Straylan and Kiwi politics

mariachi-19 said:
Not fecking much except for bumbling incompetence. Which may or may not be a bad thing.
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The sheer incompetence of the Feds is stunning to see, but expected, although even I was surprised by quite how badly they have botched the vaccine rollout. Them proposing slightly clear oil, gas and coal projects as the solution for climate change is totally insane but what would you expect when the party is beholded to oil/gas/mining interest and News Corp and the PM is part of an apocalyptic cult, who believe in speaking in tongues and the end of days being a literal and desirable thing? And Peter Dutton. But just when you think the states are doing well and being the adult in the room you remember the mass corruption in NSW and most stunningly a Dan Andrews led labor government, who you would expecting better of, taxing EV's more than other cars to make up for the lost fuel excise. You really couldn't make this shit up.
 
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Rudd Gillard was the last time i felt any hope for politics to actually shape the nation for the better.

In fact i think the 2 great periods of Australia were hawke-keating and Rudd-gillard. It felt like policy mattered above all else.
 
Gillard was great. She got so much good stuff done despite being a minority government.
 
Cheimoon said:
Say what now?! :wenger:
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Victorian state government is freaking out that fuel excise tax revenues are going to be slashed with any rapid take up of EV's. So in one of the stupidest moves in Australian Policy history, the state government is trying to levy an EV surcharge "to make the playing field fair".

I think literally the only state/country in the world that has decided to implement a levy/tax on a climate change technology.

Nowhere near as crazy as The Nationals (Rural Conservatives) demaining tax payers fund coal mine and coal power plant development, but getting up there. :lol:
 
WPMUFC said:
Victorian state government is freaking out that fuel excise tax revenues are going to be slashed with any rapid take up of EV's. So in one of the stupidest moves in Australian Policy history, the state government is trying to levy an EV surcharge "to make the playing field fair".

I think literally the only state/country in the world that has decided to implement a levy/tax on a climate change technology.

Nowhere near as crazy as The Nationals (Rural Conservatives) demaining tax payers fund coal mine and coal power plant development, but getting up there. :lol:
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Yeah, I kinda got the idea from Wibble's post. Just trying to express my incredulity.

In a way, it makes sense to want to tax all car owners; they've got a general road tax in the Netherlands. Plus taxes on fuel, of course, which don't touch EV owners. But wanting to get EV owners on the same level is absolutely bonkers, yes, and probably unique in the world.

Well, gotta be special somehow I guess!
 
Cheimoon said:
Yeah, I kinda got the idea from Wibble's post. Just trying to express my incredulity.

In a way, it makes sense to want to tax all car owners; they've got a general road tax in the Netherlands. Plus taxes on fuel, of course, which don't touch EV owners. But wanting to get EV owners on the same level is absolutely bonkers, yes, and probably unique in the world.

Well, gotta be special somehow I guess!
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They pay all normal car taxes minus fuel excise (as they don't use petrol) plus about $5000 EV tax. Bonkers.
 
The chair of Australia’s Energy Security Board says a taxpayer-funded gas-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley makes little commercial sense given the abundance of cheaper alternatives flooding the market.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environ...-power-plant-in-hunter-valley-doesnt-stack-up

A Morrison government decision to proceed with the construction of a new gas fired power station in the Hunter region is expected to be announced imminent, despite the proposal being labelled unnecessary and likely to be rarely used.
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https://reneweconomy.com.au/morriso...plans-and-greenlight-new-gas-plant-in-hunter/

Scottyfrommarketing about to dump $AUD 600+ million into a stranded asset.
 
Trying to buy the by-election due in 3 weeks time, for a cool $600,000,000, that is required due to the forced resignation of one of his coalition MPs in a sex scandal.

It has nothing to do with energy needs and everything about shoring up his base in a marginal constituency that must be in danger due to the government's recent (and not so recent) incompetence. I bet the female vote has collapsed. He really is a moral vacuum.
 
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#scottyfrommarketing is now going to put Australians who have been in India in prison for up to 5 years if they get home via another destination. I'm a bit stunned. Imprisoning citizens for coming home to their own country. Just wow.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-or-imprison-australians-returning-from-india

And a gentle but effective dismantling of #scottyfrommarketing's religious nutbaggery by a former PM

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...biblical-passages-is-disturbing-for-democracy
 
Wibble said:
#scottyfrommarketing is now going to put Australians who have been in India in prison for up to 5 years if they get home via another destination. I'm a bit stunned. Imprisoning citizens for coming home to their own country. Just wow.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-or-imprison-australians-returning-from-india

And a gentle but effective dismantling of #scottyfrommarketing's religious nutbaggery by a former PM

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...biblical-passages-is-disturbing-for-democracy
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Thats amazing, prison?.
I think we have just set up a system for those returning from India to go through their hotel isolation at a specific hotel so that the chance of transmission is able to be closely monitored. However having said that our Govt also did the suspended flights from India a few weeks ago and only a few days ago reversed that decision. The damage had been done however and whilst we now have a setup specially for those returning from India the next problem is the Airlines that had been flying routes to NZ from India have now stopped those flights.
These are our own citizens through no fault of their own have been effectively made stateless in the short term.
 
