Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

gas op ban thread

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 03:12

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:11

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Amethyst posted:

i'm mellllttinggggggg

In other crybaby news, big business is trying on the kidnap excuse for tax avoidance, but it's part of a bigger picture, says Jeffrey Knapp in a crosspost from The Conversation:

quote:

A proposal to exclude Australian-owned private companies from disclosing their income tax information is currently the subject of a Senate inquiry due to report on October 12.

The inquiry comes after the Abbott government sought to have around 700 companies with sales of more than $100 million exempted from disclosing how much tax they pay, citing concerns it could make the heads of these companies kidnap targets.

I'm on record as saying this is the stupidest excuse for non-disclosure I've ever heard.

Companies that run Australian businesses generating $100 million in gross annual income are likely to have a significant economic effect on the lives of many people � contractors, creditors, employees, customers and local communities.

It's therefore in the public interest that these companies be transparent and publicly accountable.

At the same time, it is beyond belief that there is an unsatiated demand in Australia for kidnapping because the baddies are unaware of who to take.

What of these frustrated would-be kidnappers that have been denied their stock-in-trade because no tax-related information is available for identifying targets?

What have these wannabes been doing with all their spare time?

They must be filled with deep regret about the lack of information from the ATO every time a Lexus LFA or Nissan GT-R passes them by.

Unfortunately though, it appears there are even worse excuses out there for non-disclosure.

There is considerable competition for mediocre excuses in the submissions to the Senate inquiry and in the earlier submissions to a June 2015 exposure draft entitled, "Better targeting the income tax transparency laws".

Some excuses for non-disclosure other than kidnapping that have been trotted out in public submissions by big business and the accounting and legal fraternity are listed below, along with a response.

"Affairs of private companies relate to individuals and family activities and they are entitled to the human rights of privacy."
Companies are not entitled to human rights. It is silly to think you can't lift the corporate veil because of privacy concerns. If you want to be that private, then don't be a shareholder or director of a company.

"The information may be used to exert commercial pricing or other leverage or advantages over companies."
Businesses with $100 million annual gross income are more likely to be the ones exerting that sort of pressure.

"The information may create false perceptions or be misread and misinterpreted resulting in reputational damage or additional costs to protect reputation."
It is a sufficient condition that the information is accurate and from a credible source.

"Information being misused and misinterpreted, thereby eroding public confidence in the integrity of the current tax system."
Transparency will assist the Federal Parliament to identify how to make the current tax system fairer thereby leading to increased public confidence.

"Taxpayers will be encouraged to restructure or implement complex structures to avoid disclosure."
Companies that restructure primarily to avoid something tax-related - good luck with that.

"The information will mean that a family company's children and adults will be burdened by people seeking money and undue harassment."
We all cope with that burden from time to time.

"It is discrimination and contrary to the rule of law."
Targeting multinationals for tax disclosure over Australian-owned companies is discriminatory.

More at the link, but how blatant eh. Oh for a politician who would laugh them out of the hearing.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 04:49

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Bifauxnen posted:

If no one else got the thread up, I was gonna inflict an Undertale-themed thread on you all. I couldn't get it ready in time, but this was gonna be the pic for the Democrats:

do it next thread!

edit: oh I quite forgot, thanks to Amethyst the Melty for reminding me, here's a new improved version especially for him and his little friends!

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ewe2 fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Oct 1, 2015

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 05:52

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Tommofork posted:

No, they've been agitating for this law change for far longer than that poor girl has been dead.

There's always a loophole somewhere. But hey, it's another externality they can charge to the taxpayer, amounting to involuntary kidnapping insurance. That's of course on top of the very real kidnapping insurance they take out as a matter of corporate due diligence so you see how fair all this is.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 06:59

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Cartoon posted:

I'm so over this air transport theatre. The amount of deaths I could cause with a chain saw or an oxy torch on the train network would rival any plane crash but hey! Too hard to do anything about that so let's just roll with a bit of circus at the airports. So very, very productive.

