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How does the government plan to get student loans back from people living overseas? Can they force you to declare your income, do they have any means of verifying it, and can they do anything about it if you give them a fake number?
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Jan 2, 2016 03:50
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Graic Gabtar posted:If they are thinking of something like FATCA for say the UK and the US I'm going to laugh so hard I'll do myself an injury. Would other countries bother signing up if we did something like that? I can imagine nations being a bit unwilling to ignore a US or UK request to do stuff like that because those two actually have some clout on the world stage, but who would give a gently caress what a little tinpot state like us wants?
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Jan 2, 2016 05:27
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Graic Gabtar posted:Very unlikely. FATCA is insane given there is zero benefit to the Australian financial sector - with those costs passed straight onto us. As you say, no other country is going to bear that burden unless they are forced to. So maybe some level of basic data sharing with debtors stung with a "no re-payment agreement/no leave" deal when they re-enter Australia will be the extent of it. I wonder if this is the precursor to privatising the HECS debt. The taxpayer pays for the extra expenses required to get money from HECS refugees and some financial institution collects the repayments and interest. open24hours posted:They could refuse to renew your passport if you're not making repayments. How would they guarantee that they know that you should be making repayments? Seems like a huge penalty for something so vague.
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Jan 2, 2016 11:04
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DAAS Kapitalist posted:This might have been posted here before, but this article on the shady stuff that went on after Woolworths sold Dick Smith is really interesting. Wow. Just goes to show you should do a bit of research before buying shares.
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Jan 4, 2016 04:44
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Graic Gabtar posted:Who knew Anidav has such a passion and a well of knowledge for defunct (or near defunct) electronic chains! I've more or less given up on going to stores for specialty stuff. The markups are huge compared with online, and thanks to the proliferation of niche forums there is so much free info on just about any topic you can think of out there that you don't need to go to a shop for advice. I appreciate that it sucks for traditional businesses, especially if they aren't part of a larger chain but at the same time I don't feel obliged to spend twice or three times as much of my quite limited supply of money just to keep someone's business afloat.
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Jan 4, 2016 05:42
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Vladimir Poutine posted:A lot of people younger than that also like him because he briefly sold a line of matches called Dickheads in the late 90's. There is this too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7y6iE0aB5s
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Jan 4, 2016 10:36
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GoldStandardConure posted:Well if he wants it cheaper he can take the whole bale of a thousand. That way he'll be set for the next 999 prime ministers too. You might need to sew a few together if Hockey makes a comeback.
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Jan 4, 2016 22:51
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Trapezium Dave posted:And of course the Australian responds today with a front-page story, a commentary piece and an editorial saying the real issue is the PMs inappropriate process for investigating ministerial conduct. This sort of thing gives me hope that the far right of the LNP hasn't given up quite yet and we may yet see a return of Abbott to the top position and an improbably ALP victory as a result
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Jan 4, 2016 23:41
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starkebn posted:So there's articles by the ABC about India having a big push of Solar over coal, and now China has stated it's shutting a 1000 coal mines and not giving out licenses for any more for at least 3 years. The stuff in India has been on the card since shortly after their new PM got elected. Apparently the financing model they decided upon for modernising India's energy network made renewable energy extremely competitive versus alternatives. Solar makes sense anyway, most of the villagers there would be over the moon to have a small solar panel and a car battery so they can light their hut at night; no need for large centralised power stations and it saves on building the network infrastructure. It's been a long time coming but I'm starting to feel a bit less pessimistic about the future now countries like China and India are starting (slowly) to pull their fingers out. Maybe they've finally realised the economics of the issue or something.
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Jan 5, 2016 09:57
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I've become too desensitised to that sort of thing to get angry about it, try harder next time.
