Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

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

Pred1ct posted:

This seems like a stupid argument, having a bubble in the economy isn't good just because it happens to be the lone area of growth. Eventually the bubble will burst and then won't that be a great outcome for the economy.

You know, if they took away the breaks for negative gearing and capital gains, they could cool down the market whilst also raising precious budget revenue....

I guess in theory they could try and time the burst so it happens when some other part of the economy is strong enough to lessen the blow. For instance removing negative gearing at the peak of the mining boom would have done bugger all damage to the economy. More likely they'll just try and keep it simmering away for as long as they are in government and hope that the poo poo hits the fan while the other party is in power.

I don't know how they can cool it off gently at this point. With so many investors in it for the capital gains, as soon as it looks like a permanent decline in house prices because of structural changes like revoking negative gearing they'll be selling up as quick as they can to get their money into something else. I can't see how that will lead to any outcome other than a crash. Even if negative gearing is removed for new investments only, that takes away a big part of what is driving prices higher so you still get the same scenario of people cashing out because house prices have peaked and can only decline from that point on.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 13:13

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 15:14

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

Unimpressed posted:

While you make some good points, a counter to that is that there aren't too many investments that are yielding good returns right now. Straight up deposits are worthless, bonds are dead, some at negative returns, we all saw what happened to the stock market, so while negative gearing will definitely hit, I'm not sure the impact will be so bad.
Furthermore, I don't personally think we have a bubble as such that is going to burst with a big drop in prices. I think it's more likely that prices will drop a bit and/or stagnate. We don't have blocks upon blocks of apartments that are going to stand empty like in Europe, our housing market is still dominated by population growth, land scarcity and the psychological demand for owning a house that is so ingrained in this country. In other words, I think our high prices are driven mostly by market fundamentals, and only then frothed further by low interest and tax incentives for investors.

There are still investments that are making money though, there are always stocks that go up when everything else goes down, there's volatility funds etc. What I think will happen is the initial stagnation or slow decline will accelerate as investors realise that there are no more capital gains to be made. Put yourself in their shoes for a second. If you have an investment that cannot go up in value any more are you going to hold on to it for any longer than you have to? Probably not, you'd cash out and find somewhere else to put your money.

There is actually a large over supply of apartments in Melbourne. People built thousands of them but no one wants to live there. Houses not so much though. I think the lack of housing oversupply simply means that the price will never reach rock bottom, but the premium people currently pay for a house's value as an investment will evaporate which will probably bring the price back to what it was before the negative gearing/CGT combo was introduced.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2015 21:44

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

Unimpressed posted:

Yeah you're right, I guess I don't disagree with you as much as I hope it's not as bad as that. I don't know about the situation in Melbourne in regards to flats, but here in Sydney, while there may be an oversupply there isn't this block after block of empty apartments you saw in Europe. I guess I'm hoping it doesn't come crashing down, that some investors stay with their properties and try to make money out of them rather than sell in a fire sale. NSW's economy is currently heavily driven by construction and if it doesn't come down softly, we don't really have much else going on here, what with the financial sector offshoring jobs at a huge rate and the govt cutting the public service.

I don't think it will be as bad as Europe or the US in absolute terms, but the effect on our economy could be just as bad because it is currently just about all we have going for us. Having said that, I'm not a financial guru and there could well be other factors that make a sell-off less likely.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2015 00:18

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

Ler posted:

#Morgan Poll Federal Primary Votes: L/NP 47 (+1) ALP 27.5 (-2) GRN 14 (+1)

#Morgan Poll Federal 2 Party Preferred: L/NP 56 (+1) ALP 44 (-1)

How long do honey-moon polls generally last?

Haha gently caress Bill Shorten. How long before the knives are out for him? How long before the ALP realises it actually has to stand for something?

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 08:14

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

Serrath posted:

I have a question in good faith; what is Australia's policy with respect to people who apply for refugee status after flying in? I know that flights don't generally operate out of the countries where refugees generally travel but is there a mechanism in place preventing an Iraqi or Afghanistan citizen from flying from Indonesia to Australia and then claiming asylum?

