Welcome to the most taxed state in the country boys.

Someone has to pay off these lockdown era debts. It may as well be the people living here.

Those lockdowns no one wanted BTW.

May 24, 2023 0:20:56 GMT NATH45 said:

Welcome to the most taxed state in the country boys.

Someone has to pay off these lockdown era debts. It may as well be the people living here.

Those lockdowns no one wanted BTW.

It's straight crap, because they are tapping all the people who never wanted lockdowns to pay for them
Let's not forget our mortality rate is now pretty much the same as Sweden's which had ZERO lockdowns.
We spent a fortune and have ZERO to show for it.

Also, what crap saying that the budget doesn't affect working families while you role out a land tax on investment properties.
Is there a single person in government that doesn't expect these costs to be passed on to the renters?

This state is so full of waste, mostly in capital project blow-outs because the government doesn't have the balls to hold the unions to account.
When they did the level crossing replacement in my suburb they had 5 full time people there for three months to tell pedestrians where the new entry to the station was...
Mind you it was CLEARLY signed, such monumental waste everywhere.



BRUTAL!


This NDIS is going to bankrupt this country, I know so many families now where one of the family is paid on the NDIS and another family member is paid as their full time carer.
Set aside whether it is right... It is so expensive that the nation is going to collapse under the weight of it.

Those who own investment properties are the real villains. Didn't you get The Greens' bullet points on housing?

[insert picture of "cashed-up boomer feasting on lobsters, throwing rotten apples from their castles at the poor" here]

Despite interest rates, inflation, cost of living, taxes new and old - you're not allow to cover your expenses?

The intention isn’t exactly hidden in the fine print - these are "investments" with the intent to produce income.

It's not the property owner at fault this time folks.

Victoria says goodbye to the Commonwealth Games.

We're broke. I guess all those lockdowns and economic snifling over the last few years weren't such a good thing after all for Victoria.

And nothing of value was lost. They should never have said yes in the first place (there's a reason no one else wants to host) but at least they're pulling the pin now. Spend that money on something more important.

Victoria's net debt is expected to hit $135b this financial year. There is no " spending it some where else " plus all the legacy commitments are reportedly still going ahead. Meaning, if your town or suburb was getting a upgraded or new facility, you're still getting it. That's good, I suppose.

It is unfortunate however. The positive economic impact would have been massive, especially for regional areas that were hosting events.

Typical of Dan Andrews, nothing adds up, as that is the news piece this afternoon. How a previously estimated $2.6b venture is now $7b no one will ever know.

Jul 18, 2023 6:38:19 GMT NATH45 said:

Victoria's net debt is expected to hit $135b this financial year. There is no " spending it some where else " plus all the legacy commitments are reportedly still going ahead. Meaning, if your town or suburb was getting a upgraded or new facility, you're still getting it. That's good, I suppose.

It is unfortunate however. The positive economic impact would have been massive, especially for regional areas that were hosting events.

Typical of Dan Andrews, nothing adds up, as that is the news piece this afternoon. How a previously estimated $2.6b venture is now $7b no one will ever know.

From what I have read a large percentage of those legacy commitments is for regional housing - so that's what I mean about spending on something more important than hosting a sports event (even if it was the catalyst).

The Gabba redevelopment for the 2032 Olympics has also blown out by about three times - this is not unique to Victoria and anyone who says otherwise is lying. In case you haven't noticed things have got a lot more expensive lately.

Jul 18, 2023 6:48:04 GMT @admin said:

Jul 18, 2023 6:38:19 GMT NATH45 said:

Victoria's net debt is expected to hit $135b this financial year. There is no " spending it some where else " plus all the legacy commitments are reportedly still going ahead. Meaning, if your town or suburb was getting a upgraded or new facility, you're still getting it. That's good, I suppose.

It is unfortunate however. The positive economic impact would have been massive, especially for regional areas that were hosting events.

