Auspol August: Half-baked enraged drivel

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol August: Half-baked enraged drivel

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/conscience-vote-likely-on-samesex-marriage-20140801-3czl5.html

quote:

Conscience vote likely on same-sex marriage

Parliament is heading for a historic vote on same-sex marriage in which Liberal Party MPs will be free to vote with their conscience.

The Coalition party rooms are likely to decide on a conscience vote during the upcoming spring session of Parliament, with one Liberal MP saying it is now ''almost certain'' the party will dump its binding opposition to gay marriage.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose sister Christine Forster is in a same-sex relationship, promised before the election that the Liberal party room would be free to decide on a conscience vote.

The matter is expected to come to a head in the next two sitting fortnights of Parliament in August and September after senior Liberals asked crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm to introduce his draft bill to legalise same-sex marriage.

The government wants his proposed legislation on the notice paper so it has time to scrutinise the exact wording.

Senator Leyonhjelm has agreed, reversing his stated position when he announced the draft bill last month. At the time, he said he would not introduce it until the Liberal party room opted for a conscience vote.

Senator Leyonhjelm said: ''I have heard from Liberal senators that a conscience vote is highly likely.''

But he said he was not ''counting my chickens'' on a vote for same-sex marriage on the floor of Parliament and a number of Liberal backbenchers said their ''gut feeling'' was it would be narrowly defeated even with a conscience vote.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is a strong advocate of same-sex marriage and Labor MPs have already been granted a conscience vote. But a proposal that would call on them to bind in favour of same-sex marriage was defeated at last week's NSW Labor conference.

A Liberal MP, who would vote against same-sex marriage, said: ''I don't think even Tony Abbott will stand up in the party room and argue against a conscience vote. It would appear to go against Liberal principles. I don't think you would find any of my colleagues who would say a conscience vote was a bad idea.''

Another MP said the party would prefer to deal with Senator Leyonhjelm's bill than delay and potentially deal with ''a more radical proposal put up by the Greens''.

Senator Leyonhjelm, who represents the Liberal Democrats, has appealed to the libertarians in Liberal ranks to back same-sex marriage.

''If it doesn't get through, I have six years to poke them,'' he said. ''At some point they will see I am not going to give up on this.''

Most National Party MPs are expected to vote against same-sex marriage.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 02:15

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 09:36

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Meanwhile, in SPORTS! related news:
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/afl-bans-adelaide-oval-advertising-appeal-supporting-people-in-palestine/story-fni6uok5-1227011426394

quote:

AFL bans Adelaide Oval advertising appeal supporting people in Palestine

ONE of Adelaide's leading businessmen has accused the AFL of censorship and discrimination after it banned a public advertising campaign supporting the people in Palestine.

The AFL last week banned the words �Save Palestine; Save Gaza� and �Help the children of Palestine� from being displayed on billboards at Adelaide Oval branding them political statements.

The pro-Palestinian campaign, organised and to be funded by Argo Restaurant owner Daniel Milky, was to raise money for The Australian Friends of Palestine Association.

Association chairman Dr Sam Shahin, whose family owns the On the Run franchise, said the AFL should be ashamed of itself for banning the appeal, which was to launch at Saturday�s clash between the Adelaide Crows and West Coast.

�I cannot believe in this day and age we censor this sort of humanitarian appeal to help other people in need,� he said.

�Whoever has made the call to ban this type of humanitarian appeal, I hope they can sleep comfortably with that.

�I am just appalled we face this sort of reaction when I thought it would have been the exact opposite and that the would have fostered this sort of behaviour.�

Mr Shahin, whose parents emigrated from Palestine to Lebanon and then to Adelaide in 1984, said the AFL�s actions were �discrimination�.

AFL media relations manager Patrick Keane said the league did not accept �political statements whether they are state politics, federal politics and international politics�.

Mr Milky she had become so concerned about the plight of children in Gaza that he wanted to promote a donations appeal at Adelaide Oval to support the Friends of Palestine.

�The plight of Gaza has become a community issue and part of daily discussion and lots of people want to know what they can do to help,� he said.