I mean, obviously there's some system stopping them otherwise they wouldn't be attempting the maritime crossing but what specific roadblocks is Australia putting up? Is it that Australia won't extend a tourist visa to people who may claim asylum? And, if that's what it is, how do they ascertain whether or not someone is likely to?

I'm pretty sure they just end up in on-shore detention but I could be wrong. The boats struck a chord with the electorate so those are the ones they cracked down on. And never mind them consistently overlooking all the 457 and student visa scams that do far more harm to Australians than boat people ever would.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 08:46

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

Starshark posted:

I'm just saying I need more evidence. If someone shot a cop and said 'Praise the Lord' you wouldn't be calling it terrorism. Why are Muslims subject to greater scrutiny?

Because you aren't doing it for a political reason? It might be an over simplification but it seems to me that a big part of Islamic fundamentalism revolves around opposing and attacking secularism and other social/political/religious institutions that they decide is in conflict with their interpretations of Islam. I think those motivations are what separates 'terrorism' from other violence and why acts by radicalised Muslims tends to be called terrorism. A madman killing a cop is committing murder, a person doing the same thing as part of a broader campaign for change is committing terrorism. The same should be applied to people like Anders Breivik, Christian fundamentalists who bomb abortion clinics or racists like the KKK who attack black people.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 12:08

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

Birdstrike posted:

What does it mean if I yell allahu akbar when I hit the post button?

I don't think it will make them any better.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 12:11

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

Funky See Funky Do posted:

I wonder what it would take for the taxi industry to realise that they don't have an Uber problem they have public relations problem.

Probably the collapse of the taxi industry.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2015 20:13

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

Jintor posted:

Is Australia's number one illegal immigrant population still backpackers overstaying their visas or did that change in the last couple years

That, or international students working more than their allowed hours.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2015 07:33

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

Starshark posted:

Children are innocent, born without sin. Adults are country-shoppers and economic migrants.

Letting the children out is the thin edge of the wedge. Next thing we'll be letting them all out. It's a slippery slope.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 06:29

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

These animal rights activists are too focused on activism :qq:

What do they think the point of the RSPCA is? Too just sign off on any old farming system they can dream up?

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 06:52

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

Farm animals don't have feelings, it's been bred out of them.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 07:23

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

Who are you guys kidding? There's no graves, they probably just get incinerated at Darwin hospital as medical waste or something.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2015 10:15

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

oh no those poor delicate asian investors

quote:

Asian investors in Melbourne's central business district have been "stunned" by new rules restricting skyscraper density in the city centre, a planning consultancy that works extensively with overseas firms building apartment towers has warned.

Urbis director Sarah Horsfield said the new rules risked putting "a handbrake on investment".

Ms Horsfield told a Property Council breakfast that the introduction of the one-year interim rules last month had hurt the confidence "of a lot of our Asian investor clients who have been quite frankly stunned that the rules of the game can be so fundamentally changed overnight without any prior warning".

Interim measures on the height and density of skyscrapers have undermined investor confidence, a planning consultancy and real estate agents have warned.
Interim measures on the height and density of skyscrapers have undermined investor confidence, a planning consultancy and real estate agents have warned. Photo: Josh Robenstone
But the government insists that billions of investment dollars are expected to flow into the CBD.

The measures impose mandatory height limits for an initial one-year period and require more space between buildings and shadow and wind controls.

The measures dictate that highrise buildings in the CBD can only go above set, lower height limits if they make trade-offs with contributions to public open space or other community facilities.

City real estate agents CBRE, which has been successful in marketing scores of CBD properties to Asian investors, said there had "been a major shift in terms of confidence from developers coming to Melbourne from Malaysia, Singapore and China since the election of the Andrews government" because former planning minister Matthew Guy signed off on so many high-rise apartment projects.

"Victoria needs to be very aware of how many of these groups are now looking to deploy capital to both New South Wales and Queensland. It's real and they are a major threat to Victoria's competitiveness and future prosperity," said CBRE's Mark Wizel.

However, Planning Minister Minister Richard Wynne said this year he had approved more than $3.7 billion worth of construction around the inner city, including 6000 apartments and 1550 hotel rooms.

