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We all have our moments! Unfortunately with social media you can't get away with anything.

I've given up thinking about the extra $1.50 above normal price for diesel after getting the list of vehicle repairs needed from the local mechanic. Apart from a couple of tyres, I'm up for a full set of shocks, spring shackle bushes, front disc rotors and pads, control arm bushes, steering arm rods and ball joints, cv drive shafts, and that's just the urgent stuff. Makes fuel look cheap.

Box Hill Central is a busy shopping centre built over a railway station, with a bus terminus on the roof. You can sit in the mall for half an hour and be lucky to see half a dozen caucasions. Mainly Asians of various nationalities - Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean, etc.

I guess the issue is not immigration per se, but the method. These conversations often seem to assume that the worst cases are the most common. In the past, there were a lot of Italian migrants. Although now accepted by most Australians, there were certainly a minority involved in organised crime. My son's partner is a migrant from China (to NZ). She is a highly paid (and taxed) contributor to society. The term immigrant is rather broad. My doctor and my dentist are immigrants. For the last 30 years of my working life, I mainly worked as a music teacher in private music studios. The number of my colleagues born overseas was quite large. These people were the best and brightest. Here is a picture from when I retired. There are Irish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hong Kong, South American, South African, British, and probably more. These people were all smart and talented, and I loved working with them. I am also an immigrant. My family arrived in Australia in 1964 as "ten-pound tourists" We lived in a new city called Elizabeth, which was full of immigrants, mainly British but other nationalities as well. A few immigrants failed to adjust, and there was crime associated with this. I don't have the figures, but I doubt it would have been much greater than from Australian-born people.

Edited as requested.

The general opinion of the immigration problem seems to be that immigrants lower the standards many Anglo-Europeans set in earlier days - as regards cleanliness, levels of service, and general behaviour standards. The previous laws relating to immigrants appear to have been seriously watered down. Originally, immigrants had to produce a clean criminal history, be sponsored by an Australian citizen and have a job to go to, and they were on "probation" for a couple of years after arrival. Any criminal offence soon after arrival would see them deported quickly. But now we have "African Crime Gangs", "Middle Eastern Crime Gangs", and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs taken over by immigrant thugs. There has been a major upsurge in drug dealing, money laundering, car theft, car rebirthing, financial scams (especially involving NDIS and child care payment scams), and a major upsurge in the use of bladed weapons in serious assaults and home invasions. A lot of this crime upsurge is directly related to immigrants with criminal histories and tendencies who were let in, apparently unchecked. This is not the way to improve a country.

GON, you forgot to mention Trump has buggered up the American economy, having to pay $37B in taxpayer monies to U.S. farmers whose major soybean market he ruined. He has destroyed nearly every economic/trade agreement around. He's made enemies of a multitude of former Allies - then complains when they won't help with his war he started. He's done nothing to create "regime change" in Iran, and has almost certainly created a more hard-line regime there, who will just bide their time to strike back at the U.S. in bitter revenge. He's created greatly increased U.S. inflation, started wars when he claimed he was the greatest peacemaker in the world, has done nothing to stop the Ukraine-Russia war, and is preparing to invade Cuba. He's enriched himself massively by turning the U.S. Presidency position into a simple extension of his business dealings. He's lost tens of billions in U.S. military equipment losses, from aircraft to defence installations, all across the Middle East. He's had nearly all his tariff imposts overturned by the U.S. Supreme court. He's broken every election promise he made - such as, he "would stop the Ukraine War in one day". We have a good Australian name for people like him. "A Supreme Bullshit Artist".

He's nearly Brain dead Mate. Nev

I was about to say that Barnaby works hard at being a clown, but I think it comes naturally.

I would be very interested to know how immigrants have affected people PERSONALLY. There's a lot of anti-immigration rubbish on here. It's all general. Personally, in my team at work there are 3 people who emigrated to Australia. They're hard workers and good people. So I'm interested why people have a problem with Australia's current immigration regime. Is it because of the stories in the Murdoch press? Is it because you want a simple scapegoat for complex societal problems like house prices? Or have you been personally impacted by immigration?

Ol' Barnaby works pretty hard on stopping other stupid politicians allowing stuff in that can wreck our bio security.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see how the post appears when each quote is precededed by 'willedoo said'. That's the problem with the way quotes work. You would have been better off just cut and pasting the relevant section, that way the quote would not attribute the words to me. I'd be happy if the mods kept the post up but removed the sections attributing the quotes to me. As said, it's in context to anyone who has read and understood my preceding post, but some people don't do that, and to them the post appears to be attributing those words to me which is not acceptable.