�So, I decided to run these 30-second promotional ads during football games.�

Mr Milky said that on Thursday, the Adelaide Football Club had approved and then rejected the wording �Save Palestine, Save Gaza. Donate to https://www.afopa.com.au

On Friday he amended the message to: �Help the children in Palestine�.

Crows business development manager Paul Harrison wrote to Mr Milky that morning stating the club supported the new message.

�After speaking to (chief operating officer) Nigel Smart and after discussing the new LED message we are happy to proceed,� he said in a copy of the letter sighted by the Sunday Mail.

�We will work with (creative design company) Kojo and do all we can to make it happen for this weeks (sic) game.�

But Mr Milky said he was advised later that day, by phone, that the message could not run but said he received no explanation as to why.

A Crows spokesman said: �The club consulted the AFL and it was deemed inappropriate.

�The AFL has the final say on all advertising material and the league does not allow any material to be displayed as a political statement.�

# ¿ Aug 6, 2014 08:38

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Do people in this thread refer to Eric Abetz as Erica Betz because they sincerely believe that's his name or because they are insulting him by demoting him to the status of a woman by feminising his name? It happens every he's brought up. Don't get me wrong, he's a vapid, mealy-mouthed carbon blob, but that line of attack is still pretty questionable.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 11:43

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Kim Jong ill posted:

Couple of questions that I should know the answer to (as I want to go into research post grad) but don't; if a HD is 7/7 how do you have a HD average GPA without getting all HDs throughout your degree? And when you guys say published do you mean like peer reviewed conference papers or journals? Because I don't really see an undergrad producing journal quality work.

At least in my field (science) people sometimes produce publications during their honours year or immediately afterwards if their supervisor hires them as a technician and they get to work on a project. And yeah, they're talking journals. Though I guess that's all a bit less important in science since you can get a PhD scholarship with second class honours.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 01:52

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Haters Objector posted:

P sure you average out raw scores, rather than grades. So if, say an HD is a final score of 80-100, having a mean mark of above 80 would be an HD average.

Or at least that's the way I've always calculated it.

Though Kim Jong Il lives in SA so a HD is 85% or above, not 80%. It's a bit harder to get HDs and first class honours at unis where 85+ is the standard, so that's probably why he was saying it was difficult to get a HD average.

Murodese posted:

As for papers, most people in STEM will generally publish at least one during hons from their thesis.

This is actually pretty uncommon out of everyone I know in biology. I know post-docs who have never published.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 04:41

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Murodese posted:

Really? I have a biologist on ResearchGate and literally every 5 loving minutes he's making GBS threads out a new paper about some particular aspect of some particular plant or something.

I guess I'm mostly talking molecular and microbiology. I don't really have much to do with ecology people. For all I know it might not be true of them.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 04:54

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Senor Tron posted:

I suspect the reason why we produce fuckwits like Pyne and Bernardi is because Adelaide is one of the Federal libs weaker locations. The better Libs get used for marginal seats and aren't likely to last as long as those in safer positions.

I assume this is the case as well. Pyne's electorate specifically has a few gated communities and neighbourhoods with massive houses, most of which I assume are occupied by Liberal voters. But he could well lose his seat next election.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 00:55

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/misogynist-rants-from-young-libs-20140809-3dfhw.html

quote:

Misogynist rants from Young Libs

Young Liberals at one of the country's most elite universities have posted racist, crude and misogynist comments on social media, describing women as ''sluts'', Muslims as ''degenerates'' and saying all feminists are ugly.

Only days after two Liberal candidates were forced to quit ahead of November's state election over a series of derogatory posts on Facebook and Twitter, the party has been rocked again by offensive behaviour in its ranks.

In a series of screenshots of Facebook messages leaked to Fairfax Media, the Melbourne University Liberal Club members attack feminist and alumni Germaine Greer, take aim at homosexuality, and repeatedly demean women.

Club treasurer Stefan Eracleous describes Ms Greer as a ''lying f---ing c-m guzzling slut � and a union member''.

''She doesn't believe in God. No kids not married � what do you [e]xpect from a melb uni educated former socialist c---,'' he wrote.

He also refers to London as ''the gay capital of the world'' and appears to hit out at Muslims, telling a friend: ''Just be careful of those mussrats. A lot of them are [a] bunch of Third World degenerate c---s.''

