Having just looked at part of the debate I wasn’t impressed.
Abbot looks like he’s 8 years old talking to a class of 5 year olds. He’s even got the ears for it.
Rudd, not a whole lot better.
Then Abbott throwing in the boat reference at the end, what a nice touch to pick up the undecided dregs.
‘We are all about giving a fair go’.
Snowden’s release revealed to Indonesia that Australia was spying on the President of Indonesia and his wife.
Fair enough, but how dumb is Australia’s Prime Minister telling the Indonesian President it was for his own good. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb and not fair enough either.
[quote]Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s furious and direct attack on the Australian prime minister today shows just how deep the diplomatic schism between the two countries is, and how Tony Abbott has badly mishandled the crisis.
Abbott has to date tried to respond with the classic defence when intelligence matters come into the public domain - obfuscation and platitudes.
Read more: smh.com.au/federal-politics/ … z2l3pRc0Ko[/quote]
The other day I went to my daughter’s school for an information session on education pathways such as university entrance, trades, aged care … the whole 9 yards. On the night, there were 3 or 4 speakers before the principal of her school stood to motivate students and parents on the value of education in an Australia faced with a complex ever changing jobs environment. What will the future hold for young people? He remarked that the nature of the workplace was so dynamic that almost any job you train for now will not exist or be unrecognizable in 20 years time. I think that is true and therefore fundamental education especially on how to think and innovate should be the most prized. Then for his next slide he listed education options for the student cohort and what they could expect as income upon graduation – average starting salaries for the equivalent qualifications.
To translate that into layman’s terms Cert 1. is the equivalent of year 10, Cert 2. Year 11, Cert. 3, Year 12, Cert. 4 a couple of credits for a first year uni student. In fact, you can do most of the certificates at senior high-school if you don’t choose the university option.
The university student will be lumped with a $60,000 student debt and have a much lower paying job.
She’s a dumb place, Australia. Dumb as.
It’s just a function of trades being in demand surely?
Although with trades you usually have to do an apprenticeship for a few years.
Could be worse, Taiwanese students can expect 22k-30k/mth upon graduation.
Also professions like law and medicine will ensure their members still do well whatever happens , as will the pols.
But unprotected jobs are going to be in for some big changes, well they already are going 24/7 always connected in many cases.
I think two big things are going to happen and are happening already,
But they will accelerate.
Artificial intelligence directing things behind the scenes, guiding AND making decisions and making task for employees.
Telepresence. This is going to Really provide some kind of immersive or semi immersive experience.
I was in Japan recently and the amount of time and money people waste commuting 3 hours a day on average is obscene. It’s simply not efficient.
That doesn’t mean they don’t need face to face time sometimes, but going to the same office everyday seems pointless.
[quote=“Fox”]
2. Certificate 4 – $64,000
3. Certificate 3 – $60,000
4. Certificate 2 – $55,000
5. Certificate 1 – 49,000
To translate that into layman’s terms Cert 1. is the equivalent of year 10, Cert 2. Year 11, Cert. 3, Year 12, Cert. 4 a couple of credits for a first year uni student. In fact, you can do most of the certificates at senior high-school if you don’t choose the university option.
The university student will be lumped with a $60,000 student debt and have a much lower paying job.
She’s a dumb place, Australia. Dumb as.[/quote]
On the contrary, it sounds fantastic. Students who merely finish high school can look forward to a decent income. And the average HECS debt is about $17,000, not $60,000.
When i went to university I heard a lot of complaints about ‘plumbers earning more than professors’, as though this fact in itself was somehow an indictment of Australian society and it’s ‘perverse values’. But most lecturers don’t contribute to society in a meaningful way. They publish research that no one reads. They study topics that have no relevance to public policy. And they teach what, exactly? How to research and format word documents. Over 3 years, just in case you didn’t get the memo in the first semester.
Plumbers, on the other hand, deliver water to people’s homes. Water.
