Bill Shorten takes the piss out of Turnbull in the funniest speeches of 2016

thanks to MSMWatchdog2013 for the links

Front runner for Political Meme of the Year

We don't accept the science. Scientists are crazies, whackos, weirdos & freaks #ScienceDenial #climatechange #auspol pic.twitter.com/iAHfTdxJyF
— CO2 Is Good For You (@geeksrulz) June 27, 2014

Liberals celebrate passing the Carbon Tax repeal bills in the HoR (again)

My obligatory Cory Bernardi op-ed

Cory Bernardi is a dickhead

How the LNP killed off the Election debate over #gonski with one lie

Source: Google Trends

Minister for Finance, Why did China dump Direct Action for Emissions Trading?

"Chinese officials have expressed their surprise and disappointment that Australia is seeking to repeal its carbon price, just as the world’s second largest economy and biggest polluter prepares to launch new carbon trading schemes of its own, and seek linkages with international markets.

Just hours after Australia’s Environment Minister Greg Hunt was hailing the passage of the carbon repeal legislation through the lower house in Canberra as a “victory for the people”, his somewhat more powerful and longer sighted Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, was hosting a presentation at the Chinese pavilion at the climate talks in Warsaw, hailing the start of pilot carbon trading schemes in Shanghai and Beijing next week."

Source: China surprised and disappointed by Australia’s carbon repeal

Our new Minister for Finance has some explaining to do, or is this an operational matter too?

@seamussantos we are not suggesting inaction we're suggesting direct action. That's what Obama, China and India are doing too...
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) April 11, 2011

@seamussantos are u suggesting China & India will have ETS? Don't think so. Labor's economic modelling assumes they will & the US from 2010.
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) April 11, 2011

Tony back in 2007 people thought the US would have an ETS by 2010 (they don't), China by 2015 (they won't). #qanda
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) May 30, 2011

When Labor's Carbon Tax is renamed an ETS in 2015 its cost is likely to at least double. #auspol #myliberal
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) July 10, 2011

So China is going for Direct Action then Prime Minister? #qanda
— Mathias Cormann (@MathiasCormann) July 11, 2011

Then again......

@350ppmJames We'll repeal the whole lot. The carbon tax is socialism masquerading as environmentalism

— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) March 9, 2012

Pensions at 70, rubbish, tax super income above the minimum wage

Just a quick post

There have been stories in the media about moving the eligibility age for the pension up to 70,
which is just a plain stupid idea. Why is this even an issue, because we can't afford the current system.

When the ALP introduced PPL, they decided the minimum wage was right benchmark.

I would suggest that any super income should also be progressively taxed starting at levels above the minimum wage, which is higher than the current tax free threshold but if that is considered a fair wage, that should be fine for people living off super.

To quote the PM: "If you want to put a price on carbon why not just do it with a simple tax."

Bill Shorten's Credit Card Reforms

On Tuesday night, our new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott did an interview with Leigh Sales on abc730, here is an exerpt.

LEIGH SALES: Your next priority after the carbon tax repeal is raising the debt ceiling by $200 billion. Will you release the Treasury advice recommending why the ceiling needs to be raised by such a substantial amount?

TONY ABBOTT: Well, what we know, Leigh, is that in Labor's last published budget update, the gross debt was forecast to reach $370 billion. We also know, because the former Treasurer told us, Mr Swan told us that there should be a $40 to $60 billion buffer for safety against contingencies and what that means is that Labor's proposed $400 billion debt ceiling won't even cover the debt that Labor left us at election time.

LEIGH SALES: But you've had updated - sorry to interrupt, Prime Minister. You've had updated information from Treasury since then. Will you release it so that we can actually, the public, have a look at the independent advice rather than take your political argument at face value?

