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I don't disagree, but ironically, prrivate enterprise is subject to much stricter rules than the government - and those rules are provided by the government - usually through tax disincentives, but also now conduct rules, etc. So unless private enterprise want to pay through the nose and the individuals through FBT, they have a much more sparlingly set of allowable expenses then your MPs (this is why the APS won't accept gifts - as well as the conduct rules. You will not believe the rules I had to navigate to accept a vendor dontaing £50 to an authorised charity in my name - in the end I asked them to donate it in their name - I don't need the accolade - and the rules are similar in Australia). The decision to travel is different to the cost of travel. The question of whether deliveing a 6 minute speech was value for money is not the same question as whether the cost of the travel and allowable expenses is accceptable or not. The minister won't usually unilaterally decide to trot off to the UN and make a speech; it will be done in consultation with the cabinet/PM office because there will be some political objective. Was it literally jump off the plane, walk in, give a 6 minute speech, walk out and jump on a plane back? Or was there some sort of unofficial meetings taking place. We tend to look at these things in isolation, but often there are tactics in play to reach an objective - one of the many battles to win the war. Even if it were literally off the plane, speak, on the plane and nothing else, it may have been part of some tactics to demonstrate to allies or partners a commitment to further negotiate for the benefit. It will all depend on the objective and whether or not that contibuted to/achieved the objective. Those questions will determine whether the trip - regardless of the cost, which has to include the minister and their staffers' time that could be spent doing something else productive was value for money. But once it is decided a trip is requied, then the quetion of cost/allowable expenses of the trip being excessive comes into play. Apart from obviosuly excessive cases, that is a subjective matter of judgement. I personally didn't think the $100K (was it) for Wells to go to NY with however many staffers given the nature of the work, etc was excessive Yes, it could have been cheaper, but these are not jollies and they should be afforded the facilities that allows them to be effective working in almost diametrcially opposed timezones where they don't have the luxury of time to adjust for jet lag. On the assertion that they are paid enough for their families, I have two points to make. Firstly when pollies have to suffer the lurks of the job - harassment, houding by the press, public admonishment, threats to life, etc,. we all say that is part and parcel of the job, they knew it before they entered it, and we have no sympathy. The perks are also part and parcel of the job - so why are we criticising them for utilising them? Maybe if you can't take your family with you, on the salary you can get, it may dissuade those that have a modicum of competence and you will only be left with the SFMs of the world. Of course we know most pollies at the top aren't the best, but to be honest, compared to the last lot, I will take these ones any day. Secondly, to you or I, $400K is a lot of money. But don't forget, these are really CEOs of large national organisations. If we are going to compare the expenses to large national private enterprises, how much do CEOs of equivlnet sized with equivalent responsibilites in the private side earn? Maybe we should just bump up ministers' salaries accordingly and not let their families travel be on the public purse? As I recall the APS scoundrel who was in charge of one of the government department (Human Services, I think) at the time of Robodebt was on something like $900K/year... And that person reports to a minister! If that were private enterprise, the minister would be earaning more than the officer reporting to them - normally. Sincerely, Devil's Advocate, Esq.

Base salary $233,660. As a cabinet minister she gets additional 72.5%, so add $169,403. Puts her a bees dick over $400k. Are you saying that someone on $400k, who already gets her own free travel and prime seat at any sporting event she wants, can't afford to pay for her family out of her own pocket?

My wife mentioned today that her friend calls her daughter "Dodo", and said "What kind of person calls their grown daughter Dodo??" Quickly I said "Maybe their ex stinks?" Got a laugh, for once!

He must have a really great paper run!

