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[Max White]

It will be interesting if they do have to recall the election for the WA senate.
Left wing factions might pick up a little, the ABC has been shilling for them pretty hard lately... Or it just appears that way when contrasted with the blatantly right aligned commercial stations. Hard to say...

[Max White]

So on the 17th there is going to be a protest in front of parliament house in regards to the treatment of asylum seekers that I have been invited to attend. Thinking of showing up, because on the one hand things are getting absurd but on the other there doesn't seem to be clear objectives for this protest. It is just a bad thing and they want something, rather than actually setting out steps they want taken.

[Osmosis Jones]

So on the 17th there is going to be a protest in front of parliament house in regards to the treatment of asylum seekers that I have been invited to attend. Thinking of showing up, because on the one hand things are getting absurd but on the other there doesn't seem to be clear objectives for this protest. It is just a bad thing and they want something, rather than actually setting out steps they want taken.

Figure out some sensible, rational goals.
Email them around the forums for the rally.
Print out a whole heap of flyers with them summarised on the day.
Optional extra, try and intercept any press looking for an interview, and give a good one.
(P.S. dress to impress; if you look like a lawyer, you'll have more impact than if they can lable you as an unwashed hippy.)

[Max White]

I look too young to look like a lawyer. More likely to be mistaken for an clueless teenager than anybody with some level of authority.

[Sheb]

Well, get that friend of yours that's 6 ft tall and managed to grow a full beard at 15 to act like the grown-up.

[Osmosis Jones]

Well, get that friend of yours that's 6 ft tall and managed to grow a full beard at 15 to act like the grown-up.

No no, he's needed to play the lumberjack.

In all seriousness, even if you're not gonna be up front in the cameras, it never hurts to take a little pride in your appearance at these things. Button up shirt and jeans at least.

You want people to look at you and see themselves, to put themselves in your shoes. That's a lot easier if you dress mainstream. Not to mention, people will try and downplay you and marginalise you, to be able to paint you as a stereotype that can be laughed at and ignored. The broader a brush you make them paint with, the harder it is for them to pretend you're a fringe group.

[Max White]

Well I'll be sure to wear shoes, maybe even a clean shirt.  I hear a senator or two from the Greens might show up, so they stand a better chance at demanding some media attention than anybody else. Might even provide some much needed direction.

I imagine Labor and the Coalition will be doing their best to avoid the topic.

[Max White]

So being the Australasian thread, I guess this would be where we talk about Typhoon Haiyan?

For anybody that didn't hear, a powerful Typhoon rolled through the Philippines, over 10,000 people killed in the city of Tacloban alone... Pretty bad stuff.

[Reudh]

So being the Australasian thread, I guess this would be where we talk about Typhoon Haiyan?

For anybody that didn't hear, a powerful Typhoon rolled through the Philippines, over 10,000 people killed in the city of Tacloban alone... Pretty bad stuff.

Yeah, and is hitting Vietnam at the moment too. I'm worried, because I have friends in Vietnam at the moment.

[Max White]

Death count has been re-estimated to be closer to 2,500, but still pretty bad, and likely to get worse. Hundreds of thousands are without food, water and shelter, there has been reports of looting what food stores remain and conditions are set for disease. Things looking pretty bad. I've seen a short piece run about a US military aircraft landing and how it isn't carrying aid, instead is just taking their citizens home in a blatant display of 'Lolmerica is so evil!', pretty rich when they are offering thirty times the aid we are. Anyhoo...


In local news, PARLIAMENT IS OPEN! The law season is on!
In the first thirty minutes Labor questioned Morrison in regards to his secrecy about asylum seekers... So the Coalition, MP Morrison included, voted to gag himself. Pretty nice when you can vote to not have to be accountable! But I'm sure that will be drowned out from what came after. The new speaker for the house made a lot of talk yesterday about acting in a respectful manner and using proper titles, in fact just yesterday Abbott said that the phrase 'Electricity Bill Shorten', basically linking Bill Shorten to higher electricity prices due to the carbon tax, would be unacceptable. Yet today the god damned Leader of the House, Pyne, used that exact term and it was deemed fine. Remember kids, it is only disrespectful when you don't have the numbers! Palmer was absent, but who cares? His vote doesn't really matter anyway.

[Mini]

I wonder if anyone is actually legitimately surprised by this.

[Max White]

Not anybody really. The Coalition no longer needs due process, they can just throw their weight around now. In regards to the decent motion they didn't even offer any opposition, why waste time explaining your vote when you don't need to fight for it? Well Australia, enjoy your three year dictatorship.

In other news, MP and Ex-PM Rudd has stepped down from parliament! While a bit of a surprise to everybody at home, I'm sure everybody in the chamber saw it coming. Apparently he is planning to get involved with the UN in the hopes of fighting climate change, I take it as a final 'Fuck you' to Abbott.


EDIT:
Anybody else watching the Senate (Or even this thread for this matter?) The wonderful Senator Wong is giving a lecture on how you oppose raising the debt limit in a responsible way.

[sneakey pete]

Saw a news article on the topic of the debt thing today, went somewhat like this

coalition
"you're sabotaging the econmy by not agreeing!"

Labour
"well, its at 300 Billion right now, we just want to raise it to 400 billion"

Coalition
"no, no you'll destroy the country!"

Labour
"but the prediction is for debt to peak at under 400 billion by 2016 anyway"

coalition
"you're doing what happened in the USA"

Labour
"no, we only oppose raising it to 500 billion, we're happy with raising it 33% to 400 billion. and we'll raise it to 500 billion if we need to in the future"


So um, yeah.

[Max White]

They don't even oppose raising it to 500b, they are just asking that the Coalition justify the raise in the houses, like every other piece of policy that goes through.

This financial blockaid is a political ploy by the Coalition with the hopes they can emulate the situation in the US to win public support. The thing they don't seem to understand is that in the states things seemed to get bad once the shutdown was actually in effect, and that isn't going to happen here.
They are playing politics rather than trying to run the country.

EDIT: For those looking for something to make themselves feel better in these dark times...
A campaign manager for the Wikileaks party talks about his time in the party, and it is like an episode of one of those slenderman videos. Seriously you would swear it was from a horror movie.

[Max White]

So relations with Indonesia are hitting rough water.
In light of revealed phone hacking by the Australian government, President Yudhoyono is pretty much demanding a public apology. They have recalled their diplomat, and are threatening to stop Australian cattle imports and no longer cooperate with our 'stop the boats' policy. Abbott, a man of absolution, has refused to bend the knee and say sorry.


In the mean time a senate inquiry has managed to draw some information about boat arrivals out, showing over 700 asylum seekers have arrived since operation sovereign boarders began, and that is in the off season.