The Age/Herald brings the monthly Resolve Strategic poll of federal voting intention, which has Labor down two on the primary vote to 40%, the Coalition up two to 31%, the Greens down one to 10% and One Nation down one to 5%. No two-party preferred is reported, but this would pan out to around 58-42 based on preference flows from last year, in from around 60-40 last time. Anthony Albanese’s approval rating (very good plus good) is down four on last month to 56%, with disapproval (very poor plus poor) up five to 30%; Peter Dutton is up one to 29% and down one to 45%; and Anthony Albanese’s lead over Peter Dutton as preferred prime minister is 55-23, in from 55-20. The poll was conducted Wednesday to Sunday from a sample of 1604. Further results published today including a finding that 50% expect economic conditions to worsen over the coming year, compared with 18% for improvement and 24% for staying the same.
The fortnightly Essential Research poll, which does not exclude undecided from its voting intention numbers, has Labor at 33% and the Coalition at 30% on the primary vote, both unchanged on a fortnight ago. The Greens are down three from an anomalous peak last time to 14% and One Nation are steady on 6%, with undecided at 8%. The 2PP+ measure had Labor down four to 51%, the Coalition up two to 42% and undecided up three to 8%. As noted in the previous post, Anthony Albanese’s approval is down two on a month ago to 53%, and his disapproval is up three to 34%. The full report, featuring questions on economic issues and interest rate rises, is here.
The Victorian Liberal Party’s administrative committee has as expected endorsed barrister Roshena Campbell as its candidate for the April 1 Aston by-election. Paul Sakkal of The Age reports Campbell received 13 votes, with former state upper house MP Cathrine Burnett-Wake and oncologist Ranjana Srivastava on three each.
Dicky Knee, you wouldn’t pass the facial recognition test.
The second test would be a quest too far.
If you were lucky, you’d be tossed out before your smart mouth would change some minds.
And your mate would be the beneficiary of a polite “fuck off” if he were fortunate.
Windfall profits tax NOW !!
A sombre exchange between a Ukrainian reporter and a Ukrainian soldier, on the state of affairs on the frontline in Donetsk:
“Q: Our intelligence says that Putin’s order is to capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by the end of March. Do you think they will succeed?
A: By the end of March, really? This year? It’s unrealistic. They would need hundreds of thousands of servicemen to sacrifice their lives in the Donetsk region alone. Dead Russians are already lying in overcrowded morgues and right on the streets here now. There are positions where they do not even take their dead.
Ordinary Russians do not understand what is happening and do not have a picture of objective reality, so the Russian command does not count losses. Another 200-300,000 dead don’t matter to them because this information will be hidden from Russian citizens.”
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/13515
The way the Russian army is treating their own fallen comrades is disgraceful. This is a real morale clusterf*** for them.
The Washington Post editorialises scathingly on Russia’s forced transfer of Ukrainian children to locations scattered over hundreds of kilometres across Russia, without their parents:
“One of the most appalling consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine is the suffering of Ukraine’s children. Aside from the death and destruction they have experienced, a new report documents a different trauma: the systematic transfer of Ukrainian children for “reeducation” in Russia, in what amounts to cultural brainwashing. This could be a war crime.
Previously, Ukrainian officials have expressed concern about this practice, but the scope was unclear. Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine’s top children’s rights official, estimated that nearly 11,000 Ukrainian children had been taken by Russia without their parents. The Post reported in December that Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree easing procedures for adoption of Ukrainian children and that the policy is being “vigorously pursued” by Russia’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, who advocates stripping children of their Ukrainian identities. She has been sanctioned by the United States.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/26/russia-ukraine-war-children-reeducation-camps/
Every Russian involved in this child theft should be strung up, as far as I am concerned. The better angels of my nature will make do with prosecutions at The Hague.
Re robodebt; Gladman seems to be one of the only lawyers that did any lawyering.
