The Abbott government has opened up another front in its war on renewable energy by pulling the plug on investments in the most common form of alternative energy, rooftop and small-scale solar.
As a storm raged over the government's directive to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to no longer back wind energy projects, it emerged that it has also put a stop to solar investments other than the largest industrial-scale projects. The solar industry has been left fuming by a letter to the CEFC by Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in which they direct investments in household and small-scale solar to be "excluded" from the $10 billion fund in future. The draft investment mandate calls for "mature and established clean energy technologies … to be excluded from the corporation's activities, including extant wind technology and household and small-scale solar".
Currently, about a third of all CEFC investments involve small-scale solar. The corporation, which has produced more than a $1 profit for the government for every $1 invested, was assessing $500 million in finance for solar projects valued at more than $1 billion.
Rejects profitable enterprises.
"Good at economics."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
I know we can't hold a candle to AUS politics but there's been a couple of NZ news items that caught my attention.
The first is the dodgy government deal to export sheep for breeding. Which sounds simple and harmless, except that there is some major animal mistreatment that the government seems ok with ignoring. It seems quite bad imo, ethically but also for NZ's image and our perceived sheep quality.
The second is Labour's 'the chinese are pushing up house prices' thing. Which, sure, that could be something worth looking at, I mean, I don't think we ought to stop overseas people from buying homes, but knowing about it means we might be able to look at solutions. Except that all Labour did was look at a leaked list of buyers and go 'Yep, a lot of these names look Chinese.' (actual thing that was said) Which doesn't really help against criticisms that Labour is just being racist.
Anyway, things are mediocre over here.
The sheep thing looks messy, but National is doing it's "Blame Labour" chant, when most of it looks like National either went along with the original plan, or made it worse.
And that news article on Labour blaming Chinese sounding people on the housing market was just so bad. Comes of sounding terribly racist, and has zero facts to back it up. Something I'd expect from NZFirst, not Labour. Why'd they stop pushing the Capital Gains Tax thread?
There is a really fucking worrying trend I've noticed among basically middle class white people which is anti-Chinese/anti-(East) Asian sentiment, claiming that white New Zealand culture is under attack by the Chinese and rah rah I'm intolerant towards other cultures existing alongside my own, as opposed to being marginalised and suppressed like I'm used to.
On the last day of parliamentary sittings before the six week recess, the Senate shot down regulation that would have seen the restructuring of fees for the family court and federal circuit court. Those changes were due for 1 July, and would have given the government a $87.4m windfall to boost its coffers if it had not been disallowed by the Senate.
On Sunday, the government reintroduced similar regulations that would take effect the next day.
As of Monday 13 July, the cost of applying for a divorce went up from $845 to $1,200. Concession card holders will continue to pay a reduced rate of $280. The cost of issuing a subpoena has gone up from $55 to $125, and amending an application, which was previously free, will now cost $125.
...
But a question mark remains over the lawfulness of the new regulation. Senate rules say that once regulation is disallowed by the Senate, similar regulation cannot be made again within six months.
A spokesman for Brandis said the regulation was substantially different from the previous one because the fees listed were higher than those in the June regulation. The cost of all services has increased by an additional $5.
It's like when that family went straight to the High Court to make sure their child (who was kicked off the school kayaking team) could stay and compete. Everyone was complaining about rich people using the courts to get what they want when what they really should've been complaining about is that only rich people are able to use the courts. What the parents did was perfectly legal, the only bad thing about it was that it was expensive, which denies other families from being able to have the same access.
Gvzbgul on
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MortiousThe Nightmare BeginsMove to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
simonwolfi can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered Userregular
I don't see my personal favourite from the open submission website!
This respectful / contemporary flag design / evolution / rebrand is bold, strong and immediately identifiable. Through the use of recognisable iconography, (The Southern Cross, The Union Jack and The iconic New Zealand Fern, which has come to embody the spirit of New Zealand), I have tried to ensure that the very essence of New Zealand’s past, present and future remains at the very core of the design. The New Zealand Fern has strong prominence within the design as it played a significant role in guiding the Maori people, (the past), and now is considered a ‘badge of honour’ by all of New Zealand’s people, (the present / future). The placement of the New Zealand Fern is also a nod to New Zealand’s geographic location on earth, with The Union Jack supporting a new dawn, under the wider support of the Commonwealth. Please note, this flag has been sensitively designed to ensure that it appeals to a broad audience / demographic and stands the test of time.
