Yeah I am Australian but I have lived in Berlin, Zürich, London each for 12 months+ over the years. It’s been a real eye opener seeing Australia relative to them.
It’s not like we have huge terrorism/crime issues. Seems the existing stuff was enough, and doing bad shit is illegal so theres plenty of options.
I don’t have a problem with “The Government” being able to investigate suspected crimes with reasonable suspicion or whatever. However, the people in the police are just people like you and me, they are fallible, make mistakes, have bad days. Some of them are corrupt and will act poorly, just like every other profession. It is an extreme amount of power to give to people, with little accountability or oversight.
TBQH where I live, which is a busy and fairly urban area the police seem more interested in intimidating people. Like I would come home from work at 5pm Friday and theres 12-13 police with 2 dogs at the train station … really? The foot patrols here seem to mostly harass homeless or street people, many of whom are indigenous. I have also seem people getting strip searched in the street. Meanwhile every week a woman is murdered by their partner.
I do still have faith in the government but its a slippery slope, imagine someone like Trump got elected (or Dutton etc). I do have a bug out plan (back to Europe) but I’d rather the police got put back in their box.
Only Federal Police will have the right, not local Police. The Feds are a different breed to the average cop. You’d be lucky to ever see a Fed on the street, but these days with protests, who knows.
I wasn’t being blasé with my “nothing to hide” comment. In high school we all read Orwell and texts on police corruption, which (I feel) was balanced with teaching responsibility in civil responsibility.
This bill is just a reaction to the current situation. The situation won’t last forever.
Correct but for example, in Berlin it is illegal to drink alcohol on trains. In practise they sell alcohol on train stations and inside the train the signs say “Dont throw bottles out the window”. Or at least that was the case when I lived there. In Sydney I have been sitting a pub early evening and the place got sweeped by a bunch of cops with sniffer dogs.
It is very hard to see the latter as anything but an attempt at intimidation.
This is an interesting point. In the cities I feel things are over policed, while in regional areas it seems like there are not enough police.
So, in Australia, Federal Police are voted in by the electorate or appointed by elected officials? That’s interesting.
I get it. But in the US, there’s a thing called the Miranda warning. That was put in place because the police don’t care if you’re “being honest” or have “nothing to hide”. Their job is to gather evidence, not to reward you by telling the truth or being a good citizen.
I’m actually a little worried about getting pulled over in Australia, TBH, because I’m not super fluent in the laws.
In the US, I never talk to cops. Period. If I get pulled over, I will answer basic questions and follow simple commands, but I DO NOT engage in conversation or offer any information. That’s within your rights and a sound approach because like it says in the Miranda: EVERYTHING you say will be used AGAINST you. That’s not hyperbole.
“Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.”
-Cardinal Richelieu
Do you remember this bit:
“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end.” ― George Orwell, 1984.
Don’t get me wrong man, I’m probably more on your side than it appears from my replies. Kind of being the devil’s advocate. But also, I think there is probably some reasonable concern over stuff like this.
Again, I’m happy to be here after the shit-show I just lived through over the past 5 years. I just want to make sure I know the laws and have a reasonable amount of protection under them. More so for my daughter and her future here.
So many examples every day of these things happening, people locked out from seeing their dying parents or other family members, and you put it down to a particular newspaper reporting these cases? OK…
Nah, keep the convo going it’s all good. Australia def is a sort of Nanny state. Very much concerned with safety and red tape, but this all comes down to a basic value of Australian culture I suppose, which is to give everyone the chance to come home to their family safely at night. It’s a pretty sweet thing really, even if does come with a conservative mood. I think as a result though, progress in Australia is like a slow moving dinosaur. Our detachment from the rest of the world as antipodians is a strange one, the exiled Europeans, at least for us convict/colonial imports. For that reason South East Asia has this bleed over effect for ANZ I think, I probably feel more of a resonance with Bali or Thailand than I do America or UK, at the core level. And SE Asia, is refreshing in that way, Bali often reminds me of the Australia of old, the one from the 80’s - beach bums, no worries, less laws. Today, Australians couldn’t have more worries imo, a very uptight and knee jerk style country.
We’re not being negative. I get your POV and the fact that you sacrificed a lot to be thrown in the deep end over here.
Anyway, fwiw, let’s take that bill at face value and hope some good comes out of it.
I will comment on this, as I do find the Australian “all or nothing/our way or the highway/everything is the same as everything else/no exceptions for individual circumstance” approach to policy a little, um, I don’t have a good word for it.
Those Olympians who had to quarantine for a month coming back from Tokyo (which by the way, they were under some of the most strict quarantine in the world already for weeks)?? That’s fucking bonkers. They represented Australia to the world, some had gold medals for god’s sake. And their reward was to be stuck in a hotel room alone for another month.
All because, “the rules are the rules, no matter who you are”.
Sorry, that’s fucking crazy.
I had to quarantine for two weeks when I got here. If someone were to say to me, “Eric, you have to quarantine, but the guy who just won a gold medal at the Olympics doesn’t have to follow those same rules” I’m afraid I would feel like an asshole if I complained about that. I’m just some ordinary dude, that person just won a gold medal at the Olympics. I expect us to be treated differently.
Just bonkers. But hey, the rules are the rules. LOL
The whole situation now is horrible, and there are so many impacts happening from these decisions that it is impossible to track and digest it all. I am looking forward to when we hit that 80 % vaccination rate, the sooner the better. I am very reluctant to actually comment on these things as it is very divisive in the community right now and friends, family are being split apart on opinions right now. So I think I will leave it at that. This thread will skate off track very quickly.
Yes. And it is for this reason that I could never fully get on board with Libertarians in my home country. They subscribe to this whole “those who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither” bullshit that just doesn’t really apply with amount of people we have in the world now. That was fine when there were only 100,000 people and miles between them.
I believe now someone needs to be steering the ship. I don’t have the capability or stones to protect my family in the face of ALL danger or societal collapse, so I’d prefer everyone just work together to minimize the risk.
I should have said peoples reaction is coloured by current events; local and world.
It’s just a shitty turn of events since what, July? I myself intend on enjoying frozen pizza and a few more kg hanging over my belt till the veil lifts. Sadly, now we’re allowed to exercise all day in Sydney. No more love handles for me.
I was definitely “supporting local businesses” by ordering take out every night, I had to switch to looser belt setting yesterday
It was also pretty rare for me to drink at home, no longer the case, argh.
I will be moving place shortly (like next week). I will have a dedicated room to use as a studio which I am really looking forward to. I will also have less options for takeaway, so planning on doing a bit of reset re diet and exercise as well.
Bac on topic, one I move I’m gonna get a sub, which I am most excited about. I want a genelec one to go with my monitors but the ones with 8" drivers all seem to be out of stock. I figure the 6.5" one will be fine but I dont really know if I should wait a bit longer and see if I can get an 8" one.
My girlfriend is a respiratory scientist so I’ll ask her about that. She works with covid patients regularly. She also worked in immunology, developing vaccines.
There’s science, and there’s what you read in the media. Totally different things.