The club's vice-president, Charlie Cartney, said in a Facebook message in January that a venue was ''definitely worth a visit'' because it had a Mexican restaurant and an upstairs bar with ''lots of sluts'', saying in another post: ''Get some sluts for me.''

Other members of the group referred to former prime minister Julia Gillard as a ''twat'' and said ''Tara Moss should only be on TV if she is in a bikini''.

The posts are another embarrassing blow for the Liberals - surfacing days after party chiefs warned MPs and candidates to act appropriately on social media - and have fuelled Labor's claims of a broader cultural problem within Liberal ranks.

The Young Liberals and university Liberal clubs often are seen as a starting point for people interested in politics, with Melbourne University alumni including state treasurer Michael O'Brien, federal senator Scott Ryan and federal Higgins MP Kelly O'Dwyer.

The Melbourne University Liberal Club's Facebook page also shows members campaigning for the state election with candidates and MPs, including Attorney-General Robert Clark and backbenchers Clem Newton-Brown and Neil Angus.

Club president Michael Sabljak said he was not aware of the comments until The Sunday Age contacted him because they were not on an official Melbourne University Liberal forum, but denied the club had a homophobic, sexist or misogynistic culture.

Mr Eracleous refused to provide any comment despite being contacted by The Sunday Age a number of times. Mr Cartney said he was not prepared to provide a response without evidence. Despite being given the relevant material, he still had not commented.

The revelations follow the resignation of two Liberal candidates for the state election in recent days over offensive social media posts. Bendigo West candidate Jack Lyons quit last week after it was revealed he wrote dozens of offensive Facebook posts, including racist comments about people from China and Africa.

Former Young Liberals president Aaron Lane, who had been endorsed as the party's candidate for Western Region in the upper house, resigned the previous week after he was exposed for tweeting a barrage of crude comments which included the derogatory term ''human being''.

Dr Lauren Rosewarne, a senior lecturer at Melbourne University's school of social and political sciences, said it was impossible for the Liberal Party to control its message in the era of social media.

''Social media is a very, very tricky game for people who haven't been trained in media and communications,'' Dr Rosewarne said.

She said nothing was private on social media and if candidates or clubs aligned with the party went ''off message or rogue'', the party was responsible for reining them in.

''It's really damaging to the political party brand.''

State director Damien Mantach declined to comment.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 02:26

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

IronicBeetCriminal posted:

"Customers who drink lots of milk and eat lots of red meat are very, very, very good car insurance risks versus those who eat lots of pasta and rice, fill up their petrol at night and drink spirits," she said.

"What that means is we're able to tailor an insurance offer that targets those really good insurance risk customers and give them a good deal ... and it helps to avoid the bad insurance risks."

I buy a lot of dairy which means it'll be cheaper, but it'll be canceled out by the fact that I buy petrol at night.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 05:02

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Gough Suppressant posted:

I've been meaning to ask this for ages, What the gently caress is a NTATA

Noted torture apologist Tony Abbott.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 06:27

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

duck monster posted:

O_o

"The most provocative, non-abusive political columnists"

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 23:03

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

SynthOrange posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyrav_9Pbsc

Behold the future

These have been around since before video stores stopped being relevant because that's where I saw one. They actually really stink up the joint.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 05:38

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

redweird posted:

Elect me as a benevolent dictator and set up a bunch of gulags. I'm talking gulags for people who stand on the right side of the escalator, gulags for people who get on the train before people get off, gulags for the people who did a bad job building the gulags. That's my platform and if you don't like it there's probably a gulag for you, too.

Do this for people who walk slowly in front of me in the supermarket.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 08:46

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

duck monster posted:

From the andrew bolt supporters page on facebook.

They really hate the greens in there.

I get that this is just garden variety :tinfoil:

but is there a particular reason they picked her?

