quote:

Salim Mehajer is currently behind bars in Silverwater Correctional Centre, where he has been for more than a month, as he awaits trial on charges of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to cheat and defraud.
Per a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, however, he seems to be having a tough time, with fellow inmates mocking him for being “high maintenance”, and reportedly placing a note reading “princess” above his cell door.

quote:

...

Cardinal Pell's committal hearing is expected to run for a month and will determine whether there's enough evidence for him to stand trial.
The hearing will be closed to the public and media for up to two weeks as the complainants give evidence, which is standard practice in Victoria for hearings involving sexual offence charges.
They are expected to begin testifying via video link from a remote facility this afternoon.
About 50 witnesses are expected to give evidence during the hearing, which is scheduled to conclude by Good Friday.
At the end of the committal hearing, Cardinal Pell will be required to enter a plea.

quote:

Nothing is more emblematic of Turnbull’s particular brand of shittiness than this – knowingly putting queer people through months of hell to save his position as PM only to try act like he is a supporter of and part of the community. He wants the credit without having done any of the work and, summarily, can go gently caress himself.
The queer community exists as a distinct entity from Australia at large because queerness has historically existed in an atmosphere of prejudice enforced by both social norms and by institutionalised discrimination, both of which Turnbull’s actions have only served to further entrench. The queer community exists a safe space by necessity because of people like him and the Coalition, it is not his place to celebrate in that space.

quote:

Australians driving for Uber's most popular low-cost service, Uber X, are earning about half the statutory minimum wage for transport workers, according to a new report.
The union-backed Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work has calculated that the average income of the ridesharing service's drivers working in six Australian cities is less than $15 an hour.
This compares with about $30 an hour for casual drivers working under the relevant statutory award, according to the centre's director, economist Jim Stanford.

...

Uber calls its drivers "driver-partners" and regards them as independent contractors.
Last December the Fair Work Commission agreed, ruling that Uber drivers are not employees.

...

Low pay also encourages drivers to work long hours, challenging ridesharing companies to manage driver fatigue.
Last year a man was killed in Sydney's CBD after being hit by a bus after getting out of an Uber.
The Uber driver, Nazrul Islam, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of negligent driving occasioning death.
He had reportedly been driving for 21 hours without a substantial break.
Uber now forces drivers to log off its app for six hours after every 12 hours.
That still enables drivers to drive for 18 hours out of every 24.
The entry into the Australian market of Uber competitors such as Taxify and Ola intensifies the challenge of managing driver fatigue, according Ms Kariotakis.
"There's nothing stopping those drivers driving 12 hours on Uber, logging onto Taxify, driving another six hours straight … driving another six hours," she said.
"They could drive 24 hours a day if they wanted to."

quote:

However representatives for Netflix have confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that Lilley’s new series, graciously, won’t be characterising race as a focal point of its humour.
"We can confirm that there are no plans for Chris to play characters of different races for this project. The project is in early stages and we will have more details to share soon."

quote:

Pauline Hanson's chief of staff, James Ashby, is under investigation for flying his boss around Queensland without the proper pilot's licence.
The ABC understands Mr Ashby is being investigated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for flying the Jabiru J230 during the 2016 election campaign.
CASA has declined to confirm or deny whether any investigation is underway.
If found guilty, Mr Ashby faces fines and could lose his licence.

...

The plane is plastered with a stylised image of Senator Hanson, and Mr Ashby used it to fly the One Nation leader around Queensland in 2015 and 2016.

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

"If we are to believe all the girly mags out there then any female between the ages of legality and experience who had half the chance would be happily bonking slick Willie's brains out for as long as he could take it. And then they very well may want more."

Brown Paper Bag posted:

Young George Christensen = Caleb Bond

QUACKTASTIC posted:

https://twitter.com/Psyberus/status/971527876267749377

fiery_valkyrie posted:

How many tampons do these men think women use??

The way they’re all carrying on you’d think that 90% of government revenue comes from the gst on tampons.

