The system for selling property is broken
Apropos Waleed Aly's article on AI (8/8), yesterday I asked Google for train times from East Malvern to the city and got an AI Overview saying East Malvern is on the Frankston line and takes about 15minutes to travel to the city. Another attempt gave ″you can take a Glen Waverley line train to Caulfield then transfer to a Frankston line train to Flinders Street″. One answer included a link to Rome2Rio which also contains this wrong information. I was asked to rate the first answer and I said it was wrong, so I was then requested to give the correct answer for the purpose of training AI! Does PTV or Metro Trains know prospective passengers are being given wrong information? It's also not my job to train AI. This is preposterous.
Don Jordan, Mt Waverley
Legislation not needed
Surely, mandating working from home with legislation is cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer. Forward-looking employers are already facilitating working from home arrangements. Those who don't, will be judged by the jobs market as inflexible, and will miss out on recruiting the best talent. Legislating work from home is already redundant.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
WFH just a useful tool
Working from home is not a hill to die on. Before the arguments get too polarised and confrontational, politically, socially or economically, we need to recognise that it's merely a useful tool that can offer greater flexibility to some people and some workplaces, not all.
We all look at work-life balance from different angles, and find the best option in any situation needs to be a matter of sensible negotiation not a battleground. The COVID years provided a glimpse of options we hadn't previously had to try; it would be a pity if this led to insistence on legislated rights that undermine the potential benefits of newfound flexibility.
Jenifer Nicholls, Windsor
Meaningless roundtable
Despite continued calls for change, if Anthony Albanese insists there will be no major overhaul of the tax system, just what is the point of the economic reform roundtable?
Annie Wilson, Inverloch
Learn from history
Benjamin Netanyahu is deluding himself in believing that he can defeat Hamas. The full force of the American military battled the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army for 10 years and was defeated. The same will happen in Gaza no matter how much destruction and killing the Israeli Defence Force wreak there.
Reg Murray, Glen Iris
How high the toll?
Gaza. How many more will die?
Malcolm McDonald, Burwood
A military occupation
So it's now official Israeli policy to turn Gaza into a demilitarised zone, except for the Israeli military, of course.
David Robertson, Wheatsheaf
This is not freedom
Benjamin Netanyahu says he wants to free the population of Gaza. More likely he'll free Gaza of its population.
Richard Wilson, Croydon
PM, do something
Israel has said the quiet part out loud. It plans to conquer Gaza, fence it in, and decide who can live there and who cannot (″ Israel set on conquering ″ 10/8). After months of bombing, starving, and killing, they call this 'security'.
And our government? It nods along with concern written on its face, but its hands stay firmly in its pockets. No sanctions. No arms embargo. Not even the courage to recognise Palestine without strings attached.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong – you know exactly what is happening. You know the siege, the starvation, the expulsions, the massacres, are part of the same story that began in 1948. You know this is the erasure of a people.
So what's stopping you? Fear of upsetting Washington?
I don't want to hear another word of sympathy from leaders who will not act. Sympathy doesn't feed the starving. It doesn't rebuild the ruins. It doesn't save a single child in Gaza tonight.
Lila Malagi, Flinders
Premier, do something
Thirty years ago, Jeff Kennett sold off government assets to pay down the massive public debt incurred by the Cain and Kirner administrations. We were the rustbucket state going nowhere, largely because the (then) powerful transport unions, supposedly 'supporters″ of Labor, regularly shut down the transport networks. Since then Labor has enthusiastically followed Kennett's playbook, selling off the last remaining government-owned assets. Now Victoria is once again mired in debt but with no 'silver' left to flog to pay it off. Instead of moaning about what the Liberals did a political eon ago, the premier should focus her attention on how she is going to fix the state's dreadful finances. Perhaps she could start by selling off the reconstituted SEC, but would anyone buy it?
Greg Hardy, Upper Ferntree Gully
A timid country
You have to wonder why Anthony Albanese is organising a talkfest about policy when he is spending most of his time ruling policy options out. No increase to GST; no tackling of negative gearing (even for investors with multiple properties); no reforms to capital gains taxes or dividend imputation policies; and importantly no consideration of a carbon tax – the most effective and efficient tool in the fight against climate change. Above all else multinationals continue to exploit our natural resources while paying minimal or no tax. Australia was once a model for reforms – particularly in democratic initiatives – now we are a timid country run by timid people.