Typical of Dan Andrews, nothing adds up, as that is the news piece this afternoon. How a previously estimated $2.6b venture is now $7b no one will ever know.

From what I have read a large percentage of those legacy commitments is for regional housing - so that's what I mean about spending on something more important than hosting a sports event (even if it was the catalyst).

The Gabba redevelopment for the 2032 Olympics has also blown out by about three times - this is not unique to Victoria and anyone who says otherwise is lying. In case you haven't noticed things have got a lot more expensive lately.

What is pretty crap, is the idea that it was 2.6 billion in June and all of a sudden it is 6.something.

Electric buses ain't cheap.

" Victorian taxpayers may be forced to cough up tens of millions of dollars as the Commonwealth Games Federation considers a nuclear response to the decision to abandon the 2026 Victorian Games.

The decision has now taken a dramatic turn with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) considering legal action against the state. "

- News.com.au



Bravo.

Jul 18, 2023 23:34:15 GMT NATH45 said:

" Victorian taxpayers may be forced to cough up tens of millions of dollars as the Commonwealth Games Federation considers a nuclear response to the decision to abandon the 2026 Victorian Games.

The decision has now taken a dramatic turn with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) considering legal action against the state. "

- News.com.au



Bravo.

Even if the story is 100% as reported (which I doubt because Dan Andrews is a dishonest and devious politician) it's still a colossal cluster for your estimates to be 300% out... It is lose your job material in the private sector.
I think it came out over estimates and Victoria is broke, so Dan unable to secure cheap debt and sponsorship has fudged the estimates higher to justify ditching the games.

It's all so tiring, I'm a Liberal voter but when they screw up I will paste them, these days though the ALP is backed by hoards of #istandwithdan blind acolytes who would defend him clubbing baby seals.

Andrew's henchman and covid commander, Jeroen Weimar was reportedly given a $620,000 a year salary as chief executive officer of the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games organising committee in June of last year.

- News.com.au.

There's some insight into where $7b goes.

Kereyn Smith, vice-president of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), told ABC’s 7.30 programme that when she received a budget predication last month the figure was closer to $3 billion.

“The last time there was any conversation at the board table around figures around Victoria, it was getting up towards the $3 billion conversation,” Ms Smith said.

“Certainly that $6 to $7 billion was not something that we had ever heard.”

She also said the CGF would be seeking compensation from Victoria.

Mr Andrews claimed Victoria had only agreed to host the Games in the first place because they “needed a host city to step in at the last minute”. He said Victoria was willing to help, but “not at any price”.

The Herald Sun reports that a delegation from Visit Victoria proposed a regional Games, in person, to the Commonwealth Games Federation president in December of 2021, three months before Mr Andrews publicly expressed interest in the idea.

“The Commonwealth Games Federation did not ask them to rescue the Games,” one insider told the newspaper.

“Visit Victoria chased the Games, not vice versa.”

- News.com.au

Yeah, keep voting for him...

Victorians deserve everything they get, he is one of the nastiest and most obtuse politicians in Australia.

I was very pleased the Fairfax papers called him out today printing exactly how many times he refused to answer questions from the media.
The media has been running a protection racket for him for years, he refuses to appear on any media that won't fawn all over him.

I can't stand him viscerally and naming Brett Sutton Victorian of the year was a massive FU to the state.

lol you are past the point of complete delusion now. The restriction of information stuff is a reasonable complaint but the media protecting him is laughable considering they have been very actively campaigning against him since Covid.

Betoota had a headline that summed this up perfectly: Man Whose Entire Identity Based On Hatred Of Dictator Dan Pretends To Give A Fuck About Comm Games

From The Australian Industry Group website.

• Inject more than $3billion into Victoria's economy.
• Create 600 jobs before the Games, 4000 during and 3000 more at the closing ceremony.
• Generate 1 million ticket sales and
attract more than 400,000 visitors.

But, sure, you can choose to ignore the significant economic benefits of holding such an event.