He said it was his responsibility to ensure investment improved the city rather than creating "dark, windy streets".

"What sort of a city does not have a plan for how it will grow?" he said. "Sydney, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong are among the major cities which have a plan for growth with far stricter conditions than what I have introduced."

The interim controls apply to the Hoddle Grid, which covers the CBD and Southbank.

Mr Wynne said he could also use his discretion to approve applications that "give something back to the community", such as open space or a child care centre.

The government will conduct consultation on the measures early next year before they are fully implemented.

Property Council Victorian deputy executive director Asher Judah said the property industry generally agreed that rules governing development in the CBD needed to be "refreshed". However, he said the latest measures had eroded the confidence of investors.

"The interim measures have undermined investor confidence and have raised question marks over the values of some properties in the city, particularly along Flinders Street," he said.

Mr Judah said Asian investors may have been rattled by the combination of the cancellation of the East West Link contract, a new foreign investors' tax and the latest interim measures.

He said those particular conditions did not exist in other cities, including Sydney and Brisbane.

gay picnic defence fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Oct 13, 2015

# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 20:29

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

Unimpressed posted:

How naive is it of me to hope that Shorten resigns for the good of the party? Very or Extremely?

Utterly

# ¿ Oct 13, 2015 22:32

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

Solemn Sloth posted:

Going to go out on a limb and call a 22% swing an outlier

@GhostWhoVotes: #Ipsos Poll VIC Federal 2 Party Preferred: L/NP 53 (+11) ALP 47 (-11) #auspol

Don't think so.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2015 21:30

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

Solemn Sloth posted:

At some point turnbull has to actually do some policy, not to mention a budget.

Even when he does he's well spoken enough not to have half the country instantly reject it.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 00:47

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

Solemn Sloth posted:

The coalition so far has proven themselves completely unable to walk the tightrope of explaining why the economy is in crisis, while also giving out candy to swing voters. So far Morrison has made his living by exploiting xenophobia, and then a short stint trying to victimise people on welfare. I'm not convinced that he is the ubermensch for a legitimately complex task.

I think they've backed off the 'economy in crisis' button lately and are talking more about the 'economy of the future' which is basically ripping away worker entitlements that are supposed to be making business not agile enough or some poo poo.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 01:09

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

Most group assignments I've done with international students have resulted in similar problems to the examples in there. I don't mind the poor English because I know I sure as hell couldn't go to another country and do a course in a second language but the plagiarism gives me a shits. One of them gave me his contribution to out project, not only was it a c/p from wikipedia, it was the wrong loving wikipedia article. His response? "Oh, sorry. I didn't know it was one of those assignments where you had to read and understand". :eng99:

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 02:03

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

I've seen ads in the toilets at uni offering to do assignments for people. The sooner exams become worth 70% of the final grade the better.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 06:59

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

Les Affaires posted:

I'm of the view that if lecturers and teachers are focused on group assignments to deliver learning, they could facilitate the process by helping the groups plan, execute and be accountable as a team and individuals. One way to do this would be for groups to form in week 1 and by week 2 have a fleshed out plan of execution submitted to the lecturer on roles, responsibilites, timelines, etc. This way by the time the assignment is submitted, it is easier to track who has lifted their weight and there would be less complaints from individuals, and the lecturers don't have to worry so much about marking dozens (hundreds?) of individual assignments.

One of the best group assignments I've had to do (and also one where I did nearly all of the work) was where the lecturer got the groups to appoint a leader whose job it was to send her weekly updates. So each week I could let her know what I'd done and that I hadn't seen or heard from the other two, and when the time came to submit the others might have just scraped a pass while I got an A. That was in a prestigious course though, I don't think any of the generic business courses would go to that much effort.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 07:25

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

BBJoey posted:

Ah yes, the thing we explicitly moved away from to arrive at the current model.

