Australia - you're standing in it

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Sheepdog started the topic in Friday, 18 Sep 2020 at 11:51am

The "I can't believe it's not politics" thread.

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 12:29pm

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 12:34pm
ruckus wrote:

Spot on DSDS plus another added year of indoctrination…The whole system is farked.. it should be the complete opposite - more family time which creates greater family unity and stronger family bonds

The whole education system is completely floored.

In effect it’s a glorified baby sitting service where you kids best interests or tailored education experience is no chance of been meet. One size certainly does not fit all individuals nor does it get the most out of every child (as confirmed by multiple teachers I know - all of them with the best intentions at heart however they are fighting against a floored / farked system). This excludes a few free thinking alternate providers

So glad we got the opportunity to home school the kids while we travelled all over Oz with me working as a surveyor for 18 months. We could dictate the schooling pace as we wished, and include extras. Plus the priceless travel. SIDE based out of Leederville in Perth are absolute legends too, great support and well resourced. True professionals have your back. Kids got back to regular school, eldest went to top of class and won the swimming by half a lap or more, taught the teachers economics (lol) and said to me: "You know, they waste a lot of time with it. If we were home teaching, we'd be done by 12 then could go out and look at stuff."

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 12:36pm
I focus wrote:

You mob on the East Coast really know how to totally fu(k a power system, seriously what a cluster fu(k, no gas reserve, intermediate sellers of power WTF and where is all the money blown after selling the assets off?

Yeah but there's pokies here. Pretty jelly of WA at the mo tbh, it's run by screeching gibbons over here who I suspect are on the take.

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I focus Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 2:50pm
velocityjohnno wrote:
I focus wrote:

You mob on the East Coast really know how to totally fu(k a power system, seriously what a cluster fu(k, no gas reserve, intermediate sellers of power WTF and where is all the money blown after selling the assets off?

Yeah but there's pokies here. Pretty jelly of WA at the mo tbh, it's run by screeching gibbons over here who I suspect are on the take.

TBH it did my head when it was fashion to sell of critical assets to be run by private enterprise for profits. I worked here in WA in the remote north west on diesel power stations for four years and even with that little bit of experience the east coat train wreck was obvious plus through in policy stagnation prefect storm.

That's all before you get to transition to renewables, that's another thing that does my head in.

All the tech stuff (engineering) is totally understood yet they are building power sources without putting in the required Infrastructure that is required for fault conditions and frequency stability (doesn't make money) thats long required before you get to storage.

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sypkan Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 6:30pm

is chris bowen on the gear?

that was some fast talking press conference

...dude is clearly feeling the pressure...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10921777/Energy-minister-Chris-...

not getting into the usual blame game bullshit, but labor are currently looking rather bidenesque ...given themselves a great big ball squeezing wedgey with some big big promises...

"...Meanwhile, Mr Albanese has written to the United to Nations to increase Australia's emissions reduction targets in the middle of an energy crisis..."

gotta wonder how long both teams can hang on, and fend off what appears to be the inevitable, in what is now looking to be a long running energy crisis...

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batfink Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 7:30pm
sypkan wrote:
ruckus wrote:

- more family time which creates greater family unity and stronger family bonds

In effect it’s a glorified baby sitting service where you kids best interests or tailored education experience is no chance of been meet. One size certainly does not fit all individuals nor does it get the most out of every child (as confirmed by multiple teachers I know - all of them with the best intentions at heart however they are fighting against a floored / farked system). This excludes a few free thinking alternate providers

absolutely mr. ruckus!

any teacher, early childhood carer worth their salt knows time with parents is absolutely the best thing you can do

our system encourages the exact opposite... and I would argue is the cause of our ever more loose and lost kids..

Well I know plenty of early childhood educators, and none of them would say that. Exposure to other kids without their parents matures them immensely, and prepares them for school.

By the time they are 4 they are the big kids of the child care system, and really too old for it.

Sure, time with parents is best, but they already get that. Up to a point it then smothers them, they can’t grow.

Exposure to other kids, especially without parental supervision, is the best thing for a young girl or boy. Very few studies suggest otherwise. The alternative is a nation of mummy-boys and girls, and we’ve already had that.

And it’s entirely voluntary. What are you all saying? That parents don’t know their own children best, and you know better?

