AusPol July: Less stable than the Something Awful forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > AusPol July: Less stable than the Something Awful forums

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SadisTech: Jun 26, 2013; Clem.

Cartoon posted:

Maybe I'm a vindictive schmuck but this is the best response. I used to flat out refuse anything that would lead to me receiving less income. I was reasonably sure that when any such determination was scrutinised someone (not me) would get their arse kicked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not stabbed yourself in the face with cutlery yet today? News Limited has your back!

Need stronger meat and drink?

Fortunately not everyone is bat poo poo loving insane:

So, the Hockey thing; do you read this as News protecting Abbot's position by putting the boot into Joe? At first thought I can't really see this as a bad thing; I'd rather the unpalatable Abbott stayed the course and grew steadily more unpopular than that he was replaced by someone the public might regard as friendlier.

MH17: scrabbling for that wartime PM lustre. Doubt it'll work. Hope it won't, anyway.

Can barely imagine what those parents are going through, don't want to think about it in too much depth. Suffice it to say I doubt I'd be able to go on in those circumstances, it'd just be "Welp, life's pretty much proved itself to be too hosed to bother with any more," the end.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:27

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# ? May 23, 2024 14:49

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

SadisTech posted:

So, the Hockey thing; do you read this as News protecting Abbot's position by putting the boot into Joe? At first thought I can't really see this as a bad thing; I'd rather the unpalatable Abbott stayed the course and grew steadily more unpopular than that he was replaced by someone the public might regard as friendlier.

MH17: scrabbling for that wartime PM lustre. Doubt it'll work. Hope it won't, anyway.

Can barely imagine what those parents are going through, don't want to think about it in too much depth. Suffice it to say I doubt I'd be able to go on in those circumstances, it'd just be "Welp, life's pretty much proved itself to be too hosed to bother with any more," the end.

Rupert is definitely supporting NTATA. This is his game plan.

A/ Make a national leader beholden to him.
B/ Profit.

I think it's amazing he is so utterly transparent about it.

Prepare for a whole bunch more jingoistic bullshit as NTATA hits the re-election bulwark. MH 17 is just another extension of it. "SEND IN THE TROOPS"? loving hell. The longer we focus on a tragedy almost exactly on the opposite side of the globe the less we scrutinise the local situation:

A/ Economic record - Appalling
B/ Indigenous record - Abyssmal
C/ Refugee's rights violations - Manifold
D/ Encroaching police state - Already at insane levels

TL;DR - Fukt

# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:41

Endman: May 18, 2010; That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even anime may die

I can only hope that Tones decides that Australia needs to unilaterally invade Ukraine. But that would be too good to be true.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:43

Pickled Tink: Apr 28, 2012; Have you heard about First Dog? It's a very good comic I just love.

Also, wear your bike helmets kids. I copped several blows to the head but my helmet left me totally unscathed.

Finally you should check out First Dog as it's a good comic I like it very much.; Fun Shoe

IronicBeetCriminal posted:

Yes.

Depending on what level the job seeker is rated at. When I was there you could be classed on a scale from Stream 1 (most likely to find own employment and needing the least assistance) to Stream 4 (needs most assistance in finding work). The payouts for stream 1 are paltry, stream 4's obviously are the big ticket items but they are the job seekers who have a whole raft of issues that are perceived to be barriers to employment. eg. disabilities, homelessness, mental health, etc.

Basically when someone scores work and meets their obligations (eg 30+ hours a week to be classed as 'full time' or 15+ for those who only need to find 'part time') the agency gets some money. Then 13 weeks later if that person is STILL employed they get a final, bigger payment. Going back from memory (~2009) it was ~$500 for a Stream 1 over the two payments. A stream 4 however was something like $3000-$5000 deepening on a whole complicated set of criteria.

Of note, someone entering full time study was classed as meeting their obligation but the payment was significantly less.

