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Today! We've had pandemic relief that expired a few months ago. Last month, interest started being accrued again, and today is the day the first payments are due again.
 
I pretend I don't see my HECS debt. :r

(In Australia, you can get government support for university and it starts auto-repaying once your income reaches a certain threshold. I never actually finished any of my university studies but I still have the debts and only just reached the income threshold recently...my recent course was vocational education and I paid it up front because it was nowhere near as expensive and I had enough saved to just avoid getting extra debt!)

I can't believe it's October already! Anyone got anything big planned before the year's over?
 
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Nothing big planned yet, but all of the holidays are coming up so I'm looking forward to those! I was home and in the thick of sleep deprivation for all of the holidays last year, so it'll be fun to spend the time at one of my parents' places and enjoy family time and good food.
 
I hope it's really relaxing! You deserve to have a nice break.

I am having to look at Christmas holidays because I'd like to go home and visit my dad but the flights are getting really expensive and working around his plans is a bit tricky. :lol:
 
Aaaah I hope you guys have good holidays!

I'm about to head into the busiest time of year, we've got our end of year shows coming up and it's our 20th anniversary as a school so we're pulling out all the stops. I've spent eleven hours the last few days editing a finale montage of all our finales over the years to play at the end of the show x_x im not even done yet......... It's all gonna be worth it when we're on stage, but right now's time to really buckle down and get things done. I'm taking on more classes than usual this term as well, because my boss is going to be away for a few weeks taking one of our teams to compete as worlds, so I'm covering some of her classes. Also got my bday party coming up soonish so I'm doing a ton of work cleaning and painting at home too, to get the place ready for guests. Also-also prepping for a Halloween show I'm performing at, but I've been so busy with regular work stuff I haven't even started editing my music yet OOPS... BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY until mid december then i have nothing at all scheduled until february
 
This will be my first year without Thanksgiving D:
But looking forward to Halloween. Probably will leave the autumnal leaf garland I have behind our desk hanging from the shelves until I am tired of it (which will be never I think xD)

I've had the worst luck lately.
A wisdom tooth had to go and now another has a possible trauma-induced infection due to grinding my teeth in my sleep. the pain of that has caused me to not get any sleep the past two nights. D: Of course, I was stressed and had a lot of anxiety about the wisdom tooth healing well and starting a job that has probably caused me to start grinding my teeth which then caused another tooth issue. It's a cycle and I hope it does end :cry:
 
Steph you could always use thanksgiving as an excuse to make a roast dinner and eat too much, still sounds like fun :p

My birthday is coming up and I am excited to have some time off to relax and chill and hang out with friends :party: Last year when I had time off for October on the first day I was back I got really horrible news so fingers crossed this doesn't happen again (I know it is unlikely but my anxiety brain is still worried) x_x
 
So true! I've never made most of the Thanksgiving meal items...usually for my mom to do xD I shall see though, maybe I can enlist my m-i-l to help!
 
Happy Friday all! Ooh I just realized it's Friday the 13th! 🎃 Do we have any superstitious folks on site? Any fun plans for the weekend?

It's going to be the 4th or 5th weekend in a row where it's going to rain so my plans to go to a pumpkin patch keep getting washed out D: so I'll probably just stay home and watch a scary movie.
 
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The worst thing that happened for Friday the 13th is we ended up double booking an appointment. Oooh, spookiness of boring adulting. :r

I'm quite exhausted from a long painful week at work, but I got asked to work at the polling booth for the referendum tomorrow and I stupidly said yes. On one hand it's a good thing to do, I get paid and it's genuinely interesting (mostly the actual vote counting is the interesting part), on the other, nooo my Saturday. :lol:
 
I just looked up what your referendum is and it's interesting.
Obviously I'd agree that Indigenous peoples should have ways to engage the government meaningfully on topics which impact them. On the other hand, a body which just has a voice can be (and will often be) ignored. On the other other hand democratic, and Westminster, principles necessitate that the parliament is freely elected and is supreme, so maybe this is the best that can be done without changing the whole system (whose values I don't inherently oppose though obviously their outworking has often been problem)
Which brings up the constitutional amendment itself, that it leaves what this "Voice" may be so broad, including simply that the government may determine its powers, seems at once too undefined so as to make it very weak and too broad so as to perhaps allow some governments to give the voice entirely inappropriate powers.
But the question being put on the referendum doesn't really engage the text of the constitutional amendment being proposed... you'd really hope that from uninformed electors "should Indigenous people have a voice" would get broad support.
What's the sentiment in Australia about it right now?
 