Currently an economics degree for a fee paying domestic student comes in at 42000AUD (University of Queensland) plus 4 years of subs. It is about 60000AUD for an honors degree in economics.
That aside, I do think that it is fine for a plumber to be paid well; however, the point is not whether a plumber is well paid, it is how higher education is valued. If it is not worth studying higher degrees then Australia will become less competitive on a global scale. That is what I think. It will be competitive in areas where it has a natural advantage such as minerals, food production, and other agricultural assets but will it be able to hold on to the wealth with which it is endowed. Further, why shouldn’t it aspire to jobs that pay the mind over physical labor. There is no shortage of labor in the world but payments to human capital are what brings about more equitable development in the long run. Plus Australia has become reliant on the concept of human capital flight. This is the idea that another country’s tax payers will pay for Australia’s human capital needs. This is very evident in our universities which are top heavy in foreign students. They come to Australia after being educated at tax payers expense in their home country and then pay full fees here. These fees are most often paid by their parents. The focus on education in Australia is on bringing human capital from abroad to Australia. If a graduate is more poorly paid in their own country then Australia’s relatively measly $52,000 is still a strong incentive.
Better to be a professional like a doc, dentist, scientist, engineer. Someone with a learned skill is still useful.
Here in CAlifornia most dentists and docs make 300 thousand to 1,000,000 plus a year. The ones that make more do pay more for medical insurance though. Lawyers do similar more or less, depending on their tenure and the firm they work for/own.
Research scientists can make 150,000 plus.
Want to be needed ? Be an accountant. Every company needs an accountant. And if you are awesome and have good fortune to get into great companies you can be a CFO , or even CEO.
Hamburger flippers, waiters, store clerks and the such still make not much more then minimum wage.
Something similar in OZ perhaps?
[quote=“tommy525”]Better to be a professional like a doc, dentist, scientist, engineer. Someone with a learned skill is still useful.
Here in CAlifornia most dentists and docs make 300 thousand to 1,000,000 plus a year. The ones that make more do pay more for medical insurance though. Lawyers do similar more or less, depending on their tenure and the firm they work for/own.
Research scientists can make 150,000 plus.
Want to be needed ? Be an accountant. Every company needs an accountant. And if you are awesome and have good fortune to get into great companies you can be a CFO , or even CEO.
Hamburger flippers, waiters, store clerks and the such still make not much more then minimum wage.
Something similar in OZ perhaps?[/quote]
Stop Go Technicians make more than teachers.
[quote=“Fox”]
Stop Go Technicians make more than teachers.[/quote]
Where I come from, the public teachers’ unions are desperately fighting merit pay, because most teachers can’t live on what they’re worth. I was in the public school system. Fortunately, I’m self educated. I had plenty of teachers who ought to have been janitors.
If all the incompetents were to starve to death, what a wonderful world it would be for the survivors.
[quote=“rowland”][quote=“Fox”]
Stop Go Technicians make more than teachers.[/quote]
Where I come from, the public teachers’ unions are desperately fighting merit pay, because most teachers can’t live on what they’re worth. I was in the public school system. Fortunately, I’m self educated. I had plenty of teachers who ought to have been janitors.
If all the incompetents were to starve to death, what a wonderful world it would be for the survivors.[/quote]
I think teachers should have merit pay. Why not? It exists in other endeavors. However the issue is not on merit pay in a country like Australia, it is the casualization of the workforce, especially professional workforce. In my sons’ school 60% of the teachers are casual. That means at the end of each year (or sometimes term) they don’t have a job. The system is very demanding on teachers’ time in terms of paperwork and unpaid hours, yet makes no commitment to the teacher. This leads many teachers to simply leave the system or transfer out of a school at the end of term to another position. There are very, very, very few teachers in the system who know what a competent student looks like at each stage of their education or over the whole length of their education. The teachers just haven’t had the opportunity to see it. They work in a compartmentalized environment at risk of losing their job each term. That lack of consistency leads to poor education outcomes. Everything else is just wishful thinking. The most venerable workers in the community next to nurses, firemen and police but with much greater responsibility are frequently vilified, poorly paid, and treated like Okies.