Surprised how quickly the Liberals turned on Bishop. Get the feeling internal party forces might have realised she's toxic before now, and more or less just ran with the feeding frenzy.
The other stuff won't matter in a week because since when did the media care about refugees being fucked over, Joyce being a potato, or Liberals being bigots?
Surprised how quickly the Liberals turned on Bishop. Get the feeling internal party forces might have realised she's toxic before now, and more or less just ran with the feeding frenzy.
The other stuff won't matter in a week because since when did the media care about refugees being fucked over, Joyce being a potato, or Liberals being bigots?
I am pretty sure they an opportunity to pressure the nats to dump Joyce would be welcomed by the Libs and possibly a large chunk of the nats
Some say that 'Government' is just a word for 'things we do together'. Well, Australia, this is what we are doing.
"On June 1, PNG immigration officials allegedly beat a refugee who had remained in Lorengau town after curfew. The refugee was at the local hotel with a friend when staff told him authorities were at the gate. He told the Human Rights Law Centre, “I went outside. Three immigration men started beating me. They were shouting at me, ‘This is our country! We will kill you! We can kill you!’”
The PNG officials allegedly hit the man repeatedly in the face. They then made him run in front of their car back toward the transit center. “They told me to run back to the center. I started running but then they stopped me and started beating me again. I was punched about 10 to 15 times,” the refugee said.
Three of the five PNG immigration officials employed at the transit center at the time have been charged with assault of the refugee and are awaiting trial. All three continue to work at the transit center where the refugee resides, one as the camp manager. They have already come face-to-face in court twice before returning to the transit facility."
A Government voted in at the behest of the Australian people. As an alternative to the previous Government voted in by the people, who pretty much promise to continue with much of the same if they get to have another turn running the country (and its detention camps, where people less-well-off than us are beaten and tortured).
And just because I never tire of beating dead horses, I'll just quietly link another eminently sensible piece on tax reform. From that outrageous right-wing conservative [/gentle sarcasm] Jess Irvine. Features a few choice quotes about how the Howard Government supported carbon trading and how it would place Australia in the vanguard of ecological and economic policy innovators.
Also features some inconvenient truths about how without an improved GST, well, everyone's just going to be paying more income tax through bracket creep. This is actually worse for lower income earners than it is for those with already high wages.
I don't know where he got the scorpions, or how he got them into my mattress.
Some say that 'Government' is just a word for 'things we do together'. Well, Australia, this is what we are doing.
"On June 1, PNG immigration officials allegedly beat a refugee who had remained in Lorengau town after curfew. The refugee was at the local hotel with a friend when staff told him authorities were at the gate. He told the Human Rights Law Centre, “I went outside. Three immigration men started beating me. They were shouting at me, ‘This is our country! We will kill you! We can kill you!’”
The PNG officials allegedly hit the man repeatedly in the face. They then made him run in front of their car back toward the transit center. “They told me to run back to the center. I started running but then they stopped me and started beating me again. I was punched about 10 to 15 times,” the refugee said.
Three of the five PNG immigration officials employed at the transit center at the time have been charged with assault of the refugee and are awaiting trial. All three continue to work at the transit center where the refugee resides, one as the camp manager. They have already come face-to-face in court twice before returning to the transit facility."
A Government voted in at the behest of the Australian people. As an alternative to the previous Government voted in by the people, who pretty much promise to continue with much of the same if they get to have another turn running the country (and its detention camps, where people less-well-off than us are beaten and tortured).
And just because I never tire of beating dead horses, I'll just quietly link another eminently sensible piece on tax reform. From that outrageous right-wing conservative [/gentle sarcasm] Jess Irvine. Features a few choice quotes about how the Howard Government supported carbon trading and how it would place Australia in the vanguard of ecological and economic policy innovators.
