Nath
@Nath@aussie.zone
- Comment on Gina Rinehart funded flights and fashion show for Pauline Hanson 3 days ago:
Despite my differences with senator Hanson (and boy howdy, there are many), I will respect that what you see is what you get with her. She has one trick, and she does it openly and honestly. She hasn’t tried hiding expenses, she stomps on people in her own party when they are caught out and doesn’t try to defend them. I even think she was treated a bit harshly in 2003 when she was imprisoned for electoral fraud. I have never begrudged her existence, nor the rights of the whackos who have repeatedly voted for her. I see value in her as a litmus test of that end of the scale in the electorate. Yes she is racist. She, she is frankly awful. But on the other hand, those things are not against the law.
These two have been associated with one another in the public mind for about 18 months now. There has been intense scrutiny on them since they went to the US President’s Halloween party last year. They’ve both spoken publicly about their friendship when asked about it. As to keeping it low-key, how much do we know about the friends of any politician? They didn’t raise it, but didn’t shy away from it either.
I actually worked with the Minister of Veteran Affairs 25 years ago when he was a uni student. While we not exactly close, I’d have called him a mate at that time (I haven’t heard from him since I left there in 2004). So there’s a little low-key disclosure for you. 🙂
- Comment on Gina Rinehart funded flights and fashion show for Pauline Hanson 3 days ago:
Controversial take, but I don’t have as huge an issue with this. Senator Hanson is upfront about the gifts, it’s all in the open. She’s clear that Ms Rinehart is a friend and speaks to her about government policy. Gina is also pretty straight-up about her agenda and a desire to turn Australia MAGA. This influence is crystal clear. We (the public) are aware that this is happening and have the ability and opportunity to decide whether we will accept this relationship in our public figures (and vote accordingly). A straight-up transfer of money in return for senatorial votes would be corruption and a step too far. Yes, this friendship skirts that line pretty damn closely.
I have far more issues with billionaires influencing politics inside a veil of secrecy. We all know it is happening, but we don’t know for certain who those billionaires and politicians are, nor what policies they’re talking about.
I do have obvious concerns with the Gina/Pauline BFF thing, but I think the “secret mates” are a bigger problem.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 4 days ago:
Oh it’s WiFi, I wasn’t expecting it to receive the alert. It’s just that my test iOS device for all the other stuff I do (like 6+ Lemmy apps) isn’t much use for testing this thing as it didn’t get the alert.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 5 days ago:
Neat! I’ve never seen/used this setting before. Confirmed it is in there. My iPad didn’t get the alert, does iOS have a similar feature? Until just now, I don’t think I would have ever thought of a use for it.
“You’ve dismissed this notification, but if you want to re-live it for some reason - here it is!” - Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 5 days ago:
Every month? I think Isn’t that super annoying?
What if there were a genuine emergency on the first Monday of the month? A lot of people would dismiss the alert assuming it’s routine and not even read it. That’s if they hadn’t outright disabled the alert in the first place because of spam. - Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 5 days ago:
And it stopped far sooner than I expected. If I were upstairs wearing headphones and the phone were downstairs, it is very plausible that I’d miss the alert entirely.
- Comment on Leggo's, Coles and Aldi selling Chinese tomatoes as 'Australian' and 'Italian' in products, forensic testing finds 5 days ago:
Affecting so many brands, many of whom pride themselves on sourcing from Australian growers. I suspect it’s a subset of the growers themselves (or a single supplier) behind this, rather than the brands. It is too much to believe that 30 brands all sourced from some Chinese supplier independently. I would love to find out how far this rabbit hole goes.
- Comment on AusAlert emergency warning test: What you need to know and how to prepare 5 days ago:
In the slim chance that someone from whatever department is responsible for this reads about the user experience of Australians:
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You better keep these emergency alert messages to be super simple sentences like “Danger Will Robinson!! Evacuate now!!”.Because once you hit “ok”, the message is gone. No retrieving whatever it said.
If there had been emergency phone number or radio frequency in there and I missed it, I can’t get whatever the alert said back. That seems stupid to me. - Comment on Thanks For ~~all the the fish~~ Hosting, Let’s Get an Update 1 week ago:
Our secret is two-fold:
- The site is run by a couple of tech nerds with full-time jobs. This is not done for financial gain. We both think the other does all the work on the site. 😃
- The biggest cost of these sorts of services is usually labour. And we get that for free.
You already replied/donated in the last nerd update post.
- Comment on Hanson says domestic violence comments taken 'out of context' as criticism mounts 1 week ago:
Okay then, Senator Hanson: Give us the context. Please explain to us how in context we are supposed to take what you said regarding Domestic Violence. Because when I read things like “If these women are getting abused by men out there, then don’t put up with it”, I struggle to find any context that could be anything except abhorrent.
How can you defend/explain these quotes to mean something the electorate is meant to get behind? Because honestly, the only quote of yours I’m in agreement with is “I’m growing less tolerant of many journalists within the [mainstream media] and so too are the public,” - but my growing mistrust is more to do with the fact that we have been suddenly talking about you in the past three months after decades of you screaming into the wind.
