Aussies: NSW Politicians, keeping ICAC in business

[Impmk2]

1 hour ago, Paxter said:

1. Yes, Abbott delayed things. But the schedule I linked is the current legislated schedule. So unless ScoMo and Josh decide otherwise we will be up to 12% in 5 years' time.

I saw a TV ad last night laying out the increases and the time frame they're over. The super industry is actively trying to make people aware of them, so they're harder to take away. Good move imo.

I do think there needs some serious regulation limiting fees and the various often unnecessary insurances which chew into peoples savings. The commercial super industry especially is such a rort. The sheer number of funds out there is unsustainable.

[Jeor]

6 hours ago, Paxter said:

1. Yes, Abbott delayed things. But the schedule I linked is the current legislated schedule. So unless ScoMo and Josh decide otherwise we will be up to 12% in 5 years' time.
2. I agree that both parties are beholden to big business...but the Coalition also has to deal with a lot more pressure from small businesses, who feel more of the pinch when it comes to paying extra super. So yeah I wouldn't expect the centre-right to come to the party willingly. Labor of course is already on board, having sensibly legislated these increases under JG.

Ahh, you're right of course. Glad the superannuation increases are still alive. Anything that adds to administration costs, as well as the costs themselves, are anathema to small business so the Coalition can't easily implement much. Even the GST was a heavy lift given the reporting requirements.

And in response to @ithanos... NSW state government seems to be rolling along alright except for the self-inflicted right-wing social engineering that threatens to derail things every now and then. In contrast to the Federal Coalition, the NSW Liberals are actually trying to do something with a huge bunch of infrastructure projects - to be sure, some delays and cost overruns, but that's to be expected - but otherwise staying generally quiet and off the front pages. ScoMo could learn a thing or two about just getting on and achieving something rather than worrying about populist spin and doing very little.

[karaddin]

This travel ban that's now up to a full month is not doing our universities any favours. I hope the government that made them so reliant on international students for revenue is ready to save them from budget shortfall if a bunch of Chinese students have to withdraw due to not being able to get into the country.

[Paxter]

@ithanos:

Scott Morrison (PM): Michael Clarke. In the top job, but nobody really likes him. 

Anthony Albanese (Opposition Leader): Michael Klinger. Solid performer at lower levels, but never going to break into the big time. 

Barnaby Joyce (former Deputy PM): Steve Smith. Went from hero to villain overnight. He's now on the comeback trail. 

Peter Dutton (Home Affairs): David Warner. Just a villain, through and through. But always in your playing XI. 

Pauline Hanson (powerful cross-bench Senator): Israel Folau. Influential pariah justifiably shunned by the mainstream. Has plenty of support in Queensland.

Gladys Berejiklian (NSW Premier): Boyd Cordner. Hard working; reliable. Unknown outside of the great state of New South Wales. 

[Jeor]

7 hours ago, Paxter said:

@ithanos:

Scott Morrison (PM): Michael Clarke. In the top job, but nobody really likes him. 

Anthony Albanese (Opposition Leader): Michael Klinger. Solid performer at lower levels, but never going to break into the big time. 

Barnaby Joyce (former Deputy PM): Steve Smith. Went from hero to villain overnight. He's now on the comeback trail. 

Peter Dutton (Home Affairs): David Warner. Just a villain, through and through. But always in your playing XI. 

Pauline Hanson (powerful cross-bench Senator): Israel Folau. Influential pariah justifiably shunned by the mainstream. Has plenty of support in Queensland.

Gladys Berejiklian (NSW Premier): Boyd Cordner. Hard working; reliable. Unknown outside of the great state of New South Wales. 

@Paxter Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! 

[ithanos]

Thanks Paxter, Jeor! I really appreciate the info. I hope I don't yearn for a return ignorance too soon. 

2 hours ago, Jeor said:

@Paxter Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! 

Fantastic stuff! I can appreciate Boyd Cordner for his graft and presence on the footy field even though I'm no fan of the Roosters, so will apply this consideration to Gladys Berejiklian (and I'm in no way comparing the ALP to the Roosters - not without additional evidence anyway).

[The Anti-Targ]

On 2/21/2020 at 2:45 AM, karaddin said:

This travel ban that's now up to a full month is not doing our universities any favours. I hope the government that made them so reliant on international students for revenue is ready to save them from budget shortfall if a bunch of Chinese students have to withdraw due to not being able to get into the country.

Need to get distance education going, so the international students can still do their courses even if not in the country. But discount the fee.

[karaddin]

1 hour ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Need to get distance education going, so the international students can still do their courses even if not in the country. But discount the fee.

