Opinion AUSTRALIAN Politics: Adelaide Board Discussion Part 6

[Kane McGoodwin]

Wow, nice own goal.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Doing her job lmao. What even is it?

Wasn't value for money...

 

[Bearded Clam]

Doing her job lmao. What even is it?

Whats your job Slippery?..

I mean… there’s nothing more ignorant than someone who has no idea what is involved in doing someone else’s job commenting “doing their job lmao.. what even is it?”.. read your statement again.. can you not actually see the irony in it?.. not even a tiny bit?.

Love them or hate them.. and they are very easy to hate.. politicians get paid **** all really considering 99% of them could make a shit ton more money in the private sector.. and often do when they leave parliament.

If politicians were paid more.. we might actually get even better ones..

But we seem to have this increasing americanised view of the public service creeping in here in Australia whereby we all want more from our public servants for less and less..

Look at you and mutineer carrying on endlessly about Vic crime.. you want the government to do more..
to do that you need more police, more police resources to arm those police with the tools to do their job, more police stations, more correctional facilities, more services aimed at kerbing youth crime and at stopping re- affending, more resources thrown at the courts of laws to prosecute.. but that all costs a hell of a lot more money.

And you can be guaranteed you and mutineer and your conservative mates would all squeal like stuck pigs if you were asked to pay more tax to fund it!..

If we all want better police services, better politicians, better health services, better funding for education, better roads, then we need to stop demanding endless tax/rates cuts at every government election and start funding the shit.. the private sector isn’t gonna do it unless theres good coin in it.. and frankly, why should they. They exist to make a profit.

We are quickly becoming a nation full of selfish fxxks that want to pay less tax and yet expect to be provided more services.

We are going down the same path as the US started travelling under Regan in the 80’s but just 20-30 years behind.. where infrastructure and services are provided by private industry and a massive part of the population (the uneducated dumb**** part that generally vote Republican) are brainwashed into thinking that the government spending any money on any infrastructure or services using taxpayers money is some communist scam..

The same uneducated republican voting morons are now losing their access to basic healthcare and social security and are whinging about it.. chicken’s are coming home to roost for these dumb****s all while public infrastructure is crumbling around them..

But hey.. at least they got their wish of an ICE agency police state.. to go after all those brown people they have been told to fear.

And people like you and mutineer are cheering it on like you want this same US style Reganomics/ Trumpism BS here!.

 

[Mutineer]

Belly up on the Taxpayers coin...

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/victoria/administrators-reveal-vast-renewables-owes-25m-after-securing-300m-in-grants-loans/news-story/f614ce55b29ff0bbd5c0cc3d92aa1c34

Administrators reveal Vast Renewables owes $79m after securing $300m in grants, loans​

A NSW billionaire’s national solar energy company has crashed into administration owing $79m, despite being awarded hundreds of millions in public money.

A collapsed national renewable energy company - that’s been awarded more than $300m in government grants and loans - owes creditors more than $79m, administrators have revealed.
Eleven companies related to Vast Renewables plunged into voluntary administration on November 13, with KPMG experts brought in to restructure or sell the business.

KPMG Australia’s Peter Gothard and Amanda Coneyworth said preliminary investigations showed the companies owed more than $79m to creditors, and another $2.5m to staff.

The administration process itself would cost between $700,000 and $900,000, KPMG said.
Vast, which was founded by Sydney’s billionaire Kahlbetzer family and is chaired by former Oil Search chief executive Peter Botten, is an on-demand renewable energy and clean fuels platform focused on concentrated solar thermal power.

It also has green fuels projects, as well as commercial and industrial applications like off-grid power and data centres.
The report said the company had “relied to a significant extent on government funding, in the form of grants” to develop their technology.

 

[Mutineer]

And the city dwelling nuffies that don't give a shit about country folk especially farmers wonder why farmers are up in arms about having their cropping and grazing land ruined by these great ugly behemoths. Need a bit more than an old stumpjump plough to negotiate your way through a field dotted with this shit. No doubt Mr Renewables Kano will think this disgraceful practice of not cleaning up there mess after these wind farm operators ride off into the sunset is all good and fine.

Heavy legacy as wind farms leave hefty concrete turbine bases buried

Burial of wind turbine bases sparks debate over decommissioning.

www.farmonline.com.au

Heavy legacy as wind farms leave hefty concrete turbine bases buried

The decision by a major wind farm operator to leave the concrete and steel bases of Australia's once biggest wind farm buried in farmland has caused alarm.

 

[arrowman]

If politicians were paid more.. we might actually get even better ones..

An appealing idea, but IMO not the answer. It's not the amount they are paid, but the way they are selected. Party hacks get the front running for safe seats and senate tickets. Party loyalty trumps merit. That won't change if salaries are increased.

