What do they mean in regards to "without providing an effective consumer protection measure" anyway? Isn't letting consumers know how often the government is requesting their data a pretty effective consumer protection measure? Or do they only consider the government that is doing the requesting to be the consumer in this instance, in which case yeah, the reporting isn't protecting them. Duh.
Awesome-ing the unarmed police, not the sex offender register.
Me too. I knew people who worked on the issue some years ago and they seem convinced it wouldn't help in any significant way. I guess I should talk to them.
Alternatively there may be government papers on this, maybe from the Law Commission
Loony Left privacy advocates putting Aussie lives at risk
........
But opponents of the legislation, such as Greens senator Scott Ludlam, independent senators, the IPA, and assorted libertarians, are campaigning against what they say are “repressive” privacy breaches and extra costs for data retention.
Crucial new laws, eh? It's crucial that telcos pay to store data about every single phone call for 2 years, or else the terrorists win? It's probably also crucial that poor people stop with this silly voting nonsense, because you just can't trust poor people to vote the right way.
And despite every report saying the idea would be disasterous, the government's still in talks with banks to push welfare cards, which would determine what can and cannot be purchased by those on benefits (basically, US-style food stamps). Because nothing says small government like micromanaging the dirty peasants.
Why does it seem like Australia really wants to be the USA? USA style healthcare, USA style welfare, USA style voting suppression, USA style environmental protection and the list just goes on. I had kind of hoped that the bad parts of the USA would have served as a warning to the rest of the world, not a shining example.
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The Black HunterThe key is a minimum of compromise, and a simple,unimpeachable reason to existRegistered Userregular
Why does it seem like Australia really wants to be the USA? USA style healthcare, USA style welfare, USA style voting suppression, USA style environmental protection and the list just goes on. I had kind of hoped that the bad parts of the USA would have served as a warning to the rest of the world, not a shining example.
It really helps the income disparity grow
Right now it grows like pine, but one day they hope it could grow like bamboo
Cards for welfare can be a more efficient way to distribute benefits through existing banking infrastructure.
Of course they will probably be used for restricting purchases and the always fun service charges on the destitute.
It's not a bad policy in theory, but who seems to be pushing it over there is telling.
He's a shy overambitious dog-catcher on the wrong side of the law. She's an orphaned psychic mercenary with the power to bend men's minds. They fight crime!
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
i mean which court? australia? can our laws even do that? can the world court? i don't know.
it aggravates me that after fucking up this country for the next however many years it is until we finally kick these morons out of office they're just gonna keep on going and then eventually retire with fat renumeration packages
there's no accountability
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
EXCLUSIVE: Private health insurers are set to be handed control of every Australian’s general practitioner treatment under a US-style healthcare revolution.
Every visit to a general practitioner will be coordinated by private health insurers who want to manage how your doctor treats you if they win the tender to run a new primary care network. The health care revolution follows the Abbott Government’s controversial decision to give private insurers the right to tender to run its new Primary Health Networks that will replace Medicare Locals. These new bodies will effectively co-ordinate the care every patient (not just health fund members) receives from their GP, provide links with hospitals and assess and improve patient health outcomes.
Health Minister Peter Dutton has publicly made a case for greater involvement of private Insurers in GP care without outlining how this would occur. His spokesman has told News Corp Australia the first step will be allowing health funds to, along with other interested providers, get the opportunity to tender to run PHN’s. “They will be able to put in a tender,” he said.
One of Australia’s leading health funds, BUPA has already expressed an interest. “We are keen to play a role in better integrating care and care outcomes and are looking for opportunities in that space,” a spokeswoman for BUPA said.
I'm hoping nobody. The media reports on it certainly aren't mincing words about what's happening. And first contact between GPs and any large document outlining who they now have to talk to before they can do <obvious medical treatment> is going to be met with a lot of hostility.
Of course the real problem here is whether the Labor party can figure out how to capitalize on this. And that's really where we meet the flaw in the plan...