The agencies also got money for each job seeker referred to them, Stream 1 was like $30? Stream 4 was a couple of hundred dollars. The agency ALSO got given funding attached to each jobseeker to spend on education or work experience activities if it got that far. S1 ~ $100? S4 $1500. This is what's known as the Employment Pathway Fund. If you ever find yourself on newstart and you're referred to a JSA, ask what stream you're on. If you're stream 1, try and get an assessment to get bumped to at least stream 2. You'll have high requirements (ie, you'll need to attend more frequently) but there is more funding attached to you and they are more interested in helping you out.

In my old job the stream 1's would come in for their first meeting and we wouldn't see them for 13 weeks. Those who kept coming back for further assistance were just shuffled off towards the computers to 'job seek' because we had no inclination to assist them because there was gently caress all cash allocated to them.

#disclaimer: poo poo could have changed in the 5 years since I've left but I still think it's similar.

I'm on stream 4 as of the end of last year because of mental health issues. You pretty much described my experience when I first started attending this kind of thing. After a few months they did bundle me into this in house job search training course which was full time for a few weeks. In all fairness, it spelled out the problems with a lot of poo poo and did help.

I asked my consultant today and he immediately looked at me like I was trying to trap him. He knows me too well and went evasive trying to head me off from what have been demonstrated to be my favourite argumentative lines and I wasn't able to convince him that I was just asking on behalf of people on the internet. On the bright side, he let me leave "assisted job search" early because my back is fukt and I intend to see a doctor about it tomorrow.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 02:56

Laserface: Dec 24, 2004

Thanks for the help guys.

shes called the job network hotline and they reassigned her to another office after explaining the poo poo show that was her former agency. She also mentioned that the guy did nothing but stare at her tits the whole time (and she dresses incredibly conservatively so its not like she was advertising them)

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:03

Those On My Left: Jun 25, 2010

Can someone please post the Grundle about Lambie?

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:12

deathofmusic: Jan 3, 2001

quote:

Last week Senator Jacqui Lambie rose to her feet in the red chamber and asked her first set of questions without notice. She was as wobbly as the wooden bike she would later be riding around the forecourt of Parliament, laughing just a little too much -- but she wasn't a disgrace, either, and there's no reason she won't get the hang of it. Yet she is rapidly proving to be the most visibly eccentric of the new crossbench senators, as her two PUP companions, Glenn Lazarus and Dio Wang, are relatively straightforward types, the staged victory hug at the carbon tax repeal notwithstanding.

Now she's in hot water again for playing along with a Hobart breakfast DJ crew -- isn't that just about the most depressing phrase you've ever heard? -- and telling them and their several listeners that her ideal man was one who was well-endowed financially and well endowe- oh for god's sake, who had a big dick. After which, chaos erupted. For days it had become increasingly irritating that two stories -- MH17 and Gaza -- were crowding out all others.

That this became the only item worthy of adding to the roster, suggested that news selection had officially become insane. Lambie was slated for being a goose, for offending the dignity of blah blah, and -- well, it wasn't completely clear what the objection was. Then inevitably, this being Australia, Sweden of the south, comment took a gender equalitarian turn, and Lambie was slammed for saying something that a man couldn't say in the equivalent manner, and was it sexist to say this about a man, and was it encouraging sexism against women to say this about a man, and etc, etc. Every awful aspect of Australian cultural politics -- the endless invitation to joyless self-censorship -- was on display. The obvious answer to the conundrum was this: cultural power is not symmetrical, and a man saying he was on the lookout for a wife with an outstanding front bench fnarr fnarr, wouldn't get away with it because women's bodies are pre-objectified in our culture. It's a little more complicated than that, since it's about to be the straight gaze -- I suspect Penny Wong could get away with some incorrect on-air musings if she were that type of person (which, of course, she isn't).

"Cultural power is not symmetrical, and a man saying he was on the lookout for a wife with an outstanding front bench fnarr fnarr wouldn't get away with it because women's bodies are pre-objectified in our culture."

