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Federal Coalition Government 2013-?

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boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10698523_10152732862775797_923173847573797090_n.jpg?oh=84ead53d83930e8bde272a3bee28ec03&oe=54CCF6BA&__gda__=1422460624_7c7e2bc60404ce41f72d4253ca24991c
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
ByYicD5CIAE-GXl.jpg:large
 
fatprop

fatprop

George Gregan (70)
Staff member
boyo said:
Is that the point?

Are you saying that because the ALP voted for it must be OK?
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No, the point is the cartoon has Brandis & Abbott, suggesting this is some Libs evil plot.

Whereas in reality, the whole political establishment voted for these measures suggesting it is all the political elites protecting their arses.

On the measure themselves, I have no issue with ASIO employees, who have signed the "official secrecy act"/NDAs, being held to a higher level of accountability.

But I would hope that it doesn't cover disclosing clearly illegal activities, but knowing our political masters I would assume they are included as well.
 
Pfitzy

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
fatprop said:
well that is what the bombers/winners say
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History is written by the victors.

As for the anti-terror stuff (ignoring completely that "terror" is not a thing you can fight against - unless you're against horror films as well), I'm kind of caught between the nothing-to-hide brigade and the Orwellian-Big-Brother feeling.

I trust our paramilitary agencies to be suitably restrained. Mistakes will happen.

But if anyone believes that the guy trying to kill two cops was "a good boy who would have never done that" then they're probably of the same opinion of scum like Bilal Skaf.
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10628270_10152767826209913_3726344052362874208_n.jpg?oh=ff4d6e33acb2bf392f725ba3f0227d9f&oe=548C071C&__gda__=1422850937_d073264407ec56406e3ba9dc5a1efa83
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
fatprop said:
No, the point is the cartoon has Brandis & Abbott, suggesting this is some Libs evil plot.

Whereas in reality, the whole political establishment voted for these measures suggesting it is all the political elites protecting their arses.
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No. there were a few dissenting voices.
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
Again, it's not rocket surgery guys (and 1 gal).

"Economist David Richardson from The Australia Institute says the OECD study "demolishes the claim" that higher education benefits individuals more than the public.
"The rest of society does get a hell of a lot of benefit out of educated people," Richardson said.
He said the OECD's analysis "only includes what governments can tax, which is a fairly narrow definition."
For example, the report doesn't quantify the economic benefits of critical thinking skills, deeper civic engagement and better health. He cited a 2001 OECD study that found an additional year of education raised output per capita by an average of 4 to 7 per cent across OECD countries.
"To the extent that the government's proposal deters people from talking up higher education then that's a loss all round," Richardson said."

OECD figures show public benefits more than individuals from tertiary education

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/oecd-figures-show-public-benefits-more-than-individuals-from-tertiary-education-20140928-10n6cc.html#ixzz3EfDPQ3GJ
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
"The government responded to the release of the report, with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann saying: "I'm very confident that the tax commissioner Chris Jordan will be looking very closely at these reports".

Weasel words - straight out of MT's legalese playbook ("our aim", "our target", etc.).
It's so he can wash his hands of the matter if it goes pear-shaped (of course he'll take credit for it if it is successful).

Government urged to act on corporate tax dodgers

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/government-urged-to-act-on-corporate-tax-dodgers-20140929-10nfuj.html#ixzz3Ehctl4CP
 
Pfitzy

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
fatprop said:
against the political establishment who all agreed .........
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Yes. But everyone agreed that Iraq had WMDs too fp.

Not saying this is the same situation, but hopefully when ASIO, Defence, and AFP briefed both sides of the coin, they briefed them all in the same room.

As I said before: Fuck IS. Right in the face. With 7.62mm preferably, but I'll take 5.56mm if its on offer.
 
boyo

boyo

Mark Ella (57)
Pfitzy said:
Yes. But everyone agreed that Iraq had WMDs too fp.

Not saying this is the same situation, but hopefully when ASIO, Defence, and AFP briefed both sides of the coin, they briefed them all in the same room.

As I said before: Fuck IS. Right in the face. With 7.62mm preferably, but I'll take 5.56mm if its on offer.
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Not everyone.

Hans Blix couldn't find any WMDs.
 
Slim 293

Slim 293

Stirling Mortlock (74)
These aren't exactly related to our Federal Government (maybe it's time for a new thread?), but a couple of interesting pieces on Syria (focusing on Assad) in recent days.............

The first one from Prof. Tim Anderson from the University of Sydney who published this piece yesterday:


http://www.globalresearch.ca/why-syrians-support-bashar-al-assad/5405208

Why Syrians support Bashar al Assad

The sudden reversion of Washington to a ‘war on terror’ pretext for intervention in Syria has confused western audiences. For three years they watched ‘humanitarian intervention’ stories, which poured contempt on the Syrian President’s assertion that he was fighting foreign backed terrorists. Now the US claims to be leading the fight against those same terrorists.

But what do Syrians think, and why do they continue to support a man the western powers have claimed is constantly attacking and terrorising ‘his own people’? To understand this we must consider the huge gap between the western caricature of Bashar al Assad the ‘brutal dictator’ and the popular and urbane figure within Syria.
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And this one from former high ranking CIA official Graham E Fuller in the Huff Post who calls for the west to join forces with Assad to fight ISIS:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-e-fuller/us-assad-isis-strategy_b_5898142.html

Embracing Assad Is a Better Strategy for the U.S. Than Supporting the Least Bad Jihadis
Assad is not going to be overthrown in the foreseeable future. He is hardly an ideal ruler, but he is rational, has run a longtime functioning state and is supported by many in Syria who rightly fear what new leader or domestic anarchy might come after his fall. He has not represented a genuinely key threat to the U.S. in the Middle East -- despite neocon rhetoric. The time has now come to bite the bullet, admit failure, and to permit -- if not assist -- Assad in quickly winding down the civil war in Syria and expelling the jihadis. We cannot both hate Assad and hate those jihadis (like ISIS) who also hate Assad. We fight, crudely put, with al-Qaeda in Syria and against al-Qaeda in Iraq. But restoration of order in Syria is essential to the restoration of order in the Iraqi, Lebanese, Israeli and Jordanian borderlands. Permitting Assad to remain in power will also restore a Syria that historically never has acted as a truly "sectarian" or religious state in its behavior in the Middle East -- until attacked by Saudi Arabia for its supposed Shi'ism.

We have little to lose and much to gain in such a reverse in policy vis-à-vis Assad. If we persist on overthrowing him by force, we will perpetuate the disastrous status quo -- an anti-jihadi campaign that the administration has already acknowledged may be morphing into a new open-ended war for years to come -- all the while generating tens of thousands of new jihadis fighting new jihads that we cannot bomb out of existence.
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