Aqualung:
Monday, February 27, 2023 at 5:28 pm
[‘Pardon my ignorance but what is the difference between illegal and unlawful?
All the dictionaries I’ve looked at indicate they are synonyms.
It won’t surprise me if our legal system assigns different definitions.’]
Perhaps the simplist way to explain the difference between “illegal” and “unlawful” is by analogy.
When an act or omission is illegal, it contravenes a section of a criminal code (eg, Qld & WA) or an Act, for those states & territories that haven’t codified their criminal law & penal sanctions, in either case, may ensue.
Whereas, when something’s “unlawful” it gives rise to a claim for damages. But those who contravene anti-discrimination legislation will not be gaoled though they may suffer reputational damage. Anti discrminaton legislation was designed to be instructive, not punitive.
Let’s say, for instance, a lessor denies a lessee a lease on the basis of their ethnicity. Although that’s a clear breach of the provisions of anti-discrimination legislation, very few are brought to book, as it’s piss easy to get around.
Another example is where refugees arrive in Oz. Given we are a signatory to UN protocols, their arrival is unlawful but not illegal. They’re detained by not imprisoned though that’s sophistry.
_________________________________
MB, it hasn’t been one of your best days on PB. I still think you’re a Tory at heart, fooling those who are relatively to new to this site via an apparent balanced argument. Where did it all go wrong for you dear?
Pi
I missed the start of Gladman’s evidence so I didn’t get his background but he then said when he was asked to work to work up an opinion in January 2017 he noted his lack of experience in social security matters and asked another staff lawyer, Bennett, to do some work.
He wasn’t convinced by what Bennett reported and made his own enquiries which led him conclude an outside opinion was needed.
He recommended the Australian Government Solicitor and phone calls were made until … Musolino came back from holidays.
Maybe he was new to the department and hadn’t drunk the cordial.
The FBI and the Department of Energy in the US now say Covid 19 most likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. An accidental leak which was covered up. Wuhan scientists were undertaking to make bat coronaviruses more lethal and more transmissible.
Perhaps Xi’s ultimate aim was to wipeout the Taiwan population and any other country which gets in their way.
File under ‘Come in Spinner’…
Liberal moderates Russell Broadbent and Bridget Archer have broken ranks and endorsed the treasurer’s efforts to start a conversation about the fiscal sustainability of generous superannuation tax concessions.
Broadbent told the ABC on Monday it was unclear exactly what changes were being proposed but if the mooted overhaul was “fair and reasonable” then the Coalition should not stand in the way.
After triggering debate about the “sustainability” of the super tax concessions last week, Jim Chalmers has flagged a potential reform in the May budget capping superannuation tax concessions at balances of $3m.
While the opposition’s Treasury spokesperson, Angus Taylor, has declared the Coalition will fight any changes, Broadbent said on Monday: “There will be very few people affected by changes to very high superannuation balances because there are so few Australians [in that position].”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/27/liberal-mps-break-ranks-to-back-jim-chalmers-discussion-on-superannuation-reform?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=soc_568&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1677490698
MICHAEL: The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the Energy Department has concluded with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 virus emerged from a laboratory in China.
Aqualung @ #2485 Monday, February 27th, 2023 – 4:28 pm
I’m sure the Commissioner is right but in my experience they have been used in different contexts, u e.
Illegal = in breach of a law that says directly you can’t do that thing
Unlawful = doing something that doesn’t have legal backing. e.g. assuming some permission to do something not backed by law. Hence “unlawful non citizen” for boat people.
Obviously the legal people consider the words to be equivalent in practice
Thanks Mavis and ajm.
I think I follow. 🙂
I figured there’d be some way the justice system would assign definitions.
Cheers
michael
The FBI and the Department of Energy in the US now say Covid 19 most likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. An accidental leak which was covered up.