Yes, no offence meant @willedoo as I was quoting PHON's policies and intending it as a response to them not yourself; I am sorry if it looks as if I am quoting yourself - i am happy for mods to delete it or edit it to refer to PHON's policies.

It seemed perfectly ok to me as Jerry was obviously quoting their policies.

Trump is still better than Johnson and Nixon, they killed off 56,000 young Americans for no good reason, no good reason at all. Trump closed the Southern Border, cleaned up Biden's illegal immigrant mess, and what a mess it was. He then started clamping down on illicit drug importation, not fooling round either. Now he's letting Islamists know who's boss. Trump warned them some time ago, don't mess with the United States, Christianity nor Western societies.

Tell me how I'm better off? The thing is that the major parties' immigration policy is a chaotic, shambolic and untidy policy. And One Nation has the guts to go public on how to clean it all up.

I'll know to just post a link next time. Or stay off the politics thread so there's no next time. What a fukwit thing to do Jerry.

Jerry, your posts have the appearance of quoting me as saying those things and I find that a bit offensive and would ask the mods to remove your post. For everybodys information, those are not my words and the appearance of the post is a misrepresention. Marty asked GON if he knew what One Nation's policies were and I quoted their immigration policy from the One Nation website to help clarify the debate. As a neutral observer of the ongoing sparring with GON, I must add. Jesus Jerry, that's a shitful way to misrepresent someone. I know you didn't intend it that way, but just look at how that looks to anyone who didn't read the background of my post. If you can't delete, I'll see if the mods can do it.

One Nation policy: Deport 75,000 illegal migrants because Australia’s immigration laws must be enforced, not ignored. Visa overstayers, illegal workers, and unlawful non-residents undermine national security, drive down wages, and take advantage of public services meant for Australians. I don't fundamentally disagree with this, but noit for the reasons quoted. For me it is fairness. 75,000 illegal immigrants, even if all are working are not going to make a dent to wages, which are covered the the fair work act and collective bargaining agreements, anyway. Nor are they going to be able to claim public services with the exception of health and subsidised transport. What they will doi is take a few jobs under deprived conditions for them. I am not sure how the undermine national security - except those working legally in foreign embassies. One Nation policy: Cut immigration by over 570,000 people from current Labor levels by capping visas at 130,000 per year to ease pressure on housing, wages, and infrastructure. That was one year which was after COVID as a ballon.. and it is a gross migration, not net migration figure. Those numbers are dropping to normal levels already. Note, most of our immigration is for skilled migration visas, of which there is a chronic shortage (thankfully; even at my age, I should be able to get a job). One Nation policy: Stop the skilled visa rorting that allows cheap foreign labour to undercut Australian workers. I agree with this; I can't remember the Visa numbers (419?) This was introduced by the Coalition specifically to provide cheap overseas labour to their sponsors in lieu of Aussie labour. One Nation policy: End the student visa loopholes that turn study into a backdoor to permanent residency or low-wage labour. This is the same issue as we have in the UK. Whilst I philosophically agree with this, Australia has a chronic skills shortage, which they have to import. So, may as well use the people we have trained. Note, on skilled migration, it has to be tempered to balance developing talent locally, keeping salaries real, and making sure the economy continues. It is a balancing act. that some governments don't come close to performing. One Nation policy: Stop the Administrative Review Tribunal being abused with endless, weaponised appeals that clog the system and delay rightful deportations. Immigration enforcement must not be held hostage by legal loopholes. Reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas a proven, effective policy that prevents permanent residency through the back door and deters illegal arrivals. On the first one, I have no idea. In the second, is that not available already? Usually TPVs result in permament residency when it is proived that the person subject to it will be under the same or dsimilar threat for a sustained period of time. One Nation policy: Deport any visa holder who breaks the law. Weak law enforcement policies have put Australians in danger for too long. If you commit a crime, you lose your visa and the right to stay. We have to be careful with this.. Very populist, but let's face it, the Bondi hero who disarmed one of the shooters was on bail or something, wasn't he? I think this should be qualified by indictable offences and even then, of certain types. If someone shoplifted something small, for example, would that really be cause to deport them? Given nothing happens to locals who do it, It is a value judgement. One Nation policy: Introduce an eight-year waiting period for citizenship and welfare, ensuring new arrivals contribute before they take. Again, this is a great soundbyte as people think of unemployment benefits cheats, etc. But what happens if someone is a permanent resident waiting for citizenship in an average job and suffers a car accident not their fault and can't work for 12 months. Are they to be denied public health services (a benefit), unemployment benefit, etc; Or do we make them destitute? IMHO, once they or their family pay taxes, they are eligible. Simples. Do we make locals wait 8 years of paying tax before they can claim benefits? This sort of policy assumes every migrant is here to abuse the system,. IO am sure some are... but not all.. There may be some things you want to put limits on - e.g. child allowance (if that is still a thing), etc. I guess. One Nation policy: Refuse entry to migrants from nations known to foster extremist ideologies that are incompatible with Australian values and way of life. I would prefer, if this is really an issue, potential migrants having to pay for a proper psychometric assessment or something. Some people may be leaving precisely for that reason and they want nothing to do with such ideologies. In fact, they would be quite opposed to extremism and vocally so. Where this is coming from, with respect to Pauline is the ME, and there are many more Imams in the country than the one or two hate preachers. Of course, the press doesn't focus on that side of the coin. One Nation policy: Withdraw from the UN Refugee Convention because Australia will not be dictated to by foreign organisations when deciding who we accept into our nation on humanitarian grounds The evidence would suggest that, regardless to Australia being a party to the refugee conventions (not just one), it does already not fulfil its obligations, because being a signatory to an international convention is just that; your a signatory. International pressure may be applied to Australia, but so far, Australia has ignored it. A convention is only legally binding when it is imputed in local law, by an act of parliament; and in the same way, we can change what we will do, and then repeal it... It is our law that determines what we do and what we don't do - if we do anything - under an international convention. Again, a great soundbyter to get support, but of no practical significance. (Edited as requested by @Jerry_Atrick and @willedoo Mod.)