The more marks a single piece of assessment is worth the worse the subject is because neither the students nor the lecturer get an understanding for the relative strengths and weaknesses of the cohort lie. There's no point in an exam everyone does poorly on because a lot of marks depended on a part of the course that was taught poorly/in a confusing way

There's also no point in assessing assignments if a non insignificant portion of the class are paying someone to do it for them. It basically leaves exams and presentations, unless they can find a way to weed out the cheats.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 07:28

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

BBJoey posted:

Yeah but do we know that a non-insignificant portion of University classes are paying people to do assignments? Does it even matter if International students who plagiarise/perform poorly are given a pass regardless?

Nearly all of my stats class paid people to do their two assignments.

If we're going to let people pass regardless of cheating, why not just save them the hard work and give them a degree for $60,000?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 07:51

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

hooman posted:

So we agree that degrees are mostly a financial barrier and training for most professions would be better performed on the job? Also it's not just international students who cheat through uni. Again this is a lovely student thing, not an international student thing.

Not really. I'd say a properly implemented tertiary education system would be a perfectly good way to train people for almost any profession. I'm sure it just a lovely student thing, I've seen a lot more lovely international students than local students in my course though. Probably because at the post grad level more of the locals are professionals who made a conscious decision to go back to uni and learn new skills while the typical international post grad seems to be here for a degree that isn't as worthless as the ones from their own country, and don't really care how they get is as long as they pass. This is coming from a business course, I know people doing science courses who haven't had an issue with them.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 08:35

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

Les Affaires posted:

Surely you agree that a harsher, more gruelly assessment criteria has the effect of reducing overall successful graduate numbers, which by providing a limited supply of graduates into the system, has the convenient side effect of controlling supply in the profession and therefore controlling any threats to income growth?

It also means that only the best students will graduate and be able to practice. That might not be necessary for all professions but I'd have a lot more confidence in, say, teachers knowing that you didn't simply need to spell your name right on the exam to get a teaching qualification. In humanities courses it mightn't be so important.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 08:51

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

hooman posted:

The only reason we have international students who can pay full fee without going through the standard assessment/entrance system is because the government allowed it. You attribute cheating to a social thing based on race rather than on circumstance, history or personal goal. That is being a loving racist.

Is cheating endemic in Chinese schools compared to schools in other countries? How much did you cheat through school? Do you have any evidence that there is more cheating in Chinese schools and culture than there is in Australian culture and schools? What do you think creates this system of requirements to get extremely high marks, do you think it's the inaccessability of good education in China, do you not think that's ALSO A loving RESULT OF POLICY DECISIONS.

That article proves nothing except that people get angry when expectations are changed suddenly. If a school in Australia never enforced a school uniform then suddenly enforced one before an exam and rejected entry to anyone who didn't conform to the uniform codes there'd be a loving riot as well wouldn't there.

Christ you need to take a good hard look at your both sides are right racism and realise that you have some colonial as gently caress attitudes dude.

I don't know about China, but my Indian housemate told me that most assignments over there allow you to just c/p poo poo off the internet, which I would consider cheating. It's obviously a social thing rather than a racial thing, but I'm not sure how else you can easily get the point across without bringing up their country of origin.

Didn't that 4Corners investigation find that it was predominantly Chinese/Indian/SE Asian students paying for assignments?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 09:15

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

Les Affaires posted:

I think just about every exam we had in the masters program was open book. Memory be damned, if you can't remember the model, look it up. The book won't help beyond that.

I've had a couple of take-home exams. That's just asking for people to pay to have it done for them. It was in an entry level business law subject that the university decided the fail rate was too high so they introduced online multiple choice quizes (as many attempts as you needed, worth 20% of the over all mark), cut the number of topics covered and let people do the exam over a weekend.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 09:22

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

Zenithe posted:

How insanely lazy and rich do you have to be to pay someone to do a take home, multiple choice quiz which you can do multiple times.

There are some incredibly lazy people out there. A friend of mine earned a couple of thousand from the son of some Arab oligarch who just paid him to do all of his assignments right the way through their degree.

Vladimir Poutine posted:

I think that kind of thing is pretty common in first year subjects. First year bio at my uni dropped the weighting of the exam to 35% and made it exclusively multiple choice to make it even easier. I did a first year philosophy subject as an elective and all you had to do in the exam was write an essay about one topic (there was one topic covered per week). You could literally not learn 11 weeks worth of material and still get a HD for the exam.

