MisterFrog
@MisterFrog@aussie.zone
- Come support striking workers tonight at 6PM: Arts Centre Melbourne workers escalate campaign with 24-hour stop work actionwww.meaa.org ↗Submitted 9 hours ago to melbourne@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Comment on Startup Harrison.ai lays off Australian staff, pivots to US after $32m government investment 3 days ago:
So we’re getting that invested money back now, right?.. Right?
- Comment on Labor vows to listen to voters after One Nation's historic WA upset 5 days ago:
We could raise slightly more revenue from tax on future projects but gas is on the decline anyway and Australian gas isn’t that profitable
Hard disagree. The political capital wouldn’t be that high, practically everyone wants this, even bloody one nation have signalled support for it (not that they’d actually do it), the vast majority of the population is for it. Putting aside ripping up contracts, we absolutely can and should put in tax reform on gas exports at a minimum.
The claim that Gas isn’t that profitable is absurd, just read the company’s own financial reports…
Here’s links to 3 of them: …org.au/…/they-profit-we-pay-the-price-gas-giants…
since Labor already spent all of the 2025-2028 political capital on reforming negative gearing
My good gentleperson what? They hold a massive majority in parliament, and could easily get way more through with the help of the Greens* if they were actually gonna pass something left wing. Negative gearing has ruffled some feathers, but let’s be extremely clear, Labor has to date made zero radical reform since 2022. The HAFF and the Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates Bill are just two examples of this. Nice sounding, but when you dig into the details, do really do what they say on the tin.
(* I am not a Greens supporter)
As for Labor being corrupt. Have they been personally enriching themselves? Taking bribes? No.
Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald? Not to mention, that simply getting cushy jobs from companies that JUST HAPPENED to lobby you, and donate to your campaign is corruption. Again, not legally, but it is still a lower, real form of corruption, that influences our elected reps decisions, and the list of MPs who do this is so long I’d be here all day researching all the names.
You call it “doing politics” but clear eyed leftists see $10,000 a head fund-raisers for what they are: corruption. (Even if this isn’t legally corruption).
I take nothing back, it’s appalling, and the fact WA Labor would run a former gas lobbyist in Secret Harbour is a great example of where the party’s priorities lie.
“The game is unfair, the LNP and One Nation take corporate money so we also have to do it!!!” Or, you know, we could change the game so that we as a country aren’t beholden to corporate/billionaire interests… (Spoiler: they don’t want to, or pretend we can’t because the Labor party are pro-capitalism)
Labor always dresses everything up as necessary, and for the greater good. Given Labor’s record, such a defense makes no sense. Labor party pays lip service to being for the workers, and then turns around and take away the right to strike with the ACTU and attempts to crush competition of any union not in their pocket (regarding RAFFWU and the absolutely dog-shite SDA, and the Vic govs bill to outlaw them).
The Labor party are not for the greater good of the majority of the population mate.
Let’s tax the gas. If gas companies want to leave? Great, let’s do it ourselves and be like sane countries that nationalised their natural resources, and keep all the profits.
Neo-liberalism hasn’t worked, when is the Labor Party (who brought neo-liberalism in) gonna wake up and realise it?
- Comment on Comedian’s visa sabotaged, war crimes suspects cheered through 1 week ago:
Our voting system is nothing like the Americans. Hence people should abandon the Labor party and strengthen others by getting active there instead, all while preferercing Labor above the Liberals and One Nation.
Liberals and One Nation only have space because how pathetic the Labor Party is at providing a viable left-wing alternative that people are actually excited for. People are swayed by One Nation because they’re material conditions have worsened, which is the culmination of decades of neo-liberalism ushered in large part by the Labor Party.
I’ll say it again, left wing people should abandon the Labor party because it’s been going this way for decades.
Join a party who shares your values.
We don’t have first past the post, so your point makes no sense.
- Comment on Labor vows to listen to voters after One Nation's historic WA upset 1 week ago:
We have resources. Would we lose some international investment? Maybe. But time and time again modest tax reform doesn’t lead to capital flight in the way capitalists claim.
And even if we don’t want to rip up contracts (though we should when they’re clearly unfair), there’s no excuse for not progressively instituting new tax and royalties settings as they expire.
