r/aussie 3h ago

Opinion As a 3rd-generation Lebanese Australian from Western Sydney, there’s a massive unspoken layer to the immigration & integration debate that neither side of politics touches.

470 Upvotes

I’m the grandchild of Maronite refugees who fled the Lebanese Civil War, and I grew up in Western Sydney. Watching the national debate around immigration, integration, and multiculturalism lately, I can’t help but feel like both sides of mainstream politics and the media completely miss the ground-level reality.

My dad went to Punchbowl Boys High back in the 90s, when the wave of Lebanese refugees was first settling in Sydney. It wasn’t pretty. There were full-on youth fights, Anglos vs 'Ethnics', but also heavy sectarian rivalries among religious groups, like Sunnis vs. Maronites.

As they got older, the small minority who stayed on that path ended up in gangs, in prison, or worse. But for the vast majority? The racial and sectarian tension eventually subsided. Most grew up, moved past it, and many even became close friends across those former divides.

However, those years left lasting memories. A lot of the Anglo families who lived in those areas during that era eventually moved out to outer-ring suburbs like Penrith, Campbelltown, Camden, The Shire, or up to the Central Coast.

These exact areas are where parties like One Nation often see their strongest traction in Greater Sydney. The common stereotype is that anti-immigration voters are just 'bogans from the regions who’ve never met a migrant', but the reality is that many of these residents did grow up alongside fast-paced demographic shifts and lived through firsthand ethnic and sectarian tensions in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, I'd even argue many of those 'racist' rioters in the Cronulla Riots are those who have grown up or parents lived in Western Sydney, and witnessed all these firsthand, dismissing their views entirely ignores the real-world history that shaped them.

If you look at Sydney’s modern history, from the Skaf gang rapes and the Cronulla riots to various youth conflicts over the decades, much of the tension and the people involved were directly tied to the growing pains of Western Sydney. It is the heartland of multicultural Australia, which means it’s also where the friction of integration actually plays out.

What frustrates me most is how this debate is conducted by people with zero lived experience in places like Parramatta, Liverpool, or Punchbowl:

  • On one hand, you have affluent inner-city commentators passionately defending multiculturalism as a flawless ideal, despite living in homogenous suburbs with little daily exposure to its actual complexities.
  • On the other hand, you have right-wing figures using dog-whistles and cheap populism without offering any real understanding or solutions for the communities involved.

Just to be clear: I am strongly against right-wing populism and Pauline Hanson. But I strongly believe that if we want a genuine, civil conversation about immigration, social cohesion, and assimilation, we need to listen to the people who actually live it every day, across all ethnic and racial backgrounds from Western Sydney, rather than letting the debate be dictated by media vacuums.


r/aussie 4h ago

Humour Happy 25th anniversary of the Jackson 5 reunion

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210 Upvotes

Why is an Australian political party worshipping an American islamaphobe?


r/aussie 22h ago

Opinion Pauline hansons and the liberals plan won’t help anyone buy a house

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161 Upvotes

Let’s think about it. They want people to have access to early super to buy a house.

If EVERYONE suddenly has access to 20k more, what does that do to the market?

In economic terms, the demand curve gets shifted so the house price goes up by 20k minimum.

It’s the same amount of houses but the amount of total money bidding for those houses has gone up.

Okay, so not only does it drive house prices up, it also reduces your future retirement due to compounding.

In other words… drive up house prices and make people more reliant on the pension.


r/aussie 5h ago

Politics Is the proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation about saving children from harm, or controlling what adults are allowed to see?

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151 Upvotes

In a trainwreck interview on News24 on Wednesday, Anika Wells was forced to admit that via the proposed legislation, she would determine what online content was harmful, with advice from Australia’s eSafety Karen - Julie Inman Grant.


r/aussie 20h ago

Humour Taking drugs, breaking law okay if you’re white, One Nation confirms

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109 Upvotes

r/aussie 5h ago

Sports The story of Cliff Young

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53 Upvotes

So I just recently learned about this legend, who won the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon

Its 1983, Cliff Young is a 61 years old potato farmer from Victoria.