But what is the point? Aren't the assessments and exams supposed to test whether or not the student has achieved the subjects stated learning objectives? I know the real reason they're doing it is so more people go on and pay a second year's worth of fees, but I'd love to hear them try and defend it. It'd be nice if they invested more into teaching rather than simply lowering the bar each time the subject doesn't met it's pass rate quota.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 09:45

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

Anyone know the process for applying to the UN to get economic sanctions put on your own country?

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 22:53

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

quote:

Senior federal bureaucrats have been accused of behaving like characters in the TV comedy Utopia for refusing to reveal what brands of wine and beer former prime minister Tony Abbott selected to supply whilst entertaining guests at personal functions.

This is like a Utopia episode all over again

During heated exchanges during a Senate estimates hearing, Labor's Penny Wong became exasperated with members of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, claiming it was "one of the worst standards I have ever seen" from public officials in her 10 years in Parliament.

Bureaucrats insisted they were simply trying to balance the public's right to know with "privacy" issues surrounding Mr Abbott's "beverage preferences".

The blow up over alcohol purchases came hours after it was revealed at the same committee that a marble coffee table in Mr Abbott's suite had been smashed � apparently as a result someone dancing on it during a wild party on the night he lost the leadership to Malcolm Turnbull.

The issue of alcohol purchases centred on a Freedom of Information request submitted by Senator Wong earlier in the year.

Despite a statutory duty to deal with FOI requests within 30 days, the department did not respond for six months and when it did, the receipts of Mr Abbott's alcohol purchases were all but blacked out after officials decided brands of beers and wine favoured by the then prime minister were part of his "personal information".

The receipts show that $7340 worth of alcohol was purchased in a less than two month period between February 9 and April, to supply Mr Abbott's personal functions in Sydney and Canberra.

Holding up one of the heavily redacted receipts, Senator Wong said: "It looks like an exhibit out of Utopia." In a recent episode of the ABC TV comedy, fictional bureaucrats debate all the ways not to release a publicly-accessible document.

"Seriously, you must have run out of toner," Senator Wong observed.

First assistant secretary Pip Spence, who adjudicated on the FOI request, said in her opinion it was not in the public interest to know which brand of riesling the prime minister might favour.

Senator Wong said: "How is that personal information where you choose to spend taxpayer's money? How is that personal information? This is like a Utopia episode all over again."

Wine receipts

She criticised officers for a "blatant and patent" refusal to answer questions from a senator. "Is that really what PM&C's standard now is? You won't even answer questions from the Senate about who you spoke to, is that right?"

"This is one of the worst standards I have ever seen," she said.

Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm agreed that officers seemed like they had "something to hide".

Earlier, deputy secretary Elizabeth Kelly said the FOI was a "novel application" and had therefore taken longer to process.

Senator Wong replied: "What sort of message does it send to the entire bureaucracy when the prime minister's own department treats an FOI request from a senator in such a cavalier manner?"

Ms Kelly said: "Senator I reject that it was treated in a cavalier manner, it was treated in a very sensitive manner and we reflected very deeply about the appropriate way to balance the competing factors here, which were the privacy and personal information about the prime minister's beverage preferences and the public interest in that detail being known."

$7300 worth of alcohol in 2 months? What a trooper.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 22:59

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

Ahh Yes posted:

Does XXXX make champagne? Sorry I mean sparkling wine!

Lion Nathan, the company that owns XXXX certainly does.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2015 23:52

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

Majestic posted:

Well, it took me more than ten years to get someone to buy an avatar, but I suppose that's a milestone. I can't say I disagree with the sentiment. I'll just make sure I'm not browsing the forums during our next accreditation process.

I'd prefer to never have to teach a subject involving group work again, but I'm curious how people think we're supposed to "teach" social skills. The subjects we have that relate to professional practice and soft skills are almost universally regarded as a joke, and I would prefer to do away with them altogether. We don't have enough time to adequately cover the material we need to cover as it is, without trying to teach people how not to be asocial weirdos as well.

