- Ragingsheep
- Nov 7, 2009
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Mandatory retirement savings (super) is a good thing imo - just cut down on the number of tax concessions.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:51
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Jun 11, 2024 03:32
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- thatfatkid
- Feb 20, 2011
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by Azathoth
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Huh? At my AMERICAN employer, we call long service leave 'sabbatical'. And my superannuation is called 401k where instead of paying me less and then paying 9% super on top, they pay me more and match my contributions to it, all pre-tax. Or I can just keep the money and not contribute, but then that's throwing money away. Not sure about penalty rates because I've only worked 9 - 5 jobs, but I did get overtime 1.5x.
How much of that is because you are skilled and work for a decent employer? Are such benefits legislatively mandated like in Australia?
Is there a Fair Work Commission? Are there strong workers unions? Are memberships to these unions tax deductible?
Australian working conditions are some of the best in the world, it's laughable that someone would actively pursue moving to another country because of them.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:52
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- Bald Stalin
- Jul 11, 2004
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Our posts
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You exaggerated when you said all those things are unheard of. I'm not arguing with you about anything.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:54
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- thatfatkid
- Feb 20, 2011
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by Azathoth
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I mentioned penalty rates, superannuation, long service leave in relation to Australia's labour laws. It's not an exaggeration to say that such laws are unheard of outside of Australia.
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Jun 30, 2015 01:58
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- CATTASTIC
- Mar 31, 2010
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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SEMANTICS!
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Jun 30, 2015 02:00
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- Bald Stalin
- Jul 11, 2004
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Our posts
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I mentioned penalty rates, superannuation, long service leave in relation to Australia's labour laws. It's not an exaggeration to say that such laws are unheard of outside of Australia.
Yes it is. Just last week, the kid in his early 20s from the car rental place that picked me up asked where my accent was from, and then when I said Australia, asked why I moved here. Then he started discussing how he would love to work in a place like Australia. Last year an Uber driver told me he had family in Australia and heard it's a lovely place to work.
They've heard all about Australia's great labor laws 
But seriously, many countries in Europe have legislated penalty rates, including higher rates on weekends/holidays. It varies by state in the USA. I didn't know that long service leave was law in Australia.
Bald Stalin fucked around with this message at 02:13 on Jun 30, 2015
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Jun 30, 2015 02:01
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- MysticalMachineGun
- Apr 5, 2005
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Christ. There's no tipping point, is there? It just keeps going.
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Jun 30, 2015 03:13
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- norp
- Jan 20, 2004
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TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP
let's invade New Zealand, they have oil
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I didn't know that long service leave was law in Australia.
The details vary by state (and some ancient awards override them too) http://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/long-service-leave
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Jun 30, 2015 03:26
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- Lid
- Feb 18, 2005
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And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.
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quote:Labor has left the door open for the caucus to reverse Kevin Rudd's rule that makes it nearly impossible for the party's elected leader to be toppled in a midnight coup.
The Australian Labor Party's draft national constitution, published on its website, includes changes made to the way the leader is elected - by an equally weighted ballot of caucus and party members.
But significantly, it does not include the caucus-approved rule that the prime minister can only be removed if 75 per cent of the caucus agrees to force a ballot. This is lower - 60 per cent of caucus - for an opposition leader.
 shorten
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Jun 30, 2015 03:53
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- CATTASTIC
- Mar 31, 2010
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Who would lead if they got rid of him?
They've tacked pretty hard right, there's no point in changing leaders if they're just going stay LNP-lite.
Unless they're seriously expecting people to vote for a fresh face on the same policies.
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Jun 30, 2015 04:23
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- Synthbuttrange
- May 6, 2007
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quote:A late entry into this year’s Archibald Prize has left judges stunned, as the daughter of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott submits the first official portrait of her father.
According to the Herald, it has been revealed that the trustee board of the famous art prize made an exception to all submission deadlines, due to the young creative designer’s inability make the friday entry date.
According to her Instagram page, Frances Abbott submitted the first official portrait of her father at approximately 15:00pm yesterday afternoon. At least 72 hours after entries closed to the public. Shortly after, it was revealed that the 22-year-old had been listed as a finalist.
According to the Gallery of NSW spokesperson, Angus Capon, certain exceptions were made for Frances Abbott – due to her father’s close relationship with several members of the trustee board.