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Jan 6, 2016 01:32
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Cartoon posted:Maybe this then GPD? Maybe a couple of years ago, these days my outrage gland seems to have been wrung dry though. When you compare it to the Abbott years when Briggs and Dutton probably would've been promoted and the sex discrimination commissioner would've been replaced by Chris Berg, this seems so harmless by comparison. Maybe Abbott was part of the LNP long game to make lovely neocon policy and behaviour seem less like getting your dick slammed in a door.
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Jan 6, 2016 01:48
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:Maybe, and I'm just spitballing here, we should drag these people out of bed in the middle of the night and shoot them dead in the street I'd be cool with this happening
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Jan 6, 2016 02:23
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Cartoon posted:IWC is David Leyonhjelm? I don't think IWC ever advocated for libertarianism, although you never knew with that guy.
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Jan 6, 2016 03:16
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It checks out!
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120 new posts overnight, what ha... oh, right.
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Jan 7, 2016 02:49
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This is coolquote:Western Australia would not be able to privatise its electricity assets “even if they gave it to them for nothing” because the popularity of rooftop solar panels has made state-owned power stations unprofitable, a renewable energy expert has said. Could be that we start seeing the 'death spiral' of the power grid over there as they keep introducing more tariffs to support the costs of running an increasingly underused network.
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Jan 7, 2016 03:06
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tithin posted:Unsure why this isn't getting more coverage Denial perhaps?
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Jan 7, 2016 11:06
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They can't even sustain a fusion reaction for more than a couple of seconds, the point where it becomes a commercially feasible thing and not just a science experiment would have to be decades away. By which stage 1kWh solar panels will probably cost about $10 each.
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Jan 8, 2016 09:28
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You Am I posted:Wow, looks like our economy is hosed if Andrew Charlton's views on China's economy and its flow on effects are correct. China's various indices and measures of economic performance seem a little untrustworthy too, so who the gently caress knows what is really going on over there. If they end up devaluing their currency it would really gently caress us over; our imports there would cost more and their tourists would pay more to come here.
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Jan 8, 2016 09:55
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Frogmanv2 posted:I dont know if you understand this, but the government can literally create money. They issue bonds with a set maturity date, and people buy them. People love to buy them because they are a very low risk investment with very precise details. You know exactly what you are going to get and when. Also, Australia has a higher interest rate than most other major economies (Thanks Wayne Swan) so overseas buyers love them, because they can park their money here and get ~2%, or they can park their money in america and get 3/5s of gently caress all. I'm not sure our current government would do that though, too many surplus fetishists in the ranks and the ALP would shout at them despite it being a sensible thing to do.
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Jan 8, 2016 10:08
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Even if it does go to something useful, they'll insist it be paid for by cuts to things like Medicare.
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Jan 8, 2016 12:41
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Mad Katter posted:I think the most problematic part about the story is that the victims receive relatively little support from the church in comparison to their abusers. That would be the same for regular crims though, how much would we spend locking them up compared to compensation paid to victims?
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Jan 10, 2016 08:31
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The Department of Immigration is spending more than $1.3 million on medals for its staff, outspending the Department of Defence and prompting new concerns about the militarisation of the portfolio. Government tender documents show the department has signed a contract worth $1,320,000 over three years with Melbourne-based company Cash's Awards and Promotion Solutions for medals. The $440,000 a year contract was signed after an open tender process but appears more expensive than many of the comparable contracts available on the AusTender website. Illustration: Matt Golding Illustration: Matt Golding For example, the department's previous six-month medal contract – with the Royal Australian Mint – cost just $48,000. Immigration appears to be spending more than the Department of Defence, which spent about $300,000 on medals, spread over eight contracts, in 2015. However, the quasi-independent Defence Materiel Organisation also awarded two major contracts for medals – worth about half a million dollars – shortly before it was absorbed back into the department six months ago. The Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor General is the government body that typically spends the most on medals and awards – about $2.2 million in 2015 – but that is not surprising given it is responsible for the Australian Honours and Awards system. The Australian Federal Police appears to have spent only $23,000 in 2015, while the Department of Industry, Innovation and science spent $136,000. Labor's waste watch spokesman Pat Conroy said immigration's bill was part of the "quest to militarise" the portfolio. "The problem is that not only are these medals costly but they demonstrate the government's intention to create a military style and culture within the Australian Border Force," he said. "When you put this in the context of the Operation Fortitude fiasco we start to see a picture emerge of the way this department is being led." The cost of the medals comes on top of the millions of dollars spent on the rebranding related to the creation of Australian Border Force, the department's paramilitary frontline agency. But the department said the medals did not relate to the rebranding. It said its awards "framework" was established before the creation of ABF and is comparable to other Commonwealth agencies. "It aims to build and recognise a robust culture of leadership, integrity, excellence, innovation, diversity and inclusiveness; and a culture that recognises commitment and achievement," a spokesperson said. Internal departmental awards are awarded across eight categories: Bravery, Conspicuous Conduct, Leadership, Excellence, Innovation, Work Health and Safety, Diversity, and Operations.
