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Australian news and politics.

erogenouszone said:
Private information in the hands of a 3rd Party. Gee that's never been leaked or sold or compromised or hacked before.
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I think at this stage we need to accept that all our information is out there anyway.

Between just Medibank, Optus and Qantas alone they've leaked the data of over 15 million people. Yes there's some overlap but it's still a fuckton.

The letter we got from AHM, an offshoot of Medibank, said basically they lost pretty much everything you need for a bad actor to create a version of me, the wife or the family.

2FA and the rest of it is our only hope now.

And I know the kids can sidestep this stuff but the government has to do something rather than nothing.

Making the tech companies responsible is also a good step. That and the big fuck off fines.

I think we can agree child porn, torture videos and bomb making tutorials are probably things that shouldn't be available online for adults, let alone kids.
 
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From ChatGPT.

  • Latitude Financial (2023) – ~ 14 million customers (Australia + New Zealand)
  • MediSecure (2024) – ~ 12.9 million Australians
  • Optus (2022) – ~ 9.5–10 million customers
  • Medibank / ahm (2022) – ~ 9.7 million customers
  • Qantas (2025) – ~ 5.7 million unique customer records

So yeah, the interwebs pretty much has everything already.
 
Muz said:
I think at this stage we need to accept that all our information is out there anyway.

Between just Medibank, Optus and Qantas alone they've leaked the data of over 15 million people. Yes there's some overlap but it's still a fuckton.

The letter we got from AHM, an offshoot of Medibank, said basically they lost pretty much everything you need for a bad actor to create a version of me, the wife or the family.

2FA and the rest of it is our only hope now.

And I know the kids can sidestep this stuff but the government has to do something rather than nothing.

Making the tech companies responsible is also a good step. That and the big fuck off fines.

I think we can agree child porn, torture videos and bomb making tutorials are probably things that shouldn't be available online for adults, let alone kids.
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Using government IDs and private banking information is not the way though.
 
Muz said:
I think at this stage we need to accept that all our information is out there anyway.

Between just Medibank, Optus and Qantas alone they've leaked the data of over 15 million people. Yes there's some overlap but it's still a fuckton.

The letter we got from AHM, an offshoot of Medibank, said basically they lost pretty much everything you need for a bad actor to create a version of me, the wife or the family.

2FA and the rest of it is our only hope now.

And I know the kids can sidestep this stuff but the government has to do something rather than nothing.

Making the tech companies responsible is also a good step. That and the big fuck off fines.

I think we can agree child porn, torture videos and bomb making tutorials are probably things that shouldn't be available online for adults, let alone kids.
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I'd advocate for a blanket ban on all internet pornography until the industry can control its output with proper age verification, content control and so on....

At least in terms of the hardcore porn. Some of this stuff which includes sexual violence against girls and women and the sexualising of children is de-humanising.

I think that society needs to take a good hard look at what's going on.

You wouldn't be allowed to sell some of this stuff in regular adult shops. Why is it so easily available on the internet?
 
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If it is of any interest, I've reviewed a political book in the Which Book Are You Reading thread.

BULLDOZED: NIKKY SAVVA

It is about the Fall Of Scott Morrison and the Rise Of Anthony Albanese. Another poster doesn't want to see the Bookreading thread gets derailed with politics.

'If' these are 'any' political comments, may be they can be posted in this thread?
 
Just watched the first episode of The People vs Robodebt. What gets me is that people talk about as if it was a new computer system. It never was. There was a cold hard decision to go from a system of compliance that checked 20000 files a year - that usually found there was no debt owed when compliance officers checked it to a system where hundreds of thousands debt notices were sent out with no oversight.

Simply metrics would have told you 20,000 files turns up maybe 200 debts. why would 200,000 files suddenly turn up 169.000. (not the real numbers but basically they new what they were doing and just wanted to get more money in)
 
patjennings said:
Just watched the first episode of The People vs Robodebt. What gets me is that people talk about as if it was a new computer system. It never was. There was a cold hard decision to go from a system of compliance that checked 20000 files a year - that usually found there was no debt owed when compliance officers checked it to a system where hundreds of thousands debt notices were sent out with no oversight.

Simply metrics would have told you 20,000 files turns up maybe 200 debts. why would 200,000 files suddenly turn up 169.000. (not the real numbers but basically they new what they were doing and just wanted to get more money in)
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Where do we watch? Stan?
 
patjennings said:
Just watched the first episode of The People vs Robodebt. What gets me is that people talk about as if it was a new computer system. It never was. There was a cold hard decision to go from a system of compliance that checked 20000 files a year - that usually found there was no debt owed when compliance officers checked it to a system where hundreds of thousands debt notices were sent out with no oversight.