I don’t know why you are relevant outside your fringe circles all of a sudden, and I have growing suspicions that there is intent behind this change bringing you to the wider political discourse.
- Comment on [META] Overseas News - Proposal for increased enforcement of Rule 1 2 weeks ago:
If we move to a new community and the intent is not to get spammed by non-Australians, then my advice would be to do something similar to the Rage community.
Keep the word ‘news’ out of the community name so it doesn’t turn up when someone searches for all the news communities to spam to.
I’m not much fussed either way, I’m happy to set up a new community and archive this one if that’s what everyone wants. I’m happy to leave it with the status quo.
Personally, I’d probably go with leaving it and urge everyone to be stricter and report stuff that doesn’t belong. I only check the site a couple of times a day, but I gets reports on my phone and usually respond quickly.
- Comment on Dave Hughes Urged To Start Negatively Gearing The Rental Property That Albo Is Occupying In His Head 2 weeks ago:
I haven’t heard his whinging, but I can imagine what he sounds like. He’s got a cushy gig on the telly, has invested in some property and now these changes to help make houses more affordable are reducing the value of his property portfolio.
Yeah Dave, that’s the point. You’ve done really well for yourself - how about you share some of that with the rest of us. You aren’t a little Aussie battler any more, maybe you’ve forgotten what that feels like?
- Comment on [META] Overseas News - Proposal for increased enforcement of Rule 1 2 weeks ago:
I saw the report this morning, saw that you had already permitted the post to stay up and so I stayed out of it. 🙂
I probably would have removed the post otherwise, but I’m not going to overrule a community mod unless there is a bloody good reason for it. This is what you get when your community is called “worldnews”. Though I believe @arbilp3 is actually Australian. So, I’m not sure it would have made a big difference in this case.
- Comment on Barnaby Joyce claims Australia is a ‘Christian nation’ and says many First Nations people would agree 2 weeks ago:
Mr ‘FlipFlop’ Joyce believes whatever will get the most noise this week. He doesn’t give a shit about religion.
Lived with his wife for years, they had two kids when suddenly it was a political priority to get the kids baptised and for the two of them to get married in a church.I’d love for him to back this up: Find 100 first nations Australians who would agree that Australia is a Christian Nation.
Not because I don’t believe there are 100 First Nations people out there who would say this, there probably are. But because it would do him a galaxy of good to actually go out and meet with 100 First Australians. - Comment on Unlike Count Binface, joke parties can’t run in Australian elections — and that’s serious 2 weeks ago:
If you register a party and get people to vote for you, you’re a part of the democratic process. There are several parties who have what I think of as extreme views.
- Comment on Greenland stands up to bullying by Australian mining company 3 weeks ago:
A mining company that nobody has ever heard of with a <5c ASX share price. Are these guys seriously in a position to actually bully anyone?
They’re mad that they can’t keep digging up Greenland.
… k. - Comment on Nobody's happy with Telstra today 3 weeks ago:
What about 0118 999 88199 9119 725 3 ?
- Comment on PM 'unequivocally' apologises for 'shag, marry, date' podcast comments 3 weeks ago:
A day later, this is the main front-page story of The West Australian:
On a day where there’s actual real shit going on (Australia/Fiji mutual defence pact and China throwing an ICBM over the ocean as a ‘test’ hours later).
- Comment on PM 'unequivocally' apologises for 'shag, marry, date' podcast comments 3 weeks ago:
Albanese initially declined to answer, noting he had recently married.
So, he’s stuck here - He did not want to engage with the stupid question.
But when Osborne pressed him on what he would say if his marriage were to end, he replied: “Oh, Kylie, clearly.”
Further asked to confirm whether he meant he would marry, sleep with or date the singer, Albanese said: “All of the above. She’s terrific.”
Holy storm in a teacup, batman. This dumb game is played by teenagers everywhere and has been at least throughout my life. When you stop to think about it, it’s demeaning and not a nice game to play. And a far better answer would have been to point that out. But what political staffer preparing the PM for interviews is going to cover that question? He’s stuck in a place of not wanting to be ‘boring’ and engages with the stupid game. And now he needs to apologise for all this?
Why isn’t Nikki Osborne apologising for reducing three Australian women to simple potential prizes in a hypothetical game? And besides, he’s right: Kylie is terrific. Who can argue with that?
- Comment on White nationalist group marches as US celebrates July 4 3 weeks ago:
Please don’t report for rule #2.
While correct literally - this event is pure internal US stuff, there are clear parallels to local Australian losers doing similar marches. They feed off and inspire each other (because they can’t find closer support). If this goes without comment, it signals that similar white racist stuff can go ahead in Australia without comment. - Comment on Mysterious debris found on Queensland beaches could be ‘space balls’ – and may contain toxic rocket fuel 3 weeks ago:
I see your Schwartz is as big as mine. Now let’s see how well you handle it.