Seriously, put the outrage machine to bed.

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sypkan Thursday, 16 Jun 2022 at 8:28pm

yep, outsource your parenting responsibilities as soon as possible...

get those 3 month old kids into childcare (waiting 9 hours to see their mother) as soon as possible... so they can have 4 about waking hours a day with mum before bedtime... about 20 hours a week with mum before the weekend comes along...

then send them off to school at 4...

I'm actually ok with the new proposals, ...if it gives good early educational opportunities to kids that are now missing out... but lets see how it all pans out...

my point is about the bigger message it is sending to some parents - some!

but I gotta say, in the current situation - with a teacher shortage, and a general labour shortage...

it's the same as the "...we'll put a 24 hour registered nurse in every old age home..."

amidst a nurses shortage too!

how the hell do they think they will fill these posotions?

....we all know the answer to that...

more 'outsourcing'...

more poor country talent poaching...

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 7:05am
batfink wrote:
sypkan wrote:
ruckus wrote:

- more family time which creates greater family unity and stronger family bonds

In effect it’s a glorified baby sitting service where you kids best interests or tailored education experience is no chance of been meet. One size certainly does not fit all individuals nor does it get the most out of every child (as confirmed by multiple teachers I know - all of them with the best intentions at heart however they are fighting against a floored / farked system). This excludes a few free thinking alternate providers

absolutely mr. ruckus!

any teacher, early childhood carer worth their salt knows time with parents is absolutely the best thing you can do

our system encourages the exact opposite... and I would argue is the cause of our ever more loose and lost kids..

Well I know plenty of early childhood educators, and none of them would say that. Exposure to other kids without their parents matures them immensely, and prepares them for school.

By the time they are 4 they are the big kids of the child care system, and really too old for it.

Sure, time with parents is best, but they already get that. Up to a point it then smothers them, they can’t grow.

Exposure to other kids, especially without parental supervision, is the best thing for a young girl or boy. Very few studies suggest otherwise. The alternative is a nation of mummy-boys and girls, and we’ve already had that.

And it’s entirely voluntary. What are you all saying? That parents don’t know their own children best, and you know better?

Seriously, put the outrage machine to bed.

For sure bloke.

The same government who destroyed TAFE, bled Universities and underfunded public schools into despair are now funnelling billions of dollars into getting three year olds into full time child minding-sorry , “early schooling “- because they care so much about Australian education.

For sure the priority of this broke government is the welfare of three year old kids. It’s got nothing to do with maintaining the debt servicing abilities to ensure the real estate Ponzi doesn’t fall apart , a matter which occupies every single other moment of the government’s time in office.

Anyway, it was a cool story bro. Completely detached from reality but cool.

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sypkan Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 12:43pm

chicks on the drum panel last night, not happy at all with all the current talk of...

'getting women back to work'

priorities...

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stunet Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 8:19am

Surveying the enormous sample size of my wife and her friends, and they unanimously, though somewhat reluctantly, agree with the changes. The salient point seems to be that, twenty years ago they would've rejected the changes, yet at their current age - all in their forties and fifties - they realise structural change simply ain't gonna happen so pragmatism is the next best course.

All have been through childbirth(s) so they know the speedhump to financial security it presents, especially to divorced or single mothers. Women retire with significantly less super than men and the main reason is childbirth. This changes the equation for women at the end of their working lives, often depending upon the state or in relationships they'd rather not be in. Most men would be utterly unaware of their plight.

 Pressures to return to work after childbirth (my own wife had NO maternity leave, we had to go unpaid) mean women either forego their career or time with their kids - it's one or the other. Be ideal if the Scandiniavian model of job retention was available, however the fact it's not even mentioned in the conversation shows how unlikely it is. Hence opting for the practical, even if second-best, option.

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blackers Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 10:44am

Similar feedback here too Stu.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 11:26am

Point being that the government isn’t doing it because they’ve been endlessly debating the merits of an extra year’s schooling on toddlers. It’s a decision made based on the prerogative of getting women into the workforce ASAP in order to hold the economy above water. It’s desperate measures.

The worst bit is that women have been inveigled into an arms race of debt. Rather than spend these important formative years with their children, they have to return to the workforce in order to exist with a mortgage and a semblance of quality of life. Fifty years ago a single income was enough to service a mortgage and provide for retirement. Now it’s necessary for the mother to return to work whether they want to or not.

