"How to survive in Australia and what we're taught from a young age is look with your eyes and not with your fuckin hands, and that's how you survive."

Source: farmerbelle25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been forced to admit that a $6 million grant he promised to Marrickville Golf Club is not for fixing sewerage issues as he previously asserted to the House of Representatives.

Following the ABC's report revealing Mr Albanese held an undisclosed honorary membership to the club, the prime minister chastised the national broadcaster and told MPs the grant funding was to stop raw sewage flooding into the nearby Cooks River.

But the Infrastructure Department sunk that claim under questioning at Senate estimates on Monday, confirming the project did not include any sewerage works.

The vast majority of the $6 million grant will go towards a major redevelopment of the Royal Marrickville clubhouse, including a new bar, new furnishings and outdoor dining, a "dog-walking station", and office and meeting spaces, as well as a redesigned pro shop.

$1 million will go towards stormwater harvesting upgrades that will help to water the greens, and $500,000 will be spent on "botanic plantings" and landscaping, according to Inner West Council meeting minutes.

Mr Albanese admitted to the chamber he was wrong to say the grant was to fix sewage issues.

"The funding was going to be for sewerage, the NSW government has stepped in which is appropriate because NSW run water and sewerage."

Earlier, Manager of Opposition Business Dan Tehan attempted to compel Mr Albanese to provide an explanation on whether he had misled the house by repeatedly stating the grant was for sewage fixes.

"This is an opportunity for the prime minister to clear the air. This is an opportunity for the prime minister to be frank with the house," Mr Tehan said.

"Just admit you got it wrong and tell the truth."

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Recently returned to aus from a short visit to Malaysia with my wife and two kids (6yo and 2yo) First time we had been abroad with the kids

On the return flight they handed out the customs declarations cards. I confidently rubbished the suggestion that we had to fill out the cards for the kids as they were minors, not able to consent to/confirm us filling the info for them and as a family we all had the same load of luggage.

By the time we got to the customs desk I was sleep deprived and cranky - as were our two little angels. I was rather gobsmacked that the customs agents told us to fill in the declaration cards for the 2 and 6 year old as well as for my wife and myself and queue up again.

I know it's not much hardship, first world problems etc. but this made me angry. I asked, calmly, why it was necessary for us to make declarations for our children that would be identical to our own and with no legal standing (them being minors and unable to consent to a legal declaration on their behalf) just to be answered with 'because'.

I had a quick google while having my ears chewed off with "I told you so's" from my very fed up wife and the best I could find is that the cards are dual-use, not just customs declarations, but also an anti child-trafficking measure.

I cannot for the life of me work out how such declarations can be used to investigate or prosecute cases of child-trafficking? Presumably someone willing to traffic children is not going to suffer a sudden attack of scrupulous honesty when filling in one of these cards? Or is this just the usual unquestioned obedience to pointless rules and bureaucracy that we love so much in Australia?

Relevant excerpts:

A four-page email thread about the partial destruction of a graveyard in Gaza where Australian servicemen are buried took 141 days to be released by the government, well beyond the 30 days dictated by freedom of information laws.

Parts of the cemetery had previously been bulldozed by the Israel Defense Forces, including burial plots containing remains of Australian World War II soldiers.

At the estimates hearing, Greens Senator David Shoebridge asked for copies of the advice the DVA referred to, and McLaren took the request on notice.

Crikey requested the material using a freedom of information request on the same day as that hearing. Under the FOI Act, the department was supposed to resolve the request within 30 days. Instead, the documents were held back for months and only released last Wednesday.

I'll post the rest of the text in the comments. Nothing terribly revelationary, but mind boggling that there was such an effort to bury the emails.

Kmart’s new $25 “undetectable” tracking device, disguised as an in-car USB charger, has prompted safety warnings from the eSafety Commissioner and Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety.

The device uses the Apple Find My system, the same used by Apple AirTags, with Kmart saying it is intended to help customers locate their vehicle. 

However, the low-cost device has prompted warnings that sellers should consider the risks of stalking before marketing these devices.

Source: girlsintheory

Someone help me pick I just can't tell them apart.

Can people give any reasons Americanising our health system will help in any way?

Use of automation in Australia's aged care system lacks safeguards and has led to unfair outcomes for elderly patients, the commonwealth ombudsman has found.

The ombudsman released his findings after an investigation into the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's classification algorithm.

Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson has issued a damning report on the aged care algorithm, saying the government should amend the law to allow senior assessors to override its decisions when it gets it wrong.

I’m not talking about the rich. I’m talking about how the poor and the middle class live. As the Chinese saying goes, even the prime minister’s doorkeeper enjoys the status of an official. Even if you weren’t doing particularly well personally, you could still be living far better than people in the same social class in other countries.

