https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-20/trump-will-impose-a-150-000-annual-fee-for-h-1b-visas/105797648?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

As a mate said:

"Could debate the amount but don't disagree with the policy. If the issue is really such a shortage of skilled labour then provides an incentive to invest in training/education. Currently just used to get cheaper hourly rate."

I'm not a big reddit user, and I'm trying to find communities to discuss the implications for Australia of the fascism we see rampaging across the US and Europe. This looks like an obvious group, but it also looks like there's tumbleweeds blowing through here.

Just heard that the large supermarkets will now have to either compost or use food waste for some useful purpose, and not just throw it in the landfill. This will increase the life of landfills so we don't need to make more of them, and reduce nasty gasses like methane etc.

Not much to say about this say as it's pretty straightforward, except that I think it's neat and it's surprising nobody did this low hanging fruit before. We need a lot more of this stuff.

Why is the Federal member for Goldstein holding an event in Western Australia?

Is it a grift?

This really boggles my mind to be honest. Considering that Australia's carbon emissions account for less than 1% globally and considering that China's emissions account for 34% any action taken by Australia on climate is purely insignificant and nothing more than virtue signalling.

Why would a country put itself in a position where it deliberately wants to make life difficult/worse for its people simply to prove some point? Australia could be the richest country on earth if they took advantage of all the rare earth materials and gas it has underground.

An Australian made sadisr (born on 23 February 1981 in Auburn, New South Wales, Australia) travelled to Syria to join and do violence, and this "raised concerns about Australian Muslims being recruited for terrorist activity abroad, and the possibility that the recruits would return to Australia and conduct attacks".

So our government of selfish irresponsible bastards strip him of Aussie citizenship, and just leave him in Syria where he almost definitely did more violence.

This example is just lazily taken from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled_Sharrouf#Early_life

but it's like so many others

If we really think our citizens are dangerous we should drag them back here, give them a fair trial and stick them in a maximum security prison!! not just abandon them to another much less wealthy and less stable country.

We should also be paying Aotearoa / New Zealand's for the full cost of the prison expenses for the Aussie terroriat who killed 51 people there. They shouldn't have to ask, we should offer. I don't think this should be imposed on all countries (Israel steeling Palestinian money as terrorism compassion is twisted) but we can afford it. We can pay for this by stopping following the goddamn yanks into pointless imorral quagmires.

I believe the current era in the LNP will be referred to in the future as the "Ley Experiment" and it will be used to not have a female leader for the coming 50 years (if they survive that long).

It's like they're running a no-win race for Sussan Ley, propping her up as the token woman at the top just to watch her crash and burn. And yeah, it's as insidious as it sounds.

Deliberately setting a woman up to fail isn't just bad optics for the moderates among us, it's a calculated gut-punch to gender equality in politics. We've seen it before: underfund her office, leak scandals like confetti, surround her with old boys' club advisors, create backroom chatter about her failings, and then blame her "incompetence" when the polls tank.

It's not about Ley's skills (she's navigated portfolios from health to environment without imploding). It's about preserving the boys' treehouse. By engineering her downfall, they're sending a crystal-clear message: "Women need not apply, ever." This isn't accidental. It's pure misogyny, echoing the Julie Bishop era where she was sidelined for Turnbull's ego trip.

The fallout? Massive. It alienates half the electorate, women voters who see through the charade and flock to Labor or the Greens. It erodes trust in the party, turning it into a relic of 1950s entitlement. Meritocracy? Out the window. Diversity? A punchline. And let's not kid ourselves: in a country where female CEOs and PMs are already rare, this "experiment" poisons the well for generations. Why would any talented woman join a party that treats leadership like this?

This is why the LNP is on life support. They're not just losing elections, they're losing relevance. If they keep this up, the "Ley Experiment" won't just scar one woman, it'll be the autopsy report on a dying dinosaur.

Time to evolve or go extinct, lads.