 

[Eagleboy2011]

Im ok with what Albo has done here. Only good can come from it.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Im ok with what Albo has done here. Only good can come from it.


View attachment 2494565

How is this going to work in practice?

Will it be like when Napster was crushed which successfully ended music piracy?

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It just gets worse by the day now it's come to light the taxpayers picked up the tab in Paris for Anika Wells meal at the cost of unbelievably $1,000 and at the same meal the taxpayers picked up the tab for $750 for wine. Where are you Albo?

This reminded me of the Sopranos when Paulie runs up the bill at dinner knowing that Christopher has to pick up the tab

Christopher Moltisanti: You want me to tell you? Fine! Steaks, three-pound lobsters, the shrimp ****ing cocktails you made everybody get! Then on top of everything else, you send those skanks a bottle of Cristal?

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: I was being a gentleman, Chrissy. You oughta try it sometime.

Christopher Moltisanti: Not to mention the Lyonnaise ****in' potatoes you didn't even touch!

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: What? I lost my appetite.

Christopher Moltisanti: **** you!

 

[ADL9798]

All we need now is ADL97jabs to pop in for his usual spiel: this actually isn’t happening! the Covid immigration spike has returned to normal! i also really want to talk about letting less third-worlders in but I’d prefer someone else brought it up so I can still look like a good person.

Some gold-plated white supremacist projection on display here. Good luck with that.

I work with some extraordinarily intelligent, talented and kind people who've recently migrated from 3rd world countries. Equally I know some feckless idiots and criminals who migrated here from the UK and South Africa. And vice versa. There's enormous variation in education levels, values and socioeconomic status not only across countries but within them too.

That's why we should be assessing prospective migrants on a case-by-case basis and prioritising the most talented people with the right mix of technical skills, education, values, English proficiency, etc to keep driving our country forward, not making racist blanket rules based on the colour of their skin or the country they're born in.

As I’ve said before (see below), my main gripe with our migration system is about the international student sector (who account for the majority of temporary visas, and subsequently take the majority of our permanent visa spots).

Successive governments going back to Howard have let empire building universities aimlessly churn out millions of commerce and IT graduates and dictate the largest proportion of who comes to live here.

That needs to stop. Government needs to take this system off autopilot, set a strategy, and make a stronger connection between migration (including student visas and university places) and the skills we actually need over the next few decades.

We also need to hold universities accountable for housing 100% of the international students they bring in, rather than the status quo of letting them get away with privatising their profits and socialising their losses, and outsourcing responsibility for this.

I am more than happy to have a discussion about the actual problems with our migration system and how to fix these (without needing to exaggerate or invent problems).

In particular, the need for government to take our migration system off autopilot, and take control back from the university sector who for two decades going back to Howard have (by design) been left to their own devices to dictate the majority of who comes into Australia.

"People are coming here, enrolling in courses that don't really add substantially to either their skills base or to the national interest here," Mr Albanese said.

Press conference - Sydney

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. This week was a very busy week last week in Parliament. We of course responded to the High Court decision with the comprehensive response to ensure Australians can be safe. We responded as well through the National Cabinet process with an immediate...

www.pm.gov.au

I've been doing a bit of reading into Australian migration policy, in particular the international student sector.

The headline for me is that of the 550k migrants arriving here in 2024 (temp and permanent visas), 250k were student visas. By comparison pre-COVID we were taking in around 250k people per annum including 100k students. Secondly, international students are the biggest feeder into our permanent visa spots.

So if you care about our migration strategy (the volume of people we're taking in, who we're targeting, when migration will return to pre-COVID levels, etc), you should care about this.

Rambling post from here but my thoughts below for anyone interested.

Current system

• Until last year Australia's system for student visas was, by design, largely uncapped and demand driven.
• My understanding of what this means is that universities open more places for courses which are in highest demand from overseas prospective students, and most of these applicants have their visas granted.
• This was established in the John Howard era and backed by successive governments to support privatisation of the universities, increase their revenue, and grow this part of our economy (which it has - international students are now South Australia's 2nd largest export. Wheat #1, Copper #3).
• The drawback of this is that the tail is now wagging the dog for by far the largest part of our migration system - with the interests of empire building universities and their students dictating the largest proportion of who comes into Australia on temporary visas (many of whom become permanent).
• Successive governments going back to Howard (Labor and Liberal) have been asleep at the wheel on the international student sector, and have by extension allowed our migration system to drift aimlessly with no clear strategy. This has been brought into sharp focus by the huge backlog of students that have come through post-COVID.