Also features some inconvenient truths about how without an improved GST, well, everyone's just going to be paying more income tax through bracket creep. This is actually worse for lower income earners than it is for those with already high wages.
While we steadfastly refuse (despite Hockey talking about it a lot) to reform tax policy to deal with companies off-shoring profits, raising the GST is complete bullshit.
It's an efficient tax, in the sense that it efficiently fucks the poor and middle class.
EDIT: Or to go another way with that too: while you could raise the GST 5% and wipe out the current deficit and debt without any trouble, anyone talking about a "budget emergency" is full of themselves.
And just because I never tire of beating dead horses, I'll just quietly link another eminently sensible piece on tax reform. From that outrageous right-wing conservative [/gentle sarcasm] Jess Irvine. Features a few choice quotes about how the Howard Government supported carbon trading and how it would place Australia in the vanguard of ecological and economic policy innovators.
Also features some inconvenient truths about how without an improved GST, well, everyone's just going to be paying more income tax through bracket creep. This is actually worse for lower income earners than it is for those with already high wages.
I'm fine with a fair and progressive taxation increase, and hell, we pretty much need it (not that such a position is very viable politically). The GST, however, is decidedly not that. Just increase income tax, be up front about it instead of sneaking it in through bracket creep, and drop the broadening and raising of the GST.
Moreover, the federal government's foisting a GST raise via cutting education and health funding and forcing state governments to either raise taxes or cut services, effectively holding the country hostage. The article you linked refers to state budget shortfalls without mentioning that those shortfalls exist in part because of federal funding changes.
The upper tax brackets can definitely go up a notch in my opinion. The 80k+ one could move up to 100, then that could go up to like 40c and the top one up to 55. The brackets should also move with inflation (which isn't really a lot at the moment).
Origin: KafkaAU B-Net: Kafka#1778
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
So Labor's asked the AFP to investigate Bishop's spending. The basis is that if the signed the expense forms saying it was official business, she's lied (it was a Libaral fundraiser), and if she didn't, she's used taxpayer money without approval. Seems reasonably clear-cut, but we'll see what turns out. Also worth remembering is that this is almost exactly the same situation Slipper was in, over $900 in taxi charges. Given the god damn saga Slipper's charges ended up being in the media...
But of course, someone always manages to grab that shovel and go lower than before.
The leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, tweeted: “Awful on the day we remember the anniversary of the destruction of MH17 that Labor wants to play politics over the speakership.”
Edit: Bishop's just held an impromptue press conference. Not much said other than "totes within guidelines to speak at a fundraiser on taxpayer money". Particularly galling to have her repeatedly bemoan how this is 'distracting from Labor's carbon tax papers'. It's a press conference about your spending, for fuck sake, and you're supposed to be an impartial speaker!
Bishop saying that her travel expenses aren't out of the ordinary does not make me think that it's all fine and normal, it makes me think "All 'yall can fuck right off. Burn Parliament to the ground!"
Can we please get less French Aristocracy attitudes in the government. Less acting like Royalty.
Bishop saying that her travel expenses aren't out of the ordinary does not make me think that it's all fine and normal, it makes me think "All 'yall can fuck right off. Burn Parliament to the ground!"
Can we please get less French Aristocracy attitudes in the government. Less acting like Royalty.
I'm trying to think of a way she could have responded worse.
She says it was an "error of judgement", but won't admit it was a mistake
She flat-out won't apologise
She thinks paying it back fixes everything (nevermind the Europe junket, or Slipper's fiasco)
She's supposedly impartial, but keeps repeating Liberal talking points about this distracting from "Labor's triple-whammy carbon tax"
She says it her staff's fault (nevermind that she signed the papers which would have listed the costs)
And she won't release the guidelines, nor the papers she signed
The best part? The AFP have referred the matter to the Finance Ministry for investigation. So the Liberal Party will investigate the speaker chosen by the Liberal Party for wrongdoing. And all relevant documents will only be shredded seen by them.