At the Uni I'm at this was very much how we responded. The directive came down from the vice chancellor that we needed to figure out how to deliver lectures etc into China with acceptable performance/speed, and we have done it and that's great. But not all of the students are going to be satisfied with that (or at least their parents might not) and it's not a panacea against withdrawals.

We've offered extended deadlines for enrollment and withdrawal, waived penalties for withdrawal etc. My point was as much that the government either doesn't care about the knock on impact of its policies or doesn't even bother to think them through.

And the double standard on which industries/jobs matter and which don't is really quite bullshit. Despite being so important to the country in multiple ways they don't give 2 shits about the unis, but you'd probably have a week of Sky after dark yelling about it and the government scrambling to be seen to do something if it threatened a mine.

[Impmk2]

4 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Need to get distance education going, so the international students can still do their courses even if not in the country. But discount the fee.

Slight rant about the state of higher education in Australia:

For a lot of the more practical courses this is simply impossible within any reasonable time scale. Multiple entire classes would have to be completely reworked often by a single person. And with degrees like Nursing I'm not sure this would even be possible inside whatever standards they have to work to.

And even where it is technically possible the time scale makes it extremely hard. Course coordinators & lecturers are often working full time undergrad teaching loads during semester and then expected to direct research, postgrad students, apply for grants plus all the related admin at the same time... And they're the ones who will be expected to adjust, get everything online, then coordinate online classes & assessments etc. Many of these people may be fantastic at teaching in their fields with decades of experience, but might not be the most technology savvy. We're 1 week out from teaching starting now.

Repeated government cuts to the sector have lead to very large class sizes with minimal teaching and support staff. The difference between now and just 10 years ago is both shocking and depressing. At least in every one of the 3 institutions I've personally worked at. But that's the profit ahead of everything else model the government wants us to work with.

[Paxter]

In six years of undergraduate study and around a decade of sessional work, I’ve never really seen Australian universities care about teaching standards and students. It’s a volume-based industry that’s all about churn.

[karaddin]

8 hours ago, Paxter said:

In six years of undergraduate study and around a decade of sessional work, I’ve never really seen Australian universities care about teaching standards and students. It’s a volume-based industry that’s all about churn.

I don't think that's fair as a general statement. If you're restricting the remarks to University management then in think it's fair, but academics within the universities even up to the Dean level still have a lot of desire to improve student outcomes.

In my most recent bout of study I took a subject that I'd already done back in 2005 and the improvements to the curriculum in that time were major, and the general staff attitude towards teaching students was very much there.

Given where I work I also get to see attitudes from the staff side and they also care a lot about the students, and imparting important lessons including academic ethics. They don't deserve the cynicism even as upper management absolutely does.

[Jeor]

There's no doubt in my mind that the tertiary education sector in Australia is in trouble. Everyone I know who works in that sector talks about the deterioration in working conditions and the higher and higher bars people are having to jump over to get promoted let alone make the earth-shattering transition from casual or contract academic work to a permanent position.

But I think even upper management shouldn't bear all the blame for this - it really is the government's fault. I think most Vice-Chancellors out there do actually care about teaching standards and students and would do something about it if they could, but the concerns about funding and the need to get bums on seats (preferably international full-fee-paying ones) is the reality that overrides most else. It's why a lot of universities are trying to drum up philanthropy and endowments. Unfortunately, it seems we are moving to a US system where high fees (at least from international students) and private donations are having to be relied on as the main source of income rather than the government.

[Paxter]

18 hours ago, karaddin said:

I don't think that's fair as a general statement. If you're restricting the remarks to University management then in think it's fair, but academics within the universities even up to the Dean level still have a lot of desire to improve student outcomes.

In my most recent bout of study I took a subject that I'd already done back in 2005 and the improvements to the curriculum in that time were major, and the general staff attitude towards teaching students was very much there.

Given where I work I also get to see attitudes from the staff side and they also care a lot about the students, and imparting important lessons including academic ethics. They don't deserve the cynicism even as upper management absolutely does.

I can only comment on my experiences! Which is why I led with “in my years...”, which admittedly are restricted to just two universities and three faculties (one law, two business schools). Churn baby, churn.

[karaddin]

3 hours ago, Paxter said:

I can only comment on my experiences! Which is why I led with “in my years...”, which admittedly are restricted to just two universities and three faculties (one law, two business schools). Churn baby, churn.

I just wanted to defend most academics - they get stuck as the face of the Uni as far as students are concerned but most do genuinely care - they're just stuck in the situation. 

[Paxter]

1 hour ago, karaddin said:

I just wanted to defend most academics - they get stuck as the face of the Uni as far as students are concerned but most do genuinely care - they're just stuck in the situation. 