Recent changes

• After decades of zero government leadership in this area Labor have done (imo) a good job with the new National Migration Strategy.
• It draws a line in the sand on the issue, making it clear that while migration and international students are important for our economy, governments have to lean in more. It provides sorely needed sensible, logical, evidence based, long term visionary thinking. Actual solutions to actual problems, not lies or hysterical fear mongering to create division.
• Fundamentally the pitch is that we need to make a stronger connection between migration (including student visas) and the skills we need over the next few decades, rather than letting the universities aimlessly churn out millions of commerce and IT graduates.
• The real test will of course be how they go putting this into practice, and they'll rightfully be held accountable for that.
• Since 2024, they've made a few changes including an actual cap on student visas and increased control over where any additional visa spots are offered. There will be a shift in focus towards:
  • courses which align with the skills Australia actually needs
  • universities needing to invest more in housing
  • students from south east Asian countries.
• they've also increased the English proficiency requirement, increased visa application costs, tightened up 'genuine student' rules, and a few other changes that all seem to designed to put the brakes on and give government greater control.
• I could only find data up to the end of 2024, but the number of student visas granted definitely reduced in 2024. It’s not clear whether this is down to these changes, or a natural return to normality post-COVID. Watch this space I think.

 

[BRL121]

Some gold-plated white supremacist projection on display here. Good luck with that.

I work with some extraordinarily intelligent, talented and kind people who've recently migrated from 3rd world countries. Equally I know some feckless idiots and criminals who migrated here from the UK and South Africa. And vice versa. There's enormous variation in education levels, values and socioeconomic status not only across countries but within them too.

That's why we should be assessing prospective migrants on a case-by-case basis and prioritising the most talented people with the right mix of technical skills, education, values, English proficiency, etc to keep driving our country forward, not making racist blanket rules based on the colour of their skin or the country they're born in.

As I’ve said before (see below), my main gripe with our migration system is about the international student sector (who account for the majority of temporary visas, and subsequently take the majority of our permanent visa spots).

Successive governments going back to Howard have let empire building universities aimlessly churn out millions of commerce and IT graduates and dictate the largest proportion of who comes to live here.

That needs to stop. Government needs to take this system off autopilot, set a strategy, and make a stronger connection between migration (including student visas and university places) and the skills we actually need over the next few decades.

We also need to hold universities accountable for housing 100% of the international students they bring in, rather than the status quo of letting them get away with privatising their profits and socialising their losses, and outsourcing responsibility for this.

I agree with most of this, except the student detail.
Governments have steadily reduced funding for Universities, encouraging them to get it from international students: the slow death of 1000 cuts. (I have experienced it). The end result is as expected. The problem is not so much trying to control the number of students, or what they study.

The core problem is in the expectation of a permanent visa at the end of it. This should be made extremely difficult.
The expectation should be that the students are required to return home, or elsewhere, before they can even think of applying for one. It seems to have become default that they expect one, together with the ability to bring their entire family over to join them afterwards.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

What is rhe point of IPEA if there is unlimited spending for some entitlement.... what a joke of system designed by both major parties.

About time some actual real limits were put in place, like what applies in the real world.. otherwise the sorting by many will just continue...

Australia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say

Prime minister defends Anika Wells as controversy over use of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements continues

www.theguardian.com

 

[jackster83]

What is rhe point of IPEA if there is unlimited spending for some entitlement.... what a joke of system designed by both major parties.

About time some actual real limits were put in place, like what applies in the real world.. otherwise the sorting by many will just continue...

Australia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say

Prime minister defends Anika Wells as controversy over use of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements continues

www.theguardian.com

They really are all a bunch of grubs.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

They really are all a bunch of grubs.

Many politicians are doing the right thing, whilst others are just outright abusing the system because the rules are a joke.

Clearly there needs to be limits applied, because so many cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

 

[Mutineer]

What is rhe point of IPEA if there is unlimited spending for some entitlement.... what a joke of system designed by both major parties.

About time some actual real limits were put in place, like what applies in the real world.. otherwise the sorting by many will just continue...

Australia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say

Prime minister defends Anika Wells as controversy over use of taxpayer-funded travel entitlements continues

www.theguardian.com

You think the Greens, Teals and Independants don't rort the system too, I got some news for you.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Tou think the Greens, Teals and Independants don't rort the system too, I got some news for you.

Which parties are the leading rorters from Bicks...

The rules need to be fixed to close the unlimited spending.

The IPEA is effectively a toothless tiger.

 

[Mutineer]

Which parties are the leading rorters from Bicks...

The rules need to be fixed to close the unlimited spending.

The IPEA is effectively a toothless tiger.

Well given the media don't chase the other parties or Independants up nearly as much how do you know any different? You don't.

 

[Mutineer]

Loading…

www.skynews.com.au

Camera SHY: Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young cancels Sky News interview amid revelations taxpayer foots bill for lobbyist husband’s flights​

December 11, 2025 - 12:10PM
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has canned her regular Sky News TV interview as she faces public scrutiny for splashing taxpayer cash on her lobbyist husband's flights.