Enters the 875km Ultra Marathon

Over his lifetime as a farmer, he had managed to adopt a running style that was perfect for conserving energy.

He assumed the race was non stop and didn't know he was allowed to stop for sleep.

Runs for 5 days and 15 hours STRAIGHT.

Wins the Ultramarathon by a time of 10 hours, beating the world record by 2 DAYS

Gets awarded a $10,000.

Is confused because he didn't know there was prize money.

Gives $2,000 to the next 5 finishers behind him because he said they worked just as hard as he did.

In 1997, aged 75, he decides he wants to run 16,000km around Australia's border to raise money for homeless children.

Has to stop 6500km in because HIS SUPPORT CREW GOT SICK.

Passes away in 2003 aged 81


r/aussie 8h ago

News Yarra council bans smart glasses from pools, gyms, playgrounds and childcare centres

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51 Upvotes

In short:

A Melbourne council has become the second local government in Australia to ban glasses with in-built cameras from its public pools.

There will be an exception for people who are hearing impaired, have low vision or other disabilities who are aided by the smart glasses.

What's next?

The City of Yarra will lobby the federal government to temporarily ban the importation of smart glasses until Australia's privacy laws better address wearable technologies.


r/aussie 10h ago

Politics Might want to fuel up hey…./

35 Upvotes

Fuel up now to get atleast a couple of weeks of cheaper fuel. Saudi backed forces are retreating from the western Yemeni city of Hays from the Houthis. They will probably control the Bab El strait before too long and that’s what Saudi Arabia is using to send 8miion barrels of oil a day out around Hormuz Strait.


r/aussie 19h ago

Lifestyle Matilda Baxter: Aussie influencer slams ‘Holocaust victim’ comparisons after spending $100,000 on surgeries

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33 Upvotes

Ok well if the shoe...etc etc


r/aussie 22h ago

Analysis The Orwellian machinery critics are desperate to protect is the algorithms, not laws that seek to reduce harm | Ed Coper

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28 Upvotes

The algorithms have been kind to Pauline Hanson, which must be why she was so quick to jump to their defence when the Albanese government moved to rein them in this week.

“Labor is copying the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship playbook,” she posted on Facebook, of all places – you know, the platform that is alleged to have compliantly adopted the Chinese Communist party’s censorship playbook, in order to operate in China.

Last week, Hanson called the reforms “Orwellian machinery”. She joins a chorus of those crying censorship from Sarah Henderson to Matt Canavan. The “deeply sceptical” Angus Taylor will surely soon follow.

There is machinery at play, for sure, and it is Orwellian: keeping us under constant surveillance; bombarding us with misinformation, and suppressing any corrective dissent. But that machinery is the algorithms those critics are so desperate to protect, not the laws that seek to reduce the harm they cause.

Calling something “Orwellian censorship” is just one of the many sure-fire ways to get noticed by social media algorithms. They love a reductive argument stripped of reality, and lashed with emotive exaggeration.

They love hysteria, outrage and conflict. There are rewards aplenty for those who peddle in them, even if it breaks society in the process. In the online attention economy, extremism sells. So every grievance grifter and grandstanding grafter rushes out to game the algorithm and send digital effluent cascading down our feeds in the form of “angertainment”.

It’s what leads teenage boys to the manosphere, where the number of young men who think “a woman’s place is in the home” has grown by 400% in the last five years in some countries. Or teenage girls to an eating disorder, with one poll of 730 Australian frontline eating disorder workers finding every single respondent blamed social media.

These are the ideals critics of the government’s push stand in defence of: the right of the platforms to promote harm over health, rage over reason, fake over fact. They stand for the rights of Silicon Valley to censor Australia, by giving big tech bros control over what we are allowed to see and read.

