safe."

Helicopter surveillance of the coast will also be significantly boosted, with $3.5 million allocated.

The Baird government last month convened a meeting of international shark experts to consider a shortlist of new technologies that may be appropriate for NSW beaches, in response to rising attacks.

NSW has seen 13 attacks this year, including one fatality. This compares to two fatalities from three attacks in 2014.

While $7.7 million will be spent on the technology trials and surveillance, another $7 million is to be allocated to shark science and research. Annual grants will be offered to encourage new innovation, and more expert staff hired to the tagging program.

Sydney beaches will be included in the trials, with locations to be chosen in consultation with the technology providers, a government spokeswoman said.

Xerxes17 posted:

They're probably being so harsh on the Kiwis in order to be able to say:

"See, we can be utterly inhumane to whites too! Therefore stop the botes is :notracist:. QED.

-Negligent"

open24hours posted:

norp posted:

Seems way more appropriate than Barnett with his "kill them there sharks" approach.

norp posted:

Seems way more appropriate than Barnett with his "kill them there sharks" approach.

open24hours posted:

open24hours posted:

Spending $16 million on drones and other ridiculous crap to ward off the grey menace isn't appropriate in any sense of the word. If you're not prepared to be killed and eaten by a shark, stay out of the water.

open24hours posted:

Spending $16 million on drones and other ridiculous crap to ward off the grey menace isn't appropriate in any sense of the word. If you're not prepared to be killed and eaten by a shark, stay out of the water.

open24hours posted:

Jumpingmanjim posted:

Please use this technology to redirect all sharks to Cronulla and Manly

Frogmanv2 posted:

I'm sorry thread. I will stop responding to Negligent.

Mr Chips posted:

Or just have Bernard Fanning stationed a few hundred metres off the beach to sing.

quote:

Lego refuses to supply bricks for Weiwei installation at National Gallery of Victoria because of 'political context' By Simon Lauder

Part of a major international exhibition planned for Melbourne has been thrown into doubt after toymaker, Lego, refused to supply building blocks for the project.

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei said Lego refused his studio's request for a bulk order of Lego to create an artwork to be shown at the National Gallery of Victoria. A spokeswoman for the National Gallery of Victoria said the Lego was required for a "room scale installation" Ai Weiwei was planning, highlighting Australian activists and advocates for human rights and free speech. The gallery is planning to bring the works of Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei to Melbourne this summer, in the largest international contemporary show ever held at the gallery. In an Instagram post, the artist said Lego told him "they cannot approve the use of Legos for political works".

chaos rhames posted:

It's for tourism, they don't want a chinese family getting eaten and scaring off people from Bondi or whatever.

open24hours posted:

Mad Katter posted:

I know in South Australia they have helicopters and planes flying over beaches to spot sharks. This seems like it could potentially save money over the long term.

I know an Auspol goon is involved in this, but I can only remember his real name right now.

Mad Katter posted:

I know in South Australia they have helicopters and planes flying over beaches to spot sharks. This seems like it could potentially save money over the long term.

I know an Auspol goon is involved in this, but I can only remember his real name right now.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

I want to be a helicopter shark spotter.

Birdstrike posted:

I feel that a helicopter shark would be highly conspicuous and anyone could take your job, consigning you back to the mass of leaners blighting the nation.

open24hours posted:

quote:

The debate over mandatory bicycle helmet laws is still stirring passions

They've been in place for 25 years but it seems Australia's mandatory bike helmet laws are still stoking passions and stirring controversy.

The helmet laws have emerged as the surprise focus of federal Parliament's so-called "nanny state" inquiry.

Set up by libertarian senator David Leyonhjelm​, the inquiry is examining a wide array of laws and regulations that may be seen to unnecessarily impinge on people's freedoms.

"I thought the Sydney lock-out laws would be the big one," Senator Leyonhjelm said. "I didn't think we would get swamped by the helmets."

Australia was the first country to impose mandatory bike helmet laws in the early 1990s to prevent serious head injuries; very few other nations have followed suit. About half of the 400 submissions made to the inquiry so far focus on helmets, many of them from people who want the laws relaxed or scrapped.

Some complain about the inconvenience, saying many more people would use bikes – delivering increased health, traffic and environmental benefits – if helmets were not mandatory.

Others complain about a loss of civil liberties and the diversion of police resources to enforce helmet use. Still others complain about discomfort from sweating and ruined hairstyles.

One submission makes the point that a woman can legally smoke 40 cigarettes a day throughout a pregnancy.

"Yet after birth if the baby is put on the back of a pushbike without a helmet suddenly the concern for the child's health is paramount," it says.

The inquiry also heard from the mayor of Fremantle, Brad Pettitt, who says the most effective way to get people on to bikes would be to allow people to go helmet-free on cycle paths and low-speed roads.

One woman says she was a "conscientious objector" to the laws when they were first introduced because she believed them to be misguided. She was repeatedly fined but refused to pay and was eventually briefly jailed.

She subsequently gave up cycling altogether.

But a joint submission by the Australasian College of Road Safety, The Australian Injury Prevention Network and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons says the evidence is clear and overwhelming that bike helmets reduce the risk of serious head injuries.

"Recent survey results support claims that the anti-helmet lobby is not a realistic or objective representation of the general public's point of view. Surveys suggest the overwhelming majority of Australians are supportive of our government's laws to regulate the wearing of bicycle helmets."

Kidsafe says helmet laws are of "critical importance" in the reduction of road trauma for children and do not impinge upon personal liberties.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 1.15 million people regularly cycle in Australia – about 6.2 per cent of the population.

Vicroads says Victoria's helmet laws resulted in a 16 per cent reduction in head injuries when they were introduced in 1990.

But a 2011 study by the Cycling Promotion Fund and the Heart Foundation did find 16.5 per cent of Australians were deterred from riding more often because they have to wear a helmet.

Newcastle academic Jai Cooper takes the laws very seriously indeed, saying the helmet laws reflect Australia's "velophobia" – the fear of cycling.

"The laws exemplify the application of Hobbesian​ notions of human nature and the control of an unruly population by a Leviathan state," he says. "Helmet laws are thus an easily visible means to panoptically​ control the cycling population."

Negligent posted:

cyclists will happily complain about the nanny state in the same breath that they enjoy public open spaces and infrastructure that comes about as a result of government transport and planning policy

go read Hobbes some more, when there is no state, there is only continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Negligent posted:

if people choose not to wear helmets so be it, Darwinism in action

Negligent posted:

cyclists will happily complain about the nanny state in the same breath that they enjoy public open spaces and infrastructure that comes about as a result of government transport and planning policy

go read Hobbes some more, when there is no state, there is only continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.