Forget the companies with turnover in the billions that pay no tax - we’re going to bring the budget back into surplus by keeping the tax on tampons!

quote:

"My distinguished treasurer was wrong then, and Tanya Plibersek is wrong now," Mr Abbott said on Wednesday.
"Look, once you start having these sorts of exemptions, where does it end? Where does it end?
"We have to broaden the tax base, not start carving out politically correct exceptions.
"But this is typical of the contemporary Labor Party — there is not a bandwagon that they won't jump on if they think there's a vote in it."

Visidan posted:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/972242845636669440

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Murdoch's excruciating pain

quote:

"I have had not had an issue that has boiled up as much as stadia."
That's the worried assessment of one unhappy minister in the Berejiklian Government about its $2.5 billion plan to rebuild the Sydney Football and Homebush stadiums.
The proposal has been met with widespread dismay in and out of Parliament.
Anxious ministers won't speak on the record but they clearly believe the longer the Coalition sticks with the policy the more votes will be lost.
Since December those ministers and plenty of backbenchers have been privately telling journalists just how bad the reaction has been.
"It will kill us," said one.
"It's political poison," offered another.
A senior minister told the ABC this week: "I'm very concerned. This can't be explained away … I cannot believe it."
Another said "I've had hundreds of emails about our stadia plan. You thought greyhounds was bad, it's nowhere near this."
That's right. The assessment of some in the State Government is that this issue is worse for its electoral hopes than either the greyhound racing ban or local council amalgamations. And both of those were reversed.

The Peccadillo posted:

If you are deconstructed into atoms and reassembled somewhere else you have been murdered and a perfect copy of you is made

Alternatively there was that Stephen King story the Jaunt where if you kept your eyes open you live in a nightmare place for thousands of years and the movie Event Horizon where you travel through hell, mister speaker

quote:

A judge has described far-right activist Neil Erikson as "childish" for attending court wearing a high-visibility vest from his former employer, Toll.
Erikson has been found guilty of contempt of court for disobeying an order by Federal Circuit Court judge Suzanne Jones to return his uniform to the company.
Toll has argued in court that videos and photos Erikson has posted of himself wearing the uniform — including one where he confronted former Labor senator Sam Dastyari in a Melbourne pub — has affected its relationships with some clients.
Erikson, who has not worked for the company since 2016, arrived at court on Tuesday wearing a Toll uniform he claimed to have purchased at a second-hand shop for $2.
"Do you think it's a good idea to wear that? Do you find it amusing?" Judge Jones asked him.
"I just want to show how pathetic Toll is," Erikson replied.
"Are you not pathetic?" Judge Jones said.
"You can keep wearing it but you just enjoy the media attention."
The exchange took place during a hearing to determine what punishment Erikson would receive.
"I'm just punching up against the big corporation," Erikson said.
Judge Jones replied: "That's just rubbish."

Solemn Sloth posted:

Eh, not necessarily the case. In Victoria the case used to push this narrative is Blackmores Wagyu Beef Farm.

Basically a couple bought a property that was enclosed on three sides by a beef farm. They were quite happily living there for 5 years, then the farmer radically changed his practices which brought heavy amenity impacts to the couple. They complained to the council, and the council found the use of the farmland had changed to the point where planning permission was required. A permit was denied on the grounds of amenity, and the farmer and the farmers federation chucked one of the biggest tantrums you’ll ever see, resulting in Victoria committing to a reform program which is still ongoing.

Vooze posted:

Presented without comment.

quote:

Jobs and innovation minister Michaelia Cash could face cross-examination in court over her office's involvement in tipping-off the media about police raids on union offices.
The Australian Workers Union's (AWU) legal representatives have informed the Federal Court that the union will seek to subpoena Cash, as well as her former media adviser David de Garis and former Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) official Mark Lee.
The subpoena applications will be formally made in the next day and if successful, all three will be required to appear in court at the end of the month to give evidence and face cross-examination about their knowledge of the leaks and subsequent raids.

quote:

A conservative push to resettle "persecuted" white South African farmers in Australia is gaining momentum with several MPs calling for a special humanitarian intake.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has caused a diplomatic row with South Africa after declaring white farmers in the country were facing "horrific circumstances" and needed protection from a "civilised country".
While the issue has hit the national headlines this week, West Australian Liberals have been agitating behind the scenes for months and last year passed a motion at the party's state council calling on the Federal Government to "resettle persecuted European minorities" in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
WA Liberal Ian Goodenough, whose electorate is home to one of the largest South African expat communities, said Australia accepted thousands of extra refugees from Syria in a one-off special intake and should do the same for white farmers "fleeing persecution".
"Violence and suffering affects all people universally," he told the ABC.
"Given our close connections to the South African community, consideration should be given to providing a quota of places."
Mr Goodenough — who has been lobbying his senior colleagues over the issue — argues white South African farmers would bring relevant skills to Australia and integrate well into the community.
"It certainly wouldn't hurt to allocate a number of places to people who fit in well and will contribute to the country," he said.
His West Australian colleague, Andrew Hastie, took to social media to declare he is "outraged" by the reports of violence against white farmers and posted an image of a flyer describing the group as the "persecuted minority nobody cares about".
"They are being targeted in … what appears to be an orchestrated terror campaign," it said.
But the push is not limited to WA.
Several Liberals have posted the same flyer as well as graphic images of white farmers who have apparently been beaten.
Farm violence in South Africa is a racially charged and sensitive political issue, particularly given the Government's push to seize land from farmers without compensation.
Queensland Liberal MP Andrew Laming has been vocal on the topic, describing white farmers as "refugees", and claimed credit for this week's developments.
"Since I called out South African politicians for their do-nothing approach to vicious attacks on farmers, Peter Dutton has asked his [department] to monitor and consider our offshore humanitarian program," he posted.
The plight of South African farmers is also on Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm's radar.
He has written to the Government urging it to respond to the "tragedy of farmers being forced off their land … and the alarming rate of murder".
"We should investigate options for allowing South African farmers to enter Australia under the refugee program if they require sanctuary," he posted on Facebook.

quote:

Wesfarmers is going back to the future spinning out Coles, but will it pay off?

Gold finally falls from a plane and it's literally in Siberia

quote:

The incoming chief of the Commonwealth Bank is expecting such an uncomfortable and confronting week at the royal commission he has written an email warning 14,000 of his retail staff to prepare.
"There will be cases highlighted next week where customers have been treated unfairly by us," Matt Comyn wrote.
"In many cases, our actions have had a significant impact on the financial and emotional wellbeing of our customers. This is unacceptable."
In the brief email, that repeated the messages of other bank bosses who wrote to their staff ahead of the royal commission's hearings, Mr Comyn addressed the bank's short comings and pledged to make good.
"Where we have made mistakes we must and will take responsibility for them, we will make things right for our customers, and not repeat the same mistakes," he said.
"We will exceed our regulatory and compliance obligations, and enhance the financial wellbeing of every single customer we serve."

Anidav posted:

Please describe each party platform in an individual Calvin and Hobbes strip

quote:

This morning, Sunrise went some way towards making up for its atrocious segment on Indigenous child removals last week with a longer piece, gathering a panel of Indigenous experts to talk about the highly complex issue.
Sam Armytage, who hosted the original and widely criticised segment, wasn’t part of it. Instead, David Kochie hosted the 10-minute chat between CEO of a Darwin‘s Danila Dilba Health Service Olga Havnen, Indigenous health researcher Dr. James Ward, and Aboriginal Health CEO Pat Turner.

...

As Kochie was wrapping things up, Havnen asked to make one final comment.
“I think you’re absolutely right, what we need is intelligent, informed discussion and looking for solutions rather than the confected outrage and anger,” she said.
“Yep, absolutely, on all sides,” Kochie agreed, which is possibly the closest we’ve gotten to an apology so far.
The make-up segment has been well-received on social media, if slightly dampened by the fact that a protest outside the studio this morning was prevented from appearing on Sunrise by NSW Police officers outside.

quote:

Former Auburn deputy mayor Salim Mehajer has been declared bankrupt by a Federal Circuit Court, after the company that built a marble staircase in his Sydney home launched legal action against him last year.
At a hearing in Sydney this morning, Judge Justin Smith declared the ex-property developer bankrupt and ordered him to pay Prime Marble & Granite Pty Ltd's legal costs of $20,524.
The company had first taken him to court in November 2017.
Mr Mehajer's lawyer claimed the bankruptcy notice was invalid, but that argument was rejected by Judge Smith.
The order means Mr Mehajer's multi-million-dollar estate will be managed by a trustee who will take control of his financial affairs and deal with his creditors.