In it’s 94th year, the Archibald Prize is touted as one the most prestigious art prizes in the country – with approximately 800 entrants each year submitting portraits-of-photographs of B-list Australian actors, other artists, and moderately well-known Labor politicians.
Frances Abbott, used to seeing her father in the spotlight, found herself the centre of a major news story last year when it was leaked that she had been awarded a $60,000 scholarship to study at the exclusive Whitehouse Institute of Design in 2011.
The 21-year-old student who accessed the school’s database and leaked the information to the New Matilda was handed a two-year good behaviour bond but didn’t have a conviction recorded again her name. Les Taylor, the chairman of the institute, was a long time friend and supporter of Mr Abbott.
The artistic community of Sydney is in uproar today, with many drawing parallels between the Whitehouse saga and the nepotism shown towards Frances Abbott’s Archibald submission.
Angus Capon has addressed all claims in an official press release today.
“This may look like nepotism, cronyism or even favouritism. However, it was a lovely portrait and after taking an official phone call from the Prime Minister himself, we were very excited to play host to the first official portrait of Tony Abbott,”
“She is just as credible as any other artist, in fact she has chosen the perfect subject. No one else has been able to sit down and paint Tony Abbott, so I believe she has a good chance at taking this year’s prize”,
“The subject was perfect. Topical, high-profile and able to give us media leverage – that’s really all that matters. Her style speaks for itself.”
http://www.betootaadvocate.com/uncategorized/archibald-2015-frances-abbott-submits-the-first-official-portrait-of-her-father/
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Jun 30, 2015 05:29
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- open24hours
- Jan 7, 2001
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Is she smoking?
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Jun 30, 2015 05:32
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- fiery_valkyrie
- Mar 26, 2003
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I'm proud of you, Bender. Sure, you lost. You lost bad. But the important thing is I beat up someone who hurt my feelings in high school.
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That was funny. I actually believed it.
fiery_valkyrie fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Jun 30, 2015
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Jun 30, 2015 05:41
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- cowboy beepboop
- Feb 24, 2001
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Hockey won his defamation case against Fairfax
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Jun 30, 2015 05:54
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- Doctor Spaceman
- Jul 6, 2010
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"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
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Who would lead if they got rid of him?
quote:They've tacked pretty hard right, there's no point in changing leaders if they're just going stay LNP-lite.
Unless they're seriously expecting people to vote for a fresh face on the same policies.
The idea that Shorten is unelectable isn't exactly true either.
E: Bowen, I guess?
Doctor Spaceman fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jun 30, 2015
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Jun 30, 2015 05:55
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- MysticalMachineGun
- Apr 5, 2005
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Hockey won his defamation case against Fairfax
Wait, flat out won or went to settlement?
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Jun 30, 2015 06:02
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- Doctor Spaceman
- Jul 6, 2010
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"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
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Wait, flat out won or went to settlement?
Joe Hockey has won a defamation case against Fairfax Media over a series of newsstand posters and tweets the treasurer argued implied he was corrupt and “for sale” to political donors.
Justice Richard White found the posters and tweets, published by Fairfax Media on 5 May 2014, had defamed Hockey and awarded him $200,000 damages.
He awarded the treasurer $120,000 for the poster, headed “Treasurer for sale”, and $80,000 for two tweets sent by the Age. But he dismissed the remaining claims relating to the articles.
White said any public-interest protection afforded to Fairfax did not apply because the tweets and poster were published with malice – an intention to harm Hockey’s reputation.
The Fairfax coverage detailed how a fundraising body offered a place at lunches and events with Hockey in exchange for membership fees of up to $22,000.
Money paid to the organisation, named the North Sydney Forum, was passed on to the Liberal party as donations.
During a six-day federal court hearing in March, Hockey testified he was “absolutely devastated” by the stories, which his lawyers said implied he was accepting bribes to influence his decisions as treasurer, and that he corruptly sold privileged access.
The treasurer claimed his frail father had broken down reading the coverage, and that his daughter has asked whether someone was trying to buy him.
His barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, had asked the court to award “aggravated damages”, claiming Hockey had been subjected to “almost a full day” of cross-examination on matters that were “manifestly irrelevant”.
He said the article had been published with malicious intent, pointing to texts from the Sydney Morning Herald’s editor-in-chief, Darren Goodsir, in the lead-up to publication reading, “Given what Andrew [Holden, editor of the Age] and I endured last week with Hockey, I want to have this nailed to the cross in more ways than one”.