And yet, the Labor government won’t, because they’re corrupt and bought by the gas industry (not in a legal sense, but in reality).
- Comment on Labor vows to listen to voters after One Nation's historic WA upset 1 week ago:
If the contracts are a complete rort then I say we scrap 'em. Be the sovereign risk the investors should have taken into account investing into such an unfair arrangement…
Or even given some nominal compensation where they are made whole, accounting for inflation, but not profit.
These are our own resources we’re talking about. Legal arguments are a cop out when the law is set up to favour private property at the expense of the rest of us.
We most certainly can scrap bullshit contracts, signed by politicians who then go on to be employed by those same companies. It may not legally be corruption, but it is corruption.
We have 100% moral cover to tell these companies to get fucked, and we should do it.
What are they gonna do? Stop investing in extracting our gas resources and paying hardly any tax or royalties on it? OH NoOoOoOoOoO. What ever shall we do‽‽‽
- Comment on Comedian’s visa sabotaged, war crimes suspects cheered through 1 week ago:
100%. The Labor party is beyond reform and people who identify as left-wing really ought to abandon it en masse for parties that actually represent their values.
There’s literally no downside to leaving the Labor party for another party.
- Comment on IDF soldiers heading to Australia to compete in the Sydney Marathon 1 week ago:
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm.
The IDF is a terrorist organisation, and I’m glad the media machine has failed to convince the majority of Australians that what they’re doing isn’t a genocide.
I hope people heckle the shit out of them, and shame the event organisers for not uninviting them.
Also, fuck the NSW Police, violent arseholes (as a group).
And especially, fuck the NSW Labor Party for being repressive of political speech, just because they don’t like it.
- Comment on Suburban Rail Loop to find $2b in savings through station changes 2 weeks ago:
Makes the whole project much less worth it though. Building a train line without interchange defeats the purpose
This is a really, really stupid idea
- Submitted 2 weeks ago to melbourne@aussie.zone | 7 comments
- Comment on Whistleblower David McBride Released on Parole 3 weeks ago:
Ah righto, thanks for that clarification, definitely went over my head!
- Comment on Whistleblower David McBride Released on Parole 3 weeks ago:
Not really sure this addresses the above comment.
- Comment on Whistleblower David McBride Released on Parole 3 weeks ago:
Justice David Mossop, you should be ashamed of yourself blocking evidence.
David McBride should never have been tried.
National security as a justification for covering up war crimes… One could imagine, to protect higher-ups.
What a joke.
Really sad to hear McBride got cancer :(
- Submitted 1 month ago to melbourne@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Comment on Leggo's, Coles and Aldi selling Chinese tomatoes as 'Australian' and 'Italian' in products, forensic testing finds 1 month ago:
Absolutely. Though I don’t believe that particular legal precedent exists in Australia (I am not a lawyer).
Completely agree though, that these consequences are too lax, and are just the cost of doing business…
- Comment on Does Albanese's idea for more Australian oil supplies stack up? 1 month ago:
If only we hadn’t bloody allowed the ones we already had to be closed… They should have been forcibly nationalised at a fair (low) price if they wanted to close up shop.
Especially the refinery owned by Viva Energy in Geelong should have been nationalised, not had their profits guaranteed…
I say all this as someone who doesn’t drive, and I thinks we should get off oil ASAP. We can’t just flip the switch and have everything grind to a halt.
But building a NEW refinery? Are you serious?
- Comment on Leggo's, Coles and Aldi selling Chinese tomatoes as 'Australian' and 'Italian' in products, forensic testing finds 1 month ago:
In my opinion, the maximum fines courts can impose are too low, and even then, judges too often don’t award the maximum fines :(
If a company has a net worth over a certain amount, I reckon a jury should get final say. The class interests of judges are too different to the common person in our current society
- Comment on Beaten, robbed and driven out: violent demonstrations target immigrants in South Africa 1 month ago:
The common denominator is capitalism and growing inequality.
- Comment on Can the Liberal Party recover? | 7.30 1 month ago:
Even if we don’t get rid of capitalism (my preference), I honestly think if we at least reverted to: infrasture should be publically owned, constructed (with direct employment, not private contracts), and maintained, we’d save a bunch of money, have better quality infrastructure, and provide stable employment to a bunch more people.
