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Aussies: NSW Politicians, keeping ICAC in business


Jeor

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Yep, looks like Bondi to be closed, which is the right decision judging by the masses of people still going there.

This coming Tuesday, the Australian Education Union is meeting with Dan Tehan (federal minister for education) and Brendan Murphy (Chief Medical Officer). I wonder if that will be the catalyst for school closures.

I think once schools close, then pretty much a full lockdown needs to happen at the same time. No point closing schools but still having the shops open with kids on the loose, free to roam around during the day.

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3 hours ago, karaddin said:

I feel like the border closure needed to come with a major lockdown. If you close the borders and at the same time shutdown schools and public gatherings you may be able to contain community transmission. I'm not really understanding the point of the border closure if we aren't taking those measures though.

I would have thought it was the other way around; if you don't have community transmission yet, then closing the borders is a means to delay it getting out into the community. Once community transmission is happening, you need an internal lockdown and border-specific controls cease to be important - if people want to come into the country and isolate themselves at that point, it doesn't make much difference.

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1 hour ago, felice said:

I would have thought it was the other way around; if you don't have community transmission yet, then closing the borders is a means to delay it getting out into the community. Once community transmission is happening, you need an internal lockdown and border-specific controls cease to be important - if people want to come into the country and isolate themselves at that point, it doesn't make much difference.

I think K is assuming that you weren’t able to close down borders early enough to avoid community transmission. Which is indeed the case in Australia as I understand it.

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I wonder if they'll close state borders.

Tasmania and Lord Howe Island are already isolating themselves (which is entirely understandable given that they're islands and can do so easily). Land borders between states are virtually impossible to police.

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1 hour ago, Paxter said:

I think K is assuming that you weren’t able to close down borders early enough to avoid community transmission. Which is indeed the case in Australia as I understand it.

Whether we could have or not, we did not lol

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I found out why people are stockpiling food. Ordered from Woolies Online early in the week but my order didn't turn up today. Spent 3 1/2 hours on the phone trying to find out what happened. Got my money back but no food as delivery windows are suspended. I'm recovering from a knee injury and have to use a stick and knee brace atm, so they suggested putting in a priority assistance request (which I was reluctant to do as I may be ok by next month). If approved, I may be able to put in a new order for god knows when. I had a fall yesterday just trying to water my small garden so I am a bit reluctant to brave the ravening hordes at the shops.

I tried to do the right thing by only buying what I needed but I would have been better off buying up big while I had the chance.My own whinges aside, it would seem more sensible for the grocery stores to prioritise online shopping rather than in-store, which must have a higher risk for passing on the disease.

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Stimulus package announced. On first look I think it seems pretty good.

  • Doubling the unemployment benefits for the next 6 months (jobseeker, youth allowance etc). These are people who are going to spend that money and the allowances were probably too low anyway for people to live on. If I heard correctly they are also getting rid of the assets test and waiting period for now, and all people need to do is sign a declaration, so that people can get the payments quickly if they need it.
  • Another $750 cash payment to certain people.
  • Early access to superannuation - not great to draw down on super at this time, but they're making it tax free at least.
  • Money for small businesses based on tax withholdings...i.e to try and get them to keep people on the payroll.
  • Changing bankruptcy standards to make it harder for a creditor to call in debts and force someone into bankruptcy.
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School closures on the agenda for the national cabinet tonight, as well. Victoria supposedly going to do it unilaterally even if no one else agrees - one would think if they're thinking like that, NSW would also be close behind.

School closures would only work if there were a general shutdown of everything else too (shops etc) so that kids don't go roaming around during the day. This could be a real turning point in the government response tonight, and personally I think we need more stringent measures.

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Getting the strong impression everything is going to be shutdown after tomorrow from the shape of these announcements. I'm scared about the penalties that may be added as incentives being too much and very scared about Dutton being in charge of it, but the actual shut downs themselves I'm on board with. I'm certainly not leaving the house.

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1 hour ago, Jeor said:

School closures on the agenda for the national cabinet tonight, as well. Victoria supposedly going to do it unilaterally even if no one else agrees - one would think if they're thinking like that, NSW would also be close behind.