Shogun thinks you did not read the report and do not understand the report.
ajm:
Monday, February 27, 2023 at 9:04 pm
[‘Obviously the legal people consider the words to be equivalent in practice’]
No, there’s not! There’s a clear difference betwixt the two, as posted earlier. Pepsy.
“What is the difference between illegal and unlawful?”
As explained by a legal person at work some years ago:
‘Unlawful’ is against the law; ‘illegal’ is a sick bird.
Stan Grant somehow manages to have a different shade of colour on his face each time I see him on qanda.
A interview with the journalist from the WSJ about the findings wrt COVID-19:
https://youtu.be/n7GbeXEHkAg
michael says:
“The FBI and the Department of Energy in the US now say Covid 19 most likely leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
The FBI said that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by a criminal act … and doggedly obstructed the NTSB in reaching its conclusion that a wing fuel tank exploded from ignition of a flammable fuel/air mixture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800
Oh, and the ‘Department of Energy’ are now experts on epidemiology? Really?
Oliver Sutton @ #2568 Monday, February 27th, 2023 – 9:47 pm
Actually, that is the case. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory comes under the purview of the Department of Energy.
So the USA thunks China wat did it.
I’ve long said if that is true it is very very bad because we’ve all shown what an effective way to kill us it is.
If they did do it their next variant will be a ripper.
Of course missing from the reports about the US ‘inteligence’ on the origins of COVID 19 is that even the US says it with ‘low confidence’. Considering Iraq had WMD was stated with high confidence (and we know how that ended up) this latest press release would appear to be no more than to give the likes of Sharri Markson, ASPI etc some extra column inches.
Re: covid origins
Just accept it now that no one will ever know the source of covid and whether it was natural or not. Because even if incontrovertible proof was provided that it was natural, or not, there will be an equal amount of noise asserting the opposite. No one will ever be in a position to validate it to such an extent that a consensus could be accepted. Either camp will accuse the other camp of a cover up and there is no proof that anyone could provide that will change their minds.
And that’s just the way it is.
The conversation about the synonymous nature of unlawful and illegal in the context of robodebt was actually Scott, Holmes and Musolino.
https://robodebt.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/transcript-hearing-day-27-30-january-2023
“COMMISSIONER: Yes, but they were saying this – the averaging aspect of the calculation of this debt is illegal. If you were seriously going to implement that, you would cease and desist from averaging.”
…
MR SCOTT: Yes. In the AFAR states that there has been no error of law in a decision of the AAT made on the basis that averaging is unlawful. How in those circumstances does the Department continue to apply averaging when that decision of the AAT is not appealed?
MS MUSOLINO: I apologise. I’m getting a bit confused by the question. But I think if the decision – so if there’s a decision that averaging is unlawful and the AFAR – the reviewer in the AFAR concludes that that is not an error of law –
Page 40-43 of the transcript from Jan 30. They covered the unlawful nature for about 20 pages before that.
Snappy Tom asserts the following is lies
Sadly in July 2022 new social service minister Amanda Rishworth announced that the government would recoup 17% overpayments from past 2 years true
Using data from SAP database that had poor interface with underlying database refer Mark Withnall evidence in December
Without increase in staff ie forced to use automated debt processingobvious conclusion
Robodebt lives on . . .
billie: “Robodebt lives on . . .”
Are they using income averaging to automatically generate debts are they? No. They’re not. You’re talking shit.
Pi
Yeah , Labor has ordered Centrelink to continue Robodebt and the left wing media (all those papers and the abc named by Rachelle Miller) are covering it up.
Henry, Stan grant has said as he ages his melatonin levels have fluctuated giving his skin colour a certain appearance.
Not something he can help.
Aqualung says:
Monday, February 27, 2023 at 5:28 pm
Pardon my ignorance but what is the difference between illegal and unlawful?
All the dictionaries I’ve looked at indicate they are synonyms.
It won’t surprise me if our legal system assigns different definitions.