# ¿ Aug 12, 2014 12:41

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

That's going to get widely reported in Scotland and everyone will hear what our idiot PM said :negative:

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 00:13

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Tomberforce posted:

In other news the bland spread of the Coles/Woolworths duopoly continues in Perth with plans to bulldoze the genuinely vibrant and interesting Subiaco Station Street markets and imaginatively replace them with...... a Coles! This is approximately 100 metres from a large Woolworths and about 1km away from the nearest large Coles. I guess they've cottoned on to people having an option to buy fresh produce at less than half the cost of the large supermarkets and have decided to put a stop to it.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-12/plans-to-shut-down-subiaco-markets2c-open-mixed-office-and-com/5666336

Supermarkets always sell produce with a significant markup too. A friend of mine delivers fruit and veg to people's houses as part of his work and buys them from the same wholesaler that the Adelaide Central Markets get their's from. He sells avocados (at a profit) for 90 cents each. They're about $3 at Coles right now.

It's funny, because they know that Australians don't even spend that much money on fresh food. I used to supervise in a supermarket on weekends when I was in undergrad and had access to daily sales figures. The cigarette counter out the front would often outsell fruit & veg, bakery and deli combined.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 01:32

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Abbott's quote about Scotland is currently the most shared article on the BBC website.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 10:38

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Cleretic posted:

Just desk work and admin stuff. But I just looked at their website, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't last a week there before snapping and hurting some people. I expected the to be kind of awful but probably harmless, but with a name like 'Family Voice Australia' I really should've known.

Read 'em and weep.

I saw three massive red flags without even clicking on a single link on that page. Also a massive Australian flag. I guess that's a fourth.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 14:35

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Haters Objector posted:

lol insiders is the worst

Depends who's on. It improved ever so slightly when Bolt bolted but it's usually got at least one conservative shitwizard on it.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2014 01:29

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Orkin Mang posted:

So what is negative gearing, and what are these superannuation tax concessions I keep seeing allusions to

Investor welfare

# ¿ Aug 19, 2014 06:02

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

You Am I posted:

Thanks, with the larger file size limit I can finally have the av I wanted originally

It's a pretty great eyeroll. Who was talking while she did that?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 12:54

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Konomex posted:

That is not what unna means. It's more like a question.

Yeah, I don't know about the specific Nyungah meaning, but it's used nationally as an equivalent of "isn't it?".

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 00:40

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/private-health-insurers-set-to-manage-patients-gp-care/story-fni0xqrc-1227031109206

quote:

Private health insurers set to manage patients� GP care

EXCLUSIVE: Private health insurers are set to be handed control of every Australian�s general practitioner treatment under a US-style healthcare revolution.

Every visit to a general practitioner will be coordinated by private health insurers who want to manage how your doctor treats you if they win the tender to run a new primary care network.

The health care revolution follows the Abbott Government�s controversial decision to give private insurers the right to tender to run its new Primary Health Networks that will replace Medicare Locals.

AXED: Abbott to scrap $1.8 billion Medicare Local scheme

CRITICISED: 61 Medicare Locals to be smaller Primary Health Networks

These new bodies will effectively co-ordinate the care every patient (not just health fund members) receives from their GP, provide links with hospitals and assess and improve patient health outcomes.

Health Minister Peter Dutton has publicly made a case for greater involvement of private Insurers in GP care without outlining how this would occur.

His spokesman has told News Corp Australia the first step will be allowing health funds to, along with other interested providers, get the opportunity to tender to run PHN�s.

�They will be able to put in a tender,� he said.

One of Australia�s leading health funds, BUPA has already expressed an interest.

�We are keen to play a role in better integrating care and care outcomes and are looking for opportunities in that space,� a spokeswoman for BUPA said.

Doctors are concerned it could lead to the introduction of managed care, where the funds tell doctors how to treat their patients.

Private Healthcare Australia chief Dr Michael Armitage has fuelled these fears claiming GPs could be contracted to follow clinical guidelines when treating their patients to improve care outcomes if health funds run the PHN�s.

�The funds may say we will preferentially contract GPs who only refer patients to surgeons who don�t use joint replacements that fail,� he said.

He cited US health fund Kaiser Permanente�s PHASE program that directed patient care as an example of what PHN�s run by insurers could do to improve patient outcomes.

This managed care program had led to a 30 per cent reduction in coronary artery hospitalisations, a 56 per cent reduction in heart attacks, a 20 per cent reduction in strokes and a 30 per cent reduction from heart disease,� he said.