TONY ABBOTT: Well certainly MYEFO will be the next release of that kind of information, but we're quite happy, Leigh, quite happy to organise a confidential briefing for the Opposition Leader. The Opposition Leader hasn't had an enormous amount of experience in economic portfolios and if he wants a briefing, if he doesn't trust the Government, we'll certainly organise a briefing for him from the Treasury Secretary.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3890402.htm

As is quite common with Tony Abbott, sometimes he says things which don't make a lot of sense. Taking Greg Hunt's advice, I consulted wikipedia and found out that Bill Shorten was in fact Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, 14 September 2010 – 1 July 2013.

Now, rather than debate what Tony meant by that off the cuff comment, I thought it would be better to highlight one of my favorite little reforms implemented during this time which is little known in the wider community.

Here's a speech which Bill Shorten made on 8th Jun, 2011, Consumer Reform and Consumer Credit

Have a read yourself, it's always better to go to the source than read someone else's interpretation, but here are the dot points about the Credit Card Reforms

• a prohibition on over-limit fees unless consumers specifically agree that their account can go over the limit;
• requiring credit card providers to allocate repayments to higher interest debts first;
• requiring greater consistency in the operation of interest charges;
• prohibiting unsolicited credit limit extension offers unless the consumer has agreed to the service;
• giving consumers more say over nominating their own credit limit;
• disclosing a clear summary of key account features on credit card application forms; and
• disclosing information to consumers about the implications of making only minimum repayments.

There's lot of great stuff in there, but I want to draw your attention to just one regarding credit repayments. Nearly all credit cards have two interest rates, one for purchases and one for cash advances. The rates vary, but it's not uncommon to see 12.99% for purchases and 20% for cash advances.

Now ideally, you pay off your credit card every month and you end up paying no interest, but life doesn't always work out as planned. So you might have a credit card debt, but there are actually two debts, paying separate amounts of compound interest. You might notice this with your monthly interest repayments which show up in your account. One is for cash advances and the other for purchases. Dig into your online banking and you should be able to see your total cash advances, remember, this is very expensive debt attracting say a 20% interest rate.

Now this is the ugly part, depending on your bank (etc), when you make repayments, they choose to pay off the cheaper debt first, this is one way that your credit card debt can spiral. You pay some money off on your credit card and the bank ignores your expensive debt and pays off the cheapest debt first. Aren't they just lovely?

This is a key problem that Shorten has resolved. Any new credit card issued since sometime in 2011 automatically must have repayments directed towards the most expensive debt first, but older cards remain the same. You have, however, now gained the right, thru these reforms to direct your bank to change their behaviour and pay off the most expensive debt first, it only takes five minutes on the phone to do this.

So, ring your bank and ask them about your credit card repayments! It's easy!

Now ideally, you should go and get a personal loan to pay off the credit card, thus avoiding the higher rates, but not everyone will do that. So, if you are carrying cash advances on your credit card, which sometimes includes bills you paid via credit card, there is a simple way to quickly reduce that amount.

After you have instructed your lovely bank to use your repayments to pay off the most expensive debt first, keep using your credit card for purchases. Sounds strange? It's pretty simple, rather than using EFTPOS or cash, instead, use your credit card for purchases and pay the money off your credit card. This way you are converting your cash advances to purchases, reducing the interest rates from 20% to 12.99%.

It's a nice reform which is easy to take advantage of, thanks Bill Shorten and the ALP.

Guess that was another "gospel truth" from our Prime Minister, shouldn't we judge politicians by outcomes?

DISCLAIMER: I'm not a financial expert by any means, please consult your bank or accountant about this, I'm just highlighting something you can look into.

Free G-NAF, Free Australian Geocoding

I have posted a request to freely publish the G-NAF Address Dataset to data.gov.au

It's 2013 and Australian companies and developers shouldn't be concerned with having to pay to use such an essential Government dataset.

Basic spatial services like geo-coding should not be costly or illegal, let's face it, lot's of people are using Google and violating their terms of service.

Please vote for this request, after all, aren't we now "Open for Business*" ?

*except when it involves Boats, on water and not Friday afternoon

Rudd launches passionate gay marriage defence

Press Council complaint about Kenneth Davidson's recent NBN article progresses

On May 29, I decided to complain to the Press Council (and of course The Age)

On May 27th, you paper published the following article by Kenneth Davidson, Senior columnist at The Age Don't look now, the white elephants are multiplying

There are a large number of false claims and mistruths in this article as has been documented in detail by several respected technical journalists.