But the main objection to Lambie, implicit though it was, was that she didn't play the role of the politician in these situations, which is to be flustered. The breakfast FM appearance is a time-honoured enactment of the elite-popular split in Oz politics -- having resigned ourselves to being ruled by a self-selecting caste, the mass of the population gets a taste of reverse power, of sorts, when pollies are embarrassed in pop culture situations. Lambie didn't play that game, because she's not from the political caste -- she gave the answer a lot of listeners were probably giving back, jokingly, listening along in the car. The horror is not at the crudity of the remarks, the horror is that she didn't see her role as being a stooge representative of Parliament, to the people it rules. For added giggles, the issue centred on a dick joke, and the phallus, as the locus of power, must be veiled at all times. Indeed the half-buried Parliament house is a veiled phallus. For $500, you can buy this topic for your cultural studies MA.

What it also shows is the way in which the arrival of the PUP senators and Ricky Muir has thrown the whole "elites" bullshit of the Right into sharp focus. For years, party and media members of the political caste have presented themselves as representatives of the masses against the elite, this line reaching its absurd heights with Nick Cater's The Lucky Culture. The masses, we were told, were right-wing, free-market, piously conservative and religious. And were happy to be represented by the likes of Miranda Devine.

Well, surprise. A few of the masses made it into Parliament, and they are nothing like the straw dogs that the Right had established. Their politics cleave to no simplistic Left or Right split, their manner is far from the petit-bourgeois fantasy of the Caters et al, and they don't seem to be in a mood to conform to a deadened Australian political culture. So one cheer for them, however they got there, and whatever might happen. Anyone who really thinks that a senator giving a zoo crew as good as she gets hasn't realised the degree to which they've internalised Australian political ideology.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:25

Tokamak: Dec 22, 2004

Big Willy Style posted:

I just called my boss at 3am asking for clarification she was not impressed.

I hope you did this on your unpaid break for maximum ownage. Would you accept a paid break to stay at the premise? If they are making lovely demands for a 15 minute break, I bet I know how they'll feel about paying you an extra quarter hour.

Bifauxnen posted:

Reframe it as downsizing the JSAs so everyone's an individual contractor with less overhead costs.

You could retrain the social workers to work in a different sector that desperately needs more staff. But you know gently caress it, we need to ride the unemployed harder then we do child abusers.

Endman posted:

I can only hope that Tones decides that Australia needs to unilaterally invade Ukraine. But that would be too good to be true.

We might get another Gallipoli out of it. Another opportunity for a politician to cry about dead soldiers; sounds like a sweet deal.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:34

froglet: Nov 12, 2009; You see, the best way to Stop the Boats is a massive swarm of autonomous armed dogs. Strafing a few boats will stop the rest and save many lives in the long term.

You can't make an Omelet without breaking a few eggs. Vote Greens.

A friend of mine worked for a JSA and the conclusion I came to after asking her about it is that the government doesn't really want to get these people into work. She primarily worked with people who had been long term unemployed and she pointed out that the experience of being long term unemployed 'seriously fucks you up'. The overwhelming majority of them were completely disinterested in being there and many had severe social or health problems that she wasn't exactly equipped to deal with. One guy was making his own cheese out of discounted milk from Coles.

It's completely hosed.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:39

Doctor Spaceman: Jul 6, 2010; "Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."

SadisTech posted:

So, the Hockey thing; do you read this as News protecting Abbot's position by putting the boot into Joe? At first thought I can't really see this as a bad thing; I'd rather the unpalatable Abbott stayed the course and grew steadily more unpopular than that he was replaced by someone the public might regard as friendlier.

I think so, but I don't think it's from any love of Abbott as much as sheer pragmatism. Replacing Abbott with anybody in his first term would be a loving disaster, since it immediately brings to mind what happened in Rudd's first term and removes one of their biggest selling points they've had since Abbott took over (a sense of maturity and stability).