Noel Turnbull, Port Melbourne
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Sky News AU
32 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Tony Burke says Hamas sympathiser who had visa cancelled after praising October 7 attacks applied for entertainment visa
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has confirmed that Mona Zahed, a Palestinian woman who praised Hamas' October 7 attacks against Israel was initially given an entertainment visa as opposed to a humanitarian visa. A Palestinian woman who showered Hamas with praise for their brutal October 7 attacks on Israel had her visa cancelled by the Home Affairs Department on Friday. Following the Coalition's call for Tony Burke to step down over the visa's approval, a Home Affairs spokesperson said on Friday afternoon "The department has advised ... that the visa was cancelled today - the reasons have been communicated directly to the applicant." Ms Zahed also posted a photo on Instagram of Israeli festival goers fleeing for their lives on October 7 with the caption 'Praise be to Allah who has kept us alive to see this day'. In a bizarre twist to the disturbing saga, Mr Burke told Sky News Australia's Political Editor Andrew Clenell on Sunday that the woman had initially been granted an entertainment visa by DFAT authorities, bypassing routine character checks as a result. 'This was someone from Gaza who was not going through the humanitarian visa process that we've got in place, or even for a visitor visa for that matter, but who'd applied on the entertainment stream,' Mr Burke said. Mr Burke said the woman was not eligible to receive the visa, and that as a result her application was not immediately cancelled on character grounds. 'The presumption of that visa is you are coming for a fixed tour, where the tickets are being sold, the dates are all in place, and your intention is then to return to the country you came from,' Mr Burke said. 'This was a very unusual visa application and it was a visa she was not eligible for. Entertainment and humanitarian visas are designed for entirely different purposes, with the entrainment visa requiring proof of skills in the entertainment industry while the humanitarian visa states for applicants to show that they are at risk of serious harm or persecution. The entertainment visa is typically a temporary visa and valid for the duration of the specific entertainment event while the humanitarian visa usually results in permanent settlement in Australia. Mr Burke reiterated that as soon as senior officials at Home Affairs were made aware the woman had made an 'entertainment' visa application her submission was cancelled on the spot. 'As soon as it was brought to the attention of people more senior in the department, they looked at it and thought hang on, this individual is not eligible for this particular visa,' Mr Burke said. He said her visa was cancelled before the department could progress to the character grounds stage. 'So had we got to eligibility and then we got the character stage, there's a few things that would have had to be unpacked and worked through.' Although about 3,000 visas across a broad stream have so far been granted to Palestinians fleeing the ongoing conflict in Gaza Mr Burke said, 'about half the people for whom visas had been issued ended up getting here.' Mr Burke said this was due to a myriad of factors including people deciding that they did not want to flee to Australia, some people being trapped in Gaza and some of the visa recipients no longer being live. 'We're still in a situation where they are not able to leave, the borders are closed and some of them have very close family in Australia, they face real challenges and have very direct family connections,' he said. 'At least one person is longer in Australia who was brought here and the work of our security agencies in making sure we are keeping Australia safe couldn't be stronger.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Gaza ceasefire hopes revived, as Marles stresses no arms trade with Israel
Gaza Strip/Canberra: Israel's plan for a military takeover of Gaza City continued to draw international condemnation as tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in what local media called one of the largest anti-government protests in recent months, following 22 months of war. Ceasefire efforts appeared to be reviving following Israel's announcement, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff preparing to meet Qatar's prime minister in Spain on Sunday AEST to discuss a new proposal to end the war, according to two officials familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the media. Mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new ceasefire framework that would include the release of all hostages – dead and alive – in one go, in return for the war's end and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, two Arab officials told The Associated Press. Hostages' families pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the weekend amid new fears for the 50 remaining hostages, with 20 of them thought to be alive and struggling. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, called on Israelis to 'help us save the hostages, the soldiers and the state of Israel'. Loading A joint statement by nine countries, including Australia, Germany, Britain, France and Canada, said they 'strongly reject' Israel's decision for the large-scale military operation, saying it would worsen the 'catastrophic humanitarian situation', endanger hostages and further risk mass displacement. They said any attempts at annexation or settlement in Gaza violated international law. A separate statement by more than 20 countries, including ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar along with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, called Israel's decision a 'dangerous and unacceptable escalation'. Russia said Israel's plan would aggravate the 'already extremely dramatic situation' in Gaza.
The Age
2 hours ago
- The Age
Gaza ceasefire hopes revived, as Marles stresses no arms trade with Israel
Gaza Strip/Canberra: Israel's plan for a military takeover of Gaza City continued to draw international condemnation as tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in what local media called one of the largest anti-government protests in recent months, following 22 months of war. Ceasefire efforts appeared to be reviving following Israel's announcement, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff preparing to meet Qatar's prime minister in Spain on Sunday AEST to discuss a new proposal to end the war, according to two officials familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the media. Mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new ceasefire framework that would include the release of all hostages – dead and alive – in one go, in return for the war's end and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, two Arab officials told The Associated Press. Hostages' families pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the weekend amid new fears for the 50 remaining hostages, with 20 of them thought to be alive and struggling. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, called on Israelis to 'help us save the hostages, the soldiers and the state of Israel'. Loading A joint statement by nine countries, including Australia, Germany, Britain, France and Canada, said they 'strongly reject' Israel's decision for the large-scale military operation, saying it would worsen the 'catastrophic humanitarian situation', endanger hostages and further risk mass displacement. They said any attempts at annexation or settlement in Gaza violated international law. A separate statement by more than 20 countries, including ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar along with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, called Israel's decision a 'dangerous and unacceptable escalation'. Russia said Israel's plan would aggravate the 'already extremely dramatic situation' in Gaza.