Yeah, some definitely do care. Others (especially in business schools) just do enough on the teaching front to keep the wheels spinning. Research is a different matter - a lot of time, energy and monetary is spent getting published and touring the international conference circuit. 

[karaddin]

14 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Yeah, some definitely do care. Others (especially in business schools) just do enough on the teaching front to keep the wheels spinning. Research is a different matter - a lot of time, energy and monetary is spent getting published and touring the international conference circuit. 

Oh the business schools. I somehow missed that part in your previous post. Yeah, lol. They bring in the money that pays my salary, but their shiny new building that was built over my first office with a very expensive staircase while IT continues across the road in a converted box warehouse really demonstrates how the University values the two departments.

I'm not going to defend them, churn indeed.

[Paxter]

And there goes the RBA with another rate decrease. Expected but sheesh, this is getting rough....could we get to zero like our fellow OECD cousins?

[Jeor]

20 minutes ago, Paxter said:

And there goes the RBA with another rate decrease. Expected but sheesh, this is getting rough....could we get to zero like our fellow OECD cousins?

I'm becoming a bit of an economic radical now, but I don't think a rate cut was warranted. It will make shareholders happy as it props up the stock market, but on the ground I really don't think it's going to do much else for the coronavirus jitters. Stocks are overvalued anyway - although I do take the point that the average Australian does have a lot more ownership of stocks than most because of the superannuation holdings.

A rate cut is most effective when addressing demand (housing, business investment, consumer spending) but to my mind those things aren't the immediate concern; the coronavirus is just a freak accident that the federal government needs to deal with on a more targeted basis than the RBA can. Plus, the RBA is going to find it hard to raise rates again, so it can't take it back. In the economic environment of the last few years it's been virtually impossible for any country to return to "normal" interest rates so we're just going to be stuck in the basement forever and continue along with the rest of the zombified Western economies that are juicing along only by budget deficits and/or historically low rates.

[Paxter]

11 hours ago, Jeor said:

I'm becoming a bit of an economic radical now, but I don't think a rate cut was warranted. It will make shareholders happy as it props up the stock market, but on the ground I really don't think it's going to do much else for the coronavirus jitters. Stocks are overvalued anyway - although I do take the point that the average Australian does have a lot more ownership of stocks than most because of the superannuation holdings.

A rate cut is most effective when addressing demand (housing, business investment, consumer spending) but to my mind those things aren't the immediate concern; the coronavirus is just a freak accident that the federal government needs to deal with on a more targeted basis than the RBA can. Plus, the RBA is going to find it hard to raise rates again, so it can't take it back. In the economic environment of the last few years it's been virtually impossible for any country to return to "normal" interest rates so we're just going to be stuck in the basement forever and continue along with the rest of the zombified Western economies that are juicing along only by budget deficits and/or historically low rates.

Yeah, I share your concern re: Zombification. Our economy is so dependent on the dig/drill/export model that we could easily end up in an ultra-low interest rate funk alongside our northern peers. The Reserve is on its way to becoming as impotent as the ECB or BOJ, with its mandate of inflation targeting rendered irrelevant. 

But I disagree with you on being juiced by a deficit. If anything, I think both parties have got it wrong and could have been borrowing at low rates and investing for the future more than they have (e.g. large-scale infrastructure, education, health).

[Jeor]

6 hours ago, Paxter said:

But I disagree with you on being juiced by a deficit. If anything, I think both parties have got it wrong and could have been borrowing at low rates and investing for the future more than they have (e.g. large-scale infrastructure, education, health).

Oh I wasn't referring to Australia with the deficit talk (hence use of and/or). Australia is juiced by the low interest rates, which is having a few other adverse effects (e.g. house prices in Sydney are still ridiculous) but the budget deficit is not a problem at all and we actually ought to be spending more as a federal government. Borrowing money is cheap and using that money for infrastructure projects and future-proofing projects (e.g. energy) would be a much better use than that money sitting in the sacred surplus account somewhere.

The deficit juicing is occurring in more Western economies like the USA (trillion dollar deficits), and the UK as well where Boris Johnson seems to be throwing money and election promises around like confetti. A few of the European countries are doing likewise, and even countries like Singapore are now going into deficit spending. These countries are now trapped in a low-interest, high-deficit situation, and I suspect eventually they are going to end up like Japan, where nothing really works to get the economy moving and the economy stagnates for decades with no wage growth.

Australia isn't an economic zombie yet, but I'm afraid the low interest rates are starting us down that path. On the positive side, unemployment is still low, and that's probably the main human measure of how the economy is doing, but even that has it's downsides - the underemployment rate is probably still very high.