- Comment on Discussion Thread 🦕 Wednesday 1 July 2026 4 weeks ago:
So after doing it last year, I’m being asked to stay overnight at the kids’ band camp again this year. Only I was wrong a year ago: it was Sunday Night > Monday morning. As I predicted, I got insufficient sleep that night and went from the band camp straight to work the next day. It sucked.
I don’t especially want to do it, but I’m being guilted by the whole “Sadly, we won’t be able to proceed with the overnight stay if this spot remains empty” bit of the email. I’ll hold back a little and hope another dad steps up this year. And if I do end up caving, I’ll be taking that Monday off.
- Comment on Discussion Thread 🦭 Monday 29 June 2026 4 weeks ago:
My Achilles heel: Spam posted on the site before about 7-7:30 Perth time.
- Comment on The Victorian Greens are taking a page from Mamdani’s policy playbook. Can they combat rising rightwing populism? 4 weeks ago:
It is only because I am perpetually online that I recognise the name “Mamdami” and know who he is. Politically in Australia, the new(ish) mayor of New York is not a figure. I can only assume this headline is trying to get attention - even international engagement.
Rather than hanging the potential policy on a foreign name, let’s outline what the actual plan is.
… a new land tax bracket on investment property holdings worth more than $5m, with the proceeds helping to fund a doubling of public housing and the scrapping of stamp duty for first home buyers.
Under the plan, from 1 January 2027, affected properties would face a base charge of $100,000 plus a 5.3% rate on land value above the threshold. The policy, costed by the Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office, would raise about $1.46bn by 2028/29 or $6.4bn over a decade.
As the Greens are not in power, and don’t have the ability to pass such a bill, this is all just a pipe-dream. Even should the Greens win the state election in November, there is 0% chance of getting such a policy in-place by Jan 1.
They’re much easier to support when they have realistic goals.
- Comment on I'm not sure that talking-point is a winner... 1 month ago:
I can’t believe I’m defending her, but she’s no Trump wannabe.
She’s been saying this crazy shit since 1996. All that’s changed is the level of attention she’s been getting for some reason. If it turns out that there’s been an orchestrated campaign to mass-spam social media with ONP propaganda a couple of years down the line, I’d believe it. She’s been around for decades, and catering to her 5% fringe whack-jobs all this time. Suddenly in 2026, she’s mainstream-relevant. - Comment on I'm not sure that talking-point is a winner... 1 month ago:
I don’t think I could manage to listen to her speak for over 8 minutes, so here’s a tldw:
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-17/…/106808570PM Pauline’s wishlist:
- End multiculturism.
- End the SBS.
- End free ABC in cities - only regional areas get ABC.
- End access to media she dislikes from the Canberra Press room.
- End all immigration (from non-white places).
- End families speaking languages other than English at home.
- Reduce employee rights. Reduce minimum wage.
- End Trans rights.
- Scrap National Indigenous Australians Agency.
- Reduce abortion access.
That looks like a pretty solid ‘go after the white boomer vote’ checklist to me. I saw her last year, in person she looks oooold. That trademark hair is all fake these days, she’s in her 70’s now. Fairly standard boomer look. Going for the boomer vote is a strategy has been failing the Liberal party of late, there just aren’t enough boomers any more. But if she wins them then yeah - she might get a third of the vote.
- Comment on I'm not sure that talking-point is a winner... 1 month ago:
Hey that’s me! My mum was a Kiwi. Despite my family having been on this island for at least 200 years, my ancestors weren’t bigots, so some of them married foreigners! gasp
- Comment on Kenyan student Sheila Chebii fell 15 floors to her death while working at a Sydney hotel. Her family want answers 1 month ago:
I mean - what coverage do we want as a society on this? The headline tells just about everything we know. This sentence is carrying all that anyone has: “NSW police said a report would be presented to the state coroner to determine if an inquest into Chebii’s death will be held. A spokesperson for SafeWork NSW confirmed it was “making inquiries” into the matter.”
It’d be wall-to-wall if we knew she was murdered. It’d get nothing if we knew she killed herself. It’d get a minor article and the hotel would face charges if we knew a railing failed or something.
But we have nothing in this case. It’s weird that she fell to her death, and a bit suspicious. But I don’t actually know what coverage I would demand in this situation.
“The Family want answers” is probably about the only angle they can go with.
- Comment on You rock up to Super Cheap to deck out your silver 2009 Toyota Yaris. Which aisle endcap you going with? 1 month ago:
I hired a Yaris in Adelaide for a week once. It drove great but I couldn’t get over the dashboard console all being in the centre of the car. And nothing in front of the driver.
I figured I’d get used to it after a couple of days, but nope.
- Comment on Quokkau not federating correctly? 1 month ago:
Is it only Aussie.zone where the posts/comments are failing to appear?
Alternately, are people seeing comments/posts from other instances failing to appear on aussie.zone?
I’m 99% local to this instance, so I probably wouldn’t notice either scenario without replicating it myself.
