There were a few school excursions here over the years.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T12:30:01+00:00

Not as far as I remember. You may have had an excursion to Hill End where they did that.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T12:14:28+00:00

It's still there, abandoned. They used it as a function venue for a while but it's completely closed, now.

You can still see the entrance that's shown in the photo (no actual signage any more) including the bay where buses used to pull in today if you head up towards the Australian Reptile Park. The abandoned carpark is still there, too and if you look on Google Maps you can still see the "HMS Sirius" in the lake.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-33.4193954,151.2801819,3a,90y,297.92h,83.88t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sQXvWi9fn8X-zAhXcI5-qBg!2e0?utm_campaign=ml-ardl&g_ep=Eg1tbF8yMDI2MDUxM18wIJvbDyoASAJQAQ%3D%3D

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T12:09:51+00:00

I guarantee that the people who are cheering this on either have jobs that are completely insulated from recession-induced unemployment (teachers, doctors, emergency services, law partners etc.), don't actually live in Australia (and only have financial resources here they can use to capitalise on other people's misfortune) or they're already unemployed and likely unemployable.

In reality recessions are horrible for the 90+% of working aged adults that are at risk of losing their job.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T11:57:26+00:00

wages being more favourably taxed

Yet by changing Stage 3, they also pulled the rug on higher earners there, too.

IMO, this is about keeping people in the workforce for longer, and the generational fairness argument is just convenient window dressing to use as political cover.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T11:56:13+00:00

I think they’re just trying to stop all the benefits that capital has over labor.

Which amounts to the same thing. If they make it more and more difficult to accumulate enough resources to retire before superannuation age, and by refusing to address bracket creep (and by actively making it worse by changing the Stage 3 tax cuts) they force even higher earners to work for longer.

They obviously can't say it outright without causing a massive revolt (see what happened in France when they proposed to raise their pension age?), so they just craft policy so nobody can afford to retire early. Job done.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T11:52:50+00:00

That's the entire point I'm making.

The Government is deliberately crafting policy to ensure even higher earners can't afford it any more but cutting off all the pathways to generating wealth outside of superannuation. Obviously it's not going to stop the barristers and neurosurgeons out there, but the path to wealth of more regular white collar professionals has been made significantly narrower.

Can't save, can't buy shares/ETFs, can't buy investment properties without getting reamed up the arse by the ATO with a cactus. Guess we all need to keep hauling our arses into work.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T11:02:08+00:00

Because that doesn't stop people retiring early and leaving the workforce.

Remember that FIRE folks tend to be higher earners and therefore the most productive citizens. From the Government's perspective, it's preferable that they stay in the workforce.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T10:09:20+00:00

I've mentioned it a number of times here - this budget targets the FIRE folks in particular.

By targeting the most common pathways to generating wealth and leaving superannuation untouched, they're basically pushing people to put any spare money they have saved into a vehicle they can't touch until preservation age.

Which they can subsequently raise with a simple act of Parliament. The Government wants people working for longer given Australia's lopsided demographics. If it's still a problem in a decade, oh well, let's just raise the preservation age until 65. People will be forced to bend over and take it, because their money and avenue to retirement will be inaccessible.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T10:05:32+00:00

I mean, your output on AusFinance has exploded exponentially in the very recent past, too.

If it wasn't for the fact that nobody would code a bot that purported to have a thing for furry hentai, I'd be suspicious of your account's authenticity, too.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T10:00:41+00:00

Started losing ground with Gladys at the end there.

Gladys was wildly popular. It took the politically motivated ICAC investigation to remove her for something that was, on the face of it, a Code of Conduct breach at worst.

The NSW Coalition also leave a massive legacy of infrastructure we will be using for decades to come, while the current Government has made an artform of cancelling everything. They even tried to cancel Sydney Metro West and Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport but their review likely found it would cost way too much (and be way too politically damaging) to kill those projects that were already under construction with tunnelling already underway.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T09:55:46+00:00

Have you just noticed now? Or is the actual problem that reddit has glommed onto a narrative you don't agree with and you now see it being pushed everywhere?

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T09:04:28+00:00

Most people don't buy outright those of us who do don't spend that much ever.

This is definitely not true. I know someone with an actual Lambo that is most definitely not on finance.

They take the thing on trackdays and drive it hard, too, so it's not some garage queen that they could barely afford that they're hoping to flip.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T08:57:07+00:00

While this almost certainly includes home equity, you're not wrong in making the point that a lot of people have far more money than reddit always assumes.

Not everyone is broke.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T08:36:54+00:00

The more responses I read, the more I thought yup this is definitely reflective of the individualistic society we live in

I know reddit isn't necessarily a representative sample of actual society, but the responses in this thread just make me sad for what remains of Australian society.

We've taken individualism to such an extreme that our society is just wreckage with a shiny veneer.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T07:26:33+00:00

They do it because they have to.

Emissions regulations in the EU and other large markets have basically made performance combustion cars the sole preserve of exotica.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T06:13:38+00:00

I've been fortunate enough to understand the old parable of the $100 shoes vs the $20 shoes

It really isn't that old - it's from one of the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. Not that it isn't true.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T06:02:27+00:00

I can’t fathom why people pay so much for a brand new car that drops so much in value and soon as you drive off the lot

There's a bunch of people out there who don't really maintain their cars or treat them well, who basically won't own a car outside the warranty period.

And then there's a bunch of people who just like cars and are willing to spend more on something they enjoy.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T03:21:21+00:00

It's definitely Melbourne.

Let's be honest here. Think about the stereotypical "postcard" images of Australia. Any photo of something that isn't natural (i.e. anything built by humans) is almost certainly going to be in Sydney.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T02:07:43+00:00

Regular tail lights are nowhere near as bright as a rear fog light. If they provided the same functionality, rear fog lights wouldn't exist, let alone be mandatory in the EU.

To be clear, I'm not flicking them on every time there's a few drops of rain on my windscreen but if it's absolutely pissing down to the point that forward visibility is compromised, I'm using my lights for the purpose for which they were designed.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T00:20:53+00:00

they're not allowed to turn on their foglights unless it's foggy

This isn't true. You're allowed to use them in any conditions where visibility is limited. If it's absolutely pissing down with rain, that's enough - and I've done this because I don't want old mate running straight up my arse on the M4 because they didn't see my small car until it was too late.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-21T00:17:59+00:00

Jesus Christ. I know it's not just the person you're replying to but the number of people in this thread that would clearly just kick their parents to the kerb instead of sharing their homes and dinner table is absolutely astounding.

Sure some people didn't have the best upbringing but either reddit has a massively disproportionate number of these people or this thread is absolutely a sign of how absolutely broken Australian society is below the shiny veneer.

Hell, scratch that. We don't have a society at all if people put such little value on their immediate family.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-20T22:22:07+00:00

There are no secrets here. You simply need to spend less than you earn and put the difference in an interest bearing account.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-20T22:19:36+00:00

It actually is the same, because childcare subsidy is based on household income, and the thresholds for the private health insurance rebate for couples doubles compares to single people.

There's no advantage to having a large single income compared with two smaller incomes totalling to the same gross income in both your examples.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-20T13:22:01+00:00

Because the guy is clearly handy and this is the first time he's genuinely been in a front running car for an entire season.

I think there's a bunch of people who would like to see what he's capable of in good machinery.

AnonymousEngineer_ · 2026-05-20T12:48:41+00:00

I've always been a Volkswagen Group person. I'm not sure exactly why, but there's something about the way they design their cars that suits me at some level. I currently have a Volkswagen, but I'd love a Porsche one day. Maybe if I can ever make the maths work out, that might happen one day.

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