From Ironyhaven today: Coal > climate change > drought > no coal.
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Ironyhaven warns as climate kills coal
Primary Section
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Unions: Migrant wage theft “part of the day-to-day business”
It’s been more than three years since the Senate Education and Employment References Committee released its scathing report entitled A National Disgrace: The Exploitation of Temporary Work Visa Holders, which documented the abuses of Australia’s temporary visa system for foreign workers. And still the exploitation continues with a large supermarket pizza manufacturer the latest to
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Australian retail pulls another donut
The September quarter retail sales data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed the first annual decline in retail sales volumes since the early-1990s recession: Now, the ABS has released retail sales figures for the month of October, which recorded zero growth in the value of retail sales over the month in seasonally-adjusted terms,
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“Double agent” Gladys Liu wants her money back
Trying to get blood from a stone, at Domain: Embattled Liberal MP Gladys Liu has requested her party pay back at least $100,000 she donated to her campaign to win the marginal Melbourne seat of Chisholm. Ms Liu contributed the money to her own election campaign in the lead-up to the May 18 poll after
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Tamworth sucks rivers dry. Demands 40,000 new migrants
The NSW regional city of Tamworth is currently facing Stage 4 water restrictions, with the Chaffey Dam at just 15.6% capacity after experiencing record low inflows. Today, The SMH reveals that Tamworth has sucked the Peel River dry: The once-proud Peel River – also described as a “glorified creek” by those who know and love
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L-plate Treasurer Frydenberg has done what the GFC couldn’t
Congratulations. L-plate Treasurer Josh Recessionberg has done it: “The government’s goal has always been to be that to put more money in the pockets of the Australian people and it is their choice as to whether they spend or save it. “If people pay down their debt, then ultimately in the long run, they will
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How to invest now for Australian quantitative easing (QE)
According to Bloomberg, here’s how some fund managers are preparing for Aussie QE: …Australian sovereign bond yields are likely to fall across the curve as the RBA steps in as a default purchaser, said Raymond Lee, money manager at Kapstream Capital, a unit of Janus Henderson Investors. That makes government bonds a fairly compelling buy
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Aussie GDP misses again
Hoocoodanode? September key figures Seasonally adjusted, percentage change (a) Jun 18 to Sep 18 Sep 18 to Dec 18 Dec 18 to Mar 19 Mar 19 to Jun 19 Jun 19 to Sep 19 Sep 18 to Sep 19 Chain volume GDP and related measures (b) GDP 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.4 1.7 GDP per
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WMO: Globe heating much faster than we thought
Some more good news for the species, not, from the World Meteorological Organisation: The year 2019 concludes a decade of exceptional global heat, retreating ice and record sea levels driven by greenhouse gases from human activities. Average temperatures for the five-year (2015-2019) and ten-year (2010-2019) periods are almost certain to be the highest on record.
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Lunatic RBA launches Australian dollar into global trade shock
DXY was soft last night as EUR rose and CNY fell: The Australian dollar was strong: So was gold: Oil was muted: If metals are the bellwhether then bunker: Miners fell: EM stocks fell: Junk was OK: Treasuries jumped: And bunds: Aussie bonds reversed the RBA damage: Stocks fell sharply: It was an evening of
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Asian international students coaxed into sex work
Earlier this year, it was reported that Chinese international students were being coaxed into sex work with promises of “easy money”: Chinese job website and forum yeeyi.com is hosting hundreds of adverts for jobs in massage parlours across Melbourne, including Dandenong, Casey, Kingston and Stonnington, promising thousands of dollars a week to students… One job
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RBA holds, retains easing bias
The RBA decision is out and holds no great surprises with no move but a strong easing bias: At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 0.75 per cent. The outlook for the global economy remains reasonable. While the risks are still tilted to the downside, some of these risks have
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Climate Council: We’re all going to BURN
Via the Climate Council today: A long-term warming trend from the burning of coal, oil and gas is supercharging extreme weather events, putting Australian lives, our economy and our environment at risk. The Climate Council’s new report, ‘Dangerous Summer: Escalating Bushfire, Heat and Drought Risk‘, has found this summer is shaping up as a terrible trifecta
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George does Manila
Via Nine: Nationals MP George Christensen is facing claims from a staff member of an adult entertainment bar in the Philippines that he was a regular at the venue. The bar manager of the night spot, which identifies itself as an “adult entertainment service”, said Mr Christensen did not reveal he was a politician and
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Preposterous Pete demands more Chinese, less CCP
The pretend to care China debate has reached comedic proportions today with Peter Hartcher making a complete gig of himself: At a minimum, here are six areas for urgent measures. The first line of protection is the community…Australian governments, federal, state and local, as well as schools, universities and community groups, could do much more
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Chinese international students cheat their way through university
The latest data from the Department of Education revealed a massive boom in Chinese international student enrolments, whose numbers have roughly doubled over the past six years to 240,000: One nasty side-effect of this boom has been the surge in contract cheating services, as revealed in several reports over many years. For instance, “functionally illiterate“
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How Ralan torched Chinese investor millions
Earlier this year, developer Ralan collapsed owing creditors at least half a billion dollars. Included among those impacted were hundreds of buyers who bought apartments off-the-plan and who are now facing deposit losses of up to $70,000 or more. Many of these buyers were Chinese were targeted in an elaborate ponzi scheme and faced millions
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What’s George Christensen been doing in Manila?
