Furnaceface posted:

Living longer does not mean living better.

Unless your seniors residences and old age homes are in way better shape than ours.

Bogan King posted:

Live longer doesn't even apply to the indigenous population. Just another reason Australia and Canada are the same place.

Furnaceface posted:

The more I learn about your country the sadder I get because I thought you guys were basically just Canadians without the bad parts.

Im going to blame the UK for ruining both of us.

Bogan King posted:

turdbucket posted:

how loving dumb can you get. What on earth is the point of deciding policies if MPs aren't bound to them? What's the point in even campaigning for anyone if they will do something different after being elected?

quote:

$4k bill for whale-watching trip The Australian12:00AM July 3, 2017 MICHAEL OWEN SA Bureau Chief Adelaide

Taxpayers have forked out almos­t $4000 for Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young and her daughter to go whale watching in the Great Australian Bight. The South Australian senator, who wants a ban on oil and gas explorat­ion in the Bight, took the overnight trip last September at a cost to taxpayers of $3874.24. This came after veteran environ­mentalist and former Greens leader Bob Brown had just returned from the area. At the time of Senator Hanson­-Young’s trip, the Bight was already included in Australia’s federal marine reserve network, with the government having concluded it was a “globall­y important seasonal calving habitat for the threatened southern right whale”. Senator Hanson-Young yesterday said the “whole point” of the trip, charged to the public purse as “electorate business”, was to “see the whales”. “Of course I went to see the whales, that was the whole point,” she said. “These whales were at threat from BP and those that want to drill for oil, and want to damage their whale sanctuary.”

In the days after the trip, Senat­or Hanson-Young posted photos on her Facebook page at the Head of Bight whale centre, along with plates of fresh oysters, relaxed selfies and photos of her 10-year-old daughter admiring sunsets and whales. One of her Facebook friends posted a comment that said: “How relaxed are you, stunning selfie ...” Senator Hanson-Young said she took her daughter along becaus­e she was sick on September 7, and “I didn’t have anyone that could look after her at home”. Return flights for mother and daughter from Adelaide to Ceduna­ cost $1875. Finance Department records showed Senator Hanson-Young claimed $268 in travelling allowance in the small settlement of Coorabie, 945km west of Adelaide, where construction of helicopter landing facilities began in 2015 to serve a now-shelved BP oil exploration project. Hire car costs were $317.52, while taxpayers covered the $1292.52 cost of a charter. Comcar expenses of $120 were also claimed.

Parliamentary travel rules allow a senator to claim “the hire of charter aircraft and other vehic­les for travel within and for the service of the electorate”. The rules also allow for a senator to be accompanied by his or her spouse, staff, and other senators and MPs, and others if a larger aircraft/vehicle is not required. Senator Hanson-Young is entitled­ to claim $14,860 a year in such costs. A dependent child of a senator is allowed to travel at taxpayers' expense on trips within the senat­or’s home state and travel “may be at any class”. “The point is I went all for work. Yes my daughter accompanied me, because she was sick that day,” Senator Hanson-Young said yesterday. “There is an entitlement for it, and it was all for work. I was abso­lutely not in breach of any rules.”

She took the trip to “consult with the community about BP’s plans to drill for oil”.

“My days were full of meetings with constituents and business owners, local councils.” At the time of the trip she was pushing to restart Senate committ­ee hearings that had lapsed during the election, to investig­ate BP’s plans. A month later BP announced it would not proceed, despite having spent $1 billion on a purpose-built rig, the Ocean Great White. Last month Statoil, Norway’s national oil company and the junior­ partner in BP’s failed bid, revived the plan, revealing that it had taken 100 per cent of the project­ in an asset swap.

Furnaceface posted:

The more I learn about your country the sadder I get because I thought you guys were basically just Canadians without the bad parts.

Im going to blame the UK for ruining both of us.

Furnaceface posted:

The more I learn about your country the sadder I get because I thought you guys were basically just Canadians without the bad parts.

Im going to blame the UK for ruining both of us.

Synthbuttrange posted:

lol I thought Canada was Australia without the bad parts

quote:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/07/03/retail-internships-youths-welfare

Up to 10,000 internships will be offered to unemployed youths over the next four years in a deal struck between the Turnbull government and retail sector.

Jobless young people aged between 15 and 24 will undergo training before securing 12-week placements in major retailers under the federal government's PaTH internship program.

"They will get a start at a job and, you know what, they could go on to great heights," the prime minister said in Sydney on Monday.

"They could go on to, like many others before them, running big businesses, owning big businesses and employing lots of other people, realising their dreams."

Jobs created through the program will be new positions, rather than replacing current roles, she said, allaying fears jobs will be lost.

More than 1.2 million people work in the retail sector, which is the country's second largest employer of young people, eclipsed only by the health sector.

Australian Retailers Association chief executive Russel Zimmerman says underprivileged youths will access the same opportunity as successful business people who started out on the retail shop floor.

"We are hoping by this program, and being able to get people enthused about the retail industry and to get employers to take on more people, that we will get young people into retail, that they will see retail as a career, and work their way through," Mr Zimmerman said.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the partnership is aimed at getting young people job-ready, giving them a go and finding them work.

"When we say that the best form of welfare is a job, we mean it, and we will put both the resources and the programs behind it," she said.

The PaTH program seeks to encourage young jobseekers to undertake internships by paying them $200 a fortnight on top of income support payments and giving employers an $1000 upfront payment.

Labor, the Greens and unions are staunchly opposed to the program, insisting it will allow young people to be exploited by employers without proper safeguards in place.