It's also a giant advertisement to the world for Melbourne and to a lesser extent country Victoria, that would likely generate notable return business in the future via tourism, hospitality, etc.

It also has the potential to inspire a lot of young people to pursue sport, as a healthy alternative to sitting around playing with their dicks and whatever constitutes a video game these days.

But sure, no one cares, nor should care. Because, politics.

There is plenty of evidence to show that hosting major sporting events is not beneficial to economies - the most obvious one is that no one is bidding to host them like they once were. FIFA World Cups are all in developing nations (because they have ulterior political motivations and money to burn), the IOC have to hand out concessions to future hosts like LA.

A random figure from a peak body that represents businesses is hardly impartial. A government shouldn't be making decisions on behalf of all of us based solely on what businesses want (and thankfully this government doesn't otherwise we'd be taking Joe Blow Cafe Owners health advice!). These sorts of perceived benefits get made up all the time - they said the same thing prior to the Sydney Olympics that it would drive up tourism for years to come and that simply didn't turn out to be the case. 

If you think that the commonwealth games which no one would have watched is going to inspire kids to play sport instead of all of the other far more popular events that continue all the time (we are literally hosting the women's world cup right now) then that's truly laughable.

If Victoria had not pulled out of hosting this, and it came out afterwards that it cost $7 billion (or whatever number) you would have been in here clutching your pearls about how BAD MAN DAN can't handle the economy and is wasting money. You've made up your mind about him and that's fine but you clearly can't see the forest for the trees. I don't need to waste another few minutes on this discussion.

Oh we get it, it's the Commonwealth Games committee, Visit Victoria, politics and media and every sporting organisation in the country who are wrong. That, and the business and industry that would have seen the economic benefits from the increased level of tourism and spending in the state.

Who can't see past politics?

Jul 20, 2023 22:02:54 GMT @admin said:

lol you are past the point of complete delusion now. The restriction of information stuff is a reasonable complaint but the media protecting him is laughable considering they have been very actively campaigning against him since Covid.

Betoota had a headline that summed this up perfectly: Man Whose Entire Identity Based On Hatred Of Dictator Dan Pretends To Give A Fuck About Comm Games

What bullshit! The Herald Sun and 3AW have had a crack, the Age, ABC and all the commercial TV channels have had zero accountability.

All those lock downs, closing schools, barring kids from playgrounds... Publicly rebuking people for watching the sunset.
If you have no problem with Dan Andrews it's because your brain is infected by an us vs them mentality where you mindlessly defend your side.
I am critical of all sides of parliament.

I hope the wheels finally fall off this bullshit narrative where they serve things up and say that the voice should be voted for because it's the right thing to do.
Then they say it will be up to the parliament to decide the scope after they have the legislation approved... What? The Labor and Greens hold a clear majority, why would anyone agree to something not articulated?

Do we want to end up like WA paying the Aboriginal corporation 2.5 million dollars to plant trees on government owned land for conservation reasons?

This is all what Labor is about today, centralising power and removing free choice.
I think vaping is mindless and stupid, but the government has no right to ban these products... What a shit nanny state we are becoming under all this socialist nonsense.

Pretty sure the CEO at the centre of that shakedown lost his job. But you're not wrong.

For $160 an hour to kick around some top soil and count the native plants, wouldn't you want in on that rort too?

Just wanted to come here and say that the state of Australian politics has never been as bad as it is today. On all sides from all people there is gross incompetence and incoherence and anyone with half a brain is seen as a threat and pushed out of the picture.

The voice to Parliament is going to fail... I'm not upset about that,but it's going to leave a scar and it didn't have to. Albo is a terrible campaigner and a worse communicator.

I wish the voice separate the constitutional recognition and the voice into two separate questions.

I also want our country to get back to one flag,I don't even care what that flag is but this nonsense of multiple flags must stop. We are one nation,not a bunch of independent interests and races.