According to their website, this is what they have as immigration policy: Deport 75,000 illegal migrants because Australia’s immigration laws must be enforced, not ignored. Visa overstayers, illegal workers, and unlawful non-residents undermine national security, drive down wages, and take advantage of public services meant for Australians. Cut immigration by over 570,000 people from current Labor levels by capping visas at 130,000 per year to ease pressure on housing, wages, and infrastructure. Stop the skilled visa rorting that allows cheap foreign labour to undercut Australian workers. End the student visa loopholes that turn study into a backdoor to permanent residency or low-wage labour. Stop the Administrative Review Tribunal being abused with endless, weaponised appeals that clog the system and delay rightful deportations. Immigration enforcement must not be held hostage by legal loopholes. Reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas a proven, effective policy that prevents permanent residency through the back door and deters illegal arrivals. Deport any visa holder who breaks the law. Weak law enforcement policies have put Australians in danger for too long. If you commit a crime, you lose your visa and the right to stay. Introduce an eight-year waiting period for citizenship and welfare, ensuring new arrivals contribute before they take. Refuse entry to migrants from nations known to foster extremist ideologies that are incompatible with Australian values and way of life. Withdraw from the UN Refugee Convention because Australia will not be dictated to by foreign organisations when deciding who we accept into our nation on humanitarian grounds Marty, I think you could look it up yourself but sparring with GON wouldn't be the same if you did.

Been windy in Port Stephens last 5 days, no rain

What Gina wants

GON, what are one nation's actual policies?

It's been a while since I posted on here. Will take some pics and upload on the weekend. But, as usual. there's a spanner in the works.. Having a fuse box replaced to bring it up to spec in prep for the electricaal approval and the sparky noticed a small hole in the conduit leading dform the old one. At some stage, when a small fuse box was added, whoever did the job drilled through the conduit and two wires, which explains why the old smoke detectors were tripping all the time. It's a long story, but the replacement fusebox isn't now the right shape or something to replace the old one with (well, as he later found out, there were two - an add on board) and cover the gaping hole that will be required, so he is reconnecting the old boards back and going off to get another board.. further delay and of course the expense of thankfully only an two hours or so that need to be done that shouldn't needed to have been done. Oh, and we need a whole day rather than the couple of hours! This certainly is the gift that keeps in giving.. to tradies.

Very sensible question ... but major party politicians wouldn't know what you're talking about.