More than 1200 youths have gone through the PaTH scheme since it began on April 1, with 82 young people securing ongoing work.

open24hours posted:

Like a workhouse without the house.

quote:

Victorian government signs deal to buy Heyfield timber mill

The Andrews government will take the unconventional step of buying the Heyfield timber mill in eastern Victoria in a bid to protect 250 jobs.

Fairfax Media understands Victorian Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford will make an announcement on Monday confirming an in-principle deal that will eventually see the state government become the owner of the Australian Sustainable Hardwoods (ASH) timber mill.

open24hours posted:

Like a workhouse without the house.

quote:

The PaTH program seeks to encourage young jobseekers to undertake internships by paying them $200 a fortnight on top of income support payments and giving employers an $1000 upfront payment.

open24hours posted:

The PaTH program seeks to encourage young jobseekers to undertake internships by paying them $200 a fortnight on top of income support payments and giving employers an $1000 upfront payment.

Zenithe posted:

This is a loving joke right?

Lid posted:

"We're haemorrhaging members in every state but it's a particular problem in NSW because we've got this dreadful situation where we have got factionalists and lobbyists who seem to be controlling the party. The best way to liberate our party from factional control, the best way to liberate our part from the lobbyists, is to give every single member a vote.

NPR Journalizard posted:

Whats that young intern, you have completed your training and your 12 week placement oh no we are in the middle of a downturn there are just no more permanent places for you sorry, here is a casual position where you will get one shift a week, please use it to train up this young intern.

Bogan King posted:

Given the courting of the PHON vote and this attempt at loving over the youth it's quite obvious how they feel about youth and Asia.

Cartoon posted:

It's almost like the whole party system is a hollow farce

Meanwhile SHY has been whale watching

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...36a90b3406da0e2


tl;dr Parliamentarian takes trip that is paid for with proper entitlements.

I can't help but feel SHY gets such a caning because she is a woman. In this 'article' they are at pains to point out that she doesn't have anyone at home to look after her daughter. This thread is always slamming her on various issues usually because she was involved in student politics and someone I know says she's a bitch lol. The right wing press shills are really pushing this one hard too. They need to, it doesn't have legs.

quote:

Over the past week I have been called a lot of things but the expression "road kill" is probably the most colourful and possibly the most accurate description of my situation.

The term gives a sense of the mayhem that has been left in the wake of the backgrounding by senior Greens sources, my suspension from the federal party room and the party room motion insisting the Greens NSW change its rules.

And it helps explain that little of the antics are about me. There is a much bigger agenda, one designed to reduce the democratic power of members in the Greens NSW.

The Greens NSW is rightly proud of the extent of its internal democracy. The way our state party handled the recent school funding bill was a case for celebration not condemnation. It was an excellent example of Greens members engaging with parliamentary politics and taking a position on how I should vote. What is wrong with that? I don't think all wisdom lies with MPs and I value my engagement with Greens members.

Each year members via their delegates to the NSW state delegates council elect a federal parliamentary liaison committee. It advises and guides me as a NSW senator. There is a similar committee for state MPs. The purpose of these committees is to keep MPs in touch with the sentiments and views of the members and ensure they stick to policy.

In these ways the Greens NSW aims to be a member-run party, not one dominated by elites and MPs.

Participatory democracy is one of the four pillars the party is based on. We need to practise what we preach and ensure members have as much democratic control of the party's policy and actions as possible.

Maximum democracy for members is also a matter of political effectiveness. Our MPs owe their election to the time and energy expended by our members. Much of our members' commitment flows from their knowledge that they are not just service personnel, but full and equal members of the party with real rights and powers.

We have seen in Britain how political success flows when members have a real say in a political party.

Having been given a vote in the election of the leader – and with that, the direction of the British Labour party – tens of thousands of members and supporters turned out to campaign for Jeremy Corbyn in the June general elections in Britain. Their energy and commitment cancelled out the right-wing bias of the mainstream media and resulted in the biggest swing to Labour since the election of the Attlee Labour government in 1945.

This suggests to me that we Greens need to preserve – and even extend – the rights of our members if we are to maintain and increase our political effectiveness.

There is a compelling case for considering the idea of members instead of the party room electing the federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. This idea has considerable support among younger Greens following the experience of Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn.

In a similar vein, the Australian Greens should be prepared to accept the idea of an urgent special national conference in the event of the Greens holding the balance of power in the Australian Parliament.

This would allow members to have a real say on who to support to form government and on what basis. Supporting minority governments or entering into government as a junior partner has had mixed and often negative consequences for the Greens here and overseas. It is too important an issue to leave to politicians.

Finally, if we are to be a member-controlled party we need to revisit the so-called conscience vote. The constitution of the Australian Greens grants all Greens MPs in the national Parliament – with the express exception of those from NSW – the right to vote against Greens policy in the national Parliament by invoking the right to a conscience vote.

But if MPs are allowed to pick and choose what policies they support, it makes a mockery of party democracy.

It would be disastrous for the Greens to embrace the approach of politicians dominating the party. The Australian Labor Party has gone down that road and it is the reason it has haemorrhaged members and support.

For reasons both of principle and pragmatism the Greens NSW attachment to a members-controlled party, rather than one that privileges politicians, should be imitated rather than eliminated.

Lee Rhiannon is a Greens senator for NSW.

NTRabbit posted:

It's almost like SHY pissed other people's money away on self aggrandizing trips while she was at uni as well.

Cartoon posted:

tl;dr Parliamentarian takes trip that is paid for with proper entitlements.

Frogfingers posted:

She should have said it was for scientific porpoises