It’s presented in terms of empowering women but it’s really just entrapment and a way to extend the size of debt to ever larger amounts.

Hey…soon women will ge given the “privilege” of inter generational mortgages to hand down to their kids or maybe even extend the average working age into their 90s instead of retiring in their 60s.

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flollo Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 12:18pm

I've been off the forums for a while and now, saw this debate about child care changes in NSW and VIC.

Noone seemed to notice that SA already has this and it works exceptionally well.

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flollo Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 12:20pm

And BTW, so much happened during the last week, I don't even know where to start.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 12:28pm

No one said freechild care disguised as advanced educational practices wouldn’t work. Let’s just be honest about the motive here.

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flollo Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 12:32pm

It's taxpayer-funded child care which I agree with. There is no point disguising it as something else. If that's what's happening then it's a pointless exercise.

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garyg1412 Friday, 17 Jun 2022 at 3:20pm
DudeSweetDudeSweet wrote:

It’s a decision made based on the prerogative of getting women into the workforce ASAP in order to hold the economy above water. It’s desperate measures.

Regardless of the motives it's still a good use of tax dollars in my opinion. At the moment we have OEMA handing over our taxes to "for profit" companies to carry on fleecing those same tax payers. Chalk and cheese end results.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Sunday, 19 Jun 2022 at 11:26am
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DudeSweetDudeSweet Monday, 20 Jun 2022 at 9:12am

From the Excellent Macrobusiness

+
Albo’s energy suicide pact with China
By Houses and Holes
There is an inconvenient truth in the Albanese Government’s refusal to fix the east coast energy crisis. You won’t hear any government ministers talking about it. The MSM won’t touch it. It’s the sleeping giant of the energy catastrophe.

It is NOT the obvious point that Australian miners are war-profiteering at the nation’s expense, though that, too, is ignored. Local gas and coal prices are up 1000% as the Ukraine war drives global shortages of these fuels. Australian exporters are charging global prices for resources owned by Australians that are dug up around the corner virtually for free.

Nor is it the inconvenient truth that fixing the gas price will not end the crisis, though that, too, is ignored. The local coal price must also be dislocated from global prices or QLD and NSW will see a never-ending power bill shock.

Nor is it the inconvenient truth that Labor is the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars in mining bribes, though that, too, is ignored.

All of these inconvenient truths stink and will make us a lot poorer. But they will not end who we are.

But there is one other inconvenient truth that tops all of the rest put together. An inconvenient truth so existentially vile that it may, in fact, lead to our collective deaths.

It is this: more than 70% of the cheap Aussie gas leaving the east coast is going to China. For most of this year, it has paid far less for it than we have. Moreover, it can afford to because the price is subsidised by the government to keep its industrial base hyper-competitive.

What is China doing with this gas? Among other things, building and launching its third and most destructive aircraft carrier to date. Doubtless, with plans to sail it around the South Pacific to demand…whatever Beijing likes:

Now, I know what you’re thinking. There is a lot more Aussie iron ore and coal in that vessel than there is gas. So, why aren’t we worried about sending them that as well?

We should be. But not all commodities are created equal when it comes to strategic thinking.

The world of international relations and trade is replete with such hypocrisies. There is no such thing as the complete alignment between two states. So we make such compromises all of the time.

As well, the free trade of commodities is a cornerstone of a peaceful world. When commodities are blockaded, we tend to get wars of acquisition for materials that powers are short of. It was the US oil embargo of Japan that helped trigger its conquest of resource-rich South East Asia in 1939.

Finally, as a resource-rich nation, Australia has been made prosperous by shipping its minerals and ores to China.

So, some compromises are worth making.

But, equally, other compromises are not and gas exports to China fit this category because while they are helping build a vast Chinese navy, they are simultaneously gutting Australia’s capability to resist it, by annihilating our own industrial base.

I am calling this an inconvenient truth but, in actuality, it is better described as national suicide.

This phenomenon is a fact. Since 2008, when China began its great east coast gas siphoning operation, Aussie industry has galloped backward:

The first blow came with the $100bn building of the QLD gas export plants. This investment was directly responsible for the high AUD that threw the Australian car industry into the sea in 2011, a huge blow to our national resilience and military capability.