A conspiracy theorist might suggest, if we pass The Voice it leads to " Treaty " and then comes " Paying the Rent " but you don't need to be a conspiracy nut to think that...

Which is, maybe not frightening, but worrying because Albo struggles to confirm or deny, or outline anything in enough detail to both silence his critics or win people over and/or put some consistency into the language used by those on his own team.

I attended an event a few weeks ago, and the Welcome to Country wasn't exactly welcoming.. it was 25 minutes of Uncle talking about getting paid in full before he walked off stage. So maybe, the messaging from the top down isn't consistent or clear enough or all these guys on the Yes side know something we don't know. Maybe, there is too much left up to the imagination of people like Thomas Mayo, that ultimately then negativity impacts people's thoughts on The Voice.

But, we've seen in WA what can happen. Land cleared and utilised for a hundred years suddenly useless because a dude in a Bulls guernsey decides there's some cultural significance - you can't see it, nor is there any evidence to suggest anything of significance happened here, but old mate can "feel it"...

I'm glad the farmers revolted and stood up here to stop this further becoming embedded in every state and territory. Can't even plant a tree without a dude at $160/hour coming out to your property to check the weather and kick some dirt around.. you're joking. And likewise councils questioning indigenous power brokers that were denying the planting of new trees and attmping to extort money. These aren't lies.

I was all for The Voice when the idea was first floated - sure, why not.. surely it can be more beneficial and effective and collectively better utilise the hundreds of millions of dollars already being haemorrhaged with little return on baseless KPIs and hopefully then streamlining the vast network of support services and programs available already under a clear set of goals and targets. But, hey... that ain't likely to happen.

Not sure what the freakout is as the Voice looks utterly toothless. They are a voice, that requires parliament to act as their body. See a lot of talk on the powers they will have that are not granted by the amendment. Sounds like you are giving them the same status the US gives to Samoa and other territories in our House of Rep. So long as the Bloodline does not show up, when Samoa asks to speak we tell their tiny concerns do not interest us.

So comes down to people opposing this really just opposing the current government, or just disliking the natives, and using this as a means to do so.

Not natives pushing regulations and shit but regular old government. And they will likely continue to do whether this passes or not. And special interests will remain influential passing this or not.

Aug 18, 2023 5:56:35 GMT c said:

Not sure what the freakout is as the Voice looks utterly toothless. They are a voice, that requires parliament to act as their body. See a lot of talk on the powers they will have that are not granted by the amendment. Sounds like you are giving them the same status the US gives to Samoa and other territories in our House of Rep. So long as the Bloodline does not show up, when Samoa asks to speak we tell their tiny concerns do not interest us.

So comes down to people opposing this really just opposing the current government, or just disliking the natives, and using this as a means to do so.

Not natives pushing regulations and shit but regular old government. And they will likely continue to do whether this passes or not. And special interests will remain influential passing this or not.

The issue is that the bill gives the Parliament the right to create a yet to be determined voice framework.

What actual power the voice will have is yet to be legislated. If the referendum question mentioned explicitly the right to make non binding suggestions I'd vote yes. With the Labor and Greens having a majority it is likely to be more than that... Which is why I will be voting no... If they weren't asking for more, then why not make the referendum question explicit.

" Taxpayers will be left with a $380 million bill for the axed Commonwealth Games after negotiations over the cancellation are finalised. "

www.news.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/taxpayers-left-with-a-380m-bill-for-axed-commonwealth-games/news-story/5b2bcd3b3f3a204188aaffba11eb6c60

When big-dick-swinging goes wrong. I guess those metre deep potholes on the Hume ain't getting fix any time soon.

It looks like October 14 is when we divide the nation in two.

Damn just saw the statistic that only 8 of 44 referendums passed in 122 years.

Also def not embedded on this one, but Victoria is the first of the state voting right? And they are the place that this has the most support in?