Simply metrics would have told you 20,000 files turns up maybe 200 debts. why would 200,000 files suddenly turn up 169.000. (not the real numbers but basically they new what they were doing and just wanted to get more money in)
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Another issue with Robodebt - although you have essentially touched on it with the 'no oversight' bit is it seems they just flat out ignored requests for information.

Example: I reported my income fortnightly while at uni on Youth Allowance or whatever it was called at the time, and made sure I followed all the rules and timelines and whatever for it. This finished up for me in Spring 2014 when I graduated. Midway through 2018, I answer a call from Centrelink on a day off who have called me about a new $930ish debt (that I hadn't received my letter in the mail yet for - I did after this call by like a day, so I think they were just a bit antsy to call and follow up). Anyways, they wanted to go through my income reporting, etc from 2013-2014 financial year - and I told them "Look, I'm not at that job anymore, and they changed their payroll system since then anyways, so I don't have access to those payslips right now. Best I can give you is my bank statements - though they only give me the Net figure, and not the Gross, so they're not going to be accurate for you. Plus my reporting also meant reporting hours, and not just figures, so I can't give you that breakdown either."

CL: Oh that's ok, I can put it in as Net pay and it works out the amounts.
Me: Sure thing - but I need you to send me whatever figures you're inputting afterwards, and then I'll reach out to my old employer if they're not matching what I put before, and I'll get my old payslips from them.
CL: Yep, we will definitely send you everything.

So then we go through my statements, I tell them the date I got it paid, and what I'm aware those payments are the dates for that I worked: Eg, this job paid me weekly on Wednesdays, for the previous Monday-Sunday - so I wanted to make sure that was reflected, because that's how I would have had to report it every Monday night for 4 years.

I then got told: Ok so with those figures and calculations, that brings the debt down to $560.
Me: Ok, well.. when I get that letter with your calculations and figures with what we've gone through, I'll source the payslips, and I can call back and match it with the hours and dates properly. Because I wanna see what I reported at the time, and what my payslips say. Because if I reported accurately at the time, and you've stuffed things up, I shouldn't be paying back any debts that you work out now.
CL: Yeah, no worries, we'll get that out to you straight after this call.

I got my original letter after that. And then the recalculated letter a few weeks later. But no sources of information, so I called them up, asked for it again, and they said they'd send it out - and then I never got anything. For months and months and months, I didn't receive a thing.

Did my tax return for 2018-2019, was supposed to get a $1000ish refund - and then on the day it processed, the Robodebt ate it all up. This was before the class action got finalised.

Then the next kick in the teeth is that Centrelink (and the class action) - even though we never finalised my figures and what not as discussed - considered that a recalculated debt, so they didn't have to pay it back.

Luckily for me, shortly after, they stuffed up their Jobkeeper payment to me for a fortnight (or at least in my opinion they did) and overpaid me about the same amount they took for Robodebt, so I considered that the eye for an eye.
 
Decentric said:
If it is of any interest, I've reviewed a political book in the Which Book Are You Reading thread.

BULLDOZED: NIKKY SAVVA

It is about the Fall Of Scott Morrison and the Rise Of Anthony Albanese. Another poster doesn't want to see the Bookreading thread gets derailed with politics.

'If' these are 'any' political comments, may be they can be posted in this thread?
Click to expand...
saw on the other thread someone recommended Reflections of a Bleeding Heart.

I preferred John Edwards - Keating: The Inside Story.
 
Thanks to all those who’ve posted about the ramifications of changing laws to prevent Aus youth accessing adult videos.

Haven’t discussed it or read about it much anywhere else.
 
Australian PM rejects republic referendum after lunch with Charles
Bernard Lagan - Sydney
The Australian prime minister has extinguished hopes of turning the country into a republic after a “wonderful lunch” with the King at Balmoral.

Anthony Albanese ruled out holding a national referendum on replacing the monarch as the nation’s head of state with an Australian president. Australian republicans had hoped that the Labor prime minister, who is expected to win a third term in 2028, would revive his republic ambitions.

In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday, Albanese said he enjoyed “a wonderful lunch” with Charles and said he had not raised the republic issue.

“I think I’ve made it clear that I wanted to hold one referendum while I was prime minister and we did that,” Albanese told the broadcaster, referring to his failed 2023 referendum on granting Aboriginal people recognition in the Australian constitution.

Before his interview, it was thought that Albanese, who previously said an Australian republic was “inevitable”, might relent and hold a republic referendum late in his present term or if elected for a third term in 2028.

He was returned to office in February in a victory that defied polls and set the Labor Party up for a third consecutive election victory.

