Must have been pretty chilly - I’m out of town at the moment but I was looking at the forecast the other day and thinking it was looking like good weather for snow in the Brindies.

I don’t really care about the cafe, shop, or cultural displays but it’d be good to have the observation deck again (ideally free this time, but I don’t like my chances).

Yes, it’s amusing to think of him going to what have been a fair effort to catch a lyrebird all to find it probably went straight back down the hole after it’d been lugged up to the top.

It is indeed a surprisingly big hole, worth the short walk if you’re in the area with some time for sightseeing.

It’s one of these things that logically you know must happen occasionally (and I’ve even seen pictures of it) but still doesn’t seem right.

I am impressed the shark got it out again and didn’t end up with a permanent internal echidna spine collection.

The American inspired variety of sovereign citizen is enough, I don’t think we really need our own special version of the idea.

It is a bit of an odd name really. I suspect it’s due to a combination of their size, many having some orange colouring, and their habit of making off with your fruit come night time.

To be fair, Canberra didn’t score that highly on anything else so the overall score was considerably lower.

It does seem to get consistent usage - I think it’d make a lot of sense for the commute if you lived along the route and worked normal hours in the city. The increase in development was also noticeable - Flemington Rd has a lot of housing built along it now which would have been at least helped along by the presence of the light rail (I expect a lot would have been built regardless, but maybe not as quickly).

I feel like inflation has rather diminished the impact of the monetary side of a contempt finding - $5k just doesn’t have the same impact as six months in prison anymore. It’s like how you see the occasional old sign in lifts warning that smoking can be punished by a (presumably initially impactful) fine of up to $20…

They can get funding, but not in the next election. If you get more than 4% of first preference votes then you can get money after an election to help repay expenditure for that election, up to the lesser of the amount you have spent or the number of first preference votes multiplied by a few dollars (currently $3.29). Reading the info page it seems to make it easier they pay out $12k if you qualify and you can claim more if necessary.

This does mean it’s worthwhile spending your first preference on a smaller candidate you approve of though. They aren’t necessarily getting ahead with that funding but being able to offset their election spending would be a real benefit to people/groups which don’t have piles of money to spend (and makes it more likely they’ll be able to try again next election).

Fernwood, a women only gym, is allowed to exist.

Because there are sections of the law which allow exemption from the gender discrimination section for various reasons, and they have successfully argued that there are benefits to having a women only gym which are important enough to deserve an exemption (to provide substantive equality). They also only allow women patrons, so men are not charged for a service that is not equally provided.

I don’t really see it as problematic for a discriminated class to seek to foster a space free from those who perpetuate that discrimination

Neither do many other people, which is why such examples as Fernwood have received exemptions from the law and why there is a specific exemption in the laws for both female and male only clubs.

I don’t think it sets a precedent for protected classes to be discriminated against as “art” because men aren’t a class that needs protecting

Allowing discrimination based on gender without substantiating the businesses eligibility for an exemption under the law absolutely would set a precedent for the courts. While you may agree with this particular case of discrimination it is not a good idea to open an opportunity for more discrimination in the future - keep in mind it may not always be the type you agree with.

Good. I think the other option - setting a precedent allowing businesses to skirt discrimination laws by claiming their behaviour was art - would have been a rather poor decision.

I suspect that would be the better option for helping with the related issue of retaining existing staff…

It really is silly how long this is taking to make progress, even stage 2A is taking a huge amount of time for the distance it’s going. It’s a pity the light rail was so politicised as a north vs south spending thing as I think it would have made sense to be at least getting the planning ready for other lines (e.g. Belco, potentially airport) while this was going on.

I’ve never had to deal with it, but I’m not surprised that t’s a pain. Large IT projects seem unfortunately likely to just get to the point of barely usable and then not progress much from there.

It’s not just government projects either - I have the misfortune of having to deal with work orders through a system owned by a company which definitely has enough money to make something better but using it (particularly the mobile app) makes you question the sanity of whoever approved it for release.

That’s an expensive way to learn the difference between a hi cube and a standard container…

Impressed at the strength of that beam - to do that to a container (and the twist locks) would take a solid whack.

It is political - there are a variety of people who are against modern Australia’s British colonial roots, ranging the gamut from those who want all European influence gone and the remaining people to revert back to a romanticised view of the Stone Age to those who (more realistically) want more Indigenous influence upon our current system. Somewhere along that line is where the writers of this would fall, the ‘colony’ they want to fall would either refers to all European practises and institutions or some more abstract view of European influence over our society.

Could be a fun thing to try again, pity it’d be unlikely to be allowed today.