Solemn Sloth posted:

hooman posted:

Frankly I'd have been more shocked if the blockchain didn't have child porn in it.

quote:

The NT Government controversially awarded free land to a major Darwin developer without knowing the full value of the property and without a final cost-benefit analysis for taxpayers, a report by the Auditor-General has revealed.
Northern Territory Auditor-General Julie Crisp found serious issues with the awarding of the 168-hectare former Berrimah Farm site to Halikos Group in 2015 under the Country Liberal Party, including that the valuation of the land was rushed, no cost-benefit analysis existed and financial and reputational risks were not adequately mitigated.
Ms Crisp also flagged concerns the scope of the development, dubbed Northcrest, had changed significantly behind closed doors from what was initially offered for public expressions of interest.
Halikos Group were ultimately awarded the land for free, despite another developer offering $30 million for the site.
The $300 million development, which will see 2,000 homes, a retail precinct and commercial office space, is estimated to be worth $1 billion when completed.

The original project offered $4 million towards the estimated $28 million in headworks on the site to the winning bidder, but changes were made to the proposal after Halikos was selected as the preferred tenderer by government, the audit report shows.
That included a $4.9 million buy-back of a section of land, as well as a government lease of office space on the site.
The report also shows a $2.9 million public bus depot that was to be built by the developer was dropped from the project, as well as other smaller requirements.

JBP posted:

They've imported a shitload of racists into his electorate though.

quote:

ANZ banking fail leaves customers unable to withdraw more than $200

quote:

A pastoral associate who worked at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne when Cardinal George Pell was archbishop has told a court that the archbishop’s robes were heavy and could not be easily lifted or moved while being worn to expose oneself.
Rodney Dearing was cross-examined by Pell’s defence team on Thursday as part of the committal hearing into historical sexual offence charges against Pell. Dearing told the court that he was responsible for hanging up Pell’s robes and he was therefore familiar with the weight and manoeuvrability of them.
Pell’s barrister Ruth Shann put it to Dearing that the robes were “not able to be parted in the middle to reveal ones genitals or indeed parted to the side to reveal ones genitals”.
“No,” Dearing responded.

quote:

The court heard that two of the choir boys had said they had “snuck back inside” the cathedral building as the procession exited the building. But Shann told Dearing that there was a general awareness at the time Pell was archbishop of Melbourne, from 1996, “of allegations coming out generally about clergy and kids”, which would have “motivated you personally and fellow adult chorists to keep a particularly close eye on the kids”. Dearing agreed.

quote:

The defence has been cross-examining former choir boys and staff at the cathedral at the time Pell was archbishop, and suggesting to them that two missing boys would have been noticed due to the strict expectation that choirboys were to follow the rules, the close eye staff kept on the choir and the layout of the building and grounds.
On Thursday morning Peter Finnigan, who used to manage the choir, told the defence team that while he did not recall two boys going missing at any stage, “it would certainly be possible”.
“But they would certainly be very naughty boys if they did,” he said.

DancingShade posted:

Was it on advertiser revenue grounds or something else?

Comstar posted:

rifle that fires blunt force pellets the size of marbles

quote:

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has updated his parliamentary records to confirm his former media adviser is now his partner.

...

He confirmed Ms Campion as his partner on February 13 but only updated his register of interests to reflect that last week, on March 19, which is just outside the 28 days required for updates to be made.
His register of interests now shows the update made in January — that he had separated from his wife Natalie — as well as the from last week showing Ms Campion owns a property in the Canberra suburb of Braddon, and some shares.
He has deleted the declaration showing the gift of six months' rent-free use of a townhouse in Armidale in his electorate of New England.

quote:

We Found Labor's Talking Points In A Bathroom In Parliament House