In ruling out any referendum, Albanese said he wished to concentrate on issues more pressing for Australians.

“[The King] is fully aware that I support an Australian as our head of state, but I also respect the decisions which have been made and our system of government, and I think that’s important,” Albanese said.

Nathan Hansford, the Australian Republic Movement’s co-chair, said a visit to the country’s head of state “shouldn’t require a flight to Balmoral. We call on the prime minister ... to keep this on the national agenda and set out a path to a referendum.”

Support for the King as head of state remains firm in Australia, according to recent polls. A survey taken in October showed the majority of Australians, 57 per cent (down three percentage points since September 2022), believed the country should remain a constitutional monarchy.

Albanese and Jodie Haydon, his fiancée, flew from London to Scotland on Saturday to present the King with a framed photo of his visit to Australia with Camilla in October. He is the first Australian prime minister to visit Balmoral since Paul Keating, who used his meeting in 1993 to inform Queen Elizabeth of his plan to hold an independence referendum. The country voted against cutting ties with the monarchy in 1999, by 55 per cent.

The night before the royal visit, Albanese and Haydon had dinner at No 10 with Sir Keir Starmer. When asked why the Australian prime minister had given his counterpart a four-pack of “Albo’s pale ale”, a Sydney brewed ale that features a young Albanese on the can, he replied: “We’re polite guests.”
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As an Englishman who is generally speaking not an anti-monachist, I quite like Charles as the King, well I admit he's a bit strange on somethings but he's been good. With William and then George following on I think we'll be a constitutional monarchy for the rest of my lifetime anyway.

But I do think that Australia has to explore the possibility of having it's own head of state...

I guess I wouldn't in the minority on this issue?

Should Australia have another referendum on becoming a Republic?
 
Football us life said:
As an Englishman who is generally speaking not an anti-monachist, I quite like Charles as the King, well I admit he's a bit strange on somethings but he's been good. With William and then George following on I think we'll be a constitutional monarchy for the rest of my lifetime anyway.

But I do think that Australia has to explore the possibility of having it's own head of state...

I guess I wouldn't in the minority on this issue?

Should Australia have another referendum on becoming a Republic?
Click to expand...
As a staunch republican (Not in the US bullshit vernacular) I fear a referendum at this stage of our history will do nothing but drive further division amongst our already pretty divided society. I'm with Albo on this, we have other issues to sort out first. This coming decade is going to be a massive global shitstorm, lets weather the storm first and talk about abolishing the blue blooded parasites when we are all a lot more calm about our future direction as a nation...
 
Monoethnic Social Club said:
As a staunch republican (Not in the US bullshit vernacular) I fear a referendum at this stage of our history will do nothing but drive further division amongst our already pretty divided society. I'm with Albo on this, we have other issues to sort out first. This coming decade is going to be a massive global shitstorm, lets weather the storm first and talk about abolishing the blue blooded parasites when we are all a lot more calm about our future direction as a nation...
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I agree, we went through a very divisive issue with The Voice a couple years ago, no need to divide the country again at this time over something which will have essentially no effect on any of us.
 
Football us life said:
As an Englishman who is generally speaking not an anti-monachist, I quite like Charles as the King, well I admit he's a bit strange on somethings but he's been good. With William and then George following on I think we'll be a constitutional monarchy for the rest of my lifetime anyway.

But I do think that Australia has to explore the possibility of having it's own head of state...

I guess I wouldn't in the minority on this issue?

Should Australia have another referendum on becoming a Republic?
Click to expand...
I believe the deep issue is the republican movement and legal experts still can't state how an Australian republic would look like.

I think some scholars have said it's murky and potentially messy whereby changing the current status isn't worth it.

What I don't like is that some on the Republic side need to use it to flick dirt and undermine the other. Like all of these issues, it's not going to get people onside.

In addition that flag discussion will come up. I've seen maybe one half decent proposal but even then it irks me. If I remember it looks way too much like the Solomon Islands.
 
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JS96 said:
I believe the deep issue is the republican movement and legal experts still can't state how an Australian republic would look like.

I think some scholars have said it's murky and potentially messy whereby changing the current status isn't worth it.

What I don't like is that some on the Republic side need to use it to flick dirt and undermine the other. Like all of these issues, it's not going to get people onside.

In addition that flag discussion will come up. I've seen maybe one half decent proposal but even then it irks me. If I remember it looks way too much like the Solomon Islands.
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That was not an academic - that was John Howard. TBH in the grander scale of things though it is not a first order issue.

I am a supporter of a republic but not of a popularly elected President. However, in some ways with Trump as POTUS a consensus President with a fixed term appointed by Parliament probably the perfect time to have a referendum for a consensus President.
 
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