………….. ………
Imo “illegal” in respect of an action carries a whiff of criminal misconduct whereas “unlawful “ suggests no more than that the action was outside any lawful authority without it necessarily being criminal.
In administrative law decision makers are frequently found to have acted outside lawful authority or discretion . The decision is usually described as unlawful if done in good faith, illegal if there is a whiff of intent to disregard lawful authority.
It is a valuable nuance even if, literally, they are synonyms.
Seeing the transcript of the commission above, I think the distinction I have drawn is apt.
That is, once the AAT had found robodebt was unlawful, to continue to use robodebt then became illegal because of the intention to disregard lawful authority that can be imputed from neither appealing the AAT decision, nor complying with it.
Winduover
The wonderful Peter Hanks seemed amused the other day that Robodebt was shut down in a hurry when the minister and secretary were warned that continuing, having been warned unequivocally it was unlawful, they might be subject to action for misfeasance in public office.
He said he was not surprised that got their attention.
I’m no lawyer but I think I explained that correctly.
When DSS or DHS tell the gullible Labor Minister there have been 17% overpayments in 2 years the possum in the headlights might reflect that those numbers indicate systemic problems rather than individual (recipient) wickedness
If you are pursuing a large number of people for “debts” without increasing staff numbers then you are relying on automated processes. Have the automated processes changed – I doubt it
Evidence from mark Withnall former general manager of dhs or dss was “poor interface between SAP and underlying database”. An experienced educated IT perspective is “no shit Sherlock”
Why do lawyers become politicians? Why are they innumerate?
billie says:
Monday, February 27, 2023 at 10:38 pm
Snappy Tom asserts the following is lies
Sadly in July 2022 new social service minister Amanda Rishworth announced that the government would recoup 17% overpayments from past 2 years true
Using data from SAP database that had poor interface with underlying database refer Mark Withnall evidence in December
Without increase in staff ie forced to use automated debt processingobvious conclusion
Robodebt lives on . . .
____________
“…new social service minister Amanda Rishworth announced that the government would recoup 17% overpayments from past 2 years…” FALSE. 17% of payments were incorrect, not necessarily over.
You’ve been corrected before. You lied. Again.
When DSS or DHS tell the gullible Labor Minister there have been 17% overpayments in 2 years the possum in the headlights might reflect that those numbers indicate systemic problems rather than individual (recipient) wickedness
If you are pursuing a large number of people for “debts” without increasing staff numbers then you are relying on automated processes. Have the automated processes changed – I doubt it
Evidence from mark Withnall former general manager of dhs or dss was “poor interface between SAP and underlying database”. An experienced educated IT perspective is “no shit Sherlock”
Why do lawyers become politicians? Why are they innumerate?
Snappy Tom
What tree branch did you swing out from?
Amanda Rishworth press release which is generally paraphrased as “government seeks to recoup 17% overpayments made over previous 2 years”
https://ministers.dss.gov.au/media-releases/8286
billie says:
Monday, February 27, 2023 at 11:44 pm
Snappy Tom
What tree branch did you swing out from?
Amanda Rishworth press release which is generally paraphrased as “government seeks to recoup 17% overpayments made over previous 2 years”
https://ministers.dss.gov.au/media-releases/8286
____________
I swung from the “try and have some integrity” tree branch. I shall make two quotes from the media release…
“…17 per cent of JobSeeker Payments being made have been incorrect,” Minister Rishworth said…
“Debts owed by welfare recipients have drastically increased…”
Rishworth DID NOT say there were 17% overpayments. Anyone who “generally paraphrases” her words this way is guilty of error at best and dishonesty at worst.
The basic problem is that income averaging, as a method of identifying a debt, produces false flags. It cannot prove a debt. This is simple maths (primary school maths even, we’re not talking Category Theory here). Hence there has to be other evidence.
You also can’t raise a debt and then ask an individual to disprove it.
