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[Edmus]

I've heard it's because a handful of asylum seekers and activists got around the law by marrying each other.
Seems rather shambolic in my opinion.

[martinuzz]

Fake temporary marriages are common occurance. A acquaintance of mine even paid money to a Belgian woman, so the Belgian woman would marry her boyfriend for two years (he was a Ghanean who was denied asylum and officially would have to return to Ghana) so he would get Belgian residence papers (family unification is grounds to grant permanent residence), and with those he can stay in the Netherlands with her. (She is on social security, to marry a foreigner over here you need to earn above a certain threshold, so she could not marry him herself for a visum). I learned from her and him that there's a blooming underground business amongst Ghaneans, Nigerians and other West Africans. For a certain fee, they offer marriage for just as long as is nescessary to get a legal residence status.

[Reelya]

That reminded me of a more local thing. A while back, when I was a poor student living in NSW, there was a huge waiting list to get on public housing. I tried to sign up for the list once, and was basically laughed out of the place by the staff at the government office. I always thought it was a bit odd, never got a response like that at any other government place. Another relevant point, is this girl from Lithuania that I knew told me that the housing commission estates were absolutely chock full of Russians (far in excess of their actual population in inner Sydney).

... well the end of the story was that me and a friend were watching TV one day, when the news came on, and the story was that the senior people in the NSW Housing Commission had been arrested for corruption! (this was about 2007 or so). It turned out that the entire "waiting list" was a sham, and these guys were taking bribes equal to 4 weeks unemployment benefits to be #1 on the list. And I heard on the grapevine that you needed to take to the Russians to get the contact.

[Reelya]

It is pretty horrific though.
It reminds me of people that have their lives ruined by the lottery.

Tfw it's true
Really is a matter of too much wealth appearing in too short of a timespan

Lustig, who has two children with his wife of 30 years, said the key to staying happy is to hire a good financial planner and a good accountant after paying off all debts. “I’m smarter than that,” he said. “People, they just don’t think. You have to secure your future.” “The reason why you hear those horror stories about people who win huge amounts like that and all of a sudden they’re filing bankruptcy is because it’s usually from people who have never had that kind of money before in their lives,” he added. “They just go through it like crazy. They think there’s no tomorrow. Well, there is a tomorrow and eventually it will run out.”

Acquire money, acquire consultant

There are two types of poor people - those who can't control money, and stingy bastards. How you go when you come into money depends on which personality type you are. A good indicaction of a stingy bastard is me - I'm on student benefits and I have about 6 months worth of that saved in the bank.

[Jimmy]

It's still true that you have to spend money to make money. In your case, sounds like you're spending your money on education, which is usually the fastest, most reliable legal way to move from low income to middle income. Once you hit middle income, it's typically about investing it into business opportunities or real estate. Cash in the bank is a waste when it's not working for you to make anything grow.

[feelotraveller]

Actually, not yet.  The vote on the legislation is slated for next Monday.  But the bad news is the plan is to backdate the law to 19 July 2013.  Um, yeah, right...  It will probably pass with bipartisan support.

Is that for real? You'd think it be illegal to have such backdating no?

While it may be "inexpedient and unjust" it is not 'illegal' in Australia currently, and is something that Australian Parliaments are wont to do from time to time.  http://www.ruleoflaw.org.au/retrospective-legislation-and-the-rule-of-law/ 

Retrospective legislation has personally affected me in the past, and last year a friend would have been affected by backdated tax laws but they withdrew that legislation at the last minute.  (Trivial compared to the propsective impact on the asylum seekers of the current proposals.)  So it is not all that rare...

[martinuzz]

Backdating laws sounds completely unconstitutional and an affront to the state of law. I cannot fathom a judge sentencing someone for something they did that was not illegal at the time they did it, or making you pay taxes that did not exist in the timespan you're taxed over. That's just .. corrupt and dirty, or I dunno what exactly to call it. It's just mean.

Then again, Erdogan wants to reinstate the death penalty with backdating as well so the coup suspects can be hanged.

[feelotraveller]

The law is an ass.

More generally-
The law is an ass loaded with corporate baggage.

[Sheb]

Fake temporary marriages are common occurance. A acquaintance of mine even paid money to a Belgian woman, so the Belgian woman would marry her boyfriend for two years (he was a Ghanean who was denied asylum and officially would have to return to Ghana) so he would get Belgian residence papers (family unification is grounds to grant permanent residence), and with those he can stay in the Netherlands with her. (She is on social security, to marry a foreigner over here you need to earn above a certain threshold, so she could not marry him herself for a visum). I learned from her and him that there's a blooming underground business amongst Ghaneans, Nigerians and other West Africans. For a certain fee, they offer marriage for just as long as is nescessary to get a legal residence status.

They cracked down on that in Belgium, so apparently the brand new thing is to have some dude recognized as the father of a (completely unrelated) baby for a fee. Which really sucks because of course it's going to lead to a crackdown on that, and of course some perfectly legitimate cases are going to suffer from teh consequences.

[martinuzz]

That's much harder to fake than a marriage. Unless there's too many laws in place to protect people from having their DNA tested.

[Sheb]

Well, not really, because you can recognize a kid that isn't biologically yours. They are rolling in DNA tests in some cases too though, but that's a new development.

[smjjames]

So, apparently Australia is foisting off the refugees that they're holding to the US: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/13/australias-deal-to-resettle-refugees-in-the-us-what-we-know-so

[Jimmy]

Yep, they're offering economic refugees a deal: Settle in Nauru or go home, or else they can enter the refugee line for the USA instead. The message they're going for is that Australia's borders are absolute and nobody breaking the law to enter the country illegally will have any success. If you want to seek refuge in Australia, go through official channels. The back door's closed.

[martinuzz]

Tsunami warning for New Zealand's South Island, after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked Cheviot, a town about 100 kilometers northeast of Christchurch.
All inhabitants are advised to head to high grounds, and as far away from the coastline as possible.

[smjjames]

Yike, hope everybody's okay, including New Zealander Bay12ers.