Longmactoppedup

I agree he absolutely did do the right thing on gun control.

I guess that's why I really dislike him. I don't want Australia to be so unequal. A good leader would have attempted to bring people together. Instead he drove as many wedges through society as he could, both economically and socially.

No question people who already owned real estate did very well under Howard.

IMO Howard changed our society from being one of mate-ship and egalitarian values to the current "fuck you, got mine" society we have. Ironically whilst giving speeches to the media about "Australian values" including mate ship. Agree it's hard to say if he caused it, or just reflected society at large.

I wonder why they focused on income distribution rather than wealth distribution?

I would have thought that inequality in accumulated wealth is the bigger issue. How many times the median income would one need to earn to "catch up" to some one on median income who inherited their parents property?

IMO our society is stratifying in to those who own vs those who will never own their own home.

I think Norway's has legislation around the percent that can be used now vs what has to be reserved for future generations. Although I agree with the sentiment that the calibre of politicians we elect couldn't be trusted to think beyond one election cycle.

For me it was Howard. He was really effective at furthering many neo liberal economic policies to fuck over anyone not born in to wealth. Sure some of the more recent PMS have been more embarrassing and stupid (scummo, abbot) but Howard was an absolute arsehole.

He brought in the capital gains tax discount for real estate which when combined with the existing negative gearing policy was/is a major contributor driving investors to real estate thus making property become unaffordable. Not to mention it's just so unfair inequitable. Why the fuck should a person who buys existing houses pay less tax on money gained from that than someone who actually produces something of value does on their income?

He was the political equivalent of the FIFO miner spending all his cash on a Malloo, jet ski and glass BBQ party. Howard pissed the early - mid 2000s mining boom proceeds up the wall on middle class welfare. Instead we could have had a future fund like Norway. To be fair every politician we have had since has either been too corrupt or scared to attempt anything like that.

Howard also realised he could fuck over unions by bringing in masses of extra workers via record immigration in order to lower wages. (Added Bonus this increased demand on real estate too) He won't be remembered for that on immigration, instead he will be remembered for his "boat people" rhetoric. It was like a magicians distraction, look at these bad immigrants, meanwhile opening the floodgate for "good" immigrants.

He sold telecom setting our internet tech back at least a decade.

He dragged us in to the middle east wars like a good little lapdog for George dubbya.

He started the erosion of Medicare to please his private health fund donors.

As a millennial, not born in to 1% wealth, Howard and the liberal parties message to me has always been "go fuck yourself". I will never put liberal anywhere but the bottom of the ballot. Potato head might be fantasising about winning the votes of the working class by paying lip service to some issues we face and then campaigning against social issues we don't care about. I don't think that many of us are so foolish to think that the liberals will ever be anything but the party for the elite. Even then they are only the party for the honest elite, that wear their arseholery as a badge of honour. The other elites have the teals.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2024/mar/26/blaming-john-howard-is-easy-but-his-government-helped-shape-the-world-we-live-in-now-and-for-future-generations

Anyone know why this bullshit is being allowed by govt?

How did voice over LTE end up needing carrier software approval on top of having the right hardware?

Is this telcos writing legislation for yet another ignorant communications minister?

All I see is limited consumer choice, generation of completely unnecessary e-waste and a giant "fuck off" sign to international tourists.

I really hope that Satterly never wins this one. Or if it does get developed then the minimum block size is at least 2 hectares.

The above is from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/permanent-migrants-australia/2021

Australians expect to be able to punish their vehicles over harsh terrain and have it come back in one piece.

Oh please. The most off road the majority of dual cabs get is mounting kerbs in a drive through.

That narrow street looks so awful: https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/e43976b189d514742d5ec4831a82a0ca?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=3456&cropW=5184&xPos=0&yPos=216&width=862&height=575

Imagine how hard that treeless hellscape must make Satterly.

No users.

A bunch of those lemmit online communities.

A few other communities that tend to mostly just be identity politics arguments.

This might be the first time I've ever agreed with something three business council has lobbied for.

IIRC a land tax instead instead of stamp duty per transaction was a recommendation from they Henry tax review.