A process that stops at an averaged income, raises a debt on that basis, and requires the accused to disprove the debt, is fundamentally flawed. It’s bizarre to suggest that the Coalition “ruined” income averaging because they were overzealous in its use.
Income averaging is *not* unlawful. High school students are not going to be arrested for performing a simple maths operation. What’s unlawful is using it to raise a debt and pursue a victim. If the government performs an income averaging calculation, but does not use it to raise a debt and instead seeks proper evidence, that is also not unlawful.
By the way, from that transcript above:
Read that last sentence: “it was designed as an abridged process”. That is, necessary evidence gathering steps were *removed*. They were removed “intentionally and deliberately”.
The Coalition removed necessary checks from the process, intentionally and deliberately, rendering the resulting process (now dubbed “Robodebt”) unlawful. That’s the nub of it.
DN
“Income averaging is *not* unlawful. High school students are not going to be arrested for performing a simple maths operation. What’s unlawful is using it to raise a debt and pursue a victim.”
That being so, why is it said that, in its earlier iteration, IA was used as a last resort?
Last resort suggests that the raising of the debt was immediately preceded by IA when, with checks and balances, it was an intermediate step.
South Africa is on the verge of “collapse” amid rolling blackouts and warnings a total power grid failure could lead to mass rioting on the scale of a “civil war”.
Western embassies including the United States and Australia have advised their citizens in the country to stock up on “several days worth” of food and water and be on high alert during extended blackouts sweeping the country.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national “state of disaster” on February 9 in response to the record electricity shortage, which has seen state-owned power company Eskom institute rolling blackouts – dubbed “load shedding” – lasting up to 12 hours in some cases.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/stockpile-food-and-water-south-africa-faces-civil-war-conditions-if-power-grid-collapses/news-story/231d976d93e9a34ef8dfaf0ac3db6582
billie
People make mistakes filling out their Centrelink forms.
Centrelink requires you to declare what you’ve earnt before you’ve received the pay check.
It also – because it would be an almost impossible task – doesn’t contact your employer every time you’ve made a declaration (and, as a casual teacher, I could have several employers a fortnight, in schools from a range of systems, all of which pay casual teachers at different rates)
So on more than one occasion I made incorrect estimates of what I was being paid for the fortnight – sometimes the rate had changed without me realising it, or my addition was just out, or whatever.
Such estimates tend to be on the lower side (because wages tend to go up, not down) and thus the bulk of mistakes will result in a debt.
Those are examples of honest mistakes and they’d be frequent.
There are, of course, people who do lie to Centrelink.
Centrelink doesn’t need to increase its staff in order to follow up this kind of error. They have already got staff allocated to deal with it (and basically have had since the dawn of time).
….I have two letters in my archives from Centrelink.
One says that, as I’ve been overpayed five cents, five cents will be deducted from my next payment.
The next says that because the five cents has been deducted from my payment, I no longer have a debt to Centrelink and therefore five cents will not be deducted from my next payment.
Ukraine is fighting hard to keep Bakhmut out of the hands of the Russian invaders, or failing that, to at least exact from them a heavy cost:
“Ukrainian armor-infantry teams kicked off local attacks on Sunday against the Bakhmut northern suburb villages Yahidne and Berkivka. The attacks were still in progress on Monday, but it was not possible to determine their progress, a Kyiv Post survey of relevant sources found.
On Saturday General Oleksandr Syrksy, commander of the AFU’s ground forces, visited Bakhmut personally. Hours later, Ukrainian combat engineers blew up a retaining dam on a waterway dividing the two villages to the north of the city, reportedly flooding a 3-5 kilometer swath of ground in the path of attacking Russian troops.
The flooding reportedly made low ground in the area impassible to vehicles and practically uncrossable by infantry. Unconfirmed Ukrainian reports alleged some Russian troops, members of the Wagner Group, a mercenary company employed by the Kremlin, were cut off by the flooding.”