It's everyone's duty to tell Barter Farce " :stonk:

they're on the trains guys, who knows what stops they get off :stonk:

"

I have no idea what kind of political capital Abbott thinks he's saving or making or even spending. It's limited by the party's fear of bad polls. It's not the kind of thing Blart Shouty can't do much with, either. The perception of disunity is on an electoral level and once the Turnbull honeymoon is over might be a better time to assess whether that inadvertent message has sunk in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjLK9ug6MB4

# ¿ Oct 2, 2015 04:59

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Cleretic posted:

I'm kind of curious what Abbott will do with himself if/when he leaves parliament. He's immensely unpopular, incompetent and inarticulate, so he's unlikely to get stuff like consultancy gigs, opinion columns and speaking tours. Guy Rundle suggested that he'd start doing a lot of charity fitness stuff, and that I can believe, but he's not the type to resign himself ONLY to those.

I can certainly see him writing an autobiography, but I feel like that would be far less appealing to people than an unofficial tell-all since he's known to be a pretty intellectually dim and dishonest man.

I was wondering the same, the charity gigs for sure, but the only people receptive to his message are either dying out or American. The book would suffer unfavourable comparisons with Battlelines and what he didn't achieve as PM. I think he's bound to be another BA Santamaria but hopefully not allowed to likewise rant on taxpayer-funded television (seriously, its one of my weirdest memories of the 1970's).

# ¿ Oct 2, 2015 05:49

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

"We're not like American except when we import their culture legal framework and business practices" Boy I feel so Australian now.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2015 06:01

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

QUACKTASTIC posted:

I liked your joke.

I'm not sure it went the distance.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2015 07:23

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

What a perfect circle, demonise them, get hysterical about browns, and yay we have an event to ratchet up the fear and hate, guess where:

quote:

What about if someone of a particular nationality commits a crime, should we start a campaign against all from his country of origin?

If it happens with incredible frequency and with loss of life each time then yes.

quote:

So then: Libertarian Turnbull jailed and then deported an awful rightwing extremist Christian on the same day that an an underprivilegedIraqi migrant ~~launched a terrorist attack in the name of Allah.~~ lashed out at his racist oppressors .

Turnbulls response following the attack (he moves to protect extremists): ��We must not vilify the Muslim community for the actions of a very small percentage of violent extremist individuals� � @TurnbullMalcom�

Along with many virgin jokes and multicultural dogwhistling of course. They're happy this is happening, it validates them.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2015 02:41

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

I can't resist another catallaxy quote. This is probably the most structured of the hysterical comments today:

quote:

�So how do you propose we punish these people collectively responsible for these crimes in Australia?

Do we collectively prosecute them? Lock them all up, every last one? Deport every muslim in Australia?�

This is what needs to be done Lem. Not punish but manage;

1) Stop all moslem immigration.
2) Any hint of radicalism is met with immediate cutting off of Govt benefits to the culprit and immediate family.
3) ALL Islamic literature must be translated to English.
4) ALL Islamic preaching in English.
5) Cease the building of mosques. No more mosques.
6) ALL Islamic websites to be banned unless they are in English. ALL Islamic websites to be strictly monitored and be blocked if inciting violence or unrest.
7) Deport all moslems currently in Australia who are on some kind of visa. Similarly, any dual national moslem convicted of violent crime should be immediately deported.

Moslems and Islam must be managed if we are to feel safe having them here. Also, moslems must be made to accept that their barborous religion is only acceptable when they are subjected to sensible scrutiny.

We need to manage them, manage them good. Just like we're doing with those drat reffos. Imagine trying to do this with Asians or Greeks or Italians.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2015 05:13

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

What's weird in this case is that the basket-case Right are already screaming that Turnbull is going to be a soft lefty about it all because he loves the ABC. Stop the mosques which have magic powers or something.

edit: Also the Oils are a poo poo band because you know who was the singer. :rolleyes:

ewe2 fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Oct 4, 2015

# ¿ Oct 4, 2015 09:51

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

freebooter posted:

Like, for us to welcome the idea that after spending years and years in horrific detention conditions, a bunch of totally innocent people are now really lucky to have full access to all 21 square kilometres of an impoverished island... it just goes to show what a loving twisting, winding snake of anti-logic led us to this point. Explain the current policy decisions and rules about asylum seekers in Australia to someone in the 1980s and they'd think you were loving batshit. And yet we've reached each step little by little, over the course of many years, so now it seems normal. There's probably a snappy political term for something like that.

