richard.obrien's blog

Fair Go Australia, the nation's largest manufacturer of compassion, will cease operations in Australia next month.

After years of poor domestic returns, competition from non-compasionate producers, and a general lack of political leadership on either side of parliament, the Australian compassion industry is winding down local production.

"Cynical dole-bludgers making us sick"
- Headline in several of today's Murdoch papers

Now I could respond by talking about the impact of mental health on unemployment, or the impact of long term unemployment on mental health.

Or I could talk about the irony of a string of News Corp journalists who, every time a Coalition government gets in, line up for taxpayer funded positions on committees where their only contribution is political bias.

I would like to point out that the actions of the Governor General of Australia are largely determined by convention, rather than codified laws.

The Australian Christian Lobby, sponsors of this year's Sydney International Bullshit Festival, have announced the lineup for next Saturday's event.

This year's festival - under the bullshit title "Cultivating Courage" - includes a star-studded lineup of both local and international bullshit artists.

Keynote speaker will be the American Conservative commentator Eric Metaxas, who took out the 2011 US bullshit award with his comparison of the advancement of LGBT rights to the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany.

Full page advert from this week's edition of the Australian financial services magazine "Complete Banker":

"Bank customers of Australia

Please take a moment from your pathetic lives to heed this warning from the Bankers Association.

Your way of life is under threat!

A royal commission into banking is an attack on the four pillars of the Australian banking system - Honesty, Trust, Fairness and Customer Service - values for which the Australian Banking industry continues to set new standards year after year.

The Federal Government has begun trials of a taxless welfare card, with entitlements not allowed to be spent on paying tax.

The cards have been distributed to 8,000 of Australia's wealthiest beneficiaries of the taxpayer.

Payments to the card holders are then funnelled through a revenue placement network of shelf companies, foreign bank accounts and Panamanian legal firms.

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"The politics of envy and just another smear."
- Malcolm Turnbull's response in October to criticism of his government's decision to exempt large private companies from tax disclosure laws and questions about his investments in the Cayman Islands.

"Envy (noun)
1. a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck."- Oxford Dictionary

If the politics of envy means a being discontent and resentful of the qualities of the Turnbull government, then sign me up.

In the Big Crock Candy Morrison
There's a land that's so far right
That the handouts go to companies
While tax evasion's rife

Where the schools are underfunded
And healthcare gets the chop
While penalty rates
Have hit the breaks
As the government
Butters up their mates
In the Big Crock Candy Morrison

In the Big Crock Candy Morrison
You'll pay more GST
While major multinationals
Will largely go tax free

Based on recent years, in 2016:

About 1 in 5 employees will be injured in the workplace, one quarter of them requiring one or more weeks off work. Around 200 people will be killed in the workplace.

About 1 in 5 Australian workers will suffer some form of mental illness. Australian businesses will lose over $6.5 billion by failing to provide early intervention/treatment for employees with mental health conditions. About 50% of employers will believe mental illness does not exist in their workplace.