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/13609
Putin must really hate his own people as much as he hates Ukrainians, the way he is disposing of his country’s soldiers in their pointless assaults upon Ukraine.
Zoomstar, I believe that now ATO provides Centrelink with payroll data as employers send through their pay advices.
“One touch payroll” was expected to eliminate the income estimates of pre 2017
Centrelink does not correct underpayments
Centrelink staff was cut quite heavily under ATM governments, with greater reliance on contract workers employed through labour hire to deal with Robodebt
This is information from Royal Commission
At least some of the Russian rats have the sense to desert the sinking ship of Putin’s pointless invasion of Ukraine:
“Moscow-installed occupying authorities in Kherson Oblast’s towns of Oleshky and Skadovsk prepare to “escape” to the Russian-occupied Crimea, fearing a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Feb. 27.
Local collaborators started to leave the region for the Crimean cities of Bakhchysarai, Simferopol, and Kerch on Feb. 21, according to the Ukrainian military.
On Feb. 24, Russian proxies in Kherson Oblast announced the so-called evacuation for “all interested,” the General Staff wrote in its morning update.”
https://kyivindependent.com/news-feed/general-staff-russian-proxies-in-kherson-oblast-preparing-to-leave
The irony here is that, by fleeing to Crimea, they are quite likely bagging themselves up quite nicely for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to catch when they liberate Crimea. They really need to be running a lot further east if they know what’s good for them.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
John Barilaro inappropriately interfered with the appointment of the state’s UK agent-general when he was deputy premier, personally soliciting Stephen Cartwright for the lucrative role that resulted in a poor financial outcome for NSW. Lucy Cormack and Tom Rabe report that an upper house inquiry made the damning findings in its final report examining the recruitment of NSW senior trade and investment commissioners, condemning the process as flawed.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/barilaro-interfered-in-uk-agent-general-appointment-inquiry-finds-20230227-p5cnus.html
Australia will avoid a recession this year but for many households it will feel like one, some of the nation’s top economists have predicted while warning the Reserve Bank’s aggressive interest rate rises are the largest economic risk. Shane Wright and Rachel Clun expand on this.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-tipped-to-avoid-recession-this-year-but-it-will-still-feel-like-one-for-many-20230227-p5cnsm.html
Nicholas Stuart writing on superannuation loopholes and benefits, says that the moral and economic case for hauling them in is unassailable. The only question is by how much and which concessions should be changed and which left. He wants the government to get on with it.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8101363/the-quicker-labor-fixes-superannuation-the-better/?cs=14258
Katherine Murphy tells us that Liberal moderates Russell Broadbent and Bridget Archer have broken ranks and endorsed the treasurer’s efforts to start a conversation about the fiscal sustainability of generous superannuation tax concessions.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/27/liberal-mps-break-ranks-to-back-jim-chalmers-discussion-on-superannuation-reform
Luke Henriques-Gomes takes us through some of the testimonies given to the robodebt royal commission yesterday.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/27/alan-tudges-senior-staff-failed-to-ask-about-robodebt-schemes-legality-inquiry-hears
That the air force, and the whole Australian Defence Force, is going to invest in lethal drones in a big way is one of the most significant developments – you could almost say revolutions – in modern Australian military policy. It will make the ADF far more lethal, and therefore far more consequential. It’s not unduly negative, however, to point out that this is decades late, says Greg Sheridan.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/finally-military-policy-is-moving-in-right-direction/news-story/36627bfd62ed894c6bbed0399899d980?amp
Australia can and must do all it can to maintain pressure of the Sogavare government to minimise China’s control in Solomon Islands, writes Peter Hartcher who says that for Australia, there’s no wisdom in walking away from the Solomon Islands.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/for-australia-there-s-no-wisdom-in-walking-away-from-solomon-islands-20230227-p5cnte.html
Yesterday Australia’s major media bosses united to push for changes to stop police being able to raid journalists “just for doing their jobs”, and to fix Australia’s beleaguered freedom of information regime. Nick Bonyhady reports on the closed-door meeting with Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in Canberra where executives from publishers including News Corp, The Guardian, the ABC and Nine pressed their case to the government over its proposed reforms to privacy law and commitment to enacting recommendations stemming from the 2019 raids on the ABC and then News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst, who now works for The Age.