Fairfax columnist prints blatant NBN falsehoods
Yet more MSM NBN politicking 

I am making a formal complaint and I hope to see this to be properly addressed 

Regards

Well yesterday, I got a reply 

Dear Complainants, Complaint:

The Age I write in relation to your complaint about the article “Don’t look now, the white elephants are multiplying”, published on 29 May 2013.

The complaint is proceeding to level 2 for an adjudication. We will be in contact again to inform you of the outcome. Thank you for your patience.

Yours Sincerely, Justin

Australian Press Council

Suite 2 Level 10

117 York Street

Sydney NSW 2000

T    02 9261 1930

F    02 9267 6826

www.presscouncil.org.au

Level 2 means Adjudication, so based on the complainants, it looks like, quite rightly a number of people complained about this pathetically biased article.

Let's see what happens

Star Wars Guide to the Australian Election

Tony Abbott's scripted lies about #NBN costs

QUESTION:

Are you going to make Malcolm Turnbull the Treasurer?

TONY ABBOTT:

Malcolm is the Shadow Minister for Communications. He’s doing a really good job of exposing the fact that the National Broadband Network is a complete white elephant. He’s doing a very good job of promoting our real solution, which is national broadband that doesn’t involve digging up every street to deliver fibre to the home whether you want it, need it or can afford to pay three times the current price for it. He’s doing a very good job and I expect that Malcolm will be the Communications Minister in an incoming government.

Source: http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/News/tabid/94/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9083/Joint-Doorstop-Interview-Leumeah.aspx

@zackster @iinet No, they cost the same as their ADSL plans. @tonyabbottmhr is lying, shockingly. bit.ly/Woobtp
— John B (@johnb78) March 3, 2013

Note, he wasn't even asked about this, Abbott just wanted to deliver this prepared talking point

@r_chirgwin @zackster Abbott just came out with it. He wasn't asked a q and none of the press understand NBN anyway as u know Richard
— Vince O'Grady (@vogrady2132) March 3, 2013

Now just imagine if someone from the ALP had said this.... I am sick of the media double standards

The Age did report today, NBN users report no hike in bills  yet nothing about Tony Abbott's bullshit?

The irony of Abbott's lie is that most business customers would happily pay 3x current costs just to be able to access reliable high speed broadband.

For all the constant, right wing carry on about productivity, you think they might understand this concept.

Christine Milne LIES about the ALP and Carbon Pricing

at 47mins in, Milne says neither major party would of implemented carbon pricing without the Greens, which is a lie

More Julie Owens please, lots more

Some Quick Carbon Pricing Info

Just a quick link to some important information for both Consumers and Business with regards to introduction of Carbon Pricing in Australia .

Carbon price claims – FAQs for business

BTW: The Australian tax free threshold rises to over $18k as of July 1, meaning one million low income earners no longer pay income tax.

There's so much Astroturfing Down Under, it's un-australian

Just a quick post, my friend Tom who is a passionate anti-pokies blogger and campaigner wrote a great piece
over on ABC's The Drum about how Poker machine reforms won't work? Don't bet on it

Reading his piece, I was reminded of this video which puts it all in perspective

Paul Keating on Economic Reform, Pricing Carbon and Tony Abbott's so called "Direct Action" policy

Tony Abbott supports a Carbon Tax!

Say Yes Rally 5 June 2011

Sydney: Prince Alfred Park, 11 am
Melb: Outside the State Library, 11 am
Adelaide: Victoria Square, 11 am
Brisbane: Riverstage, 1pm
Perth: Perth Cultural centre - Wetlands stage, 11am
Hobart: Franklin Square, 11am
Canberra: Regatta Point
(near the bridge), 1.30pm

Australian Election 2010, Did Australian's dream thru the recession

Tony Abbott is spinning bullshit about debt like Australia Emits CO2, ie chronically.
I saw a banner in the Melbourne CBD about the $100 million a day the government is borrowing.
As mentioned on twitter, that is for each Australian (22,416,196) that's roughly $4.46 per head per day.