But it didn’t stop there.

Since the gas export plants opened, a traditional $4Gj gas price first doubled then tripled (now up 1000%) and hollowed out chemical manufacturers, including those that make critical inputs into armaments such as explosives.

We’ve also lost critical inputs such as fertiliser manufacturing, making it impossible to feed ourselves independently.

The relentless rise of gas prices also drove the electricity price much higher and critical metals processing has shrunk. Today the price of electricity is so astronomical that we’ll shortly lose our ability to recycle steel, which compromises a third of our ferrous output.

In fact, every single industrial process that is faintly reliant upon gas or power of any kind – which is ALL OF THEM – will be thrown into the sea over the next few years, just like cars were, at current energy prices.

Is this what we elected Labor for? It’s not what Albo said he’d do. On the contrary, he listed “making things in Australia” as his fourth priority and even mentioned the China threat obliquely:

Australia must be a country that makes things. After almost a decade of sending manufacturing offshore and neglecting Australian workers, we’ve seen the consequences: fewer jobs, missed opportunities, and a nation left exposed when coronavirus hit.

Labor has a comprehensive plan to create jobs, boost vital skills by investing in education and training, bring industry expertise back onshore and supercharge national productivity.

An Albanese Labor Government will rebuild our proud manufacturing industry, and build a future made right here in Australia.

Yet here he is, hollowing out industry at a stunningly swift pace via an energy shock he can end with the stroke of a pen but won’t.

This is the great inconvenient truth of today’s energy crisis. It is a secret Chinese occupation story told in the transformation of an economy from diversified resilience to hollow dependence.

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san Guine Monday, 20 Jun 2022 at 9:13am
DudeSweetDudeSweet wrote:

Joyce needs to be put in the stocks

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/economy/2022/06/18/inside-the-q...

How to trash a premium brand. Joyce is an odious little man.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Tuesday, 21 Jun 2022 at 7:10pm
DudeSweetDudeSweet wrote:

Freeing up more parents to participate in the economy so debt levels can be maintained/ increased whilst also ramping up competition for jobs and putting a ceiling on wage growth.

MOAR slaves sold as concern for the welfare of children. Nice.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-game-changer-nsw-to-introduce-an-e...

You can’t script this!

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/teachers-to-hold-unprecedented-strik...

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velocityjohnno Wednesday, 22 Jun 2022 at 10:07am
I focus wrote:

TBH it did my head when it was fashion to sell of critical assets to be run by private enterprise for profits. I worked here in WA in the remote north west on diesel power stations for four years and even with that little bit of experience the east coat train wreck was obvious plus through in policy stagnation prefect storm.

That's all before you get to transition to renewables, that's another thing that does my head in.

All the tech stuff (engineering) is totally understood yet they are building power sources without putting in the required Infrastructure that is required for fault conditions and frequency stability (doesn't make money) thats long required before you get to storage.

It's mad isn't it? We are beginning to lose industrial businesses here, latest is brickworks in Stawell, 85 yo family run business.

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velocityjohnno Wednesday, 22 Jun 2022 at 10:22am

[quote=DudeSweetDudeSweet

You can’t script this!

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/teachers-to-hold-unprecedented-strik...

Seem's we're living in the 70's now with La Nina, strikes, inflation. If only we still had a car industry we could merge together into a British Leyland-style Frankenstein's monster...

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Cockee Wednesday, 22 Jun 2022 at 7:18pm

What did you think would happen when Labor got in? Duh.

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blackers Wednesday, 22 Jun 2022 at 8:36pm
Cockee wrote:

What did you think would happen when Labor got in? Duh.

Yeah never any IR issues under the LNP.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Saturday, 25 Jun 2022 at 6:23pm
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Distracted Saturday, 25 Jun 2022 at 8:49pm

Old mate seems to have forgotten about the Ukrainian people in his analysis. 6M ? fleeing the country and brutal war crimes by the Russians against civilians. Something that should be ignored while focusing on the potential trade issues?

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etarip Sunday, 26 Jun 2022 at 6:41am
DudeSweetDudeSweet wrote:

Interesting stuff

https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/06/how-we-bet-the-house-on-ukraine/

Interesting but largely off the mark. Especially militarily. Are we still hawking the provocation myth BTW?