Until such time as the referendum is over I'm obliged to refrain from publicly expressing my personal opinion on the contents due to my employment :r

I don't think it'll pass, though, which seems to be the general feeling. Its rare for any referendums to pass because of the double majority needed anyway. Theres a variety of 'no' arguments from the outright racist to the pessimistic/not unreasonably concerned to the 'this doesn't go far enough and a bigger change is needed', and the 'yes' campaign did honestly struggle for a bit. Especially early when there were lots of questions re definition. I do think there will be a large proportion of people in favour but I don't think that'll get it through.

It hasn't been a pleasant campaign, even by political standards.
 
Michael Watson said:
it's genuinely interesting (mostly the actual vote counting is the interesting part)
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Ooh I'd be interested in hearing more about this once you're able to talk about it!
 
I don't have a full understanding of the context of the Voice obviously, but to me it looks like a really good first step towards indigenous perspectives being taken seriously in auspol. Australian colonisers have an appalling track record with indigenous Australians, and there's so much work to be done to repair the damage done to communities, culture, and sovereignty. Creating accountability through official channels is a good way to begin tackling these difficult issues more seriously.

Again, nowhere near an expert, but I would very loosely compare it to the Waitangi Tribunal over here. The Waitangi Tribunal is a body established in 1975 to investigate and advise on breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (our founding document, which we have never successfully managed to fully honour.) It puts weight behind Māori voices on government issues, and creates accountability for treaty breaches. The government doesn't always follow their guidance, but it creates much more public stakes for them when it comes to legislation around treaty issues, since people are aware now of the views of treaty officials and can make informed decisions when it comes to election time about which politicians best honour the treaty.

Speaking of elections, ours is today and it's looking like things are leaning hard facist which terrifies me. I'm going to lose a substantial cut of my already meager income under a right wing government, and depending on who they make a coalition with likely several human rights as well. Would greatly appreciate good thoughts and hopes for a safe outcome 💕
 
I'm home, been on my feet all day but it was a good experience. I can now say that I voted yes, I had some concerns about whether or not this would actually help those who need it most (i.e. the most disadvantaged communities) or if it would just be a bit of a mess like the last time there was a committee (that was not constitutionally enshrined). I'd want to see the government actually listening and there to be active communication about decisions and consultation (i.e. there was a change to land laws in part of the country recently that seriously screwed over farmers on their own land and I am certain that did not gain any points for the yes campaign). But I want to hope that it would be a positive thing and would bring about the positive improvements that need to be made for the lives of Indigenous Australians.

Not that it matters, it was a pretty resounding 'no' result. Polls hadn't even closed in parts of the country and it was already clearly defeated. It has to not only be a majority vote overall, but a majority of states also have to vote in favour. So even if Western Australia brought in a resounding yes (they wouldn't, but hypothetically), it doesn't matter because most of the other states have already said no.

Counting was pretty quick, we were done within an hour. I didn't actually count votes because we had a whole heap of people from other electorates come in so I was helping on declaration votes, and then putting those in order. But I had worked at the state election last year, and counting for that was a nightmare. We had to count for the House of Representatives (we'd have like, 7 candidates, and then have to order in preferences), and then we had to count senate votes. If you don't know, Australian senate papers tend to look like this:

senate-paper-joe-armao_0.jpeg.webp

I really hope the NZ election results don't end up quite that bad! D: Let across the ditch have taken all the racist points for the day kthx.
 