Though, there is serious restructuring to do to government departments. My suggestion? Make department leadership elected by the workers (they’d still be beholden to the government, but it means that you’d have fewer “manager” types at the reigns who don’t actually have a clue).
And, as forementioned, the route problem here is capitalism.
- Comment on Can the Liberal Party recover? | 7.30 1 month ago:
Yes Angus, I agree we should stop corporate handouts.
Where you’re bring very disingenuous is your plan for “small” government.
- There’s no such thing, you only will have an outsourced government
- A small government only results in privatisation, increasing the cost to the community in having to pay for profits
I mean, look me in the eye and saying transurban hasn’t caused massive loss for motorists and businesses, rather than paying tolls to the state.
Tell me that paying private energy retailers profits is better than what we had with the Victorian SEC.
Tell me that shopping around for private healthcare, private disability care, is good for the people?
Utter bullshit, but yes I agree, go let private businesses be private. We shouldn’t be giving them any public money.
Not that you believe that, given that we are no change to corporate handouts under LNP governments.
- Comment on Reports that Victoria is set to Abolish Group Voting Tickets 1 month ago:
Just wanted to reply here also that I didn’t vote based on THEIR party name, but rather (in addition to their policies on their website) them preferencing another party, with a name which makes it incredibly clear I would not want them in government.
In addition to them (the incumbents) already putting a moratorium on new bike lanes when they gained power, preferercing that party made their position even more clear.
Voting FOR a party based on name is silly. Voting against a party with a name like “rip up the bike lanes” is not a silly choice, provided you look into the other parties available.
- Comment on Reports that Victoria is set to Abolish Group Voting Tickets 1 month ago:
Oh 100%, it was rather when I was looking into each of the parties, I also looked up their preferences.
And they were very much telling on themselves by highly preferencing a party with a name which I think is terrible urban planning.
This was for a council election, and that’s all by post in Victoria.
- Comment on The Victorian Greens are taking a page from Mamdani’s policy playbook. Can they combat rising rightwing populism? 1 month ago:
I’m not a greens supporter (they’re not anti-capitalist), but they do have well-documented policies, so not really sure what you mean by “if they actually came with policy”.
They obviously can’t implement them because they don’t meaningfully hold the balance of power (and even when they have, they haven’t done a great job - the ETS comes to mind).
Still better than the LNP and Labor though :/
- Comment on The Victorian Greens are taking a page from Mamdani’s policy playbook. Can they combat rising rightwing populism? 1 month ago:
Thanks for sharing. Not a greens supporter, but we absolutely should replace stamp duty with a land value tax.
Stamp duty penalises people for moving/downsizing, and is also (obviously) a tax.
- Comment on Reports that Victoria is set to Abolish Group Voting Tickets 1 month ago:
Thank god, group voting tickets was so dumb.
Personally I do think there should be a minimum number of preferences you need to fill out. It forces parties to be clear on who they would like you to preference on their how-to-vote cards. Which is one extra piece of information voters can use.
In a Melbourne Council election, the incumbent party preferenced a party called “rip up the bike lanes”, so I could immediately decide not to vote for either of them without even needing to discover news articles or policy on the topic.
If you’re preferencing a party like that, then I know you’re stupid and don’t deserve my vote.
- Comment on Gun buyback deadline expires with most states still refusing to sign on 2 months ago:
Thanks for sharing the above, seems pretty robust to the uninitiated. And provided your doing it for work or something else necessary, I sympathise for the annoyance it causes you and other law abiding licence holders.
Though since by your reckoning people clearly don’t bother getting more than 6 because it’s a pain in the arse, is it so terrible to have such a limit?
What more than 6 uses do you really NEED a gun for? Damn right that it should be justified.
I will concede a bit, that perhaps 6 is an arbitrary limit, and could have each additional licence approved on case-by-case basis instead, but I know of people by 1 degree of separation who really should not have had a gun in the first place (and who’s licences were later revoked if my understanding is correct), it makes sense to at least limit how many guns they have on-hand to minimise the real risk to the community.
It’s also my understanding that the Bondi Massacre was perpetrated by 2 people, a licence holder with many guns and the other who wasn’t a licence holder. Having access to multiple guns made the massacre far more deadly. And he literally had it for RECREATIONAL purposes. Sorry, guns for recreation can get fucked.