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Jan 16, 2016 23:38
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Anidav posted:Woolworths is closing down Masters. I should probably go in and check one out before they are gone. Would someone buy the brand or is Bunnings too dominant for that to be worthwhile? ShoeFly posted:Never thought I'd see a "Buzzfeed / BBC Investigation". Holy hell. There was an interview on the ABC a while back with someone high up at Buzzfeed and they were saying that they were keen to branch out into serious journalism. They had the massive reader numbers already, it was just a matter for them to hire some actual journalists capable of producing more than clickbait.
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Jan 18, 2016 04:05
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Laserface posted:Masters had a much better range of plants and better quality, although with that in mind both businesses are seriously loving over the nursery industry so gently caress them both. You could argue they were loving over almost every industry they were in competition with.
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Jan 18, 2016 05:12
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quote:Clive Palmer's election prospects are in freefall alongside his slumping nickel business, according to experienced political pundits. 
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Jan 18, 2016 09:50
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:Have Clive Palmer & Friends delivered anything for the people who voted for them? What did their supporters actually want or expect them to do? Why is he there, again? I think he has voted for some decent stuff since getting elected. I can't think of anything specifically but I've never seen anything in the news about something he's proposed that had me thinking his party were even close to being as bad as the LNP.
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Jan 18, 2016 20:20
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Eric Abetz dismisses calls by 933 academics for detained children's release as "a sad disassociation from practical considerations".
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Jan 20, 2016 09:54
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 quote:A 24-year-old Brisbane man is under investigation following his release of a video on Facebook in which he appears to bite the head off a live rat and swallow it.  
gay picnic defence fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Jan 22, 2016 |
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Jan 22, 2016 03:54
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Numerous large Australian coal mines have had their environmental regulations relaxed, in changes the federal government hopes will make life easier for the struggling industry. Environment law is not red tape, it is a safeguard for Australia's clean water, air and good health Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Paul Sinclair Certain coal mines owned by Glencore, BHP Billiton and Whitehaven Coal have received favourable changes to their approval conditions within the past month, which in some cases reduce the environment minister's ability to demand changes and reduce public oversight of miners' compliance with approval conditions. The changes, many of which were initiated by the environment department rather than being requested by mining companies, come after a series of controversial coal approvals in recent years and after the federal government threatened to change environment laws in a bid to prevent green groups using the courts to challenge approvals. Approvals for two Glencore coal mines in the Hunter Valley, Bulga and Liddell, have had environmental conditions revoked within the past month which appear to remove the environment minister's ability to request changes to environmental management plans. The Caval Ridge coal mine that BHP operates had eight conditions on its approval altered last week, including one which means the company no longer has to wait for written approval from the minister if it wishes to change the way it manages offset areas or threatened species, so long as the companies believe their new plan will not have an increased impact. Some miners were also told they can report on compliance with their environmental conditions less often, with BHP now allowed to report on Caval Ridge once every two years rather than annually. The alterations also mean BHP no longer have to publish their compliance reports for Caval Ridge on their websites, and instead need only submit their documents to the environment department. BHP's Mt Arthur coal mine in the Hunter Valley and the Tarrawonga and Werris Creek coal mines run by Whitehaven have also had their environmental approvals altered. A spokeswoman for the Federal Environment Department said that some of the recent changes were initiated by the department, and were not