School closures would only work if there were a general shutdown of everything else too (shops etc) so that kids don't go roaming around during the day. This could be a real turning point in the government response tonight, and personally I think we need more stringent measures.

The papers (the Guardian etc) are reporting that NSW, VIC and probably other states are moving to shut down non-essential services (excluding things like chemists, petrol stations, supermarkets, etc). This is likely to be discussed and advised at the national cabinet meeting tonight but those two states are going ahead whatever the cabinet decides.

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1 minute ago, karaddin said:

Getting the strong impression everything is going to be shutdown after tomorrow from the shape of these announcements. I'm scared about the penalties that may be added as incentives being too much and very scared about Dutton being in charge of it, but the actual shut downs themselves I'm on board with. I'm certainly not leaving the house.

Thank god Dutton is not PM or we would probably be under martial law -ironic considering he was a source of infection himself. The states seem to be taking the lead here so hopefully Dutton's involvement will be minimal.

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NSW and Victoria have the most firepower of the states and also the most to lose. The smaller states have already started closing their borders (Tasmania, South Australia, WA). Queensland will be stuck in the middle but I think they'll end up being pressured to join NSW/VIC in going for hardline shutdowns.

I'm now in at school on a Sunday afternoon madly scanning and digitising all my worksheets, and loading up my car with all the textbooks and school equipment I'm going to need at home. I'm in for a long night but want to do it now when everything's quiet, because tomorrow is going to be absolute chaos on campus and everyone's going to be hogging the scanner etc.

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5 hours ago, Jeor said:

Stimulus package announced. On first look I think it seems pretty good.

  • Doubling the unemployment benefits for the next 6 months (jobseeker, youth allowance etc). These are people who are going to spend that money and the allowances were probably too low anyway for people to live on. If I heard correctly they are also getting rid of the assets test and waiting period for now, and all people need to do is sign a declaration, so that people can get the payments quickly if they need it.
  • Another $750 cash payment to certain people.
  • Early access to superannuation - not great to draw down on super at this time, but they're making it tax free at least.
  • Money for small businesses based on tax withholdings...i.e to try and get them to keep people on the payroll.
  • Changing bankruptcy standards to make it harder for a creditor to call in debts and force someone into bankruptcy.

I am very happy about the increases but I would like to see an explanation on why disability and carers payment were left out.

With parenting payment included in the groups that get the additional amount we now have a situation where a sole parent of a healthy child is going to get a significantly higher payment than a parent of a child with a disability. 

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On 3/21/2020 at 2:30 AM, karaddin said:

Whether we could have or not, we did not lol

Serves me right for posting late at night...you’re right that it wasn’t a matter of “could”.

Again, it seems that the Govt is doing a better job of responding economically than health-wise. The stimulus package is good, but the shutdown seems (at least from afar) chaotic and unnecessarily late.

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On 3/21/2020 at 6:16 AM, ljkeane said:

It seems kind of ill advised that you’re still playing live sport in Australia but the NRL is giving me a much needed fix. I’m half considering paying for another channel so I can watch A League.

Sanity prevailed with the AFL. The NRL is taking a “fuck it” approach.

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21 minutes ago, Paxter said:

Sanity prevailed with the AFL. The NRL is taking a “fuck it” approach.

As I said it doesn't seem particularly advisable. If we're looking at 12-18 months of this though I think a lot of sports aren't going to be able to close down for that long so I suppose at least the NRL are providing a bit of a trial run for how viable or not playing behind closed doors is.

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14 hours ago, Jeor said:

School closures on the agenda for the national cabinet tonight, as well. Victoria supposedly going to do it unilaterally even if no one else agrees - one would think if they're thinking like that, NSW would also be close behind.

School closures would only work if there were a general shutdown of everything else too (shops etc) so that kids don't go roaming around during the day. This could be a real turning point in the government response tonight, and personally I think we need more stringent measures.

Pretty much what the UK have done. Schools closed cafes and restaurants takeout or delivery only, pubs closed - but other retail still open. Feel like this is just asking for trouble for the reasons you said

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