Fairfax Media said there was “not a scintilla” of a suggestion in the reports that Hockey was corrupt or had personally kept the money from donors to the North Sydney Forum, and that no “ordinary, reasonable reader” would conclude from the stories the treasurer was corrupt.
Its barrister, Matthew Collins, QC, had argued the stories did not suggest the fundraising activity was illegal, but had instead asked whether it was “desirable for Australian democracy”.
A hearing on orders, costs and injunctions was set for Thursday 9 July.
tl;dr they sold the story in a dodgy way, but the story itself was fine
Doctor Spaceman fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Jun 30, 2015
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Jun 30, 2015 06:05
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- Laserface
- Dec 24, 2004
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Hockey wins Defamation case against Fairfax.
Four Corners story on government officials being paid by the mafia.
Seems legit.
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Jun 30, 2015 07:39
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- Drugs
- Jul 16, 2010
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I don't like people who take drugs. Customs agents, for example - Albert Einstein
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Wish a newspaper would defame me if I got 200k out of it
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Jun 30, 2015 08:46
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- Sulla Faex
- May 14, 2010
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No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING
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I think it's one of those catch 22 things where you need to be rich enough to afford the fancy lawyers who can sue for the cash at which point you don't even need it
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Jun 30, 2015 08:56
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- Murodese
- Mar 6, 2007
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Think you've got what it takes?
We're looking for fine Men & Women to help Protect the Australian Way of Life.
Become part of the Legend. Defence Jobs.
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There's some avenue for appeal. The judge seems to believe that every single follower of a Twitter account is a guaranteed view of a piece of content, for instance. So if SMH's follower count (421,000) and the Age's (425,000) and all RT follower counts are added together, that's how many people the judge believes viewed each offending tweet (there are two). Hence, the penalty was higher for the tweets because of the viewing audience ($40k per tweet).
Except uh... that's not how Twitter works. I'd say I read less than 0.1% of Tweets that get sent to my account by virtue of not using Twitter all that much.
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Jun 30, 2015 09:00
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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Counterpoint on casual employment: every employee should have the right to go part-time if they want (and thus get job security and paid leave and sick days etc.) but in my own life there've been many situations where I've preferred the higher pay rate than the job security. Usually retail jobs with high staff turnover where they ended up needing me more than I needed them.
Also thank you thatfatkid for being one of the few people to point out how good Australia's labour laws actually are. This thread gives me the constant impression that virtually nobody here have ever lived or worked in another country. I've been in the UK for a year now and Australia makes this country look like a loving 19th century workhouse. I'm doing the exact same job as I was back home and earning about $14,000 a year less purely because I don't get penalty rates. An hour of work between 2.00 and 3.00 on a Tuesday afternoon is priced exactly the same as an hour of work between 4.00 and 5.00 on a Sunday morning. It's sort of like a dark vision of what would happen to me if the IPA ever gets its way.
Also your annual leave gets wiped at the end of every year instead of accruing. And when you retire, the government keeps your super and doles it out to you in increments like the age pension, as though you're an irresponsible child. It's shithouse.
I'll accept that maybe Germany or Sweden or Iceland or whatever have equal or better workers' rights, but in the English-speaking world Australia is leader. On penalty rates alone, America and Britain and Ireland and NZ don't have them. gently caress that noise.
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Jun 30, 2015 09:52
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- Sulla Faex
- May 14, 2010
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No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING
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Maybe this is why there's a productivity crisis *grins without smiling until lips chap and bleed and fall off* *starts sawing slowly at own foot* it's grown up time
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Jun 30, 2015 10:13
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- white mans burping
- Feb 24, 2015
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i live with a bunch of americans and in america they get five days of annual leave per year, unpaid
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Jun 30, 2015 10:32
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- asio
- Nov 29, 2008
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"Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs: A Developmental Guide for Brass Wind Musicians" refers to the mullet as an important tool for professional cornet playing and box smashing black and blood
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Yeah but in legoland everyone has a job and they have nuclear power and everyone is white
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Jun 30, 2015 10:38
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- Lid
- Feb 18, 2005
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And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.
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Re: earlier news that Labor is dropping the Rudd Rules
quote:It is understood some members of the ALP's Right faction have been agitating to drop the leader ballot process altogether and hand the power back solely to the caucus.
Gee i wonder why.