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Ainsley Lynch said:
The government doesn't always follow their guidance, but it creates much more public stakes for them when it comes to legislation around treaty issues, since people are aware now of the views of treaty officials and can make informed decisions when it comes to election time about which politicians best honour the treaty.
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This is a fair point I hadn't considered. "Government ignores Indigenous voice" is a lot easier when it's an official body.
In Canada, the waters always get muddied super quickly on Indigenous consultation because there are band councils and chiefs (democratically elected by band members) which is a colonial construction imposed on Indigenous communities... and then there are the so-called hereditary chiefs (whose claim to leadership is recognized traditionally but not formally by Canadian government). Band councils/chiefs and hereditary chiefs frequently disagree on things. So the government is usually able to highlight some Indigenous leadership who agrees with them, and the opposition criticize the government using the other voices.
The Assembly of First Nations may be the closest thing we have, who has a 'National Chief' and there are often talks between the government and them but I don't think their opinion holds as much weight in the national consciousness - especially when things like a pipeline being built impacts specific Indigenous communities (whose leaders, as above, are often split).

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And not to make light of what sounds like a hard election result (I certainly hope that the rights and freedoms all people enjoy in NZ are not infringed even if the political leaning of the next few years has a troubling tone) - but I'm very curious about his 40% off deck furniture aspect of your country. :r
Outdoor furniture is farrr too expensive here. :tut:
 
Nicolas King said:
In Canada, the waters always get muddied super quickly on Indigenous consultation because there are band councils and chiefs (democratically elected by band members) which is a colonial construction imposed on Indigenous communities... and then there are the so-called hereditary chiefs (whose claim to leadership is recognized traditionally but not formally by Canadian government). Band councils/chiefs and hereditary chiefs frequently disagree on things. So the government is usually able to highlight some Indigenous leadership who agrees with them, and the opposition criticize the government using the other voices.
The Assembly of First Nations may be the closest thing we have, who has a 'National Chief' and there are often talks between the government and them but I don't think their opinion holds as much weight in the national consciousness - especially when things like a pipeline being built impacts specific Indigenous communities (whose leaders, as above, are often split).
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Yeah, this is one where I've got no doubts whatsoever that being a smaller country is working in our favour. There are dozens of Iwi/Hapū (tribes/nations & subtribes) with complicated histories of conflict between them, but when it comes to national issues that affect all Māori, people tend to come together and prioritise the good of the whenua (land/country) and tino rangatiratanga (sovreignty) above all else. A lot easier to do when there aren't nearly as many people with conflicting needs who have to be accounted for. (Also, for acknowledgement; I'm Pākēha and live on Kāi Tahu land, which is a large iwi that covers most of Te Waipounamu.)

Nicolas King said:
I'm very curious about his 40% off deck furniture aspect of your country. :r
Outdoor furniture is farrr too expensive here. :tut:
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It's never hard to find a sale on deck furniture here so sry for ur loss :r

(The less funny layer of that tweet is that the people who'll be enjoying 40% off deck furniture and sales on at Briscoes (notoriously expensive homewares shop) under a National govt don't see the effect their votes have on people like me, who'll likely be choosing between heating and affording my meds next winter if National follow through on their campaign promises.) (That is if they don't form a coalition with NZ First who want very much to remove my ability to access some of those meds at all.....)

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The Guy Fawkes thing is ****ed up.
 
James Cade said:
The Guy Fawkes thing is ****ed up.
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That guy's almost certainly gonna be our next deputy prime minister 🫠

also 2 be clear this isn't a stupid remark when he was a kid he said that a few months ago. on the radio. while campaigning.
 
I don't have much to add but that I'm similarly gutted about the outcome of this election - and the policies being put forward by National and especially Act. Technically there's still special votes to count but it's not looking too good. I'm personally in a privileged position where I'll be affected but hopefully not extremely so, but this'll mean a harder life for many who already find it hard. Disappointed in my country today.
 
Our office got graffitied by someone over the result of the referendum. Ironically, I think everyone who works here actually voted yes (I know 4/5 of us did at the very least, not sure about the 5th). They hit a few businesses around town, by the looks of it. I certainly get the disappointment, but I don't think that's going to help anything. :(

The small thing is that at the state level, at least here, there is already a body that works in that way and I think a few other states have the same thing, so it's not a complete loss. It's not good that it didn't pass, especially with how expensive it was to run for ultimately nothing, but at least at some level of government there are steps being taken towards treaty. It doesn't make the outcome any better, though.

I think we just commandeer an island and make our own country tbh. :r
 
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