Australia launched a Brown Shirts campaign reminicent of Nazi Germany and later the Stasi in East Germany with a group called Border Force. They intended to walk the streets asking everyday Australians to produce their ID papers of course to target all but whitebreads. It would have gone ahead if it weren’t for a flash protest. It was easily the worst day in Australian history.
Possibly Australia’s greatest ever Aboriginal footballer, Australian of the Year, two times voted best player in the league, premiership player, 18 years at the top of the game, kicked a goal with his first and last kicks in his final game of AFL is booed mercilessly for being Aboriginal.
Shameful, even if the fans don’t like the guy, they should shut up and let him enjoy his last game.
There is nothing not to like about him. He is one of the most admirable people in the zeitgeist of Australia but he’s aboriginal and called people on their racist remarks for calling him an ape.
I agree, it seems that you don’t question racist attitudes in Australia , he’s being seen as ‘uppity’.
Is is a good spot but bizarrely lots of people seems to enjoy wearing racism on their sleeve nmbut then coach it in x/y/z
Terms.
The guy is obviously a legend of the AFL, bogans abound. He was playing AFL when I lived in Australia
And that was a LONG time ago. Amazing
I think he needs to move on bring his talents and attitude to somewhere where it will be more appreciated.
Australia’s own Abu Ghraib for regular folk’s children:
Welcome to Australia.
A children’s detention center housing children (Aborigines generally). Was exposed last night on TV?
Tear gassing, simulated drownings, beatings and solitary confinement for children:
How much more denial can a people be living in?
[quote=“Fox”]Australia’s own Abu Ghraib for regular folk’s children:
Welcome to Australia.
A children’s detention center housing children (Aborigines generally). Was exposed last night on TV?
Tear gassing, simulated drownings, beatings and solitary confinement for children:
How much more denial can a people be living in?[/quote]
Real scary stuff.
[quote=“Fox”]Possibly Australia’s greatest ever Aboriginal footballer, Australian of the Year, two times voted best player in the league, premiership player, 18 years at the top of the game, kicked a goal with his first and last kicks in his final game of AFL is booed mercilessly for being Aboriginal.
Never heard of him, but he sounds like a great guy:
aww.com.au/latest-news/in-th … tory-20870
I honestly don’t know what’s going on inside the heads of people who jeer at others for having a different skin tone. I’ve experienced it myself from time to time, and I just think, “WTF is wrong with you? Are you merely stupid, or is your life so shit that your only hope of personal salvation is to put others down?”.
Wow Fox i suggest you leave that terrible country immediately… Imagine a whole nation of racists…
Love the generalizations, i think mass calling of national groups you cannot go wrong! Well played!
with regards to Adam Goodes, rather than misrepresent what actually occurred. the booing started when on Australia Day when he was awarded Australian of the Year (yes in this terribly racist country) he referred to Australia Day as slavery day, hence he upset a large population!
Did i agree with the booing, absolutely not, he is a champion of the game, it wasnt racists that people were booing it was because they didnt like him, combined with his last few years he was diving for free kicks and getting free kicks from upires, theres a whole host of reasons, people didnt like him.
There are approx 100 indigenous Australian that play Australian Rules football, why werent they booed each week??..
Pathetic attempt to generalize a nation into one comment; Racists…
Adam Goodes Isnt liked, nothing to do with his color of skin!!!
I looked into the Goodes story, horrific how the fans treated him given his legendary record in the game. And yes he has been singled out for racist abuse, there is no doubt about it. He stood up and made a statement and there’s always people that want to put you back down.
news.com.au/sport/afl/if-you … f6219be1fe
Does not say much for the fans from a racial perspective OR as decent human beings, whatever their motivations.