I wouldn't be a politician for the 4 or 5 hundred grand a year they get. Their lives are not their own and they have little time for their families. Taking the family to a sports event when you are the sports minister is OK with me as she has long periods of time away from them. The trip to the UN was an absolute must as Australia is the first in the world to impose a social media ban for under 16s & she championed it and needed to get this across to other nations who are trying to do the same. To me it promotes Australia as being at the forefront of a caring society not at the bottom of the pit like the US where the only thing that matters is the billionaires getting even richer. At their level of importance and the personal sacrifices they have to make plus having to be places at short notice means flying first class is totally justified and what I expect. Like everyone she made the choice to get in to politics but it is unforgiving and brutal. Put any of the armchair warriors who whinge about everything in their position and the tune will change pretty rapidly

Not Albo personally, but ALP minister Anika Wells. Thousands of taxpayer dollars for air fares to fly her husband and kids to three AFL grand finals and two interstate tests. And they claim it doesn't breach guidelines. Obviously the guidelines need an urgent overhaul. If any of us wanted to fly our partner around the country, we'd have to pay for it ourselves. And I bet she's earning a hell of a lot more than any of us. And before you go calling me out for ALP bashing, I would be just as disgusted if it was a LNP member.

One of the better Trump cartoons I've seen Nicola Jennings on Putin’s dealings with Trump over Ukraine – cartoon https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/dec/07/nicola-jennings-putin-dealings-trump-ukraine-cartoon?CMP=share_btn_url

I do wonder whether tRump has managed to get all the foil off his FIFI Peace medal, before he ate the chocolate.....

Haven't seen these in Woollies lately. Have you?

A former farmer client of mine turns 105 on the 20th of this month, and he's as fit as Dick Van Dyke. But did anyone see Colin Wagener, the South Australian WW2 veteran, who turned 108 recently? He still runs a 60 acre (24ha) property in the Adelaide Hills, and still drives his mower, and rides his motorbike! His advice for a long life? Steer clear of alcohol, don't smoke, and keep up an active lifestyle. https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-oldest-wwii-veteran-108-birthday/2d8381cf-2c85-409e-a685-47e03cd2ef49

It really shouldn't be the UNITED States Of America. THAT it definitely is NOT. What do they say? A house divided against Itself shall surely fall. Nev

Is the DON Key the way you wind him up? Nev

Well, give the MAGA mob a break - at least they've still got the Donkey!

Forget planning a trip to Disneyland or Las Vegas. The Trump Administion now requires people requiring a visa to enter the USA to disclose not onloy their own digital presence for teh past ten years, but also that of family members. If you have posted in this thread, or the "Only in America" thread here, you won't get a visa if you have not laid down your life for Trump. The Administration has effectively destroyed the FIFA World Cup. Thousands of fans will be denied entry to the USA. Billions in tourist income will be lost. But Trump has his Peace Prize.

No pit lane?

She's good at her job and probably didn't do anything she wasn't allowed to under the rules, however she (and a lot of other politicians of all stripes) should have seen the warning flags and paid out of her own pocket for her family to attend these events. However the obvious point is that the rules need to change to align with public expectations and Albo needs to get onto it.

Thanks very much for the thoughts , really appreciated. Was just n Centrelink yesterday actually. Anyway , this morng after all this and even being frazzled enough to actually ask here, scanning the net and not sleeping for 2wks, umpteen calls with Clink and their robots that you spend 10mins getting past first before you even get to a human, l got the biggest Christmas present ever , this morning. First port of call was yet another call to robots and clink . Got this lady l shyt you not and l told her this later, she just went click click spent 30mins or so going over everything for about the 10th time with all the others but at the end of it, she fixed it all. And all was a very tricky mess believe me , without the right person it could go on yrs , she was absolutely brilliant said l know l can't have your details but l wanna send you flowers for what you've done here, really. Long and short of it, all is fixed and done thanks to her, l can not believe it , after 2mths of crap all up. Normally drink wine but tell you what, drove down grabbed some beer and we have the best bakery in the whole damn world there too, two gorgeous Hawaiian pies, beer , what more could a man want.

They interviewed Albo on Sunrise this morning and he said she and her support staff were originally meant to travel with him when he went to meet Trump, along with the press etc who went with them. But due to the introduction on the social media ban for under 16's, it was decided that she should stay here to deal with that which is why her booking was late. He said these matters are handled by an independent committee and he wouldn't be drawn on whether the rules needed reviewing.