specifically requested by the companies involved. "In line with the Australian government's broader regulation reform agenda, some recent variations have been initiated by the department as a means of reducing unnecessary regulatory burden. These variations are designed to reduce the administrative burden associated with approval conditions while still maintaining high standards of environmental protection," she said. The spokeswoman said that 34 project approvals had been changed over the past nine months, with the environmental conditions loosened in 21 of those cases. The spokeswoman said the changes were being made to a range of project approvals, not just coal mines. But coal mines appear to be very well represented, with Fairfax Media aware of at least seven coal approvals which have been changed in recent months. Fairfax Media is aware of just one copper mine (BHP's Olympic Dam) and one iron ore mine (run by BC Iron) which have had conditions changed. Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Paul Sinclair said it was not appropriate for the government to be running from Australia's environmental law. "Environment law is not red tape, it is a safeguard for Australia's clean water, air and good health," Dr Sinclair said. "The Federal Government has a duty to ensure major resources companies comply with the law." When asked if BHP was happy with the changes, a company spokesperson said; "BHP Billiton welcomes actions by all levels of Government which are directed towards reducing the regulatory and compliance burdens faced by the sector." The Minerals Council said it did not believe the environment minister's powers had been reduced. "We believe that regulation and compliance can be more efficient and effective while continuing to uphold high environmental standards," said a spokesman for the council. "The MCA supports a risk-based approach to compliance, which account for a company's track record and the maturity of their environmental management systems among other things. This reduces unnecessary regulatory burden on the operator and allows regulators to target their compliance resources more effectively. "Where appropriate, project conditions should focus on the achievement of environmental outcomes and not unnecessary prescription on how those outcomes are achieved. This flexibility allows for adaptive, innovative approaches to be used."
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Jan 22, 2016 22:14
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ALP status: getting worse lolquote:One of the Australian Labor party’s most outspoken opponents of offshore detention, mass surveillance and live animal exports will not contest the next federal election.
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Jan 23, 2016 01:46
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Starshark posted:No-one make any jokes about it. Amethyst posted:Shut the gently caress up you petty piece of poo poo. Don't even joke about making jokes about it apparently
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Jan 24, 2016 07:59
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lol http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/clive-palmer-and-the-nickel-refinery-collapse-that-wasnt-20160124-gmd5v3.html Clive Palmer could walk away from the administration linked to his Queensland Nickel refinery without losing the assets and leave creditors out in the cold. It has been widely observed that Mr Palmer's Queensland nickel refinery fell into the hands of administrators last week. But it did not. Instead, a shell company with no material physical assets called Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd was put into voluntary administration, with FTI Consulting appointed to the job on Monday last week, shortly after 237 workers at the refinery services were laid off. His Queensland Nickel business has been referred to widely as if it is one entity in the past week. While Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd does employ all the workers, contracts suppliers, and owes millions to creditors, it does not actually own the assets. Rather, Queensland Nickel Pty Ltd has an agreement to run the nickel refinery, called Yabulu, with QNI Metals and QNI Resources.
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Jan 25, 2016 03:18
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open24hours posted:Buyer beware. Creditors should have known what they were financing. Can't expect the government to protect people from their own stupid decisions. Presumably they looked at the company's balance sheet before extending them credit, unless they just assumed resources can only go up up up
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Jan 25, 2016 05:37
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Dunno why republicans are starting to beat the drum now, all they need to do is wait for the queen to cark it and Charles will do all the campaigning for them.
