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Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

digitalrightswatch.org.au

841–850 of 894 posts

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#842
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another senior SE in Brisbane I can 100% back up what BrissyCoder here is saying. Its even more so right now, if you're up for contracting. $1000+ a day is common. Kind of nuts, but hey its been good for my wallet.

1000 AUD is about 100 USD an hour. That's laughably low for any Brisbane sized city in the states. Not nuts at all.

1. Tax matters 2. COL matters 3. AUD-USD conversions aren't that straightfoward when discussing this.

$1200 a day puts you into the top few percent of salaries here in Australia. I don't really care what a "brisbane sized city in the states" might be doing, because moving there means I have to live in a country that I'm not a good fit for culturally.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#843

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I hope you won't be regretting it soon when you find out it's not temporary.

Where are you going to post your retraction when it is just temporary?

I'm still waiting to post my retraction about the U.S. never repealing the Patriot Act. I'm pretty patient though.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#844
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As another senior SE in Brisbane I can 100% back up what BrissyCoder here is saying. Its even more so right now, if you're up for contracting. $1000+ a day is common. Kind of nuts, but hey its been good for my wallet.

The replies to you seem a bit off to me. $1000 a day is plenty to live on in Brisbane. I do fear that housing here is going to end up like the other major Aus cities though. I think Brisbane house prices are rising at like $500 a day or something. An amount I couldn't have fathomed paying in rent weekly when I first moved to Sydney.

Yeah agreed. $200k a year is more than enough to live on. Heck, I'm saving 80% of my pay cheque -- specifically to save enough to offset this crazy property price capital growth.

But a simple example that shows how lucky I and others are: I can rapidly, from $0 (if I was silly enough to have no savings for this exercise) save up a deposit within a year or two, less if one has a partner.

Any of my friends and acquaintances, unless they also went into high-paying jobs and industries here in SEQ, or unless they have parents well-off enough to help them, are writing off being able to enter the property market for years or decades.

Its worrying, for sure.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#845

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the alternative is thousands and thousands of deaths, most of us are willing to temporarily give up a bit of civil liberty.

We are way past temporary here. Australia is not as far along in vaccinations as other countries, but at this point the most vulnerable have had ample chance to be vaccinated. The virus can't be eradicated, will continue to mutate, and herd immunity by vaccination alone is not likely. At some point, Australia, New Zealand and China will need to join the rest of the world in the new normal, unless they want to become…

Yeah, and that point is when we have enough people vaccinated. Which should be done by December. Then we can join the new normal. I would classify that as temporary.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#846

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, there's something disconcerting about the way people are behaving in this situation, and it's hard to process this as something that could reasonably happen. "I thought we were rational people in a free society?" The terrible thing is that this is exactly how people behaved in "historical" times - a foreshadowing to what lies ahead. The vast majority of people believe we are post-history, and that we're someho…

The difference between modern and medieval people isn't physiological, it is just education. But since stupidity is unlimited, it will just pick up a new mantle and look a bit different. Rules of public relation will make it increasingly difficult for any official to take a more relaxed stand. Fearful people are motivated people and will make themselves heard, no matter if their fears are justified or not.

Boiling it down to just education is too reductionist. Education is part of reciprocal human interaction and the academy (often associated with education) is itself an ancient institution. What's different is our collection and employment of knowledge.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#847
post #619

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the alternative is thousands and thousands of deaths, most of us are willing to temporarily give up a bit of civil liberty.

> When the alternative is thousands and thousands of deaths, most of us are willing to temporarily give up a bit of civil liberty. Don't worry, you'll be doing both and it won't be temporary.

Please explain.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#848

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you're misinformed. The laws the article is talking about are the big problem - they're Federal and permanent (at least until we have a sane Government elected to reform and repeal them). The COVID lockdowns are all operating under temporary state of emergencies under the State Governments. There's no actual reason to think they will be 'extended forever' like some crazies seem to think. For several states, o…

It's not misinformation, it's that were looking at Australia from the outside. If you live in the US, pretty much any and all restrictions have been lifted for daily life. You see that there are still Covid cases and deaths, but they have dwindled in comparison to last year and life is pretty much back to how it was Pre-pandemic. So it's absolutely insane to see that for the same or less daily Covid cases/deaths, Aus…

For last year it was the reverse for us. We looked at the US, incredulous that you let the virus kill thousands of people every day. At that point we had practically zero cases or deaths and we lived with almost no restrictions. So we could see how bad it could get if we let the virus run free in a population that still doesn't have the majority vaccinated.

It's only in the last couple months that things have been different, and bear in mind only two states have any lockdown orders at the moment. It sucks that our federal government fucked up acquisition of vaccines but at this point it seems silly to not just wait a few months to reach high levels of vaccination rates before opening up properly.

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#849
you think this is bad, in South Australia they're making people download a government app, and they'll randomly message you and you need to take a picture of your face and it'll submit your face and location. If you don't respond the police with turn up to enforce it.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-23/how-will-south-austra...

Re: Australia’s new mass surveillance mandate

#850
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "for our safety". For context, I'm Australian and have just come back after almost 20 years away, living around the world. Safety is now the absolute most important thing in Australia above everything else. Sadly, it's now more important than enjoying life. I'll be leaving, only come back to visit family from time to time. I have zero interest in living here.

Have you acquired alternate citizenship?

I did yes. It was about 7 years of paperwork and grind, but it was well, well worth it.

My 3rd one is well underway now too.

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