There's been a few attempts at it, salami-slicing was one metaphor. But the process that fits best for me was described by Christopher Brown to explain the Einsatzcommando, a process of brutalization, only in this broad sense by framing the argument that these people deserve their fate and we have to be strong enough to see it through for our survival. By showing us the brutal acting-out and limiting our exposure carefully, its designed to cut our sympathy for these people by refusing to treat them as such.

Oh those terrible Nauruans! We couldn't possibly have guessed they'd murder rape and torture the people we dumped on them! We even said not to! No Sir, I didn't see no dead people nor did anyone I know bury them in a mass grave that mysteriously appeared on my island. :iiam:

There is nothing you can do about these attitudes, you can't change the people holding them.

ewe2 fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Oct 5, 2015

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 08:34

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

hawaiian_robot posted:

I swear to god either the Great Aussie Patriot (ugh) or the UPF page had pretty much the fourteen words on one post. No Nazis allowed though, guys, for real!

Surrounded by morons, send halp. The fact that many refugees from a variety of countries that happen to be Moslem are settled in the one area of town that is housing commission is probably related to the bogan outrage here. How you can be NIMBY in a housing commission suburb is hilarious though.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2015 17:16

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Nibbles! posted:

Aren't the majority of Bendigo ok with it? I remember reading the majority support it, especially businesses.

Weren't the anti-mosque lot bussing people in to bolster numbers?

Yeah but it's a noisy protest anyway, and other groups are piggybacking on it which makes things even crazier. The core of it are still mad council woman and her friends.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2015 22:23

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Solemn Sloth posted:

Do not try and save the middle class. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no middle class.

Woah.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2015 06:37

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Speaking of dickheads, Kroger and the Vic Libs having another senior moment:

James Massola, SMH posted:

Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger has credited Malcolm Turnbull with a dramatic turnaround in the party's fortunes, telling an exclusive party fundraiser the switch of leader meant just one federal seat - rather than six under Tony Abbott - was now at risk.

And Victorian Liberals have opened their arms - and their wallets - to welcome the new Prime Minister at an Enterprise Victoria fundraising dinner, with an estimated $400,000 raised for the party on Tuesday night.

Mr Kroger also told the 400 guests at the event, which coincided with a cabinet meeting in Melbourne and was held at Zinc in Melbourne's Federation Square, that former MP Sophie Mirabella was now a chance to regain the seat of Indi from independent Cathy McGowan and a third senate seat was now in play.

He identified four Labor-held seats - Bruce, Chisholm, Bendigo and McEwen - where the Liberal Party was making gains.

While Mr Kroger did not name the one at-risk seat in Victoria, it is understood to be Corangamite, which includes parts of Geelong and Colac and is held by Sarah Henderson.

Despite Mr Abbott being a regular visitor to the state, Victoria was typically the Liberal Party's weakest or second-weakest state in published opinion polls.

In the honeymoon period since Mr Turnbull took over as prime minister, he has also been a frequent visitor to the state and party faithful have been encouraged by early signs the party may be able to turn its fortunes around in a state that has been a Labor stronghold in recent years.

More than one Liberal told Fairfax Media that, at its lowest ebb, the party's internal polling had slipped to a primary vote low of 32 percentage points - a disastrous position for the party in the country's second most populous state.

A Fairfax-Ipsos poll conducted in August showed a combined Liberal-National primary vote of 36 percentage points, though the poll had a margin of error of 5.2 per cent.

The fundraiser was a veritable who's who of senior state and federal Liberal MPs, including Mr Turnbull, deputy leader Julie Bishop, leader of the house Christopher Pyne, state opposition leader Matthew Guy, his treasury spokesman Michael O'Brien, party elder statesman Peter Reith and Mr Kroger.

Tickets for the fundraiser were $1100 per person or $10,000 a table and, in the words of one Liberal who attended, "there wasn't much space left in the room and the mood was very, very good".

Ms Bishop spoke first and then introduced Mr Turnbull, who spoke to the room for about 15 minutes, outlining what he liked about Melbourne before moving on to discuss his belief in the importance of innovation, investment in human capital and his vision for Australia.

The pair then conducted a question and answer session with the audience before handing over to Mr Guy.

Another Liberal who attended the event said that since the switch to Mr Turnbull, donations - which had dried up around the time of the second federal budget - had started to flow again.

" The donors are coming out again, some of our biggest, real stalwarts, they were feral about [Joe] Hockey and Abbott and the money had been drying up."