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:44

Tokamak: Dec 22, 2004

Laserface posted:

She also mentioned that the guy did nothing but stare at her tits the whole time (and she dresses incredibly conservatively so its not like she was advertising them)

That sounds like a very good reason to file a complaint or report the person to the ombudsman; no one should have to put up with the behaviour. Its pretty gross, and is probably being done to other women.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:46

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

froglet posted:

One guy was making his own cheese out of discounted milk from Coles.

This guy sounds legit awesome.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 03:47

Laserface: Dec 24, 2004

Moments after having her profile transferred to a new office he called her and requested she come in to sign a form that he had not printed for her yesterday as is printer was broken.

hmmmmm.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:04

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

Go in with a camera.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:14

MysticalMachineGun: Apr 5, 2005

Laserface posted:

Moments after having her profile transferred to a new office he called her and requested she come in to sign a form that he had not printed for her yesterday as is printer was broken.

hmmmmm.

If she's been transferred surely she can just ignore the old office entirely?

# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:26

Ol Sweepy: Nov 28, 2005; Safety First

Laserface posted:

Moments after having her profile transferred to a new office he called her and requested she come in to sign a form that he had not printed for her yesterday as is printer was broken.

hmmmmm.

I would just reply with something like "Hi there, I've just been notified that my file has been transferred to another office, As this office is more convenient to me can you please forward me the form and I will drop it in to my new case manager"

# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:32

Laserface: Dec 24, 2004

I told her to just ignore it as its obvious hes just trying to get the contract signed so he can claim another signup fee.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 04:34

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

Anidav posted:

I would love to join the Greens, I just know a lot of good people in the Young Labor Left and The Greens in Queensland I hear are terrible. :X

Someday we will outnumber the Right, I am told.

They are in QLD, the ALP in QLD is it and we've got the state election in less than a year. Pick a good branch and get involved and you'll be helping getting a socialist in.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:24

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

Captain_Red posted:

Seeing as it's come up a few times in AusPol threads: What exactly is wrong with the Queensland Greens?

They tend to be trots mixed with anti vaxxers who scream about chem trails poisoning our precious bodily fluids.

In other states The Greens are a normal socialist party. In QLD, nope.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:25

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

Big Willy Style posted:

A quick workplace question regarding breaks. I just had a meeting with management where I have had 5 managers tell me that under no circumstances am I allowed to leave my place of work on my unpaid break because the business will be unattended (I work night audit for a hotel alone.)

My award is Casual (Hospitality Industry General Award 2010)

I am 99% sure the answer is a big fat loving no, I have checked my award but it doens't go into what a break entails.

1300 486 466
The ACTU will tell you what you can and can't do on your award.
I'd only ring so you can say I checked with my union rep and he said... which sounds better than I think I'm right and a bloke on the internet said so too.
Also, join a union. If they're loving you around on your breaks, you're going to need to keep an eye on them.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:30

Zenithe: Feb 25, 2013; _{Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.}

BCR posted:

They tend to be trots mixed with anti vaxxers who scream about chem trails poisoning our precious bodily fluids.

In other states The Greens are a normal socialist party. In QLD, nope.

Homoeopathic first aid tent. Something I actually saw at a recent event in QLD.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:31

Weatherman: Jul 30, 2003; WARBLEKLONK

hooman posted:

This guy sounds legit awesome.

Yeah, first thing I thought was "what's wrong with that, that owns"

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:48

Synthbuttrange: May 6, 2007

Weatherman posted:

Yeah, first thing I thought was "what's wrong with that, that owns"

Supporting the duopoly! :argh:

# ? Jul 24, 2014 05:50

Gough Suppressant: Nov 14, 2008

Zenithe posted:

Homoeopathic first aid tent. Something I actually saw at a recent event in QLD.

This is great. Need some homeopathic ambulances too though!