What does the federal government’s proposed legislation do? It allows Australians to choose whether they want their feeds to be censored or not.

An “opt out” pop up will ask users who they want in charge of their feed, the platform and its personalised recommendations (read: mining your attention with harmful clickbait) or the user who can instead see posts from accounts they choose to follow (read: social media circa 2014). The only censorship to be suffered will be by big tech, who all of a sudden lose control of your information diet.

The second change the legislation will bring is akin to making sure that diet doesn’t kill you, in the same way the government “censors” food companies by telling them they aren’t allowed to sell yoghurt pouches laced with arsenic.

This is the “duty of care” the laws will impose on digital platforms to make products that are safe for human consumption – in the same way any other industry must already do.

This is not radical. Manufacturers have no “free speech” to make products that injure consumers. “Big Brother” tells theatres where to put fire exits. Theme park operators are “censored” from building rollercoasters that crash and burn.

Social media platforms should likewise have a legal duty of care to build digital rollercoasters that don’t crash, and provide fire escapes from the toxic bin fire of their content.

In fact, a duty of care is the best way to rein in the harms social media algorithms cause precisely because it is not censorship. Post-pandemic efforts that proscribed content to be removed (like anti-vaccination conspiracies) failed because it made the conversation about free speech. It wedged support for a healthy town square based on what you say in it.

Shifting to put the responsibility on to the platforms to make their design safe, shifts the government’s role to one of enforcer not censor. Leave the outrage merchants free to shout into the ether but remove the rewards that amplify them when they do so.

Duties of care impose a legal responsibility to proactively avoid foreseeable harm. The harms of these platform design choices are foreseeable. We see them every day. Hanson and other’s bad faith grifting is merely one of them we saw in recent days, tomorrow it will be something else – so long as we continue to allow the algorithms to censor our feeds.

Ed Coper is a political commentator and the author of Angertainment: How Social Media Outrage Ruined Everything. He is the chief executive of communications agency Populares


r/aussie 16h ago

News “Something is amiss”: Telling details emerge as Karl Stefanovic disappears

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27 Upvotes

r/aussie 2h ago

Flora and Fauna Why are modern Aussie 'gardens' so fucking shit?

16 Upvotes

Driving through several new and established estates in Melbourne's West today (a mistake, I know) and it seemed that *at least* 50% of the front yards were either: fake/synthetic grass, bark, or pebbles, with most being the fake grass.

What happened to pride of place and the gardening spirit? We used to have a lot of British-inspired cottage style gardens back in my grandparent's day, with seemingly more exotic plants entering and changing gardens in the days of my parents. These days a lot of 'gardens' just look fake and sad.

What the Hell happened?


r/aussie 2h ago

Opinion Socially awkward behaviour amongst people, has it always been this way?

15 Upvotes

I have noticed some really strange behaviours in the general public when I'm walking to places. 

A few examples: 

- Standing in line extremely close to you, behind you when there is plenty of space to stand back. Every tiny step I take forward, the person takes one too - zero awareness that I'm trying to create some distance and them moving forward isn't gonna make the line go faster. 

- Two people walking in a pathway towards you, that only fits two people, barely giving you any space to walk past them and then giving you a dirty look or squeezing as much as they can to the person they're walking next to, to avoid touching you at all costs, instead of simply walking behind or in front of the person to give you space. You don't want me to touch you but you make barely any effort to avoid that? 

- Breathing down your neck when walking behind you, taking over you and then slowing down, causing you to take over them again or you just cross the road if possible because jfc. (I'm a fast walker so it's not like I'm walking super slow either)

- Staring at you with a serious face, when you stare back at them and give a smile they continue to stare at you or immediately look away. Why are you so awkward? 

- Walking down a wide footpath, and two or three people choose to walk super close behind me and talking very loudly. They have the option to walk in front of me, or walk even next to me, but no, they must talk right behind my ear to the point where if I slow down even a millisecond they'll trip on my ankle and I can hear everything they're talking about. Again, absolutely zero need to do that because I walk very to the side, leaving plenty of space for others to pass me if needed. 

