Australia

Treasury confirms cheques will stay in circulation until 2029 but then cease to be accepted as legal tender

Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recently approved a new COVID booster. The shot was developed by Pfizer and targets the JN.1 sub-variant of Omicron.

This is now the fifth iteration of the COVID vaccines, which have been updated regularly to keep up with the rapidly evolving virus, SARS-CoV-2.

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For adults aged 65 to 74, a booster is recommended every 12 months, but they’re eligible every six months. For adults over 75, a shot is recommended every six months.

Adults aged 18 to 64 are eligible every 12 months, unless they have a severe immune deficiency. Many conditions can cause immunodeficiency, including genetic disorders, infections, cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and lung disease, as well as having received an organ transplant. For this group, it’s recommended they receive a shot every 12 months, but they’re eligible every six.

Interesting and rather tragic.

The part about supressing the cause of death was especially gutwrenching. Silencing hurt people out of fear of encouraging nutters is a horrible thing to do.

Finnaly I have something to offer my country!

Sure looks like the sort of life-or-death scenario that possibly justifies deploying a torture device from that cctv footage.

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Good on them, I assume it was years of LNP attrition that it had gotten this bad ? But happy to be corrected if my assumption was incorrect ?

I'm all for inclusion of all people in our society. No one should be prejudiced for who they are.

BUT! Today I have to draw the line! Listening to the Play School alphabet song with my kid and it goes "A, B, C, D....X, Y, zed or zee". Since when is this blatant destruction of our national identity accepted?

I'll be picketing outside the ABC's head office from tomorrow and following that the education office until this travesty can be corrected! Who's with me?!

I am suprised at the number of young families in my tiny regional village here in NE Tassie. The primary school even expanded and built a new extension just 10 months ago.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/25891803

Australian Communications and Media Authority says telco did not check welfare of 369 people who tried to make a call while lines were down

Central to Australia’s cultural and political identity is the notion of a “fair go”. But recent elections, including in the United States, have highlighted the challenge of maintaining shared norms and support for institutions when many voters don’t believe they’re getting a “fair go”.

Australia has maintained a reasonably high satisfaction with democracy. However, this satisfaction is slipping.

A recent study, published by the Australian National University in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs Strengthening Democracy Taskforce, explored this issue further. It analysed how perceptions of income inequality relate to satisfaction with democracy.

It found concerns about income inequality in Australia are strongly related to dissatisfaction with democracy. This suggests Australia’s satisfaction with democracy is at risk. It may erode further if voters think the major parties aren’t sufficiently responsive to the economic pressures they are under.

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Archived version

Australia's national intelligence chief has sounded an alarm about an "emerging axis" of countries supporting Russia in its brutal invasion of Ukraine, cautioning that the strategic development was "profoundly troubling" for the Western countries supporting Kyiv.

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Andrew Shearer, Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence, said the nexus, which included China, Iran, and North Korea, warranted thorough evaluation.

Naming North Korea and China as the main pillars of the Axis, Shearer stated that Moscow's ongoing aggression has been made possible largely by Beijing's consistent diplomatic and economic support.

"The massive provision by China of dual-use assistance to Putin, and economic support and diplomatic support is keeping Putin's army in the field in Ukraine, killing innocent Ukrainians just as surely as if they were providing artillery ammunition and missiles," Shearer said.

Just out of curiosity and in the spirit of balance, who was our best Prime Minister and why? And who would you vote for next time around?

Sometimes I try to play up the Australian accent/stereotype to foreigners for a bit of a laugh, only to then get in to a conversation with other Australians and realise I was actually playing it down.

With the US result some friends and I have been discussing who the worst PM was/is.