The fundraising night, one of the most important in the Liberal calendar, had been planned when Mr Abbott was still prime minister and the Liberal Party had pared back costs to try and maximise returns.

After years at Crown's Palladium room, the most expensive venue to hire in Melbourne, the dinner was instead booked for the much less expensive Zinc venue.

High profile MCs in the past three years have been Catriona Rowntree, Eddie McGuire and Dermott Brereton but this year no such MC was flagged in the invites.

"The concern had been that fundraising in Victoria would be a train wreck for some time. It was the Abbott factor, coupled with being in opposition at state level and a number of issues at administrative level," another Liberal said.

"We thought we'd struggle to raise much at all. But the change of leader and shake-up at 104 [Exhibition Street, Liberal headquarters] has made a difference. The night was a huge success."

At least two of them, Bendigo and McEwan are just hilarious dreaming on Kroger's part. In Bendigo Lisa Chesters is so embedded they're resorting to using Senator McKenzie (a loving Nat) to "balance" her comments on radio, so invisible are the Libs here. McEwan I have on good authority is also pie in the sky. As for Mirabella, ahahahahahahahahaha.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2015 07:48

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

iajanus posted:

Do we have more recent polling in McEwen to go from? I only know the last election results where there was a ~9% swing to Lib and Labor held it with like a .3% margin. Would be heartening if that was widening again.

Nothing solid, its an anecdotal battle of the internal polling from what I hear. ALP are quietly confident they're getting a base of support but that could be BS too. Kroger's just talking up the chances though, McEwan is one of those lineball electorates but it's also changed significantly. They are very desperate to lock that in so I won't be surprised if they throw money at it like they did in Bendigo the last state and federal elections. It didn't help in Bendigo and I'm not convinced the state party has any better ideas than "throw money at it".

# ¿ Oct 8, 2015 01:07

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Cartoon posted:

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/09/v8-driver-david-reynolds-apologises-for-offensive-comment-about-female-team
Sport culture is in no way toxic. Nah uh.

Speaking of toxic, any thought that the new face of terror, Turdball, was going to actually change the direction of the ship rather than just the bunting..

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-09/malcolm-turnbull-plea-for-mutual-respect-after-parramatta-murder/6841892
And obviously the other Liberal Party was falling all over themselves to declare this (Turdball) as the new improved model.

Welll yes Turdball I do find ' Australian values are, you know, unpalatable' so do a bunch of other people but I also think that minority views should be respected and even nurtured. What an utterly crystal clear call for homogeneity and the marginalisation of minorities. Good loving job. This is actively creating the next round of 'radicals', but that's no a problem as far as you and your painted wagon of right wing nut jobs are concerned.

I hate when they act like they had NO IDEA they were being offensive. Take another $25k to think about it, jerk.

Speaking of offensive jerks, some people apparently take great offence if you suggest that most people don't know what they're talking about with radicalization and perhaps we should wait for the experts before deciding who to blame. I had a bizarre twitter conversation last night with @prestontowers who accused me of attacking him because I prefer waiting for the coroner over screaming TERRORIST and blaming shadowy cowards. I think he was drunk and a bit sensitive for unknown reasons.

Today he told me to refer to Greg Barton because he was a better expert. Barton is the talking head wheeled out on the tv whenever people pretend they want to know about radicalization (he's Professor of Chair in Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University having moved up the ladder from studying Indonesian politics), but unfortunately he doesn't have a Twitter handle that I could find so I can't ask him whether prejudging terrorism is a good idea in this case. I mean, what with everyone screaming terrorism and the effect that might have on, say, impressionable depressed teenagers. Like saying 8 year olds could be suicide bombers.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 02:48

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Comment from twitter wag @DrJavaBeans on #Bendigo

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 03:46

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Comparably speaking, a cow is of more utility than a cat yet does great environmental damage every day. Stop the cows!

# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 12:08

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Halo14 posted:

Time for some...politics?