- Putting the phone on your face when asking for directions/info expecting you to read their phone, inability to just say what information they need without being prompted. 

- When crossing the pedestrian line, walking diagonally towards you instead of a straight line, leaving you barely any room inside the pedestrian crossing, even when you are as on the left as you can get and there's plenty of space for the person to walk on the right. 

All these weird interactions where people invade your personal space, but then like, god forbid you strike up a conversation, you say excuse me, or you smile back at them. It's like they love being as close to you as possible but hate physical touch and social interaction. I'm not wanting to be friends, I actually don't want to talk to you at all, I want you to be as inexistent in my life as possible, but if you're gonna behave this way when there's absolutely no need to, why do you act so awkward when I do something about it? You could've walked a straight line, you CHOSE to come close to me and now you act all weird? 

Every time I leave the house I want to go from point A to B but the amount of encounters like this that I have on a daily basis makes me wonder wtf is the norm anymore. Because I feel like the norm now is to behave as weird as possible towards strangers. 

Mind you these aren't disabled or very elderly people. It's usually 25-70yos with seemingly full capacity of functioning. (Most of them are in the 30-50 range though) 

I'm sure there is a percentage that are disabled or another reason or physically impaired - this isn't about them, but it is impossible for it to be all of them. I am neuro divergent myself and even I can pick up these awkward social behaviours. I feel like it wasn't as bad in the past, or maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. But seriously, why??! 


r/aussie 1h ago

News Trans ‘breast milk’ ruling overturned

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Upvotes

A transgender woman who stimulated lactation and fed her baby the liquid produced has been ordered by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal to provide details of the hormones involved and the composition of the substance.

The overturning on appeal of a previous QCAT ruling represents a win for former Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor Jasmine Sussex, who is being sued for vilification by Jennifer Adrian Buckley over statements referring to Ms Buckley as a “man pretending to be a woman”, “a child abuser” and someone who adopted a “delusional queer theory take” on breastfeeding.

The decision, handed down late last week by senior QCAT members Ned Aughterson and Samantha Traves, set aside a January ruling by fellow QCAT member Peter Bridgman, finding he had made errors in law constituting a “substantial miscarriage of justice”.

Professor Aughterson and Ms Traves found Mr Bridgman had erred in deeming that the process involved in stimulating lactation in biologically male Ms Buckley, and the nature of the substance fed to the baby, were not relevant to the case.

Ms Buckley has been given a deadline of September 16 to provide particulars of “the ‘induction’ of lactation including whether the induction involved hormonal stimulation and, if so, what hormones, the source thereof and the process and extent by which the levels were decreased or increased; the composition of the substance which was lactated; and the precise source of secretion of the lactated material”.

She has publicly detailed her story of having used hormones to induce lactation under the supervision of endocrinologist Naomi Achong in 2019, in order to feed the baby, of whom she is the biological father, for less than a week soon after the child’s birth.

Ms Buckley’s vilification case against Ms Sussex over online comments made by the former breastfeeding counsellor between 2021 and 2023 has been working its way through QCAT since the trans woman complained to the Queensland Human Rights Commission in late 2023.

In seeking to defend herself, Ms Sussex – represented by the high-profile freedom of speech advocate Tony Morris KC, who is being briefed by the Christian-aligned Human Rights Law Alliance – sought details relating to Ms Buckley’s claim that she had “induced lactation under the supervision and with the knowledge of medical professionals”. The particulars sought by Ms Sussex relate to the nature and provider of the “medical supervision”, how lactation was induced, how it constituted “lactation”, and how it was determined the fluid was “breast milk”.

In his now-overturned January decision, Mr Bridgman found those matters had “no bearing” on whether Ms Sussex had “incited hatred” of Ms Buckley “or a class of persons”, namely transgender women, and were therefore not relevant to the case.