A NEW suite of ‘McSchools’ where kids learn about all aspects of the fast food industry, could be established under the Abbott government’s new $500,000 corporate schools trial.
Inspired by the hi-tech IBM school in New York, Prime Minister Tony Abbott this month announced the Federal Government would provide half a million dollars for corporate-sponsored Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH) in Australia, with the first to be established in the Victorian town of Geelong.
A spokeswoman for McDonalds told News Corp the high-profile fast food chain is yet to hold discussions with the Federal Government about the P-TECH proposal, but said the organisation was reviewing the announcement and conceded it was “a possibility” McDonalds would want to participate in the pilot.
The Federal Government has not ruled out allowing fast food companies to take part in its corporate schools trial, and the country’s most senior Education bureaucrat has told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra that some fast food companies have a proven track record of delivering education programs.
I guess the Liberals really do have a bold new vision for Australia.
A nation of corporate slaves from cradle to grave.
That's the government's bold new plan for employment? they couldn't find anything more worthwhile?
It's elegant, really.
Beginning your life, you're taught the wonders of the free market and how to be a good worker by corporations
Moving out? The companies will tell you where to live, because after all, you need to move to where the jobs are
If you get sick, private insurance companies will speak up, telling you what medicines you'll take to get back on the job
If you wonder what this is all for, the Murdoch press companies will assure you how protected we now are, from the terrorists, the left, and the poor
No need to worry yourself about joining a union - they're all criminals, after all
And besides, your company will be here take care of you
From cradle to grave
The opposition says it still has "anxieties" over the controversial policy of turning back asylum seeker boats but says it "might" continue the practice in Government if Indonesia backed the idea.
Shorten managed to miraculously find some fucking balls on supporting gay marriage, but it was only about a day until Labor scurried back to being Liberal Party Lite.
Tony Abbott has conceded the government is cutting a hospitals funding agreement with immediate effect, contrary to his weekend claim that the cuts did not take effect for years.
On Sunday Abbott said: “We’re not talking about next week or next month or even next year; we are talking about changes in three years' time”. But Abbott now agrees the national partnership agreement on public hospitals, which begins on 1 July, has been cut. Budget documents say it has been cut by $1.8bn over the next four years.
The prime minister says the reductions should be blamed on Labor because the former government had previously revised the agreement. “There was a national partnerships agreement which the Labor party hadn’t funded on [hospital] beds and we have decided not to renew it, but this is a Labor cut, it is not a Coalition cut,” Abbott told the ABC. But the budget document is clear that money has been cut by this government, stating: “The government will save $1.8bn over four years from 2014-15 by ceasing the funding guarantees under the national health reform agreement 2011 and revising commonwealth hospital funding arrangements from July 2017.”
EXCLUSIVE: Private health insurers are set to be handed control of every Australian’s general practitioner treatment under a US-style healthcare revolution.
Every visit to a general practitioner will be coordinated by private health insurers who want to manage how your doctor treats you if they win the tender to run a new primary care network. The health care revolution follows the Abbott Government’s controversial decision to give private insurers the right to tender to run its new Primary Health Networks that will replace Medicare Locals. These new bodies will effectively co-ordinate the care every patient (not just health fund members) receives from their GP, provide links with hospitals and assess and improve patient health outcomes.
Health Minister Peter Dutton has publicly made a case for greater involvement of private Insurers in GP care without outlining how this would occur. His spokesman has told News Corp Australia the first step will be allowing health funds to, along with other interested providers, get the opportunity to tender to run PHN’s. “They will be able to put in a tender,” he said.
One of Australia’s leading health funds, BUPA has already expressed an interest. “We are keen to play a role in better integrating care and care outcomes and are looking for opportunities in that space,” a spokeswoman for BUPA said.
We're fucked.
But look at how good the health care is when money is the overriding concern!
