HalfEarthMedic

joined 2 months ago
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1
Many primary school kids will never have a male teacher, and experts say that's a problem (www.abc.net.au)
 

Article suggests gender quotas and scholarships. Has anyone considered treating, and paying, teachers like the vital professionals they are?

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Albanese's politics of patience: Democracy needs mature leadership (johnmenadue.com)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net to c/australia@aussie.zone
0 comments fedilink
 

An interesting take on Albo's leadership.

I would tend to think he has been over cautious since the referendum, glacial movement on the middle east and a failure to so anything meaningful on housing.

Maybe slow and cautious is the way we get real reform. Infuriating but effective?

The Three-Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu in c/books@lemmy.ml
[–] HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

I read the first book and I think it is the first time in decades that I have encountered actual sci-fi concepts that weren't a reworking of ideas that have been around for decades.

It's not a character driven novel but the characters are fine, mostly they're not that likeable - which in my opinion is not a reason to dislike a story - and I think they probably lose something in translation. When I was a teenager I devoured Asimov, Phillip K Dick, Heinlein etc for the concepts, compared to them the characters in 3 Body are masterfully written.

I haven't yet read the second book as I found the first few chapters a bit of a slog but I plan to pick it up again once I've finished rereading some Ursula K LeGuin

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Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas (johnmenadue.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net to c/australia@aussie.zone
0 comments fedilink
 

[T] he poor design of the resource rent tax has meant little or no money has been collected. According to Treasury, “to date not a single LNG plant has paid any petroleum resource rent tax and many are not expected to pay any significant amounts until the 2030s.

Nor do the big multinational exporters of gas — including Exxon, Shell and Chevron — seem to pay much company tax. The Australian Taxation Office has labelled the oil and gas industry “systematic non-payers” of tax.

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Open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese MP from Australian former diplomats (johnmenadue.com)
 

As pressure mounts on the Australian Government over Palestine, a group of highly respected Australians, who have represented our nation overseas, have gone straight to the top with a letter to the prime minister.