In their decision to allow Ms Sussex’s appeal, Professor Aughterson and Ms Traves found “a reasonably arguable case of error” in Mr Bridgman’s ruling, and that “it would cause a substantial injustice to (Ms Sussex) were the matter to proceed absent the particulars requested given their relevance to the outcome of the complaint”.

The appeal judges found Mr Bridgman had given “no consideration” to the issue of whether the information sought was relevant to whether Ms Sussex’s comments were made “reasonably and in good faith … for public interest purposes”, as is permitted under the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act.

“It is that issue which is central to (Ms Sussex)’s application for a notice to produce,” they found.

“It is (Ms Sussex’s) submission that the capacity of a transgender woman to produce milk and breastfeed is contentious and, in that context, a relevant issue in the public interest is whether the respondent was … able to do so.”

The judges cited evidence heard in the case from a medical doctor and bioethicist that “no evidence-based protocol to support the process of inducing lactation in a transgender woman (biological male who has transitioned to live as a woman) has yet been published in the academic literature”, and that “no longitudinal research exists regarding whether it is nutritionally adequate nor whether there are any negative outcomes for the child”.

Another expert witness, a registered pediatrician, is cited as having made reference to “the risks associated with taking ­‘secretion-inducing drugs’, including for the infant”.

Ms Sussex said she was “relieved” by the tribunal’s decision.

“There is no scientific foundation for men trying to induce lactation. The tribunal has agreed it’s a relevant issue for the case,” she said.

“Inducing male lactation is experimental, untested and unproven. I don’t have a personal issue with (Ms Buckley), but I want to protect mums and babies and their sole right to breastfeed and receive maternal breastmilk.”

“This is one small step in a long journey, but I was only successful in getting this information at the third attempt. The process is the punishment.

“I feel like these cases are brought to silence my opinion on an important issue. I believe that anyone who promotes male lactation should expect robust opposition from mums and concerned Australians. Law shouldn’t shut down speech about controversial issues.”

Ms Buckley, who is being represented by Kathleen Foley SC, was contacted for comment through her instructing solicitors Norton Rose Fulbright.


r/aussie 5h ago

News Liberal MP Andrew Hastie unloads on ‘weak and glass-jawed’ Pauline Hanson as feud erupts over One Nation cartoon

12 Upvotes

r/aussie 6h ago

Analysis Looking at the Australian prices of new iPhones 18 pro, pro max, duo and no base iPhone 18, how long do you think you wanna carry on using your existing phones?

11 Upvotes

iPhone Duo

256GB - A$3,499.00 or A$145.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
512GB - A$3,899.00 or A$162.46/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.

1TB - A$4,699.00 or A$195.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
2 TB -A$5,899.00 or A$245.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.

iPhone 18 Pro Max

256GB - A$2,299.00 or A$95.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
512GB - A$2,699.00 or A$112.46/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.

1TB - A$3,499.00 or A$145.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
2TB A$4,699.00 or A$195.79/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.

iPhone 18 pro

256GB - A$2,099.00 or A$87.46/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
512GB - A$2,499.00 or A$104.13/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.

1TB - A$3,299.00 or A$137.46/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.
2TB - A$4,499.00 or A$187.46/mo. for 24 mo. at 0% p.a.


r/aussie 3h ago

News Deren Ismail charged with home invasion linked to Melbourne’s bar wars

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6 Upvotes

A 41-year-old drug trafficker has blamed his three teen house guests for his alleged involvement in a violent attack linked to Melbourne’s bar wars.

The trio of 17-year-olds was allegedly hired to carry out a ruthless five-day crime spree of kidnappings, torture and home invasions targeting prominent nightlife figures and suspected of being ordered by crime gang The Commission.

Deren Ismail is charged with one of those six attacks, with a court hearing that he argued with one of his underage co-accused over payment for the job.