I have been wanting, for a while, politicians who are less worried about listening to their populace and more worried about reforming the system and doing what they think is right.
I now thoroughly see the problem inherent in this idea. It was stupendously naive.
Now I want the ability for a populace to be able to trigger a vote of no confidence in their government somehow.
Fuck it, that's not what I really want, that's my realistic potential change given how prevalent and fast our communication is nowadays.
What I really want is to smash the whole system into rubble with a giant hammer and start again.
On the basis that any system that allows these chuckle fucks into power and able to do this blatantly tyrannical bullshit is fundamentally broken at its core.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
And once again rumblings of trying to get the states to raise GST. Can't find any stories on it yet, but it's in the Guardian live blog, so I expect more by the end of the day.
And once again rumblings of trying to get the states to raise GST. Can't find any stories on it yet, but it's in the Guardian live blog, so I expect more by the end of the day.
Given that Abbott used to be for further centralisation of power away from the states and to the federal government (which I support, in general terms), the fact that he's had this turnaround on state power literally the day before he strips a large amount of funding from the states, and spruiks them further increasing internal revenue generation, is a pretty blatant way to raise the GST but keep the talking point of the federal government not having done so. By hanging the axe of funding over the heads of the state governments, he can effectively bully them into enacting unpopular measures and keep his hands clean.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would require us to allow food imports if the exporting country claims that their safety regime is "equivalent" to our own, even if it violates the key principles of our food safety laws. These rules would effectively outsource domestic food inspection to other countries.
Under TPP, any U.S. food safety rule on pesticides, labeling or additives that is higher than international standards would be subject to challenge as "illegal trade barriers." The U.S. would be required to eliminate these rules and allow in the unsafe food, or we would face trade sanctions. The TPP would impose limits on country-of-origin labels providing information on where a food product comes from.
Additionally "Buy American" government procurement policies would now be banned, as the treaty requires governments to give foreign corporations equal access to taxpayer-funded procurement contracts.
Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" agreement, foreign firms would gain an array of privileges:
Rights to acquire land, natural resources, factories without government review
Risks and costs of offshoring to low wage countries eliminated
Special guaranteed "minimum standard of treatment"; for relocating firms
Compensation for loss of "expected future profits" from health, labor environmental, laws (indirect or "regulatory" takings compensation)
Right to move capital without limits
New rights cover vast definition of investment: intellectual property, permits, derivatives
Under this regime, foreign investors can skirt domestic courts and laws, and sue governments directly before tribunals of three private sector lawyers operating under World Bank and UN rules to demand taxpayer compensation for any domestic law that investors believe will diminish their "expected future profits."
(also they stuck most of the stuff from SOPA in there too, along with mandating that goverments open the public service sector to private corporations)
Replace "American" and "U.S." with "Australian" and "Australia"
I swear to God the assholes in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are traitors and deserve a traitor's reward. The guy in charge? Michael Froman. A former classmate of Obama who served as a Chief Executive in Citigroup and introduced him to Robert Rubin, former Goldman Sachs executive and Citigroup chairman. They both made hundreds of millions when Obama bailed out Citigroup. Obama gave him a cushy job as thanks for "helping" (steering his economic policy) since 2004.
You think people in the U.S. know about the TPP? We don't!* This is the first time I've ever heard of it and news agencies and public watchdog groups are banned from the negotiations. If word got out about what this is there would be riots. We lost millions of jobs to Mexico and shuttered thousands of factories due to NAFTA, the TPP would kill us.
You guys have real third-parties, right? If left-wing Labor and right-wing Liberal both support TPP, can't you vote for someone else? Anyone else?
*Or we're fed propaganda. That Huffington Post editorial "Separating Fact from Fiction" was written by a member of the far-right Brookings Institution who once said "Stop saying robots are destroying jobs."