I have to pull you up on that. There is no equivalence. The facts are that Trump did exhort his insurrectionists to fight and made a heap of inflammatory statements to them. All TV programs cut sections out (imagine the run time if they didn't) but in terms of changing the facts, it didn't. And the BBC, instead of apologising, should have told him to f*ck off. If Sky News and ABC were soccer teams, the ABC is getting a red card for accidentally bumping another player, while Sky News gets it for machine-gunning the opposing team.

Long ago now I flew interstate or overseas three or four times a week. I refused to fly economy. No one should have to suffer that.

She might be good, but if she's so disconnected to the general population that she thinks taking kids to ski trips and sporting events on the taxpayer dime, when she gets a substantial salary herself, is a good idea, she's either out of touch or greedy.

There are plenty of solar farms that co-exist with cropping or grazing. Modern panels are translucent to a degree so some light gets through to the ground. Sheep are ideal for use in what is known as Agrivoltaics as they graze under standard height panels, remove the need for mechanical or chemical vegetation control, provide shelter for sheep, reduce the fire risk and actually improve the pasture as well as providing an additional source of income.

Fires on farms are not unusual. The source could have been from farm equipment, natural sources, arson or from the solar farm. Let's say it was from the solar farm; this surely only means analysis and actions to make it less likely to happen in the future. Here is a question: Did the incident below make Skynews? No, it did not. This happened a few weeks ago, not far from where I live. There were numerous comments online from conservative folks suggesting that this is a normal process, and sometimes the stack does get smoky for a time. Whether it was normal or not, it did start a grass fire, which required the fire brigade to attend. A grass fire near an oil refinery ought to be big news. There seems to be a discount applied to existing technologies as opposed to newer ones. A petrol or diesel car catches fire, and it is not a big story. An EV catches fire, and it is huge news and has people suggesting that this technology should not exist.

It was a Last Minute decision to go to a very Important meeting . That's why the Airfares cost was HIGH. The sport attendance is less simple. Not sure Chalmers is that happy. The Lib/Nats were More practised at those sorts of things, SUSSan Ley fell foul of it. Not a Good look but getting a big rev up in the news as one would expect. Nev

Yeah that one doesn't pass the sniff test in a cost of living crisis. I think if Albo reads the room he should cut her loose and tell his ministers that just adherence to the letter of the rules is not enough.

Hopefully he thinks it's a suppository.

Didn't know where to put this - but this bloke needs to go buy a Lotto ticket!!

Allegedly:- "Russia has attacked 4 Turkish ships over the past 48 hours. 3 of the ships were hit by Russian suicide drones in the port of Odesa yesterday while 1 ship was hit by a Russian drone out at open sea." This looks like a bold step - attacking vessels registered to a NATO country. https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1999960598248091839/photo/1

Hmm. Maybe this idea might be applied in a certain Antipodean country where feeling guiltless about events three or four generations ago is considered arrogant.

Me mum's one of them.

Jane Hume (Liberal) said you have to Make it More attractive for Women to get them to work in Canberra. IF your Job, also "Expects" you to be somewhere why should THAT come out of YOUR Pocket? She's raising a Family also which is not so radical a Proposition. Pollies don't get Paid enough to Put up with what they HAVE to either. Everyone's Looking for s GOTCHA Moment to CREATE a Headline. Nothing is Private. Nev

The parallels with Germany from 1933 are striking. However, Trump does not have to talk of lebensraum as corporate America conquered the the global community starting in September 1940 with the Leand Lease Act.

They'd use some kind of algorithm. Wouldn't be a human reading your posts. Probably his bum boy Elon had something whipped up for him.

Here's a list of some of the high-flyers as regards spending up big on the public purse, on travel, food and accommodation. Julie Inman-Grant, the e-Safety Commissioner, gets $444,000 in annual salary and booked up $102,769 in travel expenditure just in the last year. I'd have to question just how much of this travel is really necessary, seeing as most ordinary employees have to do video conferences - and I don't think all the family needs to travel business class - which fares are often 5 or 6 times the cost of an economy fare. Note how the travel bookings by public servants surged by 20%, when Qantas offered a double status credits promotion! https://www.senatorpaterson.com.au/news/millions-spent-on-travel

I believe travel by family members should be paid for by the member personally. I don't think many employers pay family members travel. It's been years since I travelled anywhere, and things may have changed. Public funds should only be used for official business travel. I shouldn't have to struggle to put food on the table while paying to send someone else's son off to go skiing or play football.