NBN would go back to fibre optic under Australian Labor Party, says Jason Clare

http://www.smh.com.au/business/nbn-would-go-back-to-fibre-optic-under-australian-labor-party-says-jason-clare-20151013-gk8fih?stb=twt

This is just code for "we'll promise FTTN to marginal electorates and actually do it and then we'll win". Something tells me Bendigo might get NBN in town after all.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 01:58

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

The centrelink app indeed keeps thinking one hasn't reported for days. But it's more interesting that our glorious PM has such faith in the mobile network that an app of this nature will be of such great use in a remote community.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 07:51

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Mithranderp posted:

Uhhh

how will people pay their rent under this system? even if the local real estate agent has an eftpos facility, it'd require physically going in and paying your rent at the office. What if you don't have access to reliable transport? Unless your rent is <20% of your payment, in which case, the entire system is still needlessly invasive and punitive.

Not to mention the extra administrative costs of monitoring and adjusting payments, processing applications from people trying to prove they're not addicted, etc. What are they going to do, demand receipts for everything and add it all up? Who benefits at the retail end for being an approved vendor of approved products for poors? And how do they justify it being a way of dealing with problem gamblers who have a job and end up stealing from employers?

# ¿ Oct 14, 2015 15:47

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Beetphyxious posted:

What? Yes it is. For the agent, electricity company, whatever you can setup a direct payment from your benefit to wherever. It costs the person receiving $.99 a transaction.

So their argument will be the infrastructure exists already to accommodate this sort of thing.

What they won't realise or care is it'll allow for better targeted discrimination for those on centrelink in the rental market.

That won't work for people who have to pay site fees or pay electricity/gas to a middleman as is the situation in caravan parks. This is also the reason why the rebate system for those things is different for them. The amount would have to be checked because it literally varies from payment to payment. On the other hand those people do tend to pay their rent in person.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 01:06

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Beetphyxious posted:

Yes I'm sure there are multiple exceptions to any situation, what I'm saying is the response will be something along the lines of "there is existing infrastructure that can accommodate that" and then not do anything more about it because they don't have to.

Obviously. These are the guys who thought Iraq was a good idea.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 02:46

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Anidav posted:

Dutton calling getting pregnant "blackmail" on the radio.

You know who else regarded children and pregnant women as viral dangers? Yeah.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 04:43

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Solemn Sloth posted:

Mr Dutton's comments come a day after he introduced legislation to tighten

Dutton has the air of someone unaware that their trip of a lifetime is in fact to the abattoir.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 07:02

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Unimpressed posted:

Surely you don't seriously believe this. I mean, it's at least possible that some of them think it's bad but that it's better than other alternatives (as they see it).

Isn't that just rationalizing it? There are many impossible moral dilemmas to be sure, but at the end of the day if there is no sufficient consequence for voting along party lines then its the line of least resistance. It takes an uncommon person to take that risk of losing their position on a moral choice and by then they're just as prone to the sunk cost fallacy as anyone. No one in a marginal seat will dare try it, few in non-marginal seats have to worry about it (because that's why they got preselected there). The system self-selects who is going to play the game in other words.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2015 11:51

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

freebooter posted:

I just don't understand how you can foster a racial hatred of an almost entirely absent and/or invisible minority group.

I think its because we literally insist on thinking of ourselves as European with US upgrades. We just buy in to other peoples arguments before we ask ourselves whether we really need to, just to remind them that we exist and want to belong. This is true of many dumb ideas we've imported.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 02:38

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Speaking of things Bendigo:

Freedom Boy was here! And I didn't have a lynch party ready!

Bendigo Advertiser, website posted:

Mr Wilson�s first stop was Bendigo Senior Secondary College where he told students Australia should foster its culture of tolerance when it came to religious pluralism.

�If you believe in a country like Australia with a full respect for our values and our traditions then you have to respect the fact that people are going to build mosques,� he said.

�So long as they are law abiding citizens and they are not breaking any laws there should be no issue with that.�

Gosh Freedom Boy, those are awfully brave words. Good thing you waited until after that nasty protest!

The whole thing has cost council around 150k:

Bendigo Weekly posted:

Ongoing protest actions and legal objections to a permit granted by the City of Greater Bendigo to allow construction of the city�s first mosque, have cost Bendigo ratepayers more than $150,000, with costs continuing to climb.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show that council has accumulated a legal bill in excess of $124,581 as at the end of September, for legal fees associated with the planned mosque.

A further $16,214 was spent on resources such as crash barriers, traffic management, staff costs and associated security to deal with the protests that brought much of the city to a standstill on Saturday, August 29.