The only reason anybody knows anything about the contents of the TPP is because of leaks through various channels. It says a lot that what presents itself as a mundane trade treaty has to be kept a carefully guarded secret by every party to negotiations. It's hilarious to see our trade minister acting furious at "misinformation" about the treaty that they refuse to actually present to the public for discussion.
Labor did support TPP, but were against a number of the worst aspects, so little progress was made on it while they were in power. The new Liberal party has bent over and politely asked the US how deep the rod wiill be jammed. The Greens are against it, but the media's done a great job of painting them as fringe lunatics.
Saying that we have other parties who'd be against the TPP is looking at the wrong part of the equation. Nobody knows it exists. You're already among the prime people to know of the thing, being a denizen/citizen of the internet who has an interest in politics, and yet even you didn't know. That's how well they've kept a lid on it. It can't be an election issue because it's intentionally hidden from the public.
Saying that we have other parties who'd be against the TPP is looking at the wrong part of the equation. Nobody knows it exists. You're already among the prime people to know of the thing, being a denizen/citizen of the internet who has an interest in politics, and yet even you didn't know. That's how well they've kept a lid on it. It can't be an election issue because it's intentionally hidden from the public.
That's not happening if I have any say about it. Posters all over the goddamned campus, a letter-writing campaign, a club table, etc. Best of luck in saying "HELL NO", Australia. The American people don't want it any more than you do.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited October 2014
Guys it isn't a dirty trick if there's no trick.
That's the thing.
Previous to this politicians actually, you know, tried to pull a con.
These guys are in no way attempting to con anyone because its all so fucking blatant.
They say the words as if they are but nobody believes them and I doubt they expect anyone to. It's just habit at this point.
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Posts
Me too. I knew people who worked on the issue some years ago and they seem convinced it wouldn't help in any significant way. I guess I should talk to them.
Alternatively there may be government papers on this, maybe from the Law Commission
When compensation is involved they love it and turn it into a profit. But without compensation?
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-23/cabinet-split-over-australia-response-to-deadly-ebola-threat/5834680
There's a lot of backlash.
...IPA = left according to Murdoch press.....
And despite every report saying the idea would be disasterous, the government's still in talks with banks to push welfare cards, which would determine what can and cannot be purchased by those on benefits (basically, US-style food stamps). Because nothing says small government like micromanaging the dirty peasants.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
It really helps the income disparity grow
Right now it grows like pine, but one day they hope it could grow like bamboo
that's it
that's everything which is happening
there's also a fuck ton of blatant racism
if i had the power morrison would be tried for hate crimes
Of course they will probably be used for restricting purchases and the always fun service charges on the destitute.
It's not a bad policy in theory, but who seems to be pushing it over there is telling.
yeah there's all kinds of problems with the idea
i mean which court? australia? can our laws even do that? can the world court? i don't know.
it aggravates me that after fucking up this country for the next however many years it is until we finally kick these morons out of office they're just gonna keep on going and then eventually retire with fat renumeration packages
there's no accountability
We're fucked.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Who are they fucking kidding?
I'm hoping nobody. The media reports on it certainly aren't mincing words about what's happening. And first contact between GPs and any large document outlining who they now have to talk to before they can do <obvious medical treatment> is going to be met with a lot of hostility.
Of course the real problem here is whether the Labor party can figure out how to capitalize on this. And that's really where we meet the flaw in the plan...
I guess the Liberals really do have a bold new vision for Australia.
A nation of corporate slaves from cradle to grave.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
It's elegant, really.
Beginning your life, you're taught the wonders of the free market and how to be a good worker by corporations
Moving out? The companies will tell you where to live, because after all, you need to move to where the jobs are
If you get sick, private insurance companies will speak up, telling you what medicines you'll take to get back on the job
If you wonder what this is all for, the Murdoch press companies will assure you how protected we now are, from the terrorists, the left, and the poor
No need to worry yourself about joining a union - they're all criminals, after all
And besides, your company will be here take care of you
From cradle to grave
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Shorten managed to miraculously find some fucking balls on supporting gay marriage, but it was only about a day until Labor scurried back to being Liberal Party Lite.