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Jun 30, 2015 11:10
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- I would blow Dane Cook
- Dec 26, 2008
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if coal is future then how a mine unbankable?
quote:
Adani's Carmichael Mine is unbankable says Queensland Treasury
Australia's largest new coal project, one hailed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as a poverty-busting "miracle", is unbankable in the assessment of Queensland's Treasury, which also has question marks over the development's transparency.
Documents released under Queensland's freedom-of-information laws show officials at the highest level of the Queensland Treasury held grave doubts about Indian mining company Adani's capacity to see through its Carmichael coal mine project in central Queensland even as former premier Campbell Newman was promising taxpayer funds to help establish the mine.
The proposed mammoth coal mine would open up the vast Galilee Basin, producing up to 60 million tonnes of coal a year for shipment from terminals at Abbot Point but has sparked controversy partly due to its proximity to the Great Barrier Reef.
Adani's proposed mine and rail lines.
Adani's proposed mine and rail lines.
The Abbott government has strongly backed the project. Mr Abbott said it puts Australia on the path to becoming "an energy superpower".
"It's one of the minor miracles of our time: that Australian coal could improve the lives of 100 million Indians, and it just goes to show what good that freer trade can do for the whole world," Mr Abbott said on a visit to India last September.
But Fairfax Media can reveal Treasury officials warned the former Newman government in Queensland the project was unviable as Adani sought hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to help construct a rail line from the mine to its coal terminals.
The revelations come as the federal government also prepares for a final decision within days from UNESCO's world heritage committee on whether the Great Barrier Reef should be given a formal in-danger listing.
Hundreds of pages of correspondence from senior figures in the Queensland department, including former under treasurer Mark Gray and principal commercial analyst Jason Wishart, express fears about Adani's high level of debt and identify the mining giant as a "risk" because of its unclear corporate structure and use of offshore entities.
In one document, an email from November last year, days before an announcement that the Newman government would help Adani build its rail, Projects Queensland principal commercial analyst Jason Wishart wrote to David Quinn, the executive director of Projects Queensland: "It is unlikely to stack up on a conventional project finance assessment."
Projects Queensland is a division of the Queensland Treasury. Mr Wishart noted that Adani could argue the "blue sky" on controlling the supply chain for development of new power stations in India but said that altered the nature of the project and its risk.
"This effectively makes it an Indian energy market play not a coal project."
A trail of emails between September and December shows a rising level of urgency in Treasury as officials tried to conduct a proper financial assessment of Adani while the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (DSDIP), led by Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney, pushed ahead with a proposal to assist the company.
On November 11, Mr Wishart said the expansion would put Adani's financial position under "increased strain" while another Treasury briefing notes "the group is highly susceptible to cost shocks".
Mr Wishart wrote that Adani Enterprises Limited – the Bombay Stock Exchange-listed parent company for a network of related Adani entities – had total assets of $21.5 billion, but which were "heavily geared" with liabilities of $16.4 billion.
"Continued expansion to meet power and mine ambitions will place this financial position under increased strain," he wrote.
"Ultimately the success or failure will depend on how well the continued expansion into the Indian electricity market goes, with the Carmichael coal and infrastructure development being an Indian power market play."
Asked about an unnamed press article, Mr Wishart wrote in another email in last October to then Under Treasurer Mark Gray that while there was not a funding "boycott" it was "fair to say that there is not a lot of market support for investing in Galilee thermal coal projects at present."
"That level of funding interest has been declining with the slide in the coal price over the last two years," he said.
He noted funding was also being impacted by a continued "poor outlook" for the commodity as well as pressure from green groups on banks for supporting such projects.
The hundreds of pages of documents have sparked calls for an inquiry into the mine, its associated approvals and the conduct of the former state government in particular.
"These secret documents make clear that Treasury has serious concerns about Adani's financial ability to actually build these projects and that its demands for proper due diligence have continued to be ignored," Jeremy Tager, spokesman for the North Queensland Conservation Council said.
"The Palaszczuk government should immediately conduct a full due diligence analysis and release the findings publicly before risking taxpayers' money on the Adani project or granting further approvals."
The documents also reveal that by late November, Mr Quinn and Mr Gray had raised questions of an "exit strategy" for the state and ask what security Queensland could take on any loan to Adani.
"I think any answers I provide are unfortunately 'best guess' based on the veneer of information we have to date," Mr Quinn wrote on November 30.