While the documents provided pre-date last weekend�s repeat rallies by supporters and opponents of the mosque, it�s likely up to $15,000 in costs were incurred as barriers were once again placed near the Town Hall and also in sections of Rosalind Park as part of a major police
operation aimed at keeping locals safe, and the opposing groups apart.

Council�s legal expenses relate to dealing with two of Victoria�s most experienced legal firms specialising in the Local Government Act and the Planning and Environment Act � Russell Kennedy and Maddocks, and are continuing to mount as legal action instigated by Bendigo resident Julie Hoskin is still to be concluded.

Ms Hoskin last month sought an injunction in the Court of Appeal to prevent the Australian Islamic Mission from proceeding with plans to build the mosque until a full hearing is held by the Court of Appeal on November 6, but the two presiding judges rejected the application, labelling the appeal documents, in their present form, as �embarrassing�.

VCAT has previously dismissed a claim of bias brought about by Ms Hoskin against its president and one of his deputies.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has not ruled on costs associated with the process so far, and while parties are generally expected to pay their own costs for all VCAT matters, circumstances can give rise to one party�s costs being met by the other.

Under Section 109 of the VCAT Act, the Tribunal may order that a party shall pay all or part of the costs of another party in a proceeding if they have been responsible for prolonging unreasonably the time taken to complete the proceeding, if they have vexaciously conducted the proceeding, if the relative strength of the claims made have no tenable basis in fact or law, or if they caused an adjournment.

City of Greater Bendigo chief executive officer Craig Niemann said council was continuing to accumulate costs around defending the decision councillors made back in June 2014.

Greater Bendigo mayor Peter Cox this week reiterated the fact that the decision by councilors cannot be reversed.

Expensive audio visual equipment and more barriers had to be brought in for this week�s council meeting and additional security employed, and preparation for the November 6 Court of Appeal hearing is ongoing.

Mr Niemann said if council thought it appropriate, it would seek to recover legal costs the organisation had incurred.

He said council�s legal bills and the associated costs regarding the mosque were more about responding to a council decision and supporting it.

�There have been delays because the level of information filed hasn�t been to the standard.�

Mr Niemann confirmed the council�s frustrations that the matter, which councilors voted in favour of in June 2014, was still ongoing.

�It does draw out the process and adds cost and time,� he said.

�It�s frustrating that it has taken this time to get to this point.

But the fun isn't over yet:

quote:

Bendigo could begin welcoming dozens of refugees within months after councillors decided to opt into a federal government resettlement scheme on Wednesday night.

City of Greater Bendigo councillors voted 7-1 to sign onto the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) program, which encourages asylum seekers in Australia who arrived before July 2013 to seek work or study opportunities in rural and regional areas.

There are currently 9,605 people eligible for a SHEV living in Victoria and the city�s Community Partnerships manager Steven Abbott says he believes a state government decision on whether to opt into the program is imminent.

�We expect the number of people to successfully apply to come to Bendigo in this program to be in the dozens,� he said.

�And we expect it to be rolled out over coming months.�

The vote wasn't all plain sailing:

Bendigo Advertiser, website posted:

As promised, Councillor Helen Leach was outspoken and often a sole contrary voice on a wide range of issues.

Councillor Elise Chapman � with whom she jointly referred Mayor Peter Cox to a Code of Conduct Panel last week � was the sole absentee.

Before the meeting was two hours old, Cr Leach was denied her fourth speaking extension � on that occasion as she spoke against the draft Early Years Plan.

She was raising concerns about it not addressing �unborn� and wanted more to be done to offer mother�s support to avoid abortion. However, Cr Leach voted for the item and it was unanimously endorsed the plan be opened to the public.

Her previous extension was granted as she spoke against her colleagues� decision to sign onto the Safe Haven Enterprise Visa program.

�How do you know they are hard working and intelligent?� she asked Councillor Rod Fyffe, who was one of several councillors to speak passionately in favour of signing onto the visa program.

�What do you know that I don�t?�

Councillor Rod Campbell�s one line response seemed to capture the tone of the rest of the speakers.

�How would you like to be treated if you were one of them,� he said.

Leach and Chapman are the resident anti-Islam anti-mosque anti-anything. Chapman is particularly mad at Mayor Cox who has finally outmanoeuvred her on her attempts to disrupt Council meetings (this one was protected by security just to get something done). I'm sure there's a Family First agenda going on here, Chapman is rather friendly with them and Leach seems to be of the same mind.