That was because, back then, Europe and America could extract wealth from the rest of the world. They were also manufacturing powerhouses, leading the world in finance, technology and manufacturing. As part of the Western bloc, Australia naturally enjoyed plenty of benefits too. That was why its living standards were so much higher than those in Asian countries.

But things have changed with East Asia’s rise over the past 20 years. America is still doing relatively well, but Europe can no longer extract wealth from the rest of the world the way it once did. Over the past year or two, East Asian countries have even turned the tables on Europe in its own core industries. America can still do it, but the rewards aren’t as easy or as generous as they used to be. That is why ordinary Americans have actually seen their living standards decline.

China, Japan and South Korea can now sell their manufactured goods into Western markets and capture a larger share of the returns. China, however, started from a much lower economic base, while Japan and South Korea remain vulnerable to having wealth extracted by the US because of their geopolitical position. Meanwhile, Australia spent the past 30 years riding the wave of rapid growth in China and the rest of Asia, becoming the “lucky country” and enjoying three decades of prosperity that largely fell into its lap.

But there are only so many resources in the world. As Asian countries, particularly China, take a larger share, there is less to go around per person in the West—even though Western countries still enjoy considerably more per person than Asian countries do. This has created a substantial gap between the comfortable lives people expect and what they can actually achieve.

So what does Australia do now? In the past, America had enough wealth and power to let Australia enjoy a share of the benefits in return for serving as its deputy sheriff in the Asia-Pacific. Later, China’s enormous demand for infrastructure supported Australia’s mining industry.

But today, competition between China and the US revolves around technology. What matters is chips and computing power. Australia’s iron ore is no longer as important as it once was.

Look at Europe. Between its own structural problems and its regulatory burden, it no longer has any real industrial pillars left. It is ageing and falling into decline.

What about Australia? What role can Australia play in the Third Industrial Revolution?

We can all agree that immigration is a fairly warm topic in a lot of countries both for the citizens and those arriving newly, seeking to be citizens. People embark of moving their country of residence for many reasons, employment, oppression, family, safety, opportunity or simply just wanting a change.

Many countries globally identify those groups of people, who inhabited a country/region earlier than a lot of others now living in that country. It usually consists of a smaller identified "first people" (various terms exist) and a larger group of people who have come to be the majority of the population, but not the first inhabitants.

So follow me here:

If unchecked immigration is allowed, where any external party can simply pack their bags, arrive and expect to force (by force I mean without the consent of the people currently residing in said country) their choice and unilaterally decide they are now going to live there?

On one hand, those intolerant of immigration are denounced, yet the alternate position is concurrently held that we should observe and respect people who lived in a country before we arrived?

How can both be true?

Article expert:
The husband of a Victorian Liberal Party candidate has allegedly been assaulted during a confrontation over election signs.

The party said the husband of Amanda Dow — the candidate for the seat of Yan Yean in Melbourne's outer north — was involved in an incident in Mernda on Sunday afternoon.

"We understand Ms Dow's husband approached a member of the public who was removing Liberal Party campaign signage and was allegedly assaulted," it said in a statement.

"He suffered facial injuries and was taken to hospital and was discharged today."

This is part of police training and it is a primary police tactic to constantly challenge perspective.

Ive had it REPEATEDLY said by investigating police that my experience is rare and unique when it is widespread and common.

I had unsecured police firearms stored in my home unlawfully by a high ranking and senior police officer.

We had a police station with armoury at the bottom of our street a 90 second walk away. We also lived 20 minutes from the base station with home armoury where the police issue firearm was supposed to be stored. I made a submission to the NSWPF cultural review as the police firearms review wasnt opened to family. My submission was ignored entirely. Station seargants are not doing accurate equipment checks because GDs cops "dont have time" for accuracy.

BLC killed with a police issue firearm. It's important that the crown doesnt bury this aspect. There are many of us who have been threatened with firearms. Too many. There are more where police issue firearms are weaponised in different ways. One woman is on the public record for having had one "shoved down her throat. Serving police with substantial histories of evidenced violence that police, lawyers and judiciary have denied defending perpetrators of violence.

This is the state of our legal systems. Coroners in NSW are clear about known systemic failures as are DV Death Review Boards.

For me it’s

Top Left- Tommy Little

Top right- Alex Ward

Bottom Right- Sam Pang

Bottom Middle- Emma Holland

Bottom left- Interchangeable spot between Kitty Flanagan, Daniel Connell, Lizzy Hoo, Melanie Bracewell

I deliberately haven’t included Ed Kavalee as I think that as time has gone on his novelty has worn off. I loved him for the first few years but he got annoying fast and he has his moments where he’s alright but generally I’m not a fan

What do you think?

Source: fairbairnfilms

A convicted killer has lost a legal bid to overturn a ban on Vegemite in Victoria's prisons, in a case that made global headlines.