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/media-bosses-unite-to-push-government-on-press-freedom-20230227-p5co0k.html
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke will urge state ministers to bring forward a decision on whether to ban the domestic use of engineered stone as pressure mounts from federal Labor MPs, unions and health experts to stem the tide of workers contracting deadly silicosis, reports Angus Thompson.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/burke-to-urge-states-to-consider-ban-on-engineered-stone-20230227-p5cnsk.html
Patriarchal churches that teach women should “submit” to men are creating a culture where abuse can thrive, experts say. Tory Shepperd writes that a News Corp Australia podcast has alleged that some female students at Hillsong College, part of Hillsong Church, were taught to “submit” sexually to their husbands, which one former student described as “kind of a rape culture”. And we support this damaging shit through our taxes!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/27/hillsong-college-allegedly-taught-some-students-women-should-to-submit-sexually-to-husbands
The NRL, AFL and other major sports are on a collision course with governments over tighter rules on sports betting advertising, prompting the head of a parliamentary inquiry to say the codes are failing to grasp the concerns of the public and experts. Paul Sakkal says the sporting bodies say bookmakers’ ad spending – which grew from $89.7 million in 2011 to $287.2 million in 2021 – boosts the value of TV rights deals that help fund grassroots sport.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/nrl-afl-on-collision-course-with-governments-over-betting-ads-20230224-p5cn9q.html
Graham Phillips tells us all about where we might be heading with bio foods like “vat meat”.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/fancy-a-tassie-tiger-teriyaki-food-tech-revolution-to-change-the-menu-20230227-p5cntd.html
Jim Chalmers’ has made an extraordinary decision to place a job ad for new Reserve Bank board members. It shows Australia’s business elite are no longer welcome, writes Karen Maley.
https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/chalmers-shock-decision-shows-his-radical-plan-for-the-rba-20230227-p5cnsl
Two revelations in the last week confirm that the Reserve Bank is on the wrong track with its unremitting interest rate rises, risking an Australian recession for no good reason, opines Craig Emerson who says the RBA is squashing a mythical wage spiral.
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/rba-is-squashing-a-mythical-wage-spiral-20230226-p5cnpe
The flood that destroyed much of Lismore has exposed not only the failure of government at all levels throughout the city’s history but a series of missteps and oversights that made the disaster a certainty and a continuing red tape nightmare for victims, declares the SMH editorial which says that affected residents have been hung out to dry by government mistakes.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/lismore-residents-hung-out-to-dry-by-government-mistakes-20230227-p5cnv0.html
Former energy tsar Kerry Schott has criticised state governments, especially Victoria, for “demonising” gas, saying the fuel was crucial to shift the electricity grid from coal to renewable energy as part of the net zero transition. Mark Ludlow reports that the former head of the Energy Security Board also took aim at federal and state energy ministers for their decision on Friday to dump a plan to charge wind and solar projects for their transmission to join the grid.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/states-hit-for-demonising-gas-20230227-p5cnwf
Hardware giant Bunnings is hoping shoppers add will add dog food and toys to their shopping lists when heading in store as the retailer launches a significant expansion of its pet merchandise business, reports Emma Koehn. Hopefully this will inject some sense into the seemingly exorbitant prices being paid for certain pet foods.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/bunnings-gears-up-to-be-dog-s-best-friend-with-expanded-pet-range-20230226-p5cnpb.html
Legislation that would help evacuate refugees held offshore is urgently needed to erase the dark history of suffering and punishment by the Coalition Government, writes Jane Salmon.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/new-refugee-bill-will-redress-coalitions-legacy-of-grief,17274
The Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil, has declared Australia’s migration system is “broken. It is unstrategic. It is complex, expensive and slow. It is not delivering for business, for migrants, or for our population”. While no one is to be held accountable for this, not even the guy who has been in charge for ten years, the Minister has promised to fix the system. But how will the public know that the broken system is getting better and what more needs to be fixed, asks Abul Rizvi.