Call me when other hobbies cause a risk to other people in such a way, and only call if you think that hobby shouldn’t be regulated…
And frankly, none of your business or concern.
Hard disagree. Guns are dangerous, and should be regulated. Yes, it’s an inconvenience for the majority of law abiding gun owners, but sorry, that’s not how society works.
It’s a balance between freedom from and freedom to. Just like major hazard facilities are heavily regulated (my line of work).
The /average/ gun owner doesn’t have 6 now, it’s a pain in the ass.
We don’t want it to be easy. Annoying, for sure, but well worth it to massively reduce mass shootings. gl;hf trying to convince the average Australian otherwise when the counter-example is very prominent (USA)
In conclusion, we just have a difference of opinion. Mine is that a max of 6 isn’t very restrictive. I also think it’s insane that recreation is still allowed.
Guns are necessary for work and wildlife/feral animal management (and other legitimate things).
Guns for fun are unnecessary and I don’t care if it’s people’s hobby. Get a new hobby.
Thanks for your time, and apologies for my unpleasantness.
- Comment on Gun buyback deadline expires with most states still refusing to sign on 2 months ago:
This is bait.
It’s just my opinion. I just don’t see what the fuss about a 6 gun limit could possibly be (iirc that’s the limit sought by the federal government).
But I’m not requiring you to answer it
- Comment on Gun buyback deadline expires with most states still refusing to sign on 2 months ago:
You’ve left out a fourth group who is probably much bigger than the first 2, as a subset of the the 3rd.
People who generally think uncessary access to guns is not desirable. Farming, military, land management, and only in numbers that are actually needed.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say the average person looks at the US and thinks: yeah, that’s dumb.
Ask the average person on the street what they think of the buyback after port Arthur. It’s overwhelmingly: yeah, obviously good.
I’m willing to be they feel the same about this buy back back, but with everything going on, it’s not exactly top of mind.
I think you woefully underestimate how anti-gun the majority of the population is. Even if most people don’t have much time to really engage with it.
The amount of money it’ll cost is pennies in the grand scheme of things. Hence why we all aren’t even paying attention.
- Comment on Albanese government rejects all UN recommendations on improving LGBTQIA+ rights 2 months ago:
Had to go looking, you mean this?
we should undermine the democratic process and state government powers because I don’t like it when the state government doesn’t lean the way I personally want
A very dangerous road to walk
I never thought I’d be defending the coalition but imagine if the coalition federal government (who historically avoid/prevent federal overrides) did this for issues like abortion
This is a cop out, because certain issues should be legislated for the whole country (opinions, and constitutionally where the power lies, varies)
Nek minnit you’ll be telling me the states should take back their right to legislate workers rights (which they used to).
It absolutely makes sense for it to be uniform across the country. This isn’t the USA, most people don’t believe in states rights. Depending on the topic, opinions will vary on what should and should not be prerogative of federal vs state.
What is true is that devolving too many things creates a mess. Engineering registrations are hodge-podge even though we regularly work between jurisdictions. Chemical regs are also not harmonised, meaning you a nation-wide company has to follow different rules for every state… (taking examples from my industry, but you get the point).
Transport infrastructure makes sense to be state by state, since we’re such a big country with a relatively sparse population.
Unless you just want to be rid of the federal government entirely, what exactly do you think is the point of the federal government?
In conclusion, federal Labor absolutely should and importantly could have implemented at least some of the recommendations… and you saying “oh it’s dangerous!” seems unconvincing to me.
- Comment on Albanese government rejects all UN recommendations on improving LGBTQIA+ rights 2 months ago:
Federal lawcouncil.au/…/anti-discrimination-laws
And federal supremacy clause en.wikipedia.org/…/Section_109_of_the_Constitutio…
So, yeah, the states can legislate for discrimination, but if there’s any conflict, federal takes president.
I am not a lawyer, and freely admit I am not an expert on this, but it feels like you’re pretending like the federal government doesn’t have these powers as an excuse for why they ignored all the recommendations. But they DO legislate on matters of discrimination, that is simply true.
And unless you’ve got something extra up your sleeve, I think you’re making excuses.
It’s okay to disagree with the Party you support, provided you agree with the majority of their positions. It’s a bit annoying if you make excuses for them though.