The Future ...
Dec. 14th, 2013 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeshyrAustralian Federal Coalition Government[*], you suck.
Yesterday they renamed the NDIS disability support "launch sites" as "trial sites". They swear there’s no associated change in function, which is true this week at least, but it doesn’t sound positive for the future. A "trial" is something you decide has been passed or failed - I don’t believe for a second that the promise-breaking Coalition isn’t going to try to trim back the NDIS, if not gut it altogether. Language matters, and why would you bother changing something like that unless you had some other plan - in isolation it's not even worth changing.
Why would I disbelieve the Coalition when they promise stuff? Here’s a good reason: As somebody who’s largely bedridden/housebound, the forthcoming National Broadband Network with high-speed internet would have been awesome for me. Unfortunately the Coalition have reneged on their election promises that it would even happen in my current location. Even during the election they were saying they would deliver less than what Labour were promising, but they’ve even gone back on that much-reduced promise and cancelled roll-out of fibre in HFC areas.
"HFC" is the cables that deliver cable television and similar. Like many folks in the nominal HFC area I can’t actually access cable TV because my particular unit isn’t hooked up[**], though I understand that the unit in my block closest to the road probably is. Even after my unit is (in theory) fully hooked up, HFC apparently acts like a weird sort of internet party line where it only works decently if most of your neighbours aren’t also using it… I have heard many sob stories about hideous HFC services. Here’s another HFC sob story (written a year ago so ignore the bits about what it says will happen with the NBN).
Coalition, you suck so much I am all out of words for it …
No love,
r
[*] The Coalition government in Australia is a mostly our conservative party, but the conservative's official name is the Liberal Party, which is sufficiently confusing that I hate writing it because I know bunches of you are not in Australia and aren't used to mentally translating "Liberal means Conservative" in your heads.
[**] Cable TV is not commonly used in Australia. I have never used it and don’t know anybody who has it available either. Much different to the USA situation.
Yesterday they renamed the NDIS disability support "launch sites" as "trial sites". They swear there’s no associated change in function, which is true this week at least, but it doesn’t sound positive for the future. A "trial" is something you decide has been passed or failed - I don’t believe for a second that the promise-breaking Coalition isn’t going to try to trim back the NDIS, if not gut it altogether. Language matters, and why would you bother changing something like that unless you had some other plan - in isolation it's not even worth changing.
Why would I disbelieve the Coalition when they promise stuff? Here’s a good reason: As somebody who’s largely bedridden/housebound, the forthcoming National Broadband Network with high-speed internet would have been awesome for me. Unfortunately the Coalition have reneged on their election promises that it would even happen in my current location. Even during the election they were saying they would deliver less than what Labour were promising, but they’ve even gone back on that much-reduced promise and cancelled roll-out of fibre in HFC areas.
"HFC" is the cables that deliver cable television and similar. Like many folks in the nominal HFC area I can’t actually access cable TV because my particular unit isn’t hooked up[**], though I understand that the unit in my block closest to the road probably is. Even after my unit is (in theory) fully hooked up, HFC apparently acts like a weird sort of internet party line where it only works decently if most of your neighbours aren’t also using it… I have heard many sob stories about hideous HFC services. Here’s another HFC sob story (written a year ago so ignore the bits about what it says will happen with the NBN).
Coalition, you suck so much I am all out of words for it …
No love,
r
[*] The Coalition government in Australia is a mostly our conservative party, but the conservative's official name is the Liberal Party, which is sufficiently confusing that I hate writing it because I know bunches of you are not in Australia and aren't used to mentally translating "Liberal means Conservative" in your heads.
[**] Cable TV is not commonly used in Australia. I have never used it and don’t know anybody who has it available either. Much different to the USA situation.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 10:31 am (UTC)usually something happens, even if it's not nearly what's needed.
*hugs*
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Date: 2013-12-14 10:48 am (UTC)… maybe they took it as a challenge?
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/blogs/blunt-instrument/joe-hockeys-fighting-spirit-encapsulates-all-that-is-wrong-with-the-abbott-government-20131212-2z8ys.html#ixzz2nF0d6WmP
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 10:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 01:18 pm (UTC)Is basically all I can say. Just. FUCK.
(We have cable tv. I don't know WHY, because all it ever gets used for is my father watching the History channel and Grand Designs reruns (which would be fine, but did I mention reruns? It is all reruns. He has watched everything two or three times, I'm sure, but still keeps watching it, IDEK), but we're also pretty fucking city, not. You know. The edges that the NBN was really designed for. Not that our internet is all that great, but we are so not the point of the project and FUCK YOU TONY ABBOT.)
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-14 05:19 pm (UTC)The worst part, besides the policies themselves, is that the people using the services -- like you -- are the folks least capable of advocating. Plus all the garbage "scrounger" noise which raises my blood pressure.
We have the cable connection (via fibre), but use it only for internet (cheaper, we're not awake when interesting TV is on). There was a lot of noise about the party-line problem back in 1990s, but I've never experienced it (but then we're not in high-density housing).
no subject
Date: 2013-12-15 12:51 am (UTC)