Wish I followed this from the start as it is an awesome lord's paradox example where the states that elected the most labor party people in the last election are the ones the least likely to support this as few over 35 seem to support it.

My take on this from the start really was why? If they are powerless why bother. If they are merely a voice, why not continue to work as a special interest.

Given how rarely you all pass these things, this one being vague, and not supported by it appears 60%+ of the population it feels doomed to fail. When you are relying on Victoria and NSW for liberal policy seems like it will be a bad time. Even in the cities will have a lot of older people taking in Murdoch media that will see this as the end of days. And not so sure they are wrong. As Incy pointed out, the whole we will figure the rest out later part of this should give everyone pause. I would not support this in the US. Allow the community elect reps in their own special districts sure within reason, but this is either too vague to be trusted or too little to be useful.

Will say since this does feel like a Lord's paradox situation, people will freak the fuck out when if it gets voted down thinking they had far more support not accounting for the age different in support from liberals.  Like this could easily see most state rejecting it from the numbers I seen.

Back of envelope math, got about 30-35% supporting from polls numbers I seen. Honestly it breaks 40% I would be shocked. Do not have the numbers to play with myself, but 18-35 is where the most support is, and they are only 25% of the voting population nationally.  If the media presented a straight out subset analysis would show this is not really close and people like you and Incy are the majority by far.

If it fails = Australians are racist.

If it succeeds = half of the country is further alienated by left-wing policy.

I'll spend a few minutes painting a picture of what it looks like in rural communities. Where I live is hardly rural, it's regional - but it's a small city. There's communities out there, not far from where I live, where the war happened yesterday. The First World War that is. Their entire community is built on a national identity that was born during the Gallipoli campaign. People lived, fought and died for this country and it is remembered, celebrated and embedded in rural culture. Similarly to Americans going west and exploring The Frontier, men and women went into the Bush and built communities. 

A big part of what is happening socially today, is an attempt at tearing down this national identity. Our supposed history extends to 45,000 years, or 65,000 years or whatever the number is today that people peddle. The last 250 years of colonialism was wrong, it was an invasion. The then English Laws and now Australian Laws are recognised by some within the Yes Campaign and most within the Black Sovereign movement as violent, unjust and unlawful, and they believe instead in favour of ' lore ' aka bullshit. This national identity is racist. 

People, are simply being told they are not welcome in this country anymore - this is the message that has been toxified through Welcome to Country by some, and the messaging that this land was taken from a nation of peace lovers. Take the Rent Rise Protest a few days ago, when an Aboriginal woman stood up and told everyone to go back their own countries. This is becoming common place. 

People have had enough of these divisive campaigns.

It has become bigger than just a " voice " Why? Because of the inconsistency in the messaging, Yes campaigners going into business for themselves and making all sorts of statements, and the leader too afraid to correct or establish a clean, clear vision of what the likely process looks like if voted in. 

The racism stuff I find interesting given how easy they have it compared to most American minorities. Our natives, we herded up and like wholesale slaughtered. The world sees how we treat our minorities every few months when the cops execute one in the streets. Also seems from what I see it is Middle Easterns, Muslims and Asylum seekers who get the most racism from your lot, not the natives. Like people know it is wrong to be racist about the natives but others are fair game.

Something I always found interesting is the the language swap that occured in Australia. Around 3000 BC a new language suddenly appeared, the Pama–Nyungan language. Given how the natives of Australia and are not entirely genetically related to the Torres Strait Islanders, one could posit that Australia was colonized once before. Was taught in the state as an interesting mystery as migrations path come through the Torres Strait Island, so this variation should not exist. Was taught this 20 years ago so many resolved by now.

And yeah I have noticed the campaign seems to have little to do really with the actual topic, which seems really weak. Two months out should not have a vague goal to what the voice will be and how they will function exactly. But does not really matter, they lack the votes it seems, and in the end that what matters. If it fails that is on them for not being persuasive enough. You have fair voting.