Australia

Asking here instead of a more nerdy community as MYOB is pretty much only used in Australia by the looks.

We've run MYOB for the better part of 20 years and it suits our needs perfectly, with one exception - it doesn't support Linux, and with Windows getting more obnoxious every update I would prefer to swap to Linux full time.

Has anyone locally either got it working properly under Linux (using a VM maybe, like VB headless?), or found an alternative that does work under Linux?

Don't really want something web based like Xero (not to mention Xero is missing way too many features we use a lot anyway) though being AccountRight we're hosting the data file remotely anyway.

These were the top posts across Aussie Zone at the end of this week

Top 5 from Australia:

• Weekly Random Thread #45 07-11-2023
• Streaming costs are rising, and there are more platforms than ever to choose between. Some people are going back to piracy
• Aussie households are spending less on streaming services, annual report reveals
• Melbourne Cup: most Australians have little or no interest in ‘race that stops the nation’, Essential poll finds
• Indefinite immigration detention ruled unlawful in landmark Australian high court decision

Top 5 from Aussie Enviro:

• Meat-loving Australia has no appetite for vegetarian diet to help planet, study finds
• Big rise in kangaroo collisions prompts appeal to country drivers: Don't leave them dying
• Coalition’s nuclear SMR poster boy cancels flagship project due to soaring costs
• The world has experienced its hottest 12 months on record, and El Niño is set to drive temperatures higher
• Researcher says feral bees face extinction as deadly mite spreads in swarms

Top 5 from Australian News:

• This psychologist groomed her client, then married her. Now 20 years of deception are coming undone
• After the driest September-October on record, much of Australia to cop severe thunderstorm activity
• Lawyer for driver in Daylesford crash says man is insulin-dependent diabetic who needed immediate treatment
• Aussie breaks world record by paddling in to surf 13-metre wave
• The inside account of how Commonwealth Bank tried to bury the scandal that sparked a royal commission

Top 5 from Australian Politics:

• They risked their livelihoods to speak up, but these whistleblowers are warning others to stay silent
• Small modular nuclear reactor that was hailed by Coalition as future cancelled due to rising costs
• Greens stage Senate walkout in protest for Palestinians, call on government to support Israel-Gaza ceasefire
• White man's dark money: Meet the No campaign bankrollers
• CheckMate: Are koalas being clubbed to death to make way for a Queensland wind farm?

Top 5 from World News:

• Millions are waking up to the ugly reality of Israeli apartheid

Australia is now into its next COVID wave. We’ve seen hints of this for a while. Case numbers and indicators of severe disease began rising in Victoria in August. But it has taken several months for a consistent pattern to emerge across Australia.

Now we see evidence of this new wave via wastewater surveillance for traces of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. We also see rises in COVID-related hospital admissions and antiviral prescriptions. Compared to past waves, this one has built up slowly and over a longer period.

Here’s what we know about this new wave and what to expect over the coming weeks.

TL;DR Why is it always the routers?

Although Australia has defence agreements with other Pacific Islands nations, in a region where China recently struck a security pact with Solomon Islands and is seeking to expand its policing ties and infrastructure projects, the Tuvalu treaty goes much further in positioning Australia as its primary security partner.

Australia would allow 280 people a year to migrate from Tuvalu, boosting remittances back to the island nation with a population of 11,000, which is threatened by rising sea levels caused by climate change.

I mean, come on. I know by now that Sky News, a broadcaster that doesn't deserve the 'News' moniker and that will happily platform actual fascists if it serves their agenda, never tires of taking cheap shots at the ABC, with the declared objective to undermine its credibility. I know that Bronwyn Bishop has gone full cryptofascist and is probably starting to get senile. I shouldn't be surprised at shit like this. But for some reason, whenever I think these people can't possibly go any lower, they grab a bigger excavator and keep on digging.