This is RU state media:

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sypkan Sunday, 26 Jun 2022 at 11:51pm

"Our Russia strategy has backfired

Whatever the origins of the Ukraine war, the West and Russia are now engaged in a broader confrontation that is not confined to the military struggle: the war has become a competition in pain-tolerance.

This is, as Thomas Schelling wrote, “a conscious process of dirty bargaining”, whereby each side tries to inflict pain and suffering on the other side until one or both yield. Put simply, the West and Russia are playing a violent version of the schoolyard game Mercy...

...Washington is gearing up for a protracted struggle intended to bleed Russia through proxy war in Ukraine and with the liberal use of the economic weapon. This policy is premised on the idea that time is on the West’s side. This assumption, like the assumption of Russian weakness, is wrong. If Putin has the upper hand in the competition in pain-tolerance, then time is on his side. With his current policy, Biden is running a significant risk that the US, instead of Russia, will be destabilised politically...

https://unherd.com/2022/06/our-russia-strategy-has-backfired/

its all looking a bit... 'you have the watches, we have the time'

except russia has the watches, and the time...

and the commodities

and the tolerance for pain

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velocityjohnno Monday, 27 Jun 2022 at 10:00am

One thing they are masters of, manipulation of a free media. Decades of practise.

Anyway, here's a very interesting take from Charles Hugh Smith with implications for Australia: the shift in power isn't as simple as West to East, he argues it's from mercantilists/importers of last resort, to commodity exporters (including Russia and Australia).

https://www.oftwominds.com/blogjun22/mercantilism6-22.html

It is a very different approach to the subject of power, and well worth considering.

The mercantilists have certainly decimated Australia's manufacturing capacity; this is an ingredient in a balanced economy.

Australia could play this really, really well. However our current setup is geared to getting commodities out in bulk and cheaply to those who sign long term contracts. Why? Maybe because we historically haven't had the capital/desire to develop things ourselves? Food for thought.

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velocityjohnno Monday, 27 Jun 2022 at 10:49am

just a fix to that post, "importer of necessity" is the term, got that confused with banking lingo lol

Charles' salient quote (we could so be a part of this):

"The commodity-producing nations have finally wearied of being stripmined by West and East, and are starting a long-delayed unified effort to take control of the resources being plundered by the developed / mercantilist economies. This is now being fueled by scarcities in commodities, scarcities fueled by many sources: depletion, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical blackmail, etc.

As financialization and globalization have reached the point of diminishing returns, they are now in the decline phase. These drivers of global growth are unraveling at the same time that commodity prices are rising in a secular trend and the global economy is entering stagflation."

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flollo Monday, 27 Jun 2022 at 12:14pm

I finally arrived in Europe over the weekend. I was here last time in 2019. Obviously, a lot has changed since then. But one thing remains the same - the instant appreciation and pride I feel calling Australia home when I am faced with different perspectives. This is an incredible country with residents who are making the place better every single day.

So, the sole intention of this post is to thank everyone who is working hard to make our country a better place. There is a wide range of different beliefs between people who post here. And it obviously leads to arguments. But what unites everyone is the care they feel for their people and their country. And this is something to be proud of.

Now, some might say but this, but that...Go ahead. I don't care. For some people, the bible is the sacred thing that guides them through life. For me, it is an Australian passport. I feel so proud looking at it. And nothing on this planet can change that.

So, once again, thanks to everyone out there making Australia a better place.

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freeride76 Monday, 27 Jun 2022 at 12:38pm

Happy travels Flollo.

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sypkan Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 12:17pm

I wonder how many aussie tradesmen now could be classed as 'rich'?

putting 'real wages' and tax manipulations to the side... I'd say shit loads... if $3k a week makes you 'rich'...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.news.com.au/finance/money/wealth/census...

without meaning to start a class war, or offend anyone, personally i think many tradesmen's incomes in oz have become outrageous, and are totally unsustainable...

having said that, I say good on em... make hay while the sun shines and all that...

but really, a plumber getting paid more than a university professor?

hmmmmm...

I'd also say it's bullshit policies from both sides of politics that have created this situation ...short sighted, ponzi scheme inflating, self interest preserving, negative geared politicians enriching, absolutely dumb short sightedness...