He sure doesn’t want us to know, via Domain: Nationals MP George Christensen has blocked the release of information about a federal police probe into his frequent travels to the Philippines over a four-year period. The federal Queensland MP has objected to the release of key documents relating to the year-long police “assessment” of his
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Australia’s dwelling approvals crash deepens
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released dwelling approvals data for the month of October. At the national level, the number of dwelling approvals tanked by a seasonally adjusted 8.1% to 13,049. The overall fall in approvals was broad-based, with both units & apartments (-11.3%) and houses (-7.0%) diving. In the year to October
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Cowards of Canberra launch minimal China pushback
This morning we find an Aussie being tortured in China, via The Guardian: The detained Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun is being subjected to daily interrogations with his arms and legs shackled, as Chinese security officials try to “break” him, his lawyers say, pushing for him to confess to unspecified allegations of espionage that potentially
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The forty year Australian household debt boom is over
The jig is up for Aussie household debt. There is gthering evience that the change is structural and that has huge implications for everything from the economy through politics and society. Total private sector debt growth has been lower than it is today before: And it will rebound a little from current levels, all things
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Foreign influence laws and Peter Dutton a complete joke
This is what Scummo sees as doing something about CCP influence operations in Australia, via Domain: Australia’s flagship foreign interference scheme has issued only one notice to a potential agent of influence, despite sending out more than 1500 letters, as former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull urged the Morrison government to enforce the controversial laws. Fifty
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How to escape the withered claw of OK Boomer
Nice little poke from Jason Murphy today at News: Because the point of the boomer wars is not to focus on people in poverty, it’s to focus on people who have many millions and are getting more. The boomers I don’t mind niggling a little are the ones who point to the two million dollar
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VIC builders panic as flammable cladding list hits 1200
Victoria’s building industry has called for an amnesty from prosecution for building dodgy high-rises with flammable cladding: The Master Builders Association says the Andrews government’s get-tough approach, including “litigious posturing” and rhetoric on dodgy builders, is damaging the effort to tackle the [flammable cladding] crisis. More than 1200 buildings with risky levels of flammable cladding
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NSW Government spruiks “30-minute city” fairy tale
The NSW Government plans to overhaul state planning laws next year in a bid to turn Sydney into a 30-minute city: In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) on Wednesday, Ms Berejiklian will outline a vision for the state’s planning system, which will be her focus next year. Her State
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Australia aggressively targets Indian international students
Over the past five years, Indian international student enrolments across Australia’s educational institutions has skyrocketed by 138% to 126,000 as at August 2019: The number of Indian student visa applications granted has also soared by 125% over the past three years alone, signalling a further lift in enrolments: This explosion in Indian student enrolments is
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Turnbull contradicts himself on NBN
In 2013, former Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, abandoned plans to build a fibre to the premise (FTTP) National Broadband Network (NBN) across the majority of the country, instead replacing it with a multi-technology mix that included previously retired copper cabling. This change was marketed as a cost-saving move. However, the huge amount of rectification works
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Lordy, how will our Gladys survive this?
Via the Daily Telegraph: A Liberal backbencher is facing fresh questions about her connections to the Chinese government, following allegations Beijing tried to plant a spy in federal parliament. Senate crossbencher Rex Patrick said a “shadow” remained over Victorian Liberal MP Gladys Liu. “She hasn’t made a statement to parliament about her connections with the
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Melbourne property gets “rattled”
So says the AFR: Property experts say Melbourne property prices could be stalling after four multimillion-dollar properties failed to attract a bid in the past week. Middle markets in Sydney and Melbourne, where properties range from between $1 million and $3 million, continue to be pushed along by investors, first home buyers and downsizers, particularly
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China is marching on Australia and we are horribly unprepared
Pretending to care is the bete noir of modern politics. As a singular globalisation ideology has moved inexorably foward, politicians and media have become little more than baubles adorning an unstoppable machine. They pretend to care about various interests groups impacted but nobody really challenges the status quo. Now this phony debate has taken a