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Australia News on Dec. 10th, 2018
Monday, December 10, 2018
VietPress USA : News source: www.reddit.com
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I have $2,000 in my savings account and $18 in an account offsettinf against my home loan that I can draw from, so effectively 20k in savings. Is this too much savings to be eligible for Centrelink Newstart Allowance? I lost my job :(
I owe about $220,000 on my home if that affects the equation and I'm actively looking for work.
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Thinking of buying a subscription for my 70+ year old mum for Christmas.
On free to air she watches all the oldies shows, old British drama etc, etc.
Do either Netflix or Stan have content for that demographic? I run out of things to watch on Netflix, but don't think I have seen anything she could get into, Don't know if Stan is better.
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Time after time, since 2001, Australia has lengthened its roll call of repressive national security laws. And time after time, Bill Shorten has worn his party’s craven willingness to sign up to every piece of half-cooked law the Coalition throws out as a badge of honour.Over the past week, of course, it’s been all about encryption. Both major parties covered themselves in glory on the last day of Parliament by passing an extremely complex law neither of them have read, understand or give a crap about. But, ignored in the rush to Christmas has been another potentially even worse bit of bipartisan law-making.Slipped through Parliament on November 27 with not so much as a whimper from the media: the Defence Amendment (Call Out of the Australian Defence Force) Act 2018.Call in the troopsThis law is about the circumstances in which the federal government can take the drastic step of sending troops into the streets of an Australian city. (Bear in mind the fundamental difference between a police officer and a soldier: the latter is trained to kill, as their first resort).It’s also, importantly, not the first of its kind. We already had a call-out law, which was passed in a rush before the Sydney Olympics, that’s never been used. In the wash-up of the Lindt Café siege, Peter Dutton spotted the opportunity to ramp thing up. Although the army could have been called in to assist, and was ready to do so, it wasn’t. The logical response would have been to explore better coordination between state and Commonwealth under the existing law; instead, we got urgent demands to change the law.What’s different with this new law, and why should we care? There are several critical changes:
The trigger conditions which will allow the federal government to send in the army. Under the old law, soldiers would be deployed if the state or territory government was not, or was unlikely to be, able to do what was needed. Now, all that is required is that the military’s involvement will be likely to “enhance” the ability of the police to handle the situation. How could it not? So, there is now no effective threshold at all. The feds now have a “contingent” call-out order, which is a pre-emptive declaration of circumstances in which they can send in the army, notwithstanding that those circumstances haven’t actually happened at all. Call it the Minority Report power. The federal government can invoke a call-out whether or not the relevant state or territory agreement wants it. The troops, once called out, will have extremely wide search and seizure powers over people and property, way beyond those of the police. And, of course, all indemnified. Finally, Dutton has added himself to the authorising power, previously exercisable by only the Prime Minister, or the Attorney-General and Defence Minister acting together. Under the changes, the Defence Minister is sidelined, and it’s now a triumvirate call by the PM, AG and the Minister for Home Affairs.Interesting, when you think about it, given that the defence forces have nothing to do with the Home Affairs portfolio, and nor do the state and territory police forces. Properly, this should be none of Dutton’s business.Hypothesis: one day there is a running series of increasingly out-of-control riots in a beachside suburb, as large gangs of drunk men hunt for members of a minority group and bash the shit out of them. The state police are doing their best, but it is a difficult situation to control. People’s safety is potentially at risk. These are all the conditions necessary for the federal government to step in, unasked, and unleash the armour.Pause before you conclude that this is the society we want. This is not about repelling foreign invaders, and it’s not just about dealing with terrorism as we typically understand it. While the Attorney-General has said it’s “inconceivable” that the army would ever be sent in to the streets in response to a non-terrorist threat to civil order, that is 100% not what the law they just made says.Our only remaining protection, from being turned into the police state we seem to be heading towards is that our governments will continue their practice of making laws but not actually using them. Thin hope. - Michael Bradley
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Hi all, I’ve been lucky enough to score an invite to a Yarra Trams Assessment Centre next week. I really want to change my career from office work to becoming a tram driver and therefore want to do the best I can. Additionally, I am only going to get one shot at this. I’d appreciate any advice on what to expect with the Assessment Centre with particular emphasis on the four tests that I have to undertake. They are:
Customer Service Situations Simulation
A computer based multitasking test
A computer based reactions test
A PA Announcement Test
Does anyone have any experience with these tests and if so is there any info you can provide that will help me prepare? Any information or advice from people who are familiar with this would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
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TL:DR is I am wanting to replace my fence with a Gabion / Colorbond fence but unsure of the upkeep or if it would look decent to do.
Longer version
Looking at replacing my old wood panel fence, as it is falling over. I have been tossing around two ideas.
- A concrete channel along the whole fence line brick pillars with Colorbond panels between each pillar.
- A concrete channel along the whole fence Gabion pillars filled with rocks, I was thinking river rocks with Colorbond panels between each pillar.
I want a concrete channel to put the fence on for two reasons, neighbors have dogs that love to dig and the second reason is to make the fence flat / uniform hight as possible
The reason for the pillars and not just a straight Colorbond fence and a concrete channel is I have seen other Colorbond fences that have started to lean or warp. if someone hits it then you are replacing a large chunk of the fence.
The issue I am seeing with brick pillars is the strength of the pillar and also either having to render or re-mortar the pillars after a time.
I like the look of Gabion but I have no idea about the upkeep of the cages or the rocks inside nor can I find images of what a fence with them looks like. I would want the cages made of something that doesn't rust
Thoughts?
Hạnh Dương
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