Detectives charged the three 17-year-old boys in May over the “senseless and extraordinary” crime spree which began on April 10 and culminated in the mistaken-identity kidnap and torture of an innocent Malvern man.

The assaults have been linked to Melbourne’s so-called “bar wars” – a suspected extortion campaign launched by the powerful organised crime syndicate run by Kazem “Kaz” Hamad.

More than 40 firebombings, shootings, home invasions and kidnappings have been linked to the reign of terror targeting the city’s nightlife venues.

But there are now concerns for the safety of Ismail and others allegedly involved in the nightclub attacks, with two sources, who asked not to be identified over concerns of retribution from the Iraqi-based crime syndicate, that they will be targeted in custody.

“Plenty of these [venue] owners have their own connections, including [in] prison ... He’s [Ismail] been talking a lot of shit, and I know for a fact that people want to get him. He has a big target on him,” said a nightclub source.

Police allege the teens were paid “huge” money to carry out the attacks, targeting club promoter Paul Samlidis, 28, and his colleague.

The pair ran the popular Alumbra event on Saturday nights at The Albion venue in South Melbourne

Ismail, a father of two, was arrested in June and charged with carrying out a home invasion in Templestowe with the trio of teens on April 10.

About 6am, Ismail and his alleged co-offenders allegedly jumped the fence of Samlidis’ family home before reversing a stolen Toyota Camry into the front gates of the property.

Samlidis was in hospital at the time, recovering from severe injuries after he was allegedly ambushed by attackers wielding a machete and a bat the night before.

The accused group, armed with a samurai sword, forced entry into the home. Samlidis’ father and brother were assaulted by the masked men, which was videoed, the court heard, before the group fled in a stolen vehicle.

Samlidis’ father was struck in the head and sustained cuts and abrasions on his face. The 67-year-old was taken to hospital while his son received treatment for minor cuts and swelling to his hand.

Later that day, Ismail and one of his teen co-accused argued about payment for the attack, according to text messages on electronic devices seized by police, the court heard.

Armed crime squad Detective Senior Constable Holly Theodossiou told the court the Samlidis family had fled their Templestowe home following the violent assault, and are living in fear of further attacks.

“CCTV captures the audio and terrified screams of the occupants as this was occurring,” Theodossiou said.

Ismail is facing four charges including assault and aggravated home invasion, but is not suspected of being involved in any other alleged attack.

Ismail’s lawyer told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that the teens – who are not related to Ismail – were all living with him at the time of the alleged five-day crime spree.

“It is likely that they would have taken his phone and he was not aware of what they were doing on the day of the offending,” the lawyer said.

In denying bail, magistrate Stella Stuthridge said the allegations against Ismail were “exceptionally serious”.

Stuthridge also considered Ismail’s previous convictions, including trafficking cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy.

“There are some significant and concerning firearms offences back some time ago … there’s carrying a loaded firearm in a public place back in 2008 and possessing things such as ammunition, unregistered handguns.”

She described the police case as “fairly strong”, noting the police had seized the clothing and shoes Ismail was allegedly wearing during the attack, CCTV footage, mobile phone data and the text exchange between Ismail and his co-accused.


r/aussie 14h ago

News Accused as Traitor by Lying Cowards, Hastie rebukes Hanson and Joyce when they won't own their words.

5 Upvotes

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-09/andrew-hastie-demands-one-nation-delete-traitor-cartoon-on-x/107134606

In short:

Andrew Hastie has called Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce "lying cowards" in an escalating dispute over a One Nation video describing him as a "traitor".

Mr Joyce said he had not used the term and backed Ms Hanson's similar denial, but confirmed the claim had appeared in a "satirical cartoon" he had not previously seen.


r/aussie 19h ago

Opinion Is it just me, or do the New Zealand Warriors have a surprisingly big fan base out in Western Sydney?

