Not sure, but I think they’d have more luck with a civil suit, which they should absolutely do, just so there’s some kind of pushback.

This is a national disgrace, just leaving children to rot in a camp indefinitely. Force of habit, I guess.

This is a significant escalation from existing arrangements, at least officially:

Biometric sharing programmes already exist between Five Eyes countries (New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom) as part of Migration Five arrangements but typically operated on a ‘hit/no-hit’ basis where initial biometric checks provided minimal information, and further data requests were considered on a case by case basis.

But EBSPs could provide full automated access to other countries’ national databases, according to critics and minutes from European Union member state negotiations.

From: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/trumps-america-wants-access-to-australian-biometric-data/ftomgcy5j

You have to demonstrate an understanding of road rules and signage to get a driver’s licence, which is pretty relevant.

I agree it would be better if there was a separate licensing system - one that would allow younger people to access some categories of e-bike - and I imagine we will in the long-run, but using existing systems as a stop-gap doesn’t seem unreasonable.

It’s a good platform, but it’s not European, right?

GOG.com is based in Poland^[1]. Many games are available as DRM-free downloads. They have a Steam-like launcher, GOG Galaxy^[2]. They also have a preservation program to keep old games playable^[3].

Wrong continent for ostriches, we only measure things in emu eggs here

rankings were determined by a combination of 350,000 public votes (accounting for 30 per cent)

So at best it’s probably only meaningful to compare rankings of cafes in the same city, and even then the results of voting are going to be influenced by the resources a cafe spent to promote voting and the size of their customer base.

They’re rebranding because their licensing deal to use the name hasn’t been renewed by the UK Sky News, because the stuff you mention damages the brand:
https://tvtonight.com.au/2025/08/sky-news-facing-name-change.html

I think currently there’s more than enough room here for all the kinds of content you’ve mentioned. There’s only been 11 posts in this community in the last week. If you split things further you just end up with dead communities.

See some of the comments in this recent discussion: https://aussie.zone/post/29720933

Did you mean to make the post title the URL?

If you had a unified scale of 1-100 instead, you would have the granularity to make comparisons between both similar and dissimilar products.

The Health Star Rating system is corrupted and unhelpful.

From https://theconversation.com/parents-find-health-star-ratings-confusing-and-unhelpful-we-need-a-better-food-labelling-system-264881

The Health Star Rating’s own consumer research found 74% of consumers do not understand that the rating cannot be used to compare dissimilar products.

There’s no reason it shouldn’t be comparable across categories, either. I think originally it was designed so to be, and then the lobbyists got to it. People’s intake of each category isn’t some fixed ratio, and how are they supposed to get a signal to cut down on one category if they can’t compare products across categories?

Even if people are aware that products can only be compared within categories, do we expect everyone to know what those categories are and which one any particular product fits into? The HSR panel doesn’t contain any category information!

From https://theconversation.com/australias-food-labelling-system-isnt-working-heres-how-we-can-fix-it-275673

So, is there an alternative?

Yes – warning labels.

Using simple statements or symbols, warning labels are designed to inform consumers if a food product is high in fat, sugar or salt. In future, they may also indicate whether a product is an ultra-processed food.

…

A global study published in late 2025 suggests warning labels are the most effective way to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods. This is compared to other ranking-style labelling schemes such as Health Star Ratings.

Seems like a pretty simple and reasonable approach to me. Also, it seems like it can be applied comparably across all categories of packaged food.

I can see people arguing that an incremental scale like the HSR allows for companies to compete on small differences (unlike a simple binary ‘high in sugar’ warning label) and that little differences would help over time. I’m pretty sceptical of that, though, and I think encouraging people to eat fewer chocolate biscuits is likely more important than slightly reducing the amount of sugar in the biscuits. (If anyone’s seen good research on the topic, let me know!)

It’s not like the ‘warning label’ approach stops people from making a comparison on the details anyway. If you see a ‘high in sugar’ label on something it might prompt you to check the nutrition panel to see just how much sugar is in that biscuit, and its competitors.

Coverage by the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/13/uk-ban-palestine-action-unlawful-high-court-judges-rule

Great move.

Sydney saddles up for the Year of the Horse

AZ locals. Let me know if I need to make any corrections to above.

Good enough that I wouldn’t nitpick, except you explicitly asked 😆

The President of Israel was invited to visit Australia. Large protests were announced across the country. The NSW government (the state Sydney is the capital of) passed draconian laws giving police broad powers and also limiting protesters ability to sue for assualt etc in special ‘zones’.

Just to clarify a point…

The new laws were passed for Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) very shortly after the Bondi massacre, and before the Herzog visit was announced. The laws allow the police commissioner, after a terrorist attack, to declare an area in which an ‘authorised protest’ can’t be held, and they can extend that for up to 90 days. An ‘authorised protest’ is when the protest organisers submit some paper work, and then protesters are legally protected to march on the road or block footpaths, etc. You can still have a public gathering regardless. The police commissioner made a declaration which covers central Sydney and eastward.

Then, just two days before the rally, Minns declared the Herzog visit a ‘major event’. The major event declaration was under pre-existing law, and grants cops power to close roads, search people, limit the number of people and limit police civil liability for their actions within a declared zone. (No doubt they waited until two days before to impede legal challenges, though a challege was heard and rejected.)

So yeah, to be totally (maybe unnecessarily) clear, the order of events is:

1. NSW Government passes new draconian laws for Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD)
2. Police commissioner makes a PARD covering central Sydney
3. Herzog visit announced
4. Large protests announced
5. ‘Major event’ declared under pre-existing draconian laws, with area covering central Sydney
6. Protest is held in Town Hall Square (Sydney, NSW) and the police get violent

Sorry if you knew all this already and had just simplified for brevity!

Wow, that’s nuts! No wonder the cops were acting as if they could get away with anything!

The ABC article might give some clues to what he’s on about: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-05/liberal-calls-for-mardi-gras-funding-review-afterparty-cancelled/106309430

One of the motions called for a boycott of organisations materially funding US President Donald Trump in response to the roll-back of transgender rights in the United States.

They have since spearheaded campaigns to ban NSW Police from marching in the parade, pushed to prohibit corporate sponsors and floats, and for Mardi Gras to adopt explicitly political stances regarding trans rights and Palestinian liberation, among others.

Basically no. The vast majority are fixed rate for only the first 1 to 5 years.

More info here: https://lendingloop.com.au/what-is-the-longest-fixed-rate-mortgage-in-australia-and-how-can-it-benefit-you