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:06

CATTASTIC: Mar 31, 2010; ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Zenithe posted:

Homoeopathic first aid tent. Something I actually saw at a recent event in QLD.

Did it look like this?

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:13

plumpy hole lever: Aug 8, 2003; ♥ Anime is real ♥

duck monster posted:

Just stick to pollbludger to remind you that everyone else hates abbot too, and occasionally have a chuckle at Uncle Clives spastic hijinx and yeah ignore the rest because

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:22

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

So any argument against QLD Greens is really more about QLD than it is greens?

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:25

Weatherman: Jul 30, 2003; WARBLEKLONK

SynthOrange posted:

Supporting the duopoly!

Hahaha daaaaamn

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:27

Tirade: Jul 17, 2001; Cybertron must act decisively to prevent and oppose acts of genocide and violations of international robot rights law and to bring perpetrators before the Decepticon Justice Division; Pillbug

Zenithe posted:

Homoeopathic first aid tent. Something I actually saw at a recent event in QLD.

Woodford folk festival? They've had one there for the past few years. They sometimes have antivaxxers there giving talks as well, but they're usually given a pretty hostile reception.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:31

Zenithe: Feb 25, 2013; _{Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.}

katlington posted:

So any argument against QLD Greens is really more about QLD than it is greens?

Yes. But you probably have autism from vaccines, so your opinion is irrelevant.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:34

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

The biggest problem with Queensland Anything is inevitably Queenslanders.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:34

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

katlington posted:

So any argument against QLD Greens is really more about QLD than it is greens?

QLD politics is different.

Being a decentralised state we've got something like half of all Australia government owned assets and this is after they sold off Queensland Rail. Right wing politics ranges from Sir Joh paternalist father knows best state to Newmans shock doctrine. Clive Palmer is popular because he's going down the patrician route of build poo poo, something for the masses, ~~bash minoritys~~ I'll be fair hear, I don't think this has come up beyond sexism with him? Left wing politics was we're going to have state capitalism till holy poo poo Yasi and the floods have hosed everything sell everything to make the big nasty debt go away.

The Greens here besides basic things like party administration and personal have a toxic culture in QLD. They basically need to be purged and start over. Then you have the more general thing with a problem with slogans and messaging and broadening their base outside of inner city types.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:35

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

In a fantasy world I'd like to legalise marijuana, get the farmers growing that, and have it dispensed in state clinics. And a grow your own license like a fishing license. Jobs for the regions, income for the state, lower crime etc.

Call the brands QLD VAPES or something.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:38

The Before Times: Mar 8, 2014; Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.

BCR posted:

get the farmers growing marijuana

Clearly you've never been to Kin Kin.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:44

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

I'm talking industrial scale.

My favourite is when a bushfire took hold of a weed plantation on a mountain near Gympie and the wind gave everyone 2nd hand highs.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:45

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

I thought that sounded familiar so I googled it

I have been through Kin Kin!

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:47

The Before Times: Mar 8, 2014; Once upon a time, I would have thrown you halfway to the moon for a crack like that.

BCR posted:

I'm talking industrial scale.

My favourite is when a bushfire took hold of a weed plantation on a mountain near Gympie and the wind gave everyone 2nd hand highs.

You'd be surprised at the scale of weed plantations in the SC hinterlands. Basically it's bored teenagers/enterprising farmers/very few cops (and even less who care about that stuff).

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:49

Bifauxnen: Aug 12, 2010; Curses! Foiled again!

In the meantime, just sell people homeopathic marijuana.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:49

BCR: Jan 23, 2011

True! Means I've got proven industry for Australian battlers etc, Mr Speaker.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 06:58

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# ? May 23, 2024 14:49

Weatherman: Jul 30, 2003; WARBLEKLONK

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but the state parties are actually independent parties who are associated with the federal parties, right? So wouldn't it be possible to start a new Green party in Queensland and then work to get the old one disaffiliated and the new one in its place?

# ? Jul 24, 2014 07:04

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