MiniSune, I don't find that hard to believe at all. Engineering students now are perhaps the most unjustifiably smug of all the degree programs; based on the difficulty of the degree program twenty years ago, they think they are part of some elite cohort. At least in terms of program difficulty there may have been some truth to that in the past, there certainly is not now. Physics students work much harder, on material that is much more complex. A good technician was always as valuable as a good engineer, now they are probably almost always more so. Engineering graduates are a dime a dozen, a skilled machinist or operator is much rarer (and much more important to the success of our projects).

I'm not sure group work teaches much by way of social skills though. If anything it's built up a bit of mistrust and skepticism of working in teams. The main issue in my opinion seems to be that the way group work is run at universities is a handful of students are just lumped together with no formal structures or authority, no accountability and often no common goal (i.e. some happy to scrape a pass, others wanting straight As). You're almost guaranteed a dysfunctional team in those circumstances, and that will just cause stress and frustration rather than teaching anything useful. The best group work assignments I've been a part of have had a lot of input from lecturers/tutors, there have been a lot of steps along the way where we had to submit progress reports, and demonstrably crap group members were removed and made to do it on their own.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 02:01

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

Cartoon posted:

Yeah engineers just need to build a bridge and get over themselves.

If only we still had an infrastructure Prime Minister

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 02:29

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

katlington posted:

Its Howard.

E: John howard is a pedophile.

He certainly hosed the kids

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 08:09

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

Pred1ct posted:

I watched 4 Corners tonight after hearing all the hubbub yesterday and goddamn it's incredible.

Jackson and Lawler are completely delusional. Surprisingly Lawler is even more of a character than Jackson, his own obsessive audio recordings practically gifted evidence that he'd used power of attorney to steal money to buy a house.

What made him think that it would be a good idea to air his dirty laundry on the ABC? Public sympathy or something?

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 10:59

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

Unimpressed posted:

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

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

It wasn't meant to be tough on crime, it was meant to be tough on immigrants. They just forgot that white people can be immigrants too.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2015 02:28

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

Maybe we need to address why alcohol is such a big issue and widely abused here compared with other places.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 05:49

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

freebooter posted:

People always say this but it's the sort of thing that's near impossible to measure and so you end up just falling back on stereotypes. Australia has a common perception of having a "problem" with binge drinking, as does the UK, but I suspect that's all it is - a perception, a moral panic. Especially given that it's only young people the government and media seem to think are going out and binge drinking. It smacks of "kids these days."

And it's the cities with the harshest restrictions which (again, going on perception not facts) appear to be the unsafest - Kings Cross in Sydney and Northbridge in Perth. I was in Northbridge the other night for the first time in nearly five years and I'd forgotten about the staggering police presence there. On the other hand, in Melbourne, with its dozens and dozens of nightlife areas and thousands of small bars, I've never felt the least unsafe.

Ask anyone who works in emergency and they'll tell you the restrictions have had an impact on the number of alcohol related injuries they're seeing. It comes back to the culture of drinkers that causes them to act like violent shits when drunk instead of just chilling out.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 06:59

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

Cleretic posted:

Abbott was evil, but he was almost endearingly incompetent at it. He was bad enough just at being a person, he almost felt unthreatening. I'd call him a living political comedy character, but if we wrote Tony Abbott into The Hollow Men or The Thick Of It he'd stand out as being by far the least believable person there. He's the kind of politician you dream of opposing, because he practically does the job for you. It was hard to hate him because he's just that stupid.

In contrast Turnbull's actually remotely competent and charismatic, making him far more dangerous. The fact he's dialing back the party platform's shittiness by taking things like university deregulation off the table doesn't really help when you consider just how poorly Abbott pushed the platform in the first place. We're in more danger of losing things that are actually nice about the country, while still not actually being in a position to hope for positive change.

I want Abbott back.

This is why I was calling anyone who wanted Abbott gone an idiot. Turnbull has the wits and charisma to get the same lovely outcomes and have most of the country cheering him on. The only consolation is that he won't let the country get quite as hosed as Abbott would've if he'd got his way.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 07:31

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 15:14

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

Lid posted:

Accelerationism is forever the dumbest and most petulent philosophy.

Because the alternatives are working so well at the moment.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2015 09:27

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

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