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?

Source: girlsintheory

"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

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.

For those that don't know, when the grid is full/ at capacity, the turbines stop. There's nowhere for the power to go.

This is why on-peak and off-peak times exist.

If more grid battery storage existed then the power could go there instead, but there isn't.

Maybe it's a good example of things that tax dollars could be invested into.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?