�It�s where we�ve been wanting to go as a sector for a long time, its unlocking the potential of health care,� he told News Corp.

�If private insurers are able to engage in directional contracting, they won�t be providing the care but they will be saying to the providers (doctors) we want you to deliver this outcome,� he said.

Australian Medical Association president Professor Brian Owler said he had �very strong� reservations about allowing private insurers to run PHN�s.

�I�m yet to see how an insurer can provide this service without a conflict of interest,� he said.

He said it was clear Medibank Private wanted to move to a system where they directed patients to certain specialists or dentists or other doctors who provided care in a certain way.

�We are very concerned about the independence of the doctor patent relationship,� he said.

In a separate move the government has asked its review of after hours medical care to look for any role private insurers can play there.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the measure �exposes why Tony Abbott broke his promise that no Medicare Locals would close�.

�Tony Abbott is shutting down Medicare Locals in order to introduce United States style �managed care�, where health funds, not your GP, decide which doctor you see and what standard of care you receive,� she said..

�This is about the destruction of Medicare.�

It comes as a Senate inquiry has grilled Medibank on its foray into GP care in Queensland.

The Greens claim the guarantee Medibank members will get a guaranteed same day appointment, free care and after hours home is the first step towards a two tier health system.

Medibank told the inquiry it did not want to take over the job of paying for GP visits from Medicare or end universal access to health care.

�If Medibank can support GPs to assist its members to remain healthy and out of

hospital, not only do members benefit but it also makes sense to Medibank from a

business perspective,� the fund said.

Medibank is also poised to pilot a program called CarePoint providing doctors with extra resources, including social services, to treat the chronically ill.

The program will be available to both public and private patients.

�Medibank has resolved that at this point in time we will not be directly tendering for the operation of Primary Health Networks. Rather than compete with existing industry capability, Medibank is choosing to work in collaboration with the industry to support and endorse best practice primary care with the respective expertise our entities offer,� said a spokeswoman for the company.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 09:29

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

I'm pretty tired of the "-gate" suffix when it comes to scandal names. Apart from the Dodgygate Scandal from SA state politics a few years ago, that's a legit good scandal name.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 10:44

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Cleretic posted:

So I don't particularly remember, what was in it? It had to have been good to produce that response.

Something along the lines that News' print and digital media are dropping in revenue and The Australian lost $27 million last year.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 14:43

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-23/sa-liberals-to-seek-reform-of-electoral-act-fairness-provision/5691620
Apparently it's "unfair" that SA Labor won with 53% of the TPP vote.

quote:

Five months after failing to secure government at the South Australian election, the state's Liberal Party is still crying foul.

Labor won 53 per cent of the two-party preferred vote in March's election, but failed to win key marginal seats.

State Liberal Party president Robert Lawson used its annual general meeting (AGM) in Adelaide to lash out at the result and called Premier Jay Weatherill's minority government "undemocratic and illegitimate".

He said the so-called "fairness provision" in the Electoral Act was a spectacular failure and the Liberals might seek to have it changed.

"There is an argument that section 83 is flawed and that it should be either replaced or supplemented by a top-up system, under which a party which receives 50 per cent plus one is allocated sufficient additional members to enable it to form government," Mr Lawson said.

"Such a change would require legislation to be passed by both houses of Parliament.

"The parliamentary party is developing a policy on this topic."

Mr Lawson said electoral boundaries favoured Labor and disadvantaged the Liberal Party.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott also spoke at the meeting and said the Liberals should have won the state election.

"That's why I'm here, above all else, to remedy that wrong," he said.

He lambasted the state's Labor Party for its ongoing criticism of the federal budget, but he also took the chance to applaud police for their actions at a student protest at the University of Adelaide on Thursday night.

"There were about 400 of my friends inside the lecture theatre and about 500 of my friends outside the lecture theatre," Mr Abbott joked.

"And thanks to the wonderful white horses of the South Australian police, none of my different groups of friends met on that particular night."

Several students were injured after breaching a security fence that had been erected around the lecture theatre, but no arrests were made.

Also at the AGM, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall told of his intent to turn the old Royal Adelaide Hospital into a health tourism precinct when it became vacant in 2016.