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seeds Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 1:26pm

Sounds a bit judgmental. Toil should be rewarded. I do agree with you on the tax concessions. I have tradie mates that claim so much personal expense as business expenses it’s sickening. Wage or salary earners get screwed in this country.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 1:50pm

Or you can consider that any tradie not on wages themselves would be extremely, extremely, extremely lucky to get through their career without getting screwed by the crew who are hiring them. Not getting paid is par for the course if you’re a tradie out on your own. Something those on wages or salary don’t have to be as concerned about. Particularly when it’s not usually just a weeks wages but thousands and thousands of dollars of expense which often extends to cost of materials as well as time.

I find the jealousy towards tradie earnings to be quite funny. No one ever seems to get upset when a middle manager in an insurance company gets remunerated hundreds of thousands per year just for pushing a pen around a desk with no exposure to downside risk. People seem to expect the suburban solicitor pumping out generic will amendments to charge hundreds of dollars an hour yet are surprised when the self employed tradie with decades of experience and tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools asks for a decent level of pay. Same goes for just about any white collar consultant from accountant to draftsman.

The Macrobusiness site is an eye opener. Many white collar types who get hot under the collar that the bloke they call at 2AM to solve the problem of shit flooding their home might earn a quarter that they earn themselves sitting in an office at some financial institution.

The idea that the people who build and fix this country should be paid less than those who scribble on the sidelines has always come across as a bizarre cultural artefact with no genuine explanation for its existence.

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simba Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 1:50pm

Totally agree with you Ds .....i was told that tradies in germany are regarded like a doctor is here ..

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seeds Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 2:13pm

That’s true Blowin but the tax write offs are too much. I have in my kitchen as we speak a 2 grand coffee machine that is owned by the boss of my apprentice son that is supposed to be the work site coffee machine. It isn’t. It’s his personally and his apprentice is minding it while his place is being demolished to build a new house. Not to mention his new Hilux with 20 grand mods that have nothing to do with his industry etc etc.
Good on em I’d do the same if I could but why does the ATO not crack down on this.

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blackers Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 2:27pm

It doesn’t need to be divisive. Acknowledge value added, reward hard work,, whether it’s a trade, a service or office based. Don’t screw those you owe for services rendered, pay your way including your social obligations. Unfortunately there are many scammers just out for their own benefit, in all sectors.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 2:29pm

It seems you are aghast at the ability of all businesses to write off items on tax and then just focusing n the way a tradie who runs a business can do the same.

You think the local accountant / solicitor/ consults isn’t running the same write off program?

People expect white collar types to do this but get incensed when the crew who concentrated at Woodwork at school instead of maths or science get away with it.

It always comes across as unrecognised cultural prejudice. The crew who left school to do a trade were often enough considered as the dopey fuckers who couldn’t get to university. No one ever seemed to appreciate the self awareness of the tradie types and recognised they may have been alert to the satisfaction of working with their hands to build something real or that they preferred to work outside and be physical.

The consensus was that tradies were low achieving dumb bastards who weren’t as smart as those pursuing a multi year study in a subject which often enough delivered no actual skill set. The idea that tradies deserve less pay is an extension of that trope.

Why society should hold higher regard for a pen pusher who can’t hang a picture than a chippy who can build a house which will shelter a family for many generations is beyond me.

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 2:32pm

BTW….I do agree with you on tax write offs but I know that if you added together the tax deductions of every tradie in Australian history you’d still not break the top 100,000 cases of rorting tax deductions sitting on the ATO desk right now.

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sypkan Wednesday, 29 Jun 2022 at 3:32pm

I actually agree with everything blowin (or dsds) has said, ...and to a certain extent, australia has become what I believe to be ideal - where a tradesman can earn as much as a pen pushing professional... kind of...

however, I do question how sustainable our situation has become... (not very...)

and more importantly, i think the top end - be it the capital city top end tradesman, or the high level mid management / professional type positions - have become totally detached from the harsh reality of award wage / minimum wage type positions... this disparity from the top to the bottom has become so wide... hugely, disproportionately so...

this has been well reported, where just a few decades ago, the CEO of a company might earn say 3 -5 times what an average employees gets, but now its more like 10 - 20 times... even more...