"Only other meaningful Adani asset in Australia over which some form of security may be able to be granted is possibly the 'value' in the mining tenement itself."
On October 31, Mr Wishart wrote that the publicly available information on the Adani group was "not particularly transparent" and the company had failed to provide adequate information to "address sources of equity and debt".
That same day, he emailed Mr Gray and Mr Quinn to say neither DSDIP nor the Queensland Investment Corporation "has been able to provide anything substantive on Adani's financial capacity or credit worthiness at this stage."
The revelations will also put pressure on the Abbott government, which has said Galilee Basin projects could eligible for taxpayer finance from a $5 billion northern Australia loan scheme – provided they demonstrate they would not be commercially viable without government assistance.
Mr Seeney did not respond to a detailed list of questions from Fairfax Media on Tuesday.
In a statement, he said: "There was no deal with Adani. There were negotiations and due diligence was underway as part of the negotiations for investment infrastructure. But it never got to the point of a deal."
An Adani spokeswoman said: "Adani developed and presented a strong and robust business case for these projects to the Queensland government."
In February, a Fairfax Media investigation raised questions about the ultimate ownership of Adani's Australian interests . Company documents suggest billionaire Gautam Adani, the public face of Adani, does not ultimately control many of the companies. Instead his eldest brother Vinod Shantilal Adani holds pivotal positions. Vinod has been named in an Indian criminal investigation into the alleged siphoning of $1 billion from Indian shareholders in three Adani companies into offshore accounts.
A web of companies that appear to be linked to Adani's coal developments in Australia extends from the low tax regime of Singapore to the tax haven of the Cayman Islands.
Complicating matters is conflicting paperwork, with Indian documents suggesting Adani Enterprises divested its stake in Abbot Point port for $235 million in 2013 to a private Singapore entity for which Vinod is the sole director.
Adani told a federal inquiry into tax avoidance this year that the transfer of the coal terminal to the Singapore vehicle had not yet been completed, but the company intended to finish the transaction.
The 2014-15 financial results for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, the publicly listed Indian company Adani says continues to hold the terminal, make no mention of any financial interest in Abbot Point terminal one.
The Treasury documents also note Adani had taken terminal one at Abbot Point, which it leases from the Queensland government, "off the books".
Greens deputy leader Larissa Waters said the documents appeared to confirm what critics of the project had been saying.
"It was perfectly obvious that the project wasn't viable, which makes it more insulting that public money was going to be stumped up under the former Newman government," Senator Waters said.
She added that the Abbott government's north Australia fund should not be a "lifeline for the Galilee Basin mega mines because they're clearly a huge economic risk and a massive threat to the climate and the reef."
http://www.smh.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/adanis-carmichael-mine-is-unbankable-says-queensland-treasury-20150630-gi1l37.html
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Jun 30, 2015 11:47
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- EvilElmo
- May 10, 2009
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Re: earlier news that Labor is dropping the Rudd Rules
Gee i wonder why.
It's understood some members of the Greens believe vaccinations should be banned.
Needs a few more than a few to make policy change.
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Jun 30, 2015 11:59
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- Sulla Faex
- May 14, 2010
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No man ever did me so much good, or enemy so much harm, but I repaid him with ENDLESS SHITPOSTING
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That's a lot of words, wouldn't it be be easier to just hand them money? If the problem of financial viability is just a lack of money why don't we give them money and then everybody will see how coal is much better for us. I don't understand why you have to be politicising what is a simple question of financial viability, and in this question the mine IS viable, it just needs money. And if Australia gives it a bit of money to make it financially viable then Australia wins in the long term because we have one more very promising financially viable coal mine
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Jun 30, 2015 12:00
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- i got banned
- Sep 24, 2010
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lol abbottwon
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"I believe this mine is a miracle godsend to the economy"
"we can't fund this mine because India is moving away from coal in the near future"
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Jun 30, 2015 12:06
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- Adbot
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Jun 11, 2024 03:32
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- asio
- Nov 29, 2008
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"Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs: A Developmental Guide for Brass Wind Musicians" refers to the mullet as an important tool for professional cornet playing and box smashing black and blood
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It's understood some members of the Greens believe vaccinations should be banned.
Needs a few more than a few to make policy change.
Even the mighty alp can change policy. For example the founding twin pillars of protectionism and exclusion of asiatics has been updated to free trade and exclusion of asiatics
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Jun 30, 2015 12:33
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Jun 30, 2015 01:51