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Jan 25, 2016 07:52
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I feel like I'm seeing a lot more 'anti' Australia Day stuff doing the rounds this year. Maybe Stan Grant just put it in the mainstream with his speech, but hopefully it's the start of a more permanent trend.
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Jan 25, 2016 11:07
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Looks like the LNPhave decided on the most appealing reason to cut tax for the richquote:A host of work-related tax deductions claimed by individuals every year that amount to tens of billions of dollars could be scrapped and replaced with low personal tax rates, submissions from Treasury and business groups to the Turnbull government's inquiry into tax deductibility show. I'm guessing if you can afford a slick accountant you'll still be able to claim a bunch of poo poo, all while benefiting from a new lower tax rate.
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Jan 25, 2016 20:59
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Also Google's doodle or whatever they call it is good
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Jan 25, 2016 21:16
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quote:Mitch Hooke, the man who spearheaded the campaign to derail Kevin Rudd's mining tax - and helped kill the Labor leader's prime ministership - has been honoured on this Australia Day for his services to the mining industry.
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Jan 25, 2016 23:52
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av check e: nope, still that loving dog
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Jan 26, 2016 08:37
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Uni student Tom Wade was one of hundreds of thousands of Australians driven to despair by Centrelink's customer service performance. But instead of getting mad, Mr Wade got busy, accessing the Australian Government Directory and confronting senior Department of Human Services Bureaucrats directly with his complaints. The administrative blunder was soon sorted, Mr Wade says, and he is encouraging frustrated clients to take their grievances up Centrelink's food chain, saying departmental bosses should be held accountable for the failings at the coalface. When Mr Wade's youth allowance payments were cancelled in late 2014 he did what most clients do and took to Centrelink's phone lines to solve the problem. But in a story that will be all too familiar with hundreds of thousands of clients of the welfare agency, seemingly endless periods of waiting on hold resulted in being put through to someone who could not help the Melbourne student. So, after using search engine Google to figure out who were the power people behind the scenes at Centrelink, the 23-year-old stumbled on his most powerful weapon; the Australian Government Directory. "I got on the organisational structure from the Department of Human Services' website and just started Googling people from the top down, starting with Kathryn Campbell the secretary, "Then I did [DHS customer service boss] Grant Tidswell, the second one down and his entry in the directory was the second Google result." Eventually, Mr Wade settled his attentions on Brendan Jacomb, DHS' national manager of "service delivery performance and analysis". "I got through to him directly and he's the one to who I started dishing out the (performance) targets from the department's annual report," Mr Wade said. "He was caught a bit off guard about that, kinda surprised, but he said they'd get back to me about the details." After the internal DHS blunder that caused his payment cut-off was corrected, Mr Wade decided he had hit on a winning formula and ran with it. "I had to fix up the detail of my Medicare account, so instead of calling general inquiries and waiting ages, I found the lady in charge of Medicare, rang her up and asked her to fix it up for me," he said. "She asked 'Where did you get my number?' and I just said I looked her up directly. "She didn't know what to say to that, but she did forward me to the right people and I got straight through." The department was not enthusiastic about Mr Wade's approach, with a spokesman saying that anyone unhappy with the service they have received should go through the usual channels. "Customers can ask for a review of a decision, provide feedback or make a complaint by writing to us, calling 1800 132 468 or visiting one of our service centres," a spokeswoman told Fairfax. After finishing his degree and moving into the workforce, Mr Wade is no longer a Centrelink client but he encourages anyone feeling the frustration of dealing with the giant agency to use his methods. "For anyone who wants to get in touch with Centrelink, you already know the general inquiries lines are going to be backed up and a slow process, so find the person you feel has the power to help you directly and get in contact," he said. "Put the responsibility on someone in a position of authority to help you with your problem. "Sh*t rolls downhill so you've got to aim as high as you can, if you get in touch with someone too high up to deal with your problem then they will delegate."
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Jan 28, 2016 00:50
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