and, politicians wages have seen a similar proportionate increase... I wish I had the link, but I remember reading that apparently politicians wages are somehow pegged to high management / professional positions - so, when they see a 10 or 20% increase, as we've seen over the last few decades - politicians enjoy the same...

meanwhile, low income earners are scratching for a 3% increase, and have been doing so through the same period, where top end positions have enjoyed huge wages growth - decades of this conpounding disparity basically...

and another interesting 'development' through this period, is the casualisation / increase in insecure work. where once again the bottom end, not only gets scraps, but has seen 'benefits' and security stripped away... an interesting example of this was through the recent minimum wages debate, where public service unions and workers fired up about their measely pay increases offered in comparison to others - and rightfully so.... however, the public service brings with it all sorts of benefits low income earners and casual workers in the private sector can only dream of...

my main point is how the top ends have become totally detached from the bottom, both in terms of renumeration and security / benefits

and, i know from my own experiences, and friends who have done quite well, that the higher up the chain you go, the less you seem to need to pay for...

be it corporate lunches, travel benefts, paid trainings, tax write offs, fifo accomodations beyond accomodation, or even right down to uniforms and neccesary certificates as basic as first aid etc... where the poor agency plebs at the bottom are paying for it all out of their own pockets... the disparities are huge!

hugely so, well beyond anything resembling 'fair'!!

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 30 Jun 2022 at 2:26pm

The housing market bit in the heading gets sidelined - but if you've ever wondered how Australia's energy market got to the current situation, it's a very good recap.

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ruckus Thursday, 30 Jun 2022 at 2:30pm

Hmmmmmmm

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=the+victorian+government+bans+game+sh...

I hear they have a personal vendetta against the bees. That ain’t good

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 30 Jun 2022 at 2:31pm

Just out of interest re: the tradies, one smart comment I read recently suggested the historic 3:1 house-price-to-earnings might reflect how long it would take a single worker to build one (assume carpenter or stonemason type skillset).

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velocityjohnno Thursday, 30 Jun 2022 at 4:11pm

Bank Volt collapses:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/banking/australian-bank-volt-co...

"It said it had adequate funds to return customer’s money and to ease the transition of money to a different bank account quickly Volt had increased the daily transfer limits to $250,000, it told customers."

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velocityjohnno Monday, 18 Jul 2022 at 12:57pm

foot & mouth special

what is it?

https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/an...

Hmm 100 years without it, a very good effort

Now some sensationalism

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-14/foot-and-mouth-bali-tourism-fligh...

https://www.9news.com.au/national/foot-and-mouth-disease-in-bali-risks-1...

A big nothing-burger? Or a real problem?

The Ms, a farmer's daughter, alerted me to this one. It would appear Australia has in place strong biosecurity measures... but... the needs of the agricultural industry are now pitted against the entitlement of gimmedat and the tourism industry. If corona is anything to go by, expect freedom rallies and business bodies to determine that tourism gets it's way, then the biosecurity measures to get hosed down by changes in legislation to allow whatever is popular in and to continue.

Will foot and mouth get here and spread widely? A staggering failure if it does so, decimating billions of dollars and an industry, but we live in an age of staggering failures.

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velocityjohnno Tuesday, 19 Jul 2022 at 11:31am

"To be crystal clear, Australian policy makers did not see high gas prices as a problem to be avoided. This was the plan all along."

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2022/july/richard-denniss/gaslightin...

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DudeSweetDudeSweet Tuesday, 19 Jul 2022 at 12:50pm
velocityjohnno wrote:

"To be crystal clear, Australian policy makers did not see high gas prices as a problem to be avoided. This was the plan all along."

https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2022/july/richard-denniss/gaslightin...

Excellent article.

Now let’s go further and substitute skilled worker shortages for gas shortages in the above article. The result being lower wages bills for business. That’s why when good ol’ “Son of a struggling working class mum and man of the proletariat” Albo tells us we are now part of a “global labour pool” you realise that, like the price of gas going up competing on a global level, the price of Australian labour is destined for third world levels.

Then we should substitute vaccines for gas. The government lies to the public and puts the Australian public through the ringer just to guarantee the billion dollar profits of the energy companies. You really think the vaccine mandates for healthy young people aren’t the exact same style of behaviour?