It also appears that a Captain's Call has been made behind the scenes. After the Liberals started saying something was iffy, now they've rallied behind her just as Abbott finally mans up and makes a public statement about it. Hockey was in full backpedal mode last night in an interview, refusing to own the fact that he doubted her at all.
Up with Multiculturalism
Up with Recognizing the Maori and those who came before
I really wish that any of those were likely to be the result, but I can't help but feel any selection that accomplishes either of those is likely to face a lot of resistance, for some reason. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Well I'm no expert in these kind of things but that boat appears to be a pelican.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
It's referring to the ALP conference where it was debated that Labor should also put forward a turn back the boats policy.
Here let first dog explain.
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
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Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
I was speaking in general, not with regard to the comic.
For example, I note that given the ALP's changing policy position the LNP have used it to nail them to the wall and crow about how right they always were.
We have anti marriage equality government backbenchers criticising the ALP for sending mixed messages.
Everything is getting worse for the renewable energy sector, but somehow the MP for Corangamite is the voice of reason?
Posts
Rejects profitable enterprises.
"Good at economics."
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The sheep thing looks messy, but National is doing it's "Blame Labour" chant, when most of it looks like National either went along with the original plan, or made it worse.
And that news article on Labour blaming Chinese sounding people on the housing market was just so bad. Comes of sounding terribly racist, and has zero facts to back it up. Something I'd expect from NZFirst, not Labour. Why'd they stop pushing the Capital Gains Tax thread?
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
There is a really fucking worrying trend I've noticed among basically middle class white people which is anti-Chinese/anti-(East) Asian sentiment, claiming that white New Zealand culture is under attack by the Chinese and rah rah I'm intolerant towards other cultures existing alongside my own, as opposed to being marginalised and suppressed like I'm used to.
barf
Want to play co-op games? Feel free to hit me up!
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
although I think I'm definitely more partial to either 8 or 11.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
If you go to the open submission page, it's thousands of flags like this
I do not envy the person who has to go through all these
Rhesus, to distract the public from... things? Housing prices, TPP. things like that.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
The current flag is too similar to Australia's.
The Illuminati.
To fix the country's feng shui.
Bishop is in hot watcher from everyone for taking a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong to go to a Tory fundraiser.
A bunch of allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct for offshore detention centres.
Liberal member is going to speak at an "anti-Islam" a Take Australia Back rally.
Oh, and something about Joyce being unqualified. But that is a mixed blessing from the POV of the Libs, I suggest.
The other stuff won't matter in a week because since when did the media care about refugees being fucked over, Joyce being a potato, or Liberals being bigots?
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
I am pretty sure they an opportunity to pressure the nats to dump Joyce would be welcomed by the Libs and possibly a large chunk of the nats
I also like the centre bottom one, only because it evokes the idea that New Zealand is now Nega-England.
"On June 1, PNG immigration officials allegedly beat a refugee who had remained in Lorengau town after curfew. The refugee was at the local hotel with a friend when staff told him authorities were at the gate. He told the Human Rights Law Centre, “I went outside. Three immigration men started beating me. They were shouting at me, ‘This is our country! We will kill you! We can kill you!’”
The PNG officials allegedly hit the man repeatedly in the face. They then made him run in front of their car back toward the transit center. “They told me to run back to the center. I started running but then they stopped me and started beating me again. I was punched about 10 to 15 times,” the refugee said.
Three of the five PNG immigration officials employed at the transit center at the time have been charged with assault of the refugee and are awaiting trial. All three continue to work at the transit center where the refugee resides, one as the camp manager. They have already come face-to-face in court twice before returning to the transit facility."
A Government voted in at the behest of the Australian people. As an alternative to the previous Government voted in by the people, who pretty much promise to continue with much of the same if they get to have another turn running the country (and its detention camps, where people less-well-off than us are beaten and tortured).
And just because I never tire of beating dead horses, I'll just quietly link another eminently sensible piece on tax reform. From that outrageous right-wing conservative [/gentle sarcasm] Jess Irvine. Features a few choice quotes about how the Howard Government supported carbon trading and how it would place Australia in the vanguard of ecological and economic policy innovators.