I wouldn't go if it was FARE Paid unless the Purpose was a Couple of funerals. Nev

The frightening side of this is the alleged memo that outlines the scope of electronic searches. I believe there are phrases such as "anti American" and any content that is called "counter to accepted American family values" and not favoring christian values, etc. And authorising automated electronic trawling of phones, social media accounts and emails - over the past 5 years! Remember also that Australian telcos are required to store all our internet activity. And we have intelligence sharing agreements with USA. So glad that I have no intention to visit USA

This is a video made by an Englishman about the visa requirements. It contains images of the list of information an applicant must provide. The creator also brings up the economic effects associated with decreaased attendance at FIFA matches. CAUTION: At the moment these requirements have only been put up for consideration. They are not in force - yet. Here is an Australian story

God yeah red she'd be different alright , whole world is. Thanks to bloody computers , not. Every fart you make is on a damn computer somewhere and if it's not they wanna know why and nothing will be done until they find out. l'm always good to em emu, turn on my sweetest, without sucking ha ha. Sometimes some are ok , most, hopeless but glad you've had a good run lucky you. Not to mention the office now, when you said go in , crikey. You've either gotta try and talk to them through a little hole in a 7ml thick x 2mtr sheet of perspex while they sit on their stool mumbling a meter away on the other side- or they had this one stupid tiny mad capsule type thing, only one in the whole office. Dunno which would be worse the bloody perspex of that idiot of a capsule thing. last time l went into one they had desks and chairs like normal people. Anywayyyyyy, thanks to my lady today, mannnn. l still can't believe tbh, it's gonna take awhile.lf it was up to the others l've had to deal with though ,don't think l could of got there.

A couple of random thoughts. For those who visit AircraftPilots, you will have noticed that I've added more aircraft profiles. They now total 1930, so I only have 70 to go to reach 2000. I have a few more lined up but it is getting harder. I go through airport-data.com where they have a listing of aircraft by manufacturer. You select a manufacturer and it displays all registered aircraft loaded onto the site for that manufacturer. Not all have photos attached. Often, when you select an aircraft, it turns out to be a licence built version of an aircraft which is already on this site. Also, many are owner built with no photos and only the flimsiest basic data, and only2 or 3 built. So it is getting harder to find new aircraft to add. The other random thought relates to comments by @Jerry_Atrick about the camera on the Samsung A17 phone I bought. These photo and video don't look too bad. 20251208_112529.mp4

And right there, is part of what's wrong in this country. Add in the number of top public servants "on the make" as well, and we're well on the way to being a 3rd world country. So many of the pricks getting caught lately with helping themselves, based on straight-out criminal greed. The penalties should be doubled for these greedy pricks in exalted positions. https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-release/commonwealth-employee-among-three-people-charged-over-alleged-multi https://www.nacc.gov.au/convictions https://www.counterfraud.gov.au/case-studies/senior-public-servant-involved-australias-largest-public-sector-fraud We've one prick who was working for Fremantle Ports Authority, he scammed $5M out of the Authority, took off for the high life overseas, and they still haven't caught him after more than 6 years. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/perth-family-s-alleged-freo-ports-rort-blows-out-to-5m-as-contractors-hit-with-new-charges-20200915-p55vqw.html

God helps those who help themselves, but God help anyone caught helping themselves. Old sign from an orchard.

Didn't Bronwyn Bishop's career end over a helicopter jolly?

Defo not a good look. What happens will depend on her influence in him retaining power

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We in South Vic are having some near perfect days but don't tell anyone. The grass is growing like Mad. The dam is full. The Ducks are happy. Nev

Like T aBot's Suppository of WISDOM? You are supposed to EAT Laxettes.. You have to get these things RIGHT. ie the Italian Lady down the street Reckons the for all the good the Pills her daughter uses, she Might as well be eating Em. Nev