MisterFrog

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergon_Energy

You're in the situation what we wish to get back to in Victoria, you should feel lucky, not complaining.

"Bargain hunting" for a electricity retailer is absurd. Because the privately owned electricity distributors set the rates, and the retailers just repackage the wholesale rates as fixed cost supply and usage charges. There is no "choice". (This is the situation in Victoria)

There should be one electricity distributor, the government (this is buy-in-large, your situation), who provides electricity at cost. Because it's a natural monopoly, there's no use of having parallel energy transmission wires owned by different companies, which is why that isn't done anywhere in Australia (in most cases).

This is exactly why our costs are way higher than in Queensland. "Competition" of privatisation doesn't work.

Thanks Kennett (the Liberal Premier who sold off the Vic SEC).

Yeah you make very good points. I do hope we can shift the culture to preferring walkable/bike-able/public transport oriented cities.

I personally think our cities are ludicrously spread-out and we need to massively improve laws surrounding strata management to make apartment living better, and build for public transport, walking and cycling, and not cars as personal daily transport.

The data is in, traffic will never be solved without viable alternatives to driving.

You shouldn't need to drive literal hours to make it across a city.

The problem here is density and transportation. 3M people is nothing, just that with cars it becomes unmanageable.

Though, I am not personally knowledgeable about Perth, another centre may be warranted!

The Sydney Morning Herald

I'm mean, it's better than newscorp, but let's not pretend like any Nine-Fairfax companies don't toe the right wing corporate line.

They are the embodiment of the teals (our socially progressive, economically right wing politicians).

The guardian which is not Australian ranks highest in my mind here. ABC is okay, but after their funding cuts under the LNP they're way less critical of the government.

Part of the problem is that private health exists, but it can't cover you for anything other than hospital.

"Extras" aren't really insurance, it's a incentive scheme but you basically pay whatever you're using at cost.

The solution here is not to allow private health to cover the gap between Medicare and the out of pocket cost. The solution is to say, if you charge more than the rebate then it's 100% private, you won't get a cent of Medicare.

Watch as private healthcare absolutely bottoms out because they'll actually have to cover the whole cost, and therefore premiums will rise like crazy.

How we we afford this? We're already affording it. We subsidise private health, we pay insurance premiums. If you can convince people: oh hey, want cheaper health insurance? Oh hey, what's this? You can pay LESS in universal healthcare than you do in premiums!

Lots of people would go for it. A lot of us have private health insurance because of how the incentives are currently set up. We don't want it. Before the tax concessions no one wanted it.

You'd have to couple it with a massive investment in Medicare, completely removing all tax concessions for private health (which they should have never implemented in the first place). Better pay for medicos.

But we can damn well afford it now, just that it's politically difficult, especially with the corporate media, and everyone wanting taxes to go down (which I personally think is dumb as fuck).

We need to put private health in the bin where I belongs. Hybrid systems are shit.

I second this, but make it +0% or else 100% private.

Honestly, we need most medicos to be employees (of the government), and they can start a union to keep conditions and pay appropriate.

Our subsidy system is just funneling money into practice owner's pockets, who set prices based on supply and demand, which is a fucked way to run a healthcare system.

Let's just pay the average medico more, while skipping all the profits were subsidising.

We recently did have protests because of the recent death in custody in the NT. But you're right, they're not terribly large.

Even the weekly Palestinian protests are larger.

They can't form a political party. Right? We do not have freedom of speech in this country. Hate speech is illegal. At least, I would think so?

Ignoring their 3:30AM flashmobs seems prudent.

Don't give them the light of day

Private providers in a public system is ridiculous in my opinion. Here's an idea, hire them directly instead of paying for a profit margin. :O (this opinion extends to Medicare providers, also)

What I recall being ridiculous was the wait on Centrelink applications. (It's been a number of years since being off Centrelink so don't haven't paid attention recently)

Waiting 3 months was an option for me, but Christ, I can't imagine how shit that must be who need immediate stability.

I also very much hope Labor update payment rates. Where are you gonna find a place anywhere near services and public transport to rent cheaply enough in order to actually get by?

If only we heavily invested in public housing, I'd wager we'd either end up saving a bunch of money not going to private landlords, or otherwise massively increase the amount in the pockets of people on Centrelink, because it wouldn't be going to landlords...

Alas.

Make $100,000 from selling your labor. 2024-25 FY: $20,788 (not including deductions)

Make $100,000 from selling your appreciating assets: $5,788.00

Gotta love that capital gains discount...

This is David McBride the Australian Army Lawyer turned whistleblower, not the US politician.

Turns out I somewhat conflated his whistleblowing on Australian war crimes, which landed him in jail, with the US influencing him being tried for whistleblowing.

War crimes that were committed, because we were in Afghanistan at the behest of the US (and Iraq, Vietnam and Korea before that).

So that's my bad, because I did hear of the US loving to send Australians on missions for the express purpose that the SAS wouldn't follow proper rules of engagement, though I can't find the place where I heard this after trying to find it again.

As for AUKUS subs deal:

This is a straight up tribute to the USA. 300 BILLION dollars. For what? A couple of submarines. What in the hell do we need nuclear subs for? Answer, we don't. Just use conventional subs. It's a subsidy for the US military-industrial complex.

Pine Gap is a "shared" spy base the same way you hand your little sibling a controller that's not plugged in so they can play the video game "together". We are the junior partner there.

The fact is that the US has massive sway over Australia with the implicit agreement that we allow US military presence in exchange for "protection", massive economic influence through investment (such is capitalism, and the US is top-dog there), making very little military equipment ourselves and just buying it off the US (and others, sure, but in large part, the US), and "allegedly" meddling in our affairs by engineering the Whitlam sacking, see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_the_Whitlam_dismissal

We bend over backwards to keep the Americans on side. Even after police straight up shot an Australian reporter with a rubber bullet, on purpose, for no reason, the PM still had to be restrained in his response instead of calling out the United States more directly.

We follow them into a bunch of wars, we are dependent on their tech services, we are massively influenced by their media.

Australia is under the thumb of the US, but so are many other countries.

In summary: as a middle power, I would love for us to stay somewhat more neutral to the superpowers. Let's be close friends with like-minded middle powers (Canada, NZ, the EU), and polite to the likes of the US and China.

Being close allies with the US feels like a massive liability.

Pine gap, useless $300 bn tribute subs, not updating travel advice for the USA, David McBride. This is but a short list.