MHLoppy2

joined 1 year ago
 
  • In short: Data detailing the air quality at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station has been released for the first time.
  • It shows nitrogen dioxide levels in parts of the station have regularly been more than 90 times the guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
  • The Victorian government and the station's operator say they've been meeting Australian workplace standards.
 

An unnamed former Australian politician, who was successfully cultivated by an international spy ring, once suggested bringing a prime minister's family member into contact with their foreign handlers.

 

More than 1,000 people have marched into the treaty grounds at Waitangi on New Zealand's north island — the culmination of a week-long protest against a controversial government bill.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 3 points 8 months ago

It's hard to compete in a niche where there's already a well-established incumbent (OzBargain). Almost everything submitted there is just links to the site anyway, which seems superfluous.

 

Ahead of her first sit-down TV interview since becoming premier, the ABC asked voters in Croydon, Werribee, Geelong, Mildura and Ms Allan's hometown of Bendigo what issues they thought were most pressing, and if they had any questions for the premier.

 

In calendar news, Australia Day is officially changing date after this year and will no longer be celebrated on January 26th. With a new date of January 20th chosen instead in order to celebrate the day that Scott Morrison announced his departure from politics.

The day was reportedly chosen for the holiday as it was clearly the day that Australia has most come together to celebrate, like what Australia Day claims to be.

 

The origin of at least $57m – amounting to about a quarter of all funding to major political parties – is unknown, according to an analysis by Guardian Australia.

The analysis of annual political returns, released by the Australian Electoral Commission on Thursday, show between 21% and 27% of donations and other receipts to Labor, the Coalition and the Greens were from unnamed sources.

 

For the longer term, the Stage 3 decision has burst a dam, unleashing a much wider tax debate.

The pressure is coming from two directions – from those whipping up scares of what the government might do and those who want the government to undertake a range of ambitious reforms.

 
  • Godfreys has entered voluntary administration while looking for a potential buyer for the vacuum cleaner retailer.

  • The business has struggled with maintaining its profitability due to reduced customer demand and higher operational costs.

  • Administrators expect 54 Godfreys stores will close within the fortnight, affecting 193 jobs in Australia and New Zealand.

 

It was a political rivalry so utterly self-destructive that one cabinet minister compared it to being "strapped to a suicide bomber".

"The Turnbull-Abbott tussle was very torrid, not just for the Liberal Party internally, but for the government more generally for years and years and years," says former Coalition minister Bridget McKenzie. "You knew something horrific and catastrophic was going to happen."

In interviews for the ABC political docuseries Nemesis, dozens of former Coalition ministers and MPs have spoken of the toxic rivalry between Liberal giants Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, and how their relentless internecine conflict crippled both men's governments and helped destroy each other's political careers.

 

Over months of filming and 60 on-camera interviews for the ABC's landmark political docuseries Nemesis, the free character assessments between former Coalition colleagues fly thick and fast. But as well as the blue language and invective, there are also moments of remorse and regret.

Watch the first episode of the ABC's political docuseries Nemesis on Monday at 8pm on ABC TV and iview.

Some choice quotes:

What [Barnaby Joyce] says next, referring to Turnbull, stuns me. Let's just say it's a four-letter word, connected to another four-letter word.

In one interview, Turnbull is called a "turd" by one of his former supporters.

For his part, the former prime minister recounts being told to "f*** off" by his predecessor Tony Abbott.

The last Coalition prime minister Scott Morrison is labelled "smug" and an "arrogant arsehole" during an interview with one of his former backbenchers.

 

ANU economist Ben Phillips ran the government's proposed stage 3 tweaks through his PolicyMod simulator to weigh up the winners and losers.

He finds about 6.2 million households will benefit from the Albanese government's changes, while just 1.1 million households will lose out compared to the tax laws passed under the Coalition.

The government's gamble is that nearly six-to-one winners to losers presents pretty good odds for the widespread financial benefits to outweigh the cost of a broken promise.

 

What are the new stage 3 tax cut brackets?

Here's how the proposed plan looks at a glance:

  • Earn up to $18,200pay no tax

  • Pay a 16 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned between $18,201-$45,000

  • Pay a 30 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned between $45,001-$135,000

  • Pay a 37 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned between $135,001 — $190,000

  • Pay a 45 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned above $190,000

What were they going to be?

Here's what the previous plan looked like at a glance:

  • Earn up to $18,200pay no tax

  • Pay a 19 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned between $18,201-$45,000

  • Pay a 30 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned between $45,001-$200,000

  • Pay a 45 per cent tax rate on each dollar earned above $200,000

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 8 points 9 months ago

Good stuff, sometimes aggressive measures need to be taken to look out for the interest of the shareholders. Plus the fuel discount is a perfectly timed Christmas gift, exactly what Australia needs in a cost of living crisis. Bravo Woolies, very proud to have my superannuation invested in a company that cares!

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

It's a mixed bag (haha). Sometimes they do a decent job, sometimes not so much.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 1 points 9 months ago

It's funny when the two of us more-or-less agree on the summary. Nonetheless, whoever reads both often ends up just basically reading the original lol.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit, half, and they nearly shut down. I hope that's not just going to be a death-spiral for them, where losing that many staff ends up killing the company anyway :(

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 4 points 10 months ago
[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 3 points 10 months ago

In terms of spiciness, my impression was no. If I hadn't looked at the ingredients, I wouldn't have guessed there was any in there.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I had a few of these a couple weeks ago (someone I know bought a packet) - the baking soda (?) seems to be what makes it "kinda ginger beer" instead of just "ginger".

edit: typo

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I've never seen the stats before and 8% seems really high?? Is there some subset of Australia that tips all the time that I rarely see?

Edit: nvm, the stat is confusing as other commenter pointed out.

The number of payments with tips has remained stable throughout the last year with 0.52% of payments throughout the hospitality sector including a tip in August 2023, according to Lightspeed.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Given that they remind readers what brands an Android phone phone could be, I don't think the article is aimed at many aussie zoners.

I guess they're trying to drive home that the scammer isn't coming at you with a poorly worded email riddled with typos here - the overlay can look legitimate (even if in some cases it still has typos lol). Probably would've been a bit much for them to cover every banking interface tbf.

[–] MHLoppy2@aussie.zone 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Full episode on YT for anyone interested in checking it out!

Edit: and here on ABC itself.

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