Also features some inconvenient truths about how without an improved GST, well, everyone's just going to be paying more income tax through bracket creep. This is actually worse for lower income earners than it is for those with already high wages.
http://newnations.bandcamp.com
While we steadfastly refuse (despite Hockey talking about it a lot) to reform tax policy to deal with companies off-shoring profits, raising the GST is complete bullshit.
It's an efficient tax, in the sense that it efficiently fucks the poor and middle class.
EDIT: Or to go another way with that too: while you could raise the GST 5% and wipe out the current deficit and debt without any trouble, anyone talking about a "budget emergency" is full of themselves.
I'm not really sure how the article linked supports the bolded. Here's a decent Guardian piece on Hockey's tax moves of late, though I could understand being hesitant over it given the Guardian's leanings.
I'm fine with a fair and progressive taxation increase, and hell, we pretty much need it (not that such a position is very viable politically). The GST, however, is decidedly not that. Just increase income tax, be up front about it instead of sneaking it in through bracket creep, and drop the broadening and raising of the GST.
Moreover, the federal government's foisting a GST raise via cutting education and health funding and forcing state governments to either raise taxes or cut services, effectively holding the country hostage. The article you linked refers to state budget shortfalls without mentioning that those shortfalls exist in part because of federal funding changes.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Origin: KafkaAU B-Net: Kafka#1778
We're our own nation
Down with Imperialism
Up with Multiculturalism
Up with Recognizing the Maori and those who came before
Now I'm not necessarily against those reasons, or anything and I think it's a fairly good points.
but.
It's a lot of money being spent to change the flag when there's no real practical reasons to do so.
Edit: but I'm just an immigrant here, so what do I know.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Yeah that top right one is excellent. I've been looking through the submissions, and there are a LOT of terrible entries...
But of course, someone always manages to grab that shovel and go lower than before. Let's hide behind MH17 victims, that'll surely work.
He's since deleted that tweet, and at least apologi- wait no he just doubled down.
Edit: Bishop's just held an impromptue press conference. Not much said other than "totes within guidelines to speak at a fundraiser on taxpayer money". Particularly galling to have her repeatedly bemoan how this is 'distracting from Labor's carbon tax papers'. It's a press conference about your spending, for fuck sake, and you're supposed to be an impartial speaker!
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Can we please get less French Aristocracy attitudes in the government. Less acting like Royalty.
I'm trying to think of a way she could have responded worse.
She says it was an "error of judgement", but won't admit it was a mistake
She flat-out won't apologise
She thinks paying it back fixes everything (nevermind the Europe junket, or Slipper's fiasco)
She's supposedly impartial, but keeps repeating Liberal talking points about this distracting from "Labor's triple-whammy carbon tax"
She says it her staff's fault (nevermind that she signed the papers which would have listed the costs)
And she won't release the guidelines, nor the papers she signed
The best part? The AFP have referred the matter to the Finance Ministry for investigation. So the Liberal Party will investigate the speaker chosen by the Liberal Party for wrongdoing. And all relevant documents will only be shredded seen by them.
It also appears that a Captain's Call has been made behind the scenes. After the Liberals started saying something was iffy, now they've rallied behind her just as Abbott finally mans up and makes a public statement about it. Hockey was in full backpedal mode last night in an interview, refusing to own the fact that he doubted her at all.
Edit: The new official line? "I didn't bother reading the form I signed, so I'm not responsible" Seriously.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
I really wish that any of those were likely to be the result, but I can't help but feel any selection that accomplishes either of those is likely to face a lot of resistance, for some reason. Hopefully I'm wrong.
Doesn't matter in the slightest.
Well I'm no expert in these kind of things but that boat appears to be a pelican.
Here let first dog explain.
For example, I note that given the ALP's changing policy position the LNP have used it to nail them to the wall and crow about how right they always were.
We have anti marriage equality government backbenchers criticising the ALP for sending mixed messages.
Everything is getting worse for the renewable energy sector, but somehow the MP for Corangamite is the voice of reason?