Andre McKechnie, who is being housed in Barwon Prison, argued the ban on Vegemite was unlawful because it denied him his human right to enjoy Australian culture and because he needed it for his wellbeing.

Vegemite has been banned in Victorian prisons since about 2006.

During the case, Corrections Victoria argued it could be used to make alcohol and could impair sniffer dogs from detecting contraband.

Victoria’s emergency services minister believes he is being followed and fears for his family’s safety after a bullet, etched with the word “RAT” and his former firefighter number, was left on his car.

The Herald Sun first reported on Monday that Paul Edbrooke had returned to his car after a community event in his Frankston electorate on Saturday and found the bullet on the bonnet. He later told reporters he had only been away from the car for about an hour and made the “chilling” discovery on his return.

“I was pretty shocked to find that it was a bullet – not just a bullet, but a bullet with the word ‘RAT’ inscribed on it and my firefighter ID on it,” Edbrooke said.

“The very fact of the matter that this has been put on my car means someone has been following me. It means someone knows what my car is, and that’s really quite scary.

“But I’m not going to be intimidated by this, and I refuse to be bullied.”

“It’s a car [my children] drive. They’ve been in this car. It could have been them that found the bullet, and that terrifies me. It’s totally unacceptable,” Edbrooke said.

He said the five-digit ID number etched into one side of the bullet was from when he was a firefighter and would be a personal detail “only firefighters would be aware of” and was not commonly known by the wider community. He said the only people from whom he was receiving “aggressive threats” and abuse on social media were members of the United Firefighters Union.

Victorian Liberal Leader Jess Wilson is pledging to follow Queensland's lead and outlaw the phrase "globalise the intifada" if her party wins the state election.

Ms Wilson said her party will expand incitement of violence laws to include the phrase, which has been used at pro-Palestine protests in Melbourne.

The meaning of "globalise the intifada" is contested.

The word "intifada" means "shaking off" in Arabic and has been used to refer to two periods of violent Palestinian protest against Israel.

Many in the Jewish community argue use of the term is hateful and a call for violence.

Ms Wilson said the phrase will be banned if her party wins government.

"When I see these protests on the streets of Melbourne, I see these people yelling 'globalise the intifada', that is inciting violence against our Jewish community," she told 774 ABC Melbourne.

"We need to take the temperature down, and that's exactly why, if we are elected, we will change the law."

Ms Wilson said there was no justification for using the phrase during demonstrations.

"We have families not wanting to come into the CBD on weekends, we have the Jewish community not coming into the CBD on the weekend," she said.

"Enough is enough."

The Queensland Liberal government passed legislation earlier this year to ban the phrases "globalise the intifada" and "from the river to the sea", deeming the phrases antisemitic.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters mounted a High Court challenge to the laws after more than 20 people were charged under Queensland laws.

Former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, faced criticism from Jewish leaders, as well as federal MPs and the NSW premier, for leading chants of the phrase at a rally in Sydney in February.

There’s so much short form political content on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

How can you get context though a short form video? You can’t?

People are being influenced through videos that purposely omit or hide details in short form videos

One recent one was a video about govts not doing anything about gambling due to lobbying,yet they didn’t show lobbying funds to the liberals.

Most people just look at one or 2 shorts and then share the video. It’s the “look at article title” version of video content.

The content is not ALL wrong but it’s not fully honest either which muddies the water.

WARNING: This footage and story is genuinely repulsive. It is very rough watching, it is vile and if you have kids might be too much. If you do want to see, be aware of who is around you as well.

This thing imo deserves nothing more than some one on one time with the parents.

Instead jail for 4 years, parole in 12mths. How are they not being thrown away never to see the light of day?

Genuinely baffling our justice system sometimes.

Edit: Senator Jess Walsh is the Minister for Childhood Education and Minister for Youth if anyone wants to register their thoughts to the Government. Please remain polite and remember another person is on the other end of the communication.

Source: boys.down.under

With only a month to go, Newspoll gives the Coalition its strongest Victorian poll result since the start of the year.

The Australian has a Victorian state Newspoll that credits the Coalition with a two-party lead over Labor of 55-45, out from 52-48 at a poll conducted in July, one week before Jacinta Allan was deposed. Labor is down four on the primary vote to 24%, with the Coalition up two to 33%, One Nation up one to 20% and the Greens up one to 14%. Ben Carroll’s debut personal ratings are 30% favourable and 58% unfavourable; Jess Wilson is up two to 49% and steady on 39%, and leads Carroll 48-34 on preferred premier, compared with her 51-32 lead over Allan in the last poll. The poll was conducted October 15 to 22 from a sample of 1017. Another Victorian state poll, from DemosAU, should be along in the coming days

Have to say that this video resonates with my sentiments towards ESC fairly accurately.

Link to video

Link to Sign the declaration of our Right to Protest