https://johnmenadue.com/how-will-we-know-the-migration-system-has-been-fixed/
Better coordination is urgently needed across Australia to mitigate the threat of superbugs as a “global health crisis” looms, according to a new report co-produced by the national science agency.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/27/looming-global-health-crisis-urgent-action-needed-to-prevent-spread-of-drug-resistant-superbugs-csiro-says
Alan Kohler posits why the Ukraine war poses a grave and growing danger to Australia.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/02/27/russia-china-ukraine-war-australia/
Britain and the European Union have struck a deal aimed at resolving the Brexit hangover created around trading rules for Northern Ireland. Latika Bourke tells us that Northern Ireland is part of the UK but, as part of the Good Friday Agreement, there should not be a hard border between the country and the Republic of Ireland, which is part of the EU.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/eu-uk-strike-deal-over-northern-ireland-trade-rules-in-brexit-breakthrough-20230227-p5co1c.html
Australia’s largest cold chain refrigeration logistics company has gone bust, meaning about 1500 workers face an uncertain future after their employer went into receivership. Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics, which counts supermarket giant Coles among its grocery and food and beverage clients, entered voluntary administration yesterday before KordaMentha was appointed receivers.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/logistics-nightmare-for-1500-workers-as-scott-s-goes-into-receivership-20230227-p5co0w.html
This pair of academics thinks Joe Biden could be the most consequential American president of our times.
https://theconversation.com/could-joe-biden-be-the-most-consequential-american-president-of-our-times-200348
Cartoon Corner
Cathy Wilcox
David Rowe
Matt Golding
Andrew Dyson
John Shakespeare
Fiona Katauskas
Mark Knight
Spooner
From the US
Wranslide @ 7.53pm.
I am glad that Labor is running good ads on the “socials”, because the ones being screened on SBS are the lamest political advertising I can recall.
The “Labor Plan” ads are pathetic.
The Minns is a nice bloke, with a pamphlet, campaign is just woeful.
I can’t believe with all the current scandals surrounding this government they haven’t been going for the throat. The mess regarding Public Transport, should terminate this government, alone. They need to employ an advertising strategy similar to the campaign which the LNP used, unfortunately but successfully, against the Whitlam Government.
Once Pre-Poll voting commences, it is game over, particularly if the same percentage of voters’ pre-poll as recorded at the Federal Election.
Robodebt does NOT ‘live on’ and anyone trying to tell you that is lying.
What a surprise that some fair-weather Labor ‘friends’ are writing NSW Labor off even before a vote has been cast. Actually, it’s not surprising at all. 😐
Thanks BK. A cornucopia today.
Sound the Liberals-breaking-ranks klaxon: Liberal MPs Russell Broadbent and Bridget Archer say Treasurer Jim Chalmers is right to call for a rethink of superannuation tax breaks. Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has been going on and on about the supposed “broken” election promise, saying “Labor’s coming after Australians’ money because they don’t have enough of their own”, as Sky News reports, the meaning of which isn’t immediately clear, but anyway. Broadbent pointed out that only the richest would notice any changes to the possible top-tier super tax concession, The Age ($) reports, and besides, he added, they’re using super for “wealth creation”, not for it’s intended purpose of retirement. Archer says we should at least have a conversation about it, Guardian Australia reports, saying reform in the national interest was more important than worrying about “broken” promises.
the nsw labor party needs to run more negative adds there spin that positive adds work and they will go positive is not working there is a lot of scandles minns could reminding us of llike barilarow and transport