Senator Hanson-Young normally appears alongside the Nationals deputy leader every Thursday morning.

But she was absent a day after revelations in The Australian she flew her husband Ben Oquist, who conducts work from Canberra, to and from the nation's capital more than 70 times.

The Greens Senator's public expenditure logs included more than 70 flights for a “family member” between Canberra and other cities – predominately Adelaide at a cost of $49,902.

Mr Oquist works for DPG Advisory Solutions, guiding the likes of Rio Tinto, Ausgrid, Salesforce and Wesfarmers.

He conducts his work in Canberra, but the power-couple also reside in Adelaide.

Sources told the paper they saw Senator Hanson-Young flying “quite often” with just her husband, and not any of their children.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Well given the media don't chase the other parties or Independants up nearly as much how do you know any different? You don't.

Wilkie has claimed 5 family trips over his whole career... all in Canberra.

If you are going to whine about them, how about do some research!

The media chase everyone Bicks as it's a good story.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Loading…

www.skynews.com.au

Camera SHY: Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young cancels Sky News interview amid revelations taxpayer foots bill for lobbyist husband’s flights​

December 11, 2025 - 12:10PM
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has canned her regular Sky News TV interview as she faces public scrutiny for splashing taxpayer cash on her lobbyist husband's flights.

Senator Hanson-Young normally appears alongside the Nationals deputy leader every Thursday morning.

But she was absent a day after revelations in The Australian she flew her husband Ben Oquist, who conducts work from Canberra, to and from the nation's capital more than 70 times.

The Greens Senator's public expenditure logs included more than 70 flights for a “family member” between Canberra and other cities – predominately Adelaide at a cost of $49,902.

Mr Oquist works for DPG Advisory Solutions, guiding the likes of Rio Tinto, Ausgrid, Salesforce and Wesfarmers.

He conducts his work in Canberra, but the power-couple also reside in Adelaide.

Sources told the paper they saw Senator Hanson-Young flying “quite often” with just her husband, and not any of their children.

I thought the media were not interested in minor parties...

 

[Mutineer]

I thought the media were not interested in minor parties...

You got pwned Kano...

They all do it, some more than others but they all do it and will continue to do it, you only had to listen to Albo today defending it.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

You got pwned Kano...

They all do it, some more than others but they all do it and will continue to do it, you only had to listen to Albo today defending it.

No, not all politicians do it Bicks!

Plenty & too many do though from all parties. I have always said this, so only you self pwned yourself that the media don't worry about the minor parties.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Well given the media don't chase the other parties or Independants up nearly as much how do you know any different? You don't.

This, then nexf posts on your favourite Greens candidate's spending spree.

The media will call out anyone regardless of party Bicks.

 

[Vader]

You got pwned Kano...

They all do it, some more than others but they all do it and will continue to do it, you only had to listen to Albo today defending it.

Not really. SHY is the ONLY Green in the top-20.

You can see the list of the top-20 here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/pollies-charge-taxpayers-for-family-travel/106122328

For the record, it's:
8x ALP
5x LIB
4x NAT
2x IND
1x GRN

That's a disproportionately high number of LNP snouts in the trough, given that it was a Labor Govt, with a Labor majority last year.

By any standard, 1 Green in the top-20 does not in any way suggest that they collectively have their snouts in the trough more than anyone else. If anything, the opposite is the case.

I still think you should be looking at Don Farrell more closely. He's the clubhouse leader, with almost 20% more than anyone else, and he doesn't have the excuse of being a party leader (Dutton & Albanese are understandably both high on the list) and he doesn't come from a high-expense state like WA or NT. Given that Farrell is an ALP member, I would have expected you to be all over him like a rash.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Not really. SHY is the ONLY Green in the top-20.

You can see the list of the top-20 here:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/pollies-charge-taxpayers-for-family-travel/106122328

For the record, it's:
8x ALP
5x LIB
4x NAT
2x IND
1x GRN

That's a disproportionately high number of LNP snouts in the trough, given that it was a Labor Govt, with a Labor majority last year.

By any standard, 1 Green in the top-20 does not in any way suggest that they collectively have their snouts in the trough more than anyone else. If anything, the opposite is the case.

I still think you should be looking at Don Farrell more closely. He's the clubhouse leader, with almost 20% more than anyone else, and he doesn't have the excuse of being a party leader (Dutton & Albanese are understandably both high on the list) and he doesn't come from a high-expense state like WA or NT. Given that Farrell is an ALP member, I would have expected you to be all over him like a rash.

Farrell wields a lot of power, so Albanese will be chicken shit about doing anything about him... but you are correct in saying he is one of the biggest abusers of the system.

If the leaders from either side were fair dinkum (which they are not), they would demote all those making ridiculously high claims.