Mr Marshall said the old hospital was an asset that should not be wasted.

He said Adelaide's burns unit was world class, along with its craniofacial unit and its work in ophthalmology.

"We've got a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to create a world-class precinct here in South Australia," he said.

Mr Marshall said the site could become the southern hemisphere's equivalent of London's Harley Street, which is noted for its large number of private medical providers and specialists.

The State Government has already announced plans to build a second CBD high school on part of the site in Adelaide's East End, but it has not yet decided how to utilise the rest of the land.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 00:12

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

It's weird because the seat boundaries actually favour the Liberal party. Hence why Labor had to form a minority government with 53% of the vote.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 00:18

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Anyway, SA's "fairness clause" makes the electoral commission redraw the seat boundaries so that the election outcome in terms of seat numbers is as close to the TPP as possible. This was put into place because old seat boundaries caused rural votes to be worth twice as much as urban votes, which led to literally decades of conservative rule.

quote:

The Playmander was a form of electoral malapportionment in the Australian state of South Australia, in place from 1936 to 1968.[1] It consisted of rural districts enjoying a 2-to-1 advantage in the state parliament, even though they contained less than half of the population, as well as a change from multiple member to single member electorates, and the number of MPs in the lower house was reduced from 46 to 39.

More equitable boundaries were subsequently put in place: in 1968, 1975, and 1989. More seats were introduced, and seats are required to be proportionate, as well as having a unique fairness clause which directs the Electoral Commission of South Australia to strategically re-draw boundaries in attempts to ensure as much as possible that the party which wins the majority of the two-party preferred vote wins government.

The word Playmander is a portmanteau derived from the name of Premier Sir Thomas Playford and the political term gerrymander, though the system did not originate with Playford (it was introduced under his predecessor Richard Layton Butler) and was not technically a gerrymander (the latter does not imply malapportionment). Playford was its primary beneficiary, however, as his Liberal and Country League (LCL) party was able to stay in power for three decades even while losing several elections in terms of vote numbers

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 00:35

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Gough Suppressant posted:

I actually don't understand that article at all.

Labor won 53% of the vote.

Labor formed government.

Liberals want system changed so they are allowed to form government despite not getting enough seats and getting a minority of the 2pp vote

That's an accurate summary of the article. They're born to rule tories crying about an election they didn't win.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 01:58

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Oh right, I'm being unfair then. Still, the electoral commission should theoretically redraw the seat boundaries when this happens. I suspect if the Libs were in charge of that we'd see rural electorates over-represented again.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 02:36

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Vaguely related: is gay marriage still possible in individual states or did the high court/ACT thing rule that out? There were rumblings of a bill potentially passing in SA last year, but I haven't heard anything about that recently, although that might be because SA had a larger Labor majority back then and a different Liberal leader that supported marriage equality. I guess what I'm asking is: does the legal premise behind the high court ruling prevent states from legalising gay marriage?

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 07:41

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

drunkill posted:

True blue aussies only plz

Rugged. Masculine. Defiant.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 09:00

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

T-1000 posted:

We would have done it to all the Germans too but we ~~ethnic cleansed~~ deported most of them after WW1.
Interesting tidbit: Remember our best general in WWI, Monash? His parents had changed their surname from Monasch. Yep, he was the child of German Jews, he wrote his letters home to his father in German.

Yeah, there was a shitload of this in South Australia, since it had an entire German-speaking region back then. Some people, particularly those that didn't change their surnames to anglo- or francophone equivalents were interned.

A lot of suburbs in Adelaide had their names changed from German names to the names of places or generals from important British military victories. One that amused me was a suburb named Klemzig which was renamed Gaza for a while.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2014 12:41

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Kim Jong ill posted:

This is good. With upcoming state elections, Libs at the state level don't have the same luxury to push lovely policy like the Feds do.

Labor support the chaplaincy program too though. IIRC the rushed legislation that got rejected in the high court the second time around came in under Rudd.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 12:44

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Cleretic posted:

Yeah, I expect SA, especially the more prominent Labor sections, to get the poo poo kicked out of them by the federal government over the next couple years. Because really, what've they got to lose?