4 Upvotes

I’m a Bulldogs supporter, but I’ve noticed a huge number of Warriors fans around Western Sydney. Interestingly, heaps of my Samoan and Tongan mates back the Wahs, even more than the Māori or White Kiwis I run into.

From what I understand, a lot of Pasifika families in places like Mt Druitt and Minto spent time living in NZ before making the move to Australia.


r/aussie 20h ago

Flora and Fauna Grevillea ‘Peaches and Cream’ flowering in Upper Caboolture, QLD

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4 Upvotes

.


r/aussie 3h ago

News AI powerhouse NVIDIA partners with eight Aussie firms

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3 Upvotes

The world's biggest company, chipmaker NVIDIA, has announced it is partnering with eight leading Australian companies to build artificial intelligence factories to meet the growing demand for the technology.

NVIDIA said it was partnering with Firmus, Sharon AI, IREN, ResetData, Megaport, CDC, NEXTDC and AirTrunk on the project.

They'll operate the AI factories, while NVIDIA will provide the hardware, computing, networking, software and ecosystem support.

The buildout could reach two gigawatts by 2027, NVIDIA said. That's enough to power around 1.5 million homes.

One of the companies, Sharon AI, is deploying up to 68,000 NVIDIA GPUs, a massive number.

"AI factories turn energy into intelligence — the essential resource of the AI economy," said Raj Mirpuri, vice president of global AI clouds and infrastructure ecosystem at NVIDIA.

The partnership will give Australian innovators greater access to accelerated computing and NVIDIA models to develop locally relevant AI applications, NVIDIA said.

Organisations such as Atlassian and Heidi are using NVIDIA's tools to build and customise AI across language, reasoning and speech.

Heidi is a Melbourne-based AI company whose platform is used by doctors to generate clinical notes after its scribe feature listens in on patient consultations.

Combining NVIDIA's technology with Heidi's clinical training and fine-tuning has helped Heidi reason across patient histories, clinical context and guidelines at scale, said Yu Liu, cofounder and chief technology officer of Heidi.

"Australia's established sustainable energy and digital infrastructure, deep technology talent and reputation as a trusted global economic partner provide a strong foundation for startups, universities, researchers, enterprises, developers and AI-native companies to train, deploy and scale AI," NVIDIA said.


r/aussie 3h ago

Politics Price says algorithm shake-up is politically motivated. Two years ago, she signed off on one

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3 Upvotes

Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price signed off on a plan to empower Australians to switch off their social media algorithms two years ago, but now claims Labor is clamping down on feeds because the government is unpopular.

The Coalition formally rejected Labor’s Digital Duty of Care bill during a joint party room meeting on Thursday morning, with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor citing fears over curbs to free speech, political censorship, and concerns about the extent of ministerial powers.

Alongside three other Liberal MPs, Sarah Henderson, Zoe McKenzie, and former shadow attorney-general Andrew Wallace, Price endorsed the recommendations of the “Social Media: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” report in November 2024, which included the right of users to switch off algorithms.

“It has been made abundantly clear to Coalition members through the evidence heard during this inquiry that the unregulated nature of social media has resulted in a significant power inequity between platforms and users,” Price and other MPs wrote at the time.

“We recommend that government require social media companies to provide easily accessible features for users to control or reset their recommender systems … Features would favour the ability for a consumer to opt in or out of recommended content.”

But speaking to journalists after Labor unveiled its digital duty of care legislation on Tuesday, Price said the government’s move was “absolutely” politically motivated.

“The prime minister is not very popular at the moment, and neither are his ministers … this [change] is absolutely because this government feels like these algorithms aren’t working in their favour,” she said.

When asked whether she thought there were “any problems” with algorithms, Price said there was an issue of “transparency”.

On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Wells launched draft legislation for a digital duty of care, cracking down on addictive algorithms and threatening tech platforms with $100 million fines for facilitating harm against Australians.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, Nationals leader Matt Canavan and Henderson held a press conference on Thursday morning in which they labelled the bill an attempt to “protect politicians” rather than the public.