Is it legal that the Australian government can jail their own citizens who come back from India?
It's one thing to put them in quarantine but to jail them?
 
Foxbatt said:
Is it legal that the Australian government can jail their own citizens who come back from India?
It's one thing to put them in quarantine but to jail them?
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Potentially under biosecurity laws. Meant to punish people for smuggling food or animals in but worded so generally that is applies to people themselves. Under challenge in the courts and the government have moved back from actually using the law in this way evne though they theoretically could. India travel ban expires tomorrow anyway so won't get tested with anyone getting prosecuted I'd say.
 
Nature Briefing summary said:
Australian officials accused of burying research

Senior government officials in Australia spent months trying to stop scientists from publishing a paper that showed significant underspending on threatened species, according to an investigation by Guardian Australia. The 2019 paper found that Australia spent only 15% of what was needed to protect species from extinction. The paper was eventually published after the researchers removed references to the government’s programme for protecting threatened species and agreed to not publicize their findings. “We expect our governments to welcome robust, peer-reviewed science, regardless of what it reveals,” says a co-author of the paper, Martine Maron. The country’s environment department said in a statement that they “strongly reject any assertion that department officials sought to pressure researchers in relation to the non-publication or authorship of the paper”.
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Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/environ...e-underspend-on-australian-threatened-species
 
Wibble said:
The Feds are a shambles on anything climate or environment related. They are proposing new coal and gas powered power stations as a solution to global warming FFS
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Clean coal!

(Freshly washed?)
 
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Cheimoon said:
Clean coal!

(Freshly washed?)
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I give you our PM #scottyfrommarketing

images

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-nsw-hunter-region?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
 
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RedTiger said:
Would someone explain Robodebt to me?
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The government used a deeply flawed automated way of debt recovery for overpayment of social security payments. It was deeply flawed as it averaged any income whereas it should have been assessed weekly. Peopkle were then relentlessly perused for debts they usually had no chance to repay and in the end didn't even owe. Huge physical and mental damage resulted including suicides. 470,000 recovered "debts" have been repaid and the government settled a class action before going to court for $1.2 billion (yes billion) presumably plus large legal fees. The most despicable bit is that the government knew the flaws and carried on anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robodebt_scheme
 
Cheimoon said:
Was this about the same thing?
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Two different bits of nutbaggery

The conspiracy theories about the Victorian premier are just plain bizarre and ludicrous. He fell down some steps and broke bones in his back end of story.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...s-there-such-a-frenzy-of-conspiracy-around-it

The Qanon ABC story will broadcast early next week and we have no idea if it rises much above an association that isn't a good look. The basis of the story is that the biggest Qanon enthusiast in Australia is a mate of the PM through their Evangelical Church, a long standing personal friendship exists between the PM's wife and the nutters wife who was also the PM's personal assistant until recently. Is there more to it? I guess we will see.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...piracy-in-the-public-eye-20210611-p580bx.html
 
Another big story relates to last year's investigation into war crimes committed by our elite forces in Afghanistan.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11...diers-accused-war-crimes-afghanistan/12920946

Ben Roberts-Smith, a VC holder, is now front and centre as he is suing for defamation after being accused of murder/war crimes in print.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06...ify-against-ben-roberts-smith-trial/100209274
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Roberts-Smith#Media_allegations_of_war_crimes
 
Cheimoon said:
Damn - every country got its scandals, but your governments are making this into quite the habit...
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I think they are trying to feck up to hide previous feck ups like last year's bush fire response (#scottyfrommarketing sprung into action by going on holiday to Hawaii while the country burned)
 
Wibble said:
The government used a deeply flawed automated way of debt recovery for overpayment of social security payments. It was deeply flawed as it averaged any income whereas it should have been assessed weekly. Peopkle were then relentlessly perused for debts they usually had no chance to repay and in the end didn't even owe. Huge physical and mental damage resulted including suicides. 470,000 recovered "debts" have been repaid and the government settled a class action before going to court for $1.2 billion (yes billion) presumably plus large legal fees. The most despicable bit is that the government knew the flaws and carried on anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robodebt_scheme
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Thanks for the explanation Wibble, much appreciated.

Do you reckon any heads will roll?
 
RedTiger said:
Thanks for the explanation Wibble, much appreciated.

Do you reckon any heads will roll?
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Nope. The Labor opposition keeps pointing out that no one is being held accountable, the government does not care, and the story barely retains more than 60 seconds in the evening news headlines. I was watching a morning panel show this morning called 'Insiders', it's essentially a show for journalists to stroke their own egos and discuss the week in politics. They talked about this story for a few minutes and to wrap it up one of the journalists essentially exclaimed "This was a horrible scheme perpetrated by the government, I hope it's the last we hear of it" :lol:
 
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