I expect Abbott will not give the slightest poo poo about SA if Victoria changes hands later in the year. At the moment solo-Labor state SA is like a big red square, poking out of the southern ocean like a middle finger in the general direction of Abbott, but polls in Victoria are looking on Labor's side.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 14:04

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...m-1227041781005

Probably explains a lot to be honest.

quote:

BRITISH scientists secretly used the Australian population to test for radiation contamination after the nuclear tests at Maralinga in the 1950s, a new book confirms.

Its author, Frank Walker, has obtained the minutes of a top secret meeting in England where the UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment approved a program to determine the long-term effects of the tests on Australia and its citizens.

In his book, Maralinga, Walker details how the meeting at Harwell on May 24, 1957, decided to first obtain soil samples from pasture regions near Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to check for fallout from the nine nuclear bombs detonated at Maralinga and the Monte Bello Islands, off WA.

The second phase was to test vegetation, particularly grass and cabbage, and milk for the presence of the radioactive isotope, Strontium-90, a fission by-product of nuclear explosions.

The meeting was chaired by Professor Ernest Titterton, the nuclear scientist who oversaw the British nuclear tests in Australia.

According to the document obtained by Walker, Professor Titterton told the meeting he wanted to collect animal bones �to see if Strontium-90 is getting into domestic animals�.

The meeting decided to take bone samples from 12 sheep stations along a 800km path of fallout tracked by Royal Australian Air Force planes which flew into the mushroom clouds following each nuclear explosion at Maralinga.

Professor Titterton told the meeting that the final phase of the testing would be to determine if Strontium-90 was being absorbed by the Australian population.

�We have to find out if Strontium-90 is entering the food chain and getting into humans,� says the document, which has the file number DEFE 16/608.

The scientists then agreed to start testing the bones of dead Australian infants and children for radiation contamination.

�As many bones as possible are to be obtained,� says DEFE 16/608.

�The bones should be femurs. The required weight is 20-50 grams wet bone, subsequently ashed to provide samples of weight not less than two grams. The date of birth, age at death and locality of origin are to be reported.�

Professor Titterton said the bones would be crushed into a powder and sent to the UK for analysis along with the soil, animal samples and vegetation collected from the Australian testing sites.

As The Advertiser has previously reported, hundreds of bones were subsequently collected from the bodies of 21,830 dead babies, infants, children, teenagers and young adults across Australia without the knowledge of their parents.

The Strontium-90 testing program in Australia was the longest of its kind in the world, finally ending in 1978.

In September, 2001, following an extensive investigation by The Advertiser, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency revealed it had kept ash samples from bones collected from hospitals in Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.

In a report to the then federal health minister, Michael Wooldridge, the agency said it had detected varying levels of Strontium-90 in all Australian capital cities.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2014 03:35

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 09:36

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

Tommofork posted:

Holy poo poo. Collecting bones of deceased infants, children and teenagers without parents consent. What a violation.

It reminds me of this, which for some reason didn't cause a scandal at all when the information was released in 2008.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-07-06/us-military-planned-nerve-gas-test-on-aust-troops/2495324

quote:

US military planned nerve gas test on Aust troops
Defence files have revealed the United States military was planning to test deadly nerve gas on Australian troops in a far north Queensland rainforest in the 1960s.

Australian Defence Department files obtained by Channel Nine show the US was planning to test Sarin and VX nerve gas on up to 200 Australian combat troops by aerial bombing areas around Lockhart River.

The plan never went ahead, but American survey teams inspected the proposed testing site.

The prime minister at the time, Harold Holt, vetoed the plan.

His former staffer, Peter Bailey, says the Australian government was concerned that its Cold War alliance with the US would be damaged if it did not acquiesce.

"If they weren't pretty good and pretty faithful to the Americans we would be dumped, so I think ministers were very aware that this was probably our one main support," he said.

Former Democrats Senator Lyn Allison has told Channel Nine the current Government should make the documents public.

"There's apparently a whole unit which the minister says didn't conduct testing but I think we need to know what they were doing and it is time for these documents to be released," she said.

"Let us have a look at what was being contemplated just 40 odd years ago - it's not the deepest, darkest history of Australia we're talking about."

# ¿ Aug 30, 2014 04:40

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol August: Half-baked enraged drivel