Australia

The delicate diplomacy of the three-day summit, which gets under way in Melbourne on Monday, is expected despite the extraordinary speech to parliament last week by President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos jnr, in which he vowed not to yield any territory to foreign powers, meaning China.

ASEAN will be the biggest gathering of leaders in Australia for six years. Leaders attending include Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who are both in the final months of their long tenures in office, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, and Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The Australien Government has made an ad about its Whistleblower Protection Laws, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.

Take action: droptheprosecutions.org.au

https://www.thejuicemedia.com/honest-government-ad-whistleblower-protection-laws/

And related:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/29/joe-hockey-says-it-is-absurd-for-asio-not-to-name-former-politician-accused-of-treason

Lamarre-Condon allegedly killed Davies and Baird with a police gun.

"If officers seek to have approval to store firearms at their home, there are a number of steps to that approval, including that the safe in which the firearm is stored has been independently approved." Asked if she knew whether the accused had an approved gun safe at his home, the Commissioner answered: "I'm actually not aware." She would not confirm whether normal rules had been followed in this case.

Oh you have GOT to be fucking kidding me.

Universities could soon be facing major funding changes as the biggest review of the sector in decades calls for a radical reshaping of the tertiary education sector.

• In short: The final report from the Universities Accord, a broad-ranging review of the tertiary education sector, has been released.
• It makes a raft of recommendations, including scrapping a controversial Coalition-era Job-Ready Graduates policy.
• What's next? Student groups, universities and politicians will consider the recommendations ahead of the May budget.

Key recommendations:

• More than doubling the number of uni places to 1.8 million in 2050
• Moving to needs-based funding for certain groups and courses to make the system more equitable
• Getting 80 per cent of working-age Australians tertiary educated by 2050
• Dumping the Coalition's Job Ready Graduates program that put costs up for arts degrees
• Better financial support for students and paying them for compulsory placements
• Moving towards a HECS/HELP loan system where contributions are based on future potential earnings

Infuriating. In this form, private education is an absolute cancer.

I am so tired of watching Aussie TV channels. No quality material and full of shitty content. For even news- 9news, 7news, ABC all kept going on about Taylor swift all day. No quality news reporting at all. Thanks to YouTube , my go to channel for news now is DW and France 24. European channels are the best in my opinion.

The hidden side of the supermarket giants’ quest for profits is an increasingly elaborate system for monitoring and managing shoppers and workers.

More information can be found here:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/30/hungry-panda-delivery-rider-launches-legal-action-against-company-claiming-loss-of-work-after-protesting-pay

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/japanese/en/podcast-episode/food-delivery-riders-take-legal-action/2o6ujzupw

I don't think this movement really got off the ground in WA, we never really had the lock-downs and remote working culture introduced through the pandemic that the Eastern states got. Still, this makes for fascinating reading.

Interesting title. Compare it with the ABC's version:

ABC: Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci announces retirement as company announces $781m loss

Wonder why there's a cost of living crisis in Australia?

Why comfortable oligopolies gouge customers? Why there's no competition in industries like banking, aviation, or supermarkets?

Because this is how Australian competition law operates: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/20/anz-suncorp-bank-merger-decision-approved-accc-tribunal-appeal?CMP=aus_bsky

#banking #finance #capitalism #politics #economy #economics #australia @australia

When China opened its fifth research station in Antarctica this month, analysts sounded alarm bells about potential security threats on Australia's southern doorstep.

Experts warned that China's expanding activity in Antarctica combined with Australia's inaction and lack of funding could lead to Beijing's increased strategic presence in the frozen continent.

The new Qinling base could also improve China's surveillance capabilities and give it more control over transport routes to exploit resources, they say.

Elizabeth Buchanan from the Australian National University’s National Security College said the Chinese government had a "remarkable ability" to plan for the long term.

"So, they may not be looking to utilise this research station for anything other than collaborative international research for the next 20 years," Dr Buchanan said.

"And then all of a sudden, it's a staging platform … to strike, to facilitate war if that day ever came."

Victoria Legal Aid lawyers have decried an internal policy order not to discuss “the conflict between Israel and Palestine” at work, with more than 100 VLA staff co-signing a letter to management.

Some employees at the firm — a Victorian state government organisation with a headcount of more than 1,000, whose work involves legal representation for disadvantaged communities — have responded strongly to the edict, calling for “an end of attempts to silence staff”. The staff pushing back have also claimed the ban on discussions of the conflict would pose “a real risk of interfering with the carrying out of core workplace duties”.

While ruling out Tokyo's participation in the centerpiece project for AUKUS to deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles said Australia wants to "work more closely with Japan" on technological developments, acknowledging that the Asian nation is a "place of innovation" and is "at the cutting edge of technology."

Australia is bigger than some people overseas imagine.

So here's a quick comparison of Australian states to their US counterparts.

Tasmania is Australia's smallest state, with a total area of 68,401 square kilometres.

That's bigger than West Virginia, Maryland, Ha​waii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, or Rhode Island.

Australia's second smallest state is Victoria, at 227, 444km2.

It's larger than Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Washington, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maine, Florida, or Pennsylvania.

Fun fact: Victoria is larger in area than Indiana and South Carolina combined.

Now on to the ones that might surprise you.

You know how Texans love talking up how big Texas is?

New South Wales is bigger than Texas.

And by quite a margin. NSW is 801, 150 sq km compared to 696,241 sq km for Texas.

South Australia is bigger than Texas, and Michigan. Combined.

SA is 984, 321 sq km.

Texas (696,241 km2) plus Michigan (250,493 sq km) is just 946, 734 sq km.

Queensland is bigger than Alaska.

Queensland is 1,729,742 sq km, compared to 1,717,854 sq km for Alaska.

That also means Queensland is bigger than Texas and California. Combined.

Texas (696,241 km2) plus California (423,968 km2) is 1,120,209 sq km.

You can add in Michigan too (250,493 sq km) and it's still only 1,370,702 sq km.

That's right kids. Texas, California, and Michigan combined are 359,040 sq km smaller than Queensland.

That leaves Western Australia. It's 2,527,013 square kilometres.

How big is that? Well, the combined area of Texas and Alaska is 2,414,095 sq km, so pretty bloody big.

Source: https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/area-of-australia-states-and-territories

@australia #australia #texas #geography #usa #travel

I watched beautiful Kate years and years ago, my first Mendo movie, and I loved the music. I used to listen to the main theme and "this little Bird" on YouTube but the latter has been removed from everywhere I've searched.

If anyone could help I'd really appreciate it.