flybyknight

yer, the shovel is Australia's answer to Americas 'the onion' and the uk's ....... hmm.... I suppose it sits somewhere inbetween private eye and viz, closer to private eye i tend to start my news feed there, private eye, radio 4 friday night comedy, the shovel etc start with the satire dealing with the mainstream media sh1te, then read the sh1te in light of the satire. it makes it easier to pick the peanuts out. :wink:

if he fancies a change of trade you can do it, get sponsored fire out here then go for a different job. for the most part there are only AME (what he'd be) jobs in Brisbane and NT. but if you get state sponsored you can change jobs or move states if there is nothing available for your trade. it's an option, if the state sponsored route is still open for you and he's happy to do something else. this is the exact situation i'm in, military experience, some civvie, no jobs, but with a great love of melbourne. the degree will likely get you better wages, it's finding the job in the first place that's the problem. i'm currently working with degree qualified fully licensed airbus and boeing ticketed LAME's drilling holes for a living. The moneys ok, but drilling holes??!!?? WTF! it's transferable skills city if you want to stay on the Yarra!

yer that national debt..... pretty bad. thing is Australia does need to tighten its belt, but not for some debt that exists now, for the crisis that is about to hit. abbott and friends are milking the system (read the tax payer) for all its worth as mineral and ff prices plummet. there is a crisis, but it's not here yet, it's the one that the current mismanagement and raping of the system is causing.

I think Australia's correction may be a hard one, it's been a very long time coming, but the wind up of coal, with the government pumping tax payers cash at it like it's some kind of pillar of the Australian economy doesn't bode well. there are stories circulating of houses in mining towns going from 300k to 1.2mil then selling recently for 250k, all tied to the pits. i hope the economy is more robust and diversified than mineral extraction, the governments actions suggest it's either not, that they are corrupt. i hope they are corrupt, it will sting less in the long term!

have you thunk about building?

kinda ironic isnt it that it is the fact that there is so much migration and therefore demand, that house prices are so high. it's like complaining that you are stuck in traffic. YOU ARE TRAFFIC! the human condition, fun to watch

the good thing here is that the truths are coming out. it's a reality check moment, for all of us me included. if you are the only honest resume on the pile, you may indeed be the strongest candidate, but you will never get an interview. that resume needs to get you noticed above all the liars and cheats, that means if you can do it but have no experience, you are economical with the latter. everyone else is, do you want the interview or not? it's pretty much gospel, whistleblowers never work in their chosen industry again. yes there are laws and regulations etc, they don't mean sh1t. if you whistleblow, think about what you're gonna do next first. have a look around the industry you would like to work in, is it filled with one race? from what i see here in Australia, certain races seem to 'tie up' certain jobs. this isn't an insult more of an observation. i would therefore assume, quite literally if you're face doesn't fit...... with this in mind i'd try to 'go with the flow' a bit, you may have more luck. you can try to be whiter than white, with a perfectly balanced and honest resume, and a non-corrupt view of employment. however with this view, you may find yourself being interviewed more out of luck than skill, likely for a job way below your talents and worth.

it's who you know, find a way to socialise with people. Australia can also be extremely racist, especially in big companies. try to hang out with people from your own race, they will find work for you, and tinker with your resume to get you into good jobs. i am lining myself up for a right bashing by saying this so i hope you appreciate it! in my defence, it's the Australia i've seen in my couple of years here, and as much as i haven't taken my own advice yet, i will be soon, finding my next job is turning out to be so hard!

never had a problem, they think im calling from portsmouth in the uk, as thats what ive got the caller display set to. no issues at all. i guess it's not the same with all banks. natwest halifax n rbos are ok with it.

if you still have a uk bank account hook up a number with these guys... http://www.voipfone.co.uk/ you can have a uk phone number with a real phone in your house, for just over £3 a month. 1p a min to call landlines 10p a min to mobiles the best bit though is that you have a uk number, with a dialing code of your choice. so friends and family can call you for free using their free mins. we have had this for years and its amazing, more reliable than skype, infact if skype audio breaks up we use it to call and just use skype for the video. you will need a broadband internet connection and a box that costs about $50. worth every penny IMHO

check with the airline, for info qantas call them comfort seats. you should pay less for it, as the airline will not be serving food, or indeed paying taxes for it. i love the idea, and will be doing it next time i go to the uk. for 2 of us, only slightly more than premium, more room between us and extra baggage too, winner!

only if you can prove your innocence when questioned. your interpretation of data on your computer could be totally different to the police's interpretation, especially when they have it in for you.

its totally a personal choice, however i would suggest a vote for an outsider who shares your passions. a vote for any of the big parties is generally wasted as they just do as they've ever done, lie cheat and steal. that's why question time is only ever any good with outsiders, they aren't tied by the same scripting and rules of the big parties

one thing i've heard that seems logical is that the price for Australian gas is dictated by what it can be sold for abroad. why sell an asset for a pittance, when you can liquidize it sail for a bit and sell it for a shed load more. this, with the global shift to low carbon is going to really hurt most Australian's the coal mines will slow, and the price of home gas will rocket. it could soon be time to start insulating, get solar and keep that electric immersion heater!

fantastic outcome, there was a risk the electorate would think everything that has happened was abbott's fault, when it was the whole party's decision. this risks papering over the cracks, allowing them another term to do more damage. however this outcome means the party's image remains clear. great news

Happy New Year!

So you want to live in a country where only the well healed can send their kids to uni?

I'm sure i've heard em all in my couple of years here. And as an amendment to 'the most aussie thing one can say' it would have to be.... Right-o hear it all the time. all the other stuff is said, but this is the every day one! love the place

I've got to hand it to you there private eye is fantastic. :wink:

Murder isn't subtle enough for the western way of doing things, it's rather basic and risks creating a martyr. if nixon did the same thing today it would be classified. you would never know. journalism is dead. the only true line is on the internet, and the mainstream media portray them as 'conspiracy nuts' to discredit them. Heather Brook made the freedom of information requests that resulted in the expenses scandal, until an outside journalist had made waves about it, no mainstream British paper would cover it, the telegraph included! Parliament made huge effort to exempt themselves from the freedom of information act. Sound like the actions of a perfectly un-corruptible person? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_parliamentary_expenses_scandal

Not quite, the media play a vital role in a functional democracy. Investigative journalism acts as a moderator to politicians, letting the public know what they don't want us to know. However is it quite easily and evidently possible to corrupt this system, to make a journalist nothing more than a PR machine for the governing party. Australian, American and British Politics are working exactly as the politicians want it to, and as such are corrupt as hell.

journalists are easy to control at a press conference, if they ask the real questions, the stuff the public need answers to, you remove their press pass and remove them from the building. the remaining journalists 'get the picture' all done press kept in check. makes a poli's life that little bit easier.

Anti terror laws, here we go! the same thing happened in the states, and the whistle blower laws were so useless the only way a true patriot could do his service to protect the constitution, and make the american people aware, had to go to a british journalist to publicise it! their media and laws etc are so tied up to protect the people who are doing the spying because the general public would be outraged if they knew the truth. this is an attractive road for a government, total information, milk and analyse everything but at what cost to us. a government can do pretty much anything if they use the word terrorism in the title!

solar panels are not hugely efficient, yet. but even with the technology found on many an Australian rooftop the large square below would be enough to power... the whole worlds current demand. (small square is if panels reach 100% efficiency, impossible but there for reference) wind farms would require much much less area, they produce much more than pv for a given area. and as an added bonus the land beneath them can still be used for farming etc.

looks like he's just trying to save face...... doesn't seem to be working so far lol