Analysis by global cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks shows Chinese hackers, masquerading as cloud back-up services, have managed to exfiltrate data from 24 Cambodian government agencies linked to Cambodia’s national defence, elections, human rights, treasury and commerce, politics, natural resources and telecommunications. This data is likely to include financial information as well as identity information.

Palo Alto Networks’ head of government affairs and public policy for Australia, Sarah Sloan, said the report had lessons for Australia.

“Last year, we saw public reports of this cyber adversary [APT40] targeting local and federal Australian government agencies as well as Australian news media companies,” she said.

“Australia’s next Cyber Security Strategy is also slated to have a focus on regional engagement and cybersecurity uplift; this report highlights the potential real-world implications of signing onto China’s Belt and Road initiative and may be helpful in identifying how Australia can partner and support nations to enhance their cyber resilience.”

Addition for the original report: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/chinese-apt-linked-to-cambodia-government-attacks/

• Optus is investigating the cause of Wednesday's nationwide outage.

• Experts say telcos have been cost cutting, and have not properly safeguarded systems

• They say the government should legislate redundancies in major telco systems

[Industry expert Mark] Gregory said Optus and Telstra have likely concluded that building highly advanced safeguards to their infrastructure and software is too expensive and have been allowed by the government to prioritise profit over the reliability of the service.

Up to 50,000 people in Sydney and 100,000 in Melbourne were reported to have marched last weekend and organisers say rallies will continue to growGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

The Australian government can again advocate for its interests at the apex of political power in Beijing, while it’s likely to just be a matter of time before Australian exporters can again access the Chinese market free from trade restrictions.

As well as welcoming these striking signs of success, we should also plainly acknowledge the Albanese government’s failure to act against Chinese officials implicated in severe and systematic human rights abuses.

Australians overwhelmingly want to follow the lead of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union by imposing targeted sanctions on Chinese officials implicated in human rights abuses.

The Australia-China Relations Institute has found that support for “travel and financial bans on Chinese officials and entities involved in human rights violations” sat at around 65 per cent in 2022 and 68 per cent in 2023. Meanwhile, the Lowy Poll found that 82 per cent of Australians supported such sanctions in 2020.

According to an audit conducted by opposition senator James Paterson in August, the $200 billion sovereign wealth fund first forayed into Chinese markets in 2007, but its investment exposures grew as China developed into a critical financial market.

Stakes in over 50 Chinese companies associated with the People's Liberation Army, involved in the oppression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and invested in sanctioned nations such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Several of the audited companies have faced international censure, including being barred from businesses in North American and European markets, mandated by Canada to relinquish some critical mineral investments, delisted in the US for audit non-compliance, fined for breaching money laundering laws, and penalised for not reporting hazardous products and violating US sanctions.

Decision overturns 20-year-old precedent and could trigger immediate release of 92 people, with detention of 340 others also in doubt

They literally had the chance to make a 'Man bites Croc' headline, but somehow resisted.

Old, but unfortunately more relevant than ever

G'day all! Just thought I'd chuck up this random thread for a bit of a yarn. You know, sometimes it's nice to have a chinwag about anything and everything – could be your latest DIY project, a recipe you're stoked about, or even just how your day's been. It's all about sharing the good vibes and having a fair dinkum chat. So, what's the goss? Jump on in and let's have a good old chit-chat, like a bunch of mates sitting 'round the table. Cheers!

Punters are switching off the Melbourne Cup, with a majority of Australians reporting they have little or no interest in what was once “the race that stops the nation”.

According to the latest Essential poll of 1,049 voters, just 11% reported a “high interest” in the Melbourne Cup, down five points from when the question was asked before the 2022 race.

[...]

Despite a lack of personal interest, two-thirds (65%) of respondents agreed the Melbourne Cup is a unique part of Australia’s national identity, down seven points. Just 50% of those aged 18 to 34 agreed.

About half (48%) said it promotes unhealthy gambling behaviour. More than a third (36%) said it normalises animal cruelty, up two points since 2022.

The figures come as an increasing number of brands and sponsors are distancing themselves from the Melbourne Cup and other racing events.