$10 b additional investment into defence in the budget? You tell em, bud!

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4855782

lol owned

slash c/electoralism

Greens announce a policy to fund weapons manufacturing (drones and missiles) in Australia under a Sovereign Defence Capacity program.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge is brothers with an ASPI analyst.

In short:

Firefighters are continuing to battle three main fires across the state at the Grampians National Park, The Gurdies and Bullengarook.

An emergency warning was reinstated for the Grampians fire on Sunday afternoon, while other communities prepare for rising temperatures after days on alert.

What's next?

The fire danger is forecast to increase on Boxing Day.

In short:

A Melbourne man has been charged with displaying the flag of a terrorist organisation at a rally.

Hezbollah flags were flown at a protest in Melbourne's CBD in September this year.

What's next?

The AFP says investigations continue into 13 other alleged offenders, with further charges expected.

Purplepingers can find you free housing or do theory asmr 😍😍

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3215976

Thought you might like to know that garden centres regularly sell invasive plants and also plants that just will immediately die when you plant them because they can't live in your area (plants from western Australia that can't live in Queensland, for example)

self regulation

For fucks sake, when has that ever worked?

Just fucking ban them.

What the hell happened to the West? We went from fixing the Ozone by banning CFCs, to not even being able to ban a single plant.

Pathetic.

Get rid of your English ivy and gazinias, people.

I grew up in NZ and have a pounamu/greenstone toki I inherited from my parents.

I miss New Zealand dearly and want to wear it, but I feel that as a white person whose great grandparents came to new Zealand from Ireland, it would be cultural appropriation?

I'm unsure and haven't lived in New Zealand for over a decade, so I don't know the stance on crackers wearing Maori symbols.

I remember hearing this story a lot when I was a kid. Maui is so cool.

The new government recently announced it would dial back the use of Māori language in government organisations, and scrap anti-smoking legislation and the Māori Health Authority at a time when health issues, including lung cancer, disproportionately impact Māori.

Fucking fascist pigs

Australia's Medicare was once the envy of the world. Now after years of cuts, it's a shell of its former self. Of course, now we have all sorts of problems happening caused by understaffing and overworking in an underfunded system, but of course, the narrative is "public systems suck" instead of the truth that privatization is the cause. All this to push people onto health insurance and make our healthcare system as bad as America's. Money for rich insurance companies while the rest of us rot. All during a pandemic no less. Sad days.

happening

no but seriously, this guy was fucked over pretty consistently:

The court heard Mr Reid consumed about six bourbons for "Dutch courage" before attending a local service station earlier in the day and filling up the jerry can.

"There was a build up of stress," Mr Reid told the court.

"He had to vacate four rental properties, which were all on short six-month leases, and had to find another house to live each time with a new bond."
...
The court heard O'Brien had no history of mental illness but a psychological assessment found he had a "paranoid personality".

Mr Reid said he had attended Kalgoorlie Police Station the Friday before the fire "feeling overwhelmed" and threatening self-harm.

"He was admitted to hospital, he's provided me with the medical band … he wanted to speak with a psychiatrist," Mr Reid said.

"He spoke to a psychiatric nurse … he felt he was not given the help he needed and left feeling worse than when he arrived."

and the reaction is much less libby than I was expecting:
https://old.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/16lvfur/arsonist_who_torched_kalgoorlie_real_estate/