Meanwhile, on the Liberal side of the fence, they're frantically defending the TPP as it becomes increasingly obvious they have every intention of bending over for US demands.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
I'm a noob?
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/and-if-you-have-to-carry-a-gun-to-keep-your-fragile-seat-at-number-one
This dovetails with recent statements about a push for reforming the federation and responsibilities of the states, including revenue generation. It appears their game will be to slash federal funding, and leave the states to pick up the tab.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
But look at how good the health care is when money is the overriding concern!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-23/rejection-of-costly-new-cure-a-death-sentence-for-hep-c-sufferer/5837484
See we only predict 50 000 casualties.
The system works!
I have been wanting, for a while, politicians who are less worried about listening to their populace and more worried about reforming the system and doing what they think is right.
I now thoroughly see the problem inherent in this idea. It was stupendously naive.
Now I want the ability for a populace to be able to trigger a vote of no confidence in their government somehow.
Fuck it, that's not what I really want, that's my realistic potential change given how prevalent and fast our communication is nowadays.
What I really want is to smash the whole system into rubble with a giant hammer and start again.
On the basis that any system that allows these chuckle fucks into power and able to do this blatantly tyrannical bullshit is fundamentally broken at its core.
Given that Abbott used to be for further centralisation of power away from the states and to the federal government (which I support, in general terms), the fact that he's had this turnaround on state power literally the day before he strips a large amount of funding from the states, and spruiks them further increasing internal revenue generation, is a pretty blatant way to raise the GST but keep the talking point of the federal government not having done so. By hanging the axe of funding over the heads of the state governments, he can effectively bully them into enacting unpopular measures and keep his hands clean.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Jesus jackjumping Christ what the hell is this
Replace "American" and "U.S." with "Australian" and "Australia"
I swear to God the assholes in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are traitors and deserve a traitor's reward. The guy in charge? Michael Froman. A former classmate of Obama who served as a Chief Executive in Citigroup and introduced him to Robert Rubin, former Goldman Sachs executive and Citigroup chairman. They both made hundreds of millions when Obama bailed out Citigroup. Obama gave him a cushy job as thanks for "helping" (steering his economic policy) since 2004.
You think people in the U.S. know about the TPP? We don't!* This is the first time I've ever heard of it and news agencies and public watchdog groups are banned from the negotiations. If word got out about what this is there would be riots. We lost millions of jobs to Mexico and shuttered thousands of factories due to NAFTA, the TPP would kill us.
You guys have real third-parties, right? If left-wing Labor and right-wing Liberal both support TPP, can't you vote for someone else? Anyone else?
*Or we're fed propaganda. That Huffington Post editorial "Separating Fact from Fiction" was written by a member of the far-right Brookings Institution who once said "Stop saying robots are destroying jobs."
Labor did support TPP, but were against a number of the worst aspects, so little progress was made on it while they were in power. The new Liberal party has bent over and politely asked the US how deep the rod wiill be jammed. The Greens are against it, but the media's done a great job of painting them as fringe lunatics.
Saying that we have other parties who'd be against the TPP is looking at the wrong part of the equation. Nobody knows it exists. You're already among the prime people to know of the thing, being a denizen/citizen of the internet who has an interest in politics, and yet even you didn't know. That's how well they've kept a lid on it. It can't be an election issue because it's intentionally hidden from the public.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
That's not happening if I have any say about it. Posters all over the goddamned campus, a letter-writing campaign, a club table, etc. Best of luck in saying "HELL NO", Australia. The American people don't want it any more than you do.
That's the thing.
Previous to this politicians actually, you know, tried to pull a con.
These guys are in no way attempting to con anyone because its all so fucking blatant.
They say the words as if they are but nobody believes them and I doubt they expect anyone to. It's just habit at this point.