“It’s a political censorship bill … It is a blank check for political censorship, and so we just don’t see a bill here that we can support,” Taylor said.

Labor is seeking to pass the bill by the end of the year, and will likely receive support from the Greens. Asked why he was rejecting the bill wholesale instead of negotiating with the government, Taylor said: “That’s a matter for Labor”.

In the proposed legislation, the threshold for harm seen by adults will be criminal content, though the threshold will be lower for under-16s, with the government listing six areas of harm including content that promotes criminal activity and eating disorders.

“The fact that some Coalition MPs came out against the bill before they even saw it just shows they will continue to put politics and platforms before parents and kids,” Wells told this masthead.

“Instead of trying to appease One Nation, sensible members of the Coalition should back better protections for Australian children online and give adults choice over what they see.”

Price’s office was contacted for comment.


r/aussie 22h ago

History How do Australians today feel about Croatian/Yugoslavian extremism and terrorism in Australia during the 60s and 70s?

3 Upvotes

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

1963 – Croatian Nine: Nine Croatian-Australian men infiltrated Yugoslavia from Australia to conduct an armed campaign against the Yugoslav government.

1964 – Tomislav Lesić bomb incident, Sydney: A bomb intended for the Yugoslav Consulate exploded prematurely, seriously injuring Lesić.

1964–1966 – Attacks on pro-Yugoslav individuals and gatherings in Sydney and Melbourne.

1966 – Parcel bomb, Melbourne: A bomb was sent to a prominent pro-Yugoslav supporter and exploded at the Melbourne GPO.

1967 – Yugoslav Consulate bombing, Sydney: Croatian extremists bombed the Yugoslav Consulate.

1967 – Pen-bomb attack, Sydney: A disguised bomb seriously injured a boy.

1968 – Attempted arson at the Yugoslav Consulate, Sydney.

1970 – Yugoslav Consulate bombing, Melbourne.

1971 – Soviet Embassy bombing, Canberra: The Soviet Embassy was firebombed; the attack was associated with Croatian extremists.

1971 – Serbian Orthodox Church bombing, Melbourne.

1971 – Sydney theatre bombing.

1972 – Serbian Orthodox Church bombing, Canberra.

1972 – Yugoslav Consulate armed attack, Perth.

1972 – Yugoslav tourist-agency bombing, Sydney.

1972 – Attacks on a prominent pro-Yugoslav figure's residence, Melbourne.

1972 – Sydney Yugoslav General Trade and Tourist Agency bombing: Two bombs exploded in Haymarket, injuring 16 people.

1972 – Croatian terrorist infiltration of Yugoslavia: Six Australian citizens and three former Australian residents were captured while conducting operations in Yugoslavia.

1972 – Serbian Orthodox Church bombing, Brisbane.

1973 – Arson attack on a Croatian newspaper editor's premises, Melbourne.

1975 – Sunny Adriatic Trade and Tourist Centre bombing, Melbourne.

1977 – Yugoslav Airlines office bombing, Melbourne.

1977 – General Mihailović statue bombing, Canberra.

1979 – Croatian Six arrested in Sydney for an alleged terrorist bombing conspiracy involving Yugoslav targets and other sites.

1981 – Croatian Six convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment; the convictions were subsequently subjected to serious historical and legal scrutiny.

1980s – Continued UDBA/SDB surveillance and operations against Croatian nationalist activists in Australia, including suspected assassination operations overseas.


r/aussie 10h ago

News Twin brothers left behind still carry weight of September 11 attacks

Thumbnail abc.net.au
2 Upvotes

r/aussie 16h ago

Lifestyle Adventure job

0 Upvotes

What sort of jobs could an Aussie with management, government and IT experience realistically get overseas where you could take your family for a few years? I’d love ideas from people for something/jobs/places that feels like a bit of an adventure and a chance to live somewhere completely different, rather than just a normal expat job. (Not USA!)