This video has better stats... and explains itself unlike the Liberals spin.

Other places to find interesting stuff about the Australia Election 2010 are:

I have a political list on Twitter has lots of interesting (political) wonky stuff http://twitter.com/zackster/politics,
it's not quite as rabid, scary and wonderful as the full raw ausvotes hashtag moshpit.

Crikey Blogs and Grogs Gamut are some of my favourite political blogs and has been
providing a great commentary of the election.

Stop the cultural genocide - Save the Tote

I was initially suprised when I heard today that one of the last bastions of live rock music in Melbourne, The Tote in Collingwood was to close on Sunday. On reflection, I wasn't suprised.

There has been a lot in the media about alcohol fueled violence in Melbourne, it makes for a good story and Politicians love to be seen to be doing something. Nothing new there.

My Friends and I tend to be rather social and love going to Gigs, Bars, Art Galleries and Dance parties. We always hear about this violence, but we rarely ever see it. I think it's because we enjoy the more cultural aside of things, as compared to the 'delights' of place like the notorious King St in the CBD.

I have been lucky enough to travel around the world a fair bit and honestly some of the dodgy elements in Melbourne do shock me a bit, but honestly, there isn't much of it around.

You don't need to amputate your arm, when amputating a finger will do.

Recently I read about France allowing venues to stay open till 7am, serving alcohol until 5am. In Berlin, clubs often go until most of the punters leave. LA has this wierd 2am shutdown. Melbourne tried this with the dumb 2am lockout a few years back, which fortunately was abandoned as a bad idea.

So, back to the Tote. The first time I went there was to see a friend's band, Money Penny play back in the early 90's. It was the uni days, and this venue gave the chance for them to play. 15 years later, I can proudly say they went on to win JJJ's unearthed for Victoria.

The Tote is a incubator for young musicians in Melbourne.

I did a straw poll of my friends and none of them have ever seen any violence at the Tote, yet, in their infinite wisdom, the venue was declared a high risk venue by the liquor licensing commission. Several appeals later to VCAT, the owner gave up.

VCAT is a oft maligned body (for good reasons) which is well known for over ruling local communities in favor of money hungry developers who want to knock down what's left of the beautiful buildings in Melbourne, just to replace them with modern soulless concrete boxes.

There has been a lot of activity on Facebook about the Tote closing. Alas Lynn "Mkyi" Kosky is the minister for the Arts which means we have about as much hope of seeing anything been done from her as seeing G W Bush doing something positive for the world.

I have personally (haha) written to Peter Garrett (ex Midnight Oil front man) and now the Federal minister for the Arts, to see if he will intervene. Lets see what his staffers make of my email. I won't hold my breath waiting.

Last year we had an amazing benefit gig called Sound Relief at the MCG for the victims of the Black Saturday bushfires. It was a who's who of Aussie rock in the last few decades. These bands learnt their trade playing pub rock, something which is becoming rarer and rarer.

A lot of the modern music doesn't resonate with people the way it used to, because all the bloody pubs have been closed down due to stupid people moving into popular areas and then complaining about the noise.

How many big stadium gigs have we seen in Melbourne in the last decade? Not a lot, most of them which did are very old bands. We are losing this wonderful part of culture.

We need to embrace and protect our pubs which support, foster and nurture our young rock musicians. Otherwise, we are going to loose our cultural identity.

The loss of our cultural identity is what I believe fosters the mundane drinking and violence in our society. If you go to the pub and see a great band with your mates, your far less likely to get agro after, if your euphoric after a good gig ( and i'm not talking about drug induced euphoria, that's another story).

So if what I'm saying resonates, get on Facebook and join the Save the Tote Group, write a letter to your Local and Federal MP's and maybe head down to the last night of the Tote this Sunday and show your support.

If you love Melbourne for what it was, stand up for whats left and make yourself heard.

PS: there's a poll on the age website