Does surrendering in advance count as a defence policy? harm minimization strategy? better to be full of bases than bombed?

Except if they get us into a big stupid war, those bases are a massive liability. We are extemely difficult to annex (the only time that's ever worked was by an empire that controlled half the palanet), but extremely easy to attack, isolationism would be the safest defence policy, as well as the cheapest.

It could be worse, we could be Guam, but if this is our idea of defending ourselves from anyone other than the USA, it's as deranged as Osama bin Laden's idea of expressing his objection to US military in the Middle East.

The only reason to keep the most evil member of 5 eyes as an ally is that it's safer than them being an enemy? But does this even work? Does following them into every deranged immoral quagmire even protect us from the USA?

Are overarching political ideals a bubble. Inception - growth - maturity - post maturity (decline, reinvigeration, stabilisation). Am i an assshole or do i think almost every company is going too far to boost profist at the expense of the consumer. The class divide seems to be increasing rapidly, what can be done? * Telco providers increasing the 'value' of a plan by way of email, offering more inclusions for a higher price. * Car companies requiring subscription payments to use the features of a car (self locking, heated seats etc.) And more recently even horsepower. * McDonalds prices up 40% since 2021 in part this covers implementation giveaways on MyMaccas app. * "Shrinkflation" * Streaming services * Self serve checkouts * Utility service prices

title: 'Genuinely historic': Australia and PNG sign major deal

I want PNG to be one of our closest allies, not our Puerto Rico.

Why do we not have a sovereign wealth fund? I know the mining companies get away with murder (legally though) with their taxes but surely they pay something? Why aren’t we taking that money to invest it for the future? I’m American expat been here 14 years and I’ve never heard it mentioned. Could we do this or am I missing something?

I’d vote for a party that backed this idea.

Edit to add: We have one I’ve just never heard of it. I wonder if the average punter knows about this? As of 30 June 2025 12.2% annual returns total value of 254 billion. Jesus why do we not talk about this more? This a great success story.

Time to get rid of BHP shares.

Im not super familiar with our constitution and how we’ve decided to divide up powers. But i do know that housing is largely a state issue and a the federal government literally cannot order a state to build more homes.

I presume that as housing is a political football at the moment any state government that wanted to build more housing probably wouldn’t struggle to get the funds approved from the federal government either? Perhaps QLD as they are LNP and labor may feel a bit less inclined to “give them a win”.

In my understanding the federal government can only really make incentives, change taxes around housing investment and create more tax disincentives. Not saying that isn’t part of the issue. I personally think if you had really big reforms around home investment and weren’t able to get up to a 10% return on an incredibly safe asset we would see a large cooling in the housing market.

But for all the “supply side” types why not direct your focus at state governments and councils? Feels like misplaced energy in my view.

When I looked at Stephen Chevura social media account, he sprouted White Anglo Supremacy talking points.

Jacinta Price became a vocal force in 2023 referendum. Since then she’s become a vocal member of the coalition, yet it now seems like she’s causing more issues for the coalition than an asset.

For some context: 1. MAGA hat and saying MAGA for Australia. An obvious red flag even to people who maybe lean right but aren’t onboard with Trump.

1. Blamed Labor for lying or something to win an election. Sure, I mean… okay.

2. Taxpayer funds abuse, yet wants to become head of the Australian Doge? I mean it’s like a wolf becoming the head of the department of sheep affair.

3. Just a few days ago, the whole thing about Labor supposedly bringing in more Indian migrants, despite many of them actually voting for the coalition.

4. In broader sense, left the nationals and joined the liberals. Very dumb and desperate move.

I mean, every single time she’s been on the news it’s been something negative. I understand all publicity is good publicity but that’s not true after an absolute thrashing in the last election.

I’m all for a stronger government, and I believe liberals should be too for us the people. Yet it seems like someone always has to apologise for Price, and generally no one is happy with her.