And finally...

quote:

THE Liberal Party hopes to have a candidate for the seat of Bendigo �as soon as practical� as the federal election looms just over 12 months away.

Candidates have already been selected for the electorates of Indi, in the state�s north east, and McEwen, directly north of Melbourne, but there is no indication yet of when Bendigo will have a candidate.

Liberal Party Bendigo branch president Greg Bickley, who ran in the last federal election, said the candidate would want at least 12 months to campaign across the electorate.

�I had a bit over 12 months to get out in the electorate, but it�s such a large area so you need a lot of time,� he said.

�The Liberal Party in Bendigo is looking to open preselection very soon.�
-----------------------

Mr Bickley was elected the branch president after last year�s state election, in which he also ran as a candidate in Bendigo East. He has yet to announce whether he would contest preselection.

The party received a significant swing of 8.2 per cent in the 2013 federal election, but fell 1.3 per cent short of claiming the seat from first-time Labor candidate Lisa Chesters.

Strong support for Labor and the Greens in the southern areas of the electorate, including Castlemaine and Maldon, were crucial for the Chesters win.

Bendigo has been Labor-held since 1998, and a win next year would mean 20 years of Labor in Bendigo at both state and federal levels.

The Liberal Party is likely to focus its attention on replacing former premier Denis Napthine and Terry Mulder in their south west seats before federal preselections.

Bickley's the guy who spent all that money and got not a sausage in two elections. They seem sure that Bendigo is marginal and surprise surprise the NBN is suddenly going to be started in town mid-2016, what a coincidence.

ewe2 fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Oct 16, 2015

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 09:00

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

And another thing...

This is a letter to the editor of the Bendigo Weekly which thankfully is online here, but I'll quote it because holy gently caress:

Stephen Mooney, Bendigo posted:

Views of the rally

As a resident of Bendigo I attended the anti/pro mosque demonstrations on Saturday as an observer. { Hint: do not under any circumstances think this guy is going to lose whatever argument you make because he's just an observer okay? }

The police did a marvellous job. Each group was confined to different sides of the Bendigo creek, with the adjoining footpath being blocked by the police.

Each side has a tendency to exaggerate their claims.

The anti-mosque group believes that building the mosque is part of the Islamisation of Australia leading to the full scale application of Sharia law.

They clearly underestimate the power of our democracy to ensure that will never happen.

The pro-mosque group claims that the anti group are racists. Islam does not constitute a race. {Uh oh this sounds like a familiar phrase}

It appears to me that the pro group are desperate for a cause to demonstrate their moral and intellectual superiority, and in the absence of a viable cause have focused on the anti-mosque group. { Defending the rights of mosque-builders is just not viable or moral, checkmate protesters! }

This is ironic given that there are parts of Islam which are the most racist of all religions. { Because Islam isn't a race...wait whut? }

As part of my research into Islam I purchased a copy of the Koran on eBay for $1, and that included the postage. {Research is cheap guys! Be warned, he's going to get technical now!}

It�s true that part of Islam advocates tolerance towards others.

But, it�s also true that other parts advocate hatred and violence towards those who will not submit to Islam. { And this is racist how? }

It�s this latter part which motivates Muslim terrorism and is mistakenly referred to as extremism. { Oh right, because...oh you didn't back any of that up did you? Afraid to quote your research? }

It�s not extremism to follow what is clearly stated in the holy texts of your religion. { Checkmate atheists! }

In terms of our laws which forbid the advocating of hatred and violence, there are parts of the Koran that should be banned.

If the Muslim community is serious about becoming an integral part of any modern western democratic society then they should be at the forefront of expunging the hatred and violence from their religious texts. {Yeah! Just like the Christians did...oh wait}

I find the practise of Muslim women wearing a head scarf offensive. { I find this turn of conversation confusing and disturbing }

Firstly, the head scarf represents women being made responsible for any licentious thoughts of males.

The idea of blaming the victim for the thoughts and actions of others is something that modern western societies have rejected.

Secondly, at a personal level, the head scarf is saying that as an individual male I cannot be trusted to look upon the hair of Muslim women.

However, I defend the right of Muslim women to offend me with their head scarfs. { Checkmate feminists! }

To claim that the anti-mosque group divides the Bendigo Community is to devalue the importance of the freedom of speech.

In her biography of the French philosopher Voltaire, and as a way of representing his philosophy, Evelyn Beatrice Hall stated that �I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it�. This is often misattributed to Voltaire himself. { Checkmate academics! }

The claim that a majority of Bendigo residents support the building of the mosque is based on wishful thinking, or political manipulation.

In fact, the only survey on the matter was conducted by a local radio station which resulted in a majority being opposed to the building of the mosque. { Checkmate fact-based community! }

The mosque will be built because there is no legal means to stop it from being built.

I�m pleased that Bendigo has been able to play a part in demonstrating that the freedom of speech is alive and well in Australia.

If we lived in a country governed by Islam we would not have that right. { DUN DUN DUNNNN }

The only thing which needs to unite the residents of Bendigo is the belief in the freedom of speech, and the rejection of the advocating of hatred and violence in all of its forms. { Checkmate leftys again! }

What a terribly clever bigot you are, Stephen. Just not clever enough to hide your self-serving bigotry and a great example of what Yassir Morsi calls "post-racial compassion" or the belief that one can transcend racism by pretending it's all cultural and therefore inferior.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2015 10:01

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

The Peccadillo posted:

Hey, we're signatories to The Hague, I think. There's always hope.

They'll just hide out in the US which doesn't recognise the ICC.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2015 02:46

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

tithin posted:

http://www.nbnco.com.au/learn-about-the-nbn/three-year-construction-plan.html?cid=vanity%3A3yearplan

NBN rollout plans have been updated apparently. Looks like I'm getting "HFC" in 1st half of 2017.

Whatever HFC is.

Turnbull's Election Strategy (Hyper fibroid-coaxial, its a cable tv technology ie you're not considered important enough for fibre. Bendigo is very important enough for fibre.).

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 11:02

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

SynthOrange posted:

'The revolving door in Australian politics must be jammed shut' - Joe Hockey

"After I've gone through hahahaha suckers"

Les Affaires posted:

They dont' go finding board positions for just anybody who leaves parliament, they do it for people they need to be kept busy so they don't agitate for change.

Wouldn't it be kinder to _{put him down?} :fork:

Blamestorm posted:

It's all very well to laugh at Dutton's leadership aspirations but I did the same about Abbott in the Howard years and boy didn't I look stupid when we elected him PM.

He can only become a bigger potato. If he got to be PM that would be the actual death of the LNP, they're not that desperate. Although Deputy PM would be the LNP's way of saying gently caress You to the Nationals.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2015 03:34

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Jumpingmanjim posted:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/No_Jab_No_Pay/Submissions

Oh boy

That's a lot of submissions, and many with name withheld. The theme is roughly the same "dont jab are kidz".

edit: a sample from noone in particular:

quote:

I am writing in regards to my right for choice, my daughter should have the right to choose or us
being parents to be vaccinated or not so where does it stop? When you fill my kid with mercury, aluminium,
formaldehyde and what ever else is put in vaccines we are not blind we are educated, thanks to Bill Gates
which is one of the mega money makers in all this I�m sure you have heard a million rants by now secretary but
have you spent a day with a child who was normal but now doesn�t even know how too function in life
properly have you would you ? Where is common sense in this guys pull your heads in save grace/face
.Remember this is the new age we have means and tools as well careful to tangle with a group of people who
know the might just educate the rest of you good luck with your decision please let it be smart as your
conscience has to live with it or the next government that tries to fix the damage or make it worse.

Actually a supplementary to a submission :v:

ewe2 fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Oct 29, 2015

# ¿ Oct 29, 2015 01:25

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

It's almost as if Amethyst and Negligent have synchronized cycles.

Refugees are a convenient problem we use to distract our population from the actual problems our politicians refuse to solve and often cause. Why do the right thing and deprive the political class of media-selling headlines and sanctimonious press conferences? Next you'll be expecting them to vote on things that the electorate cares about! We're not even original about it, we're just worse than most.

# ¿ Oct 29, 2015 10:42

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 09:11

ewe2: Jul 1, 2009

Even in Bendigo:

These days I just wish for a meteor swarm.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2015 07:59

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

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James Massola, SMH posted:

Bendigo Advertiser, website posted:

Bendigo Weekly posted:

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Bendigo Advertiser, website posted:

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Stephen Mooney, Bendigo posted:

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