- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
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Re: OZ:Home of the World's Fattest People
I find this hard to believe
I find this hard to believe
-
IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
The official OZ bashing thread.
- Thread starter AAA
- Start date
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- Nov 12, 2008
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- Points
- 83
Re: Oz Soars on Mercer Cost of Living Rank!!
Australia is a ripp off!
Australia is a ripp off!
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 2,237
- Points
- 83
Re: Australians abandon Australia!
How many times has this been posted?
How many times has this been posted?
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 2,237
- Points
- 83
Re: Australia Property Prices to Crash 40%, Axe168 Run Road
This is bad news for my Sister in Sydney
Its been two years and they still cant sell the house
This is bad news for my Sister in Sydney
Its been two years and they still cant sell the house
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
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- 83
Re: New Racist Party Formed in Australia-Asians Banned
How can this happen in these changing times?
How can this happen in these changing times?
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
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Re: Its Official:Australia is only for losers
We should ask Sam Leong to pinn this article
Its a classic
We should ask Sam Leong to pinn this article
Its a classic
- Joined
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Re: So Many Angry Shockshiok Threads. Thank You for the Attention.
Do you honestly think they will ever admit the truth?
Do you honestly think they will ever admit the truth?
Re: New Good places for emmigration
Yup totally agreed ! -
Singapore is the best (in an enclosed environment). In that kinda environment, even urine water will also consider nice and tasty
AGREE ?
Yup totally agreed ! -
Singapore is the best (in an enclosed environment). In that kinda environment, even urine water will also consider nice and tasty
AGREE ?Re: New Good places for emmigration
My tax is 42%. I dont earn much.. but I idle alot.. My working hour is 8.30am-4.30pm. Being a hard worker, I worked till 5.15pm everyday and reach home before 6pm.
My dream is to get a Lexus IS250 Convertible by 2nd qtr 2009. Not a big dream but sustainable. My company is paying up to $60,000 for staff private used car - before tax. Meaning ATO is funding 42% of my new car.
I know you guys are much better ! esp ya BIG Finance HUB is doing sooooo well.. heehee. Well DOne !
My tax is 42%. I dont earn much.. but I idle alot..
My working hour is 8.30am-4.30pm. Being a hard worker, I worked till 5.15pm everyday and reach home before 6pm. My dream is to get a Lexus IS250 Convertible by 2nd qtr 2009. Not a big dream but sustainable. My company is paying up to $60,000 for staff private used car - before tax. Meaning ATO is funding 42% of my new car.
I know you guys are much better ! esp ya BIG Finance HUB is doing sooooo well..
heehee. Well DOne !Rich Australians Run Away from Massive Oz Taxes!
ttp://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,73840.story
Australian Beverly Hills mall mogul to testify before Senate subcommittee
By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
A Beverly Hills shopping center magnate whose family investments have been routed through a bank in the tiny country of Liechtenstein is set to testify next week before a Senate subcommittee in Washington conducting a probe of overseas tax havens at the request of the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The committee has called Peter Lowy to testify Friday as part of its investigation into how financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein may be engaging in banking practices that result in "tax evasion and other misconduct," according to the panel.
* Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Australian-born Lowy, 49, is an American citizen and head of the U.S. division of Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping center chains. Ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles, he is a major political donor and philanthropist.
The Australian company has 24 regional malls in California, including centers in Century City, Arcadia and Woodland Hills.
Lowy has hired prominent Washington lawyer Robert S. Bennett, who said Friday that his client would testify voluntarily. He stressed that the committee was probing the role of the offshore banks and not his client or the Lowy relatives, the second-wealthiest family in Australia.
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held hearings this week into the use of tax havens that cost the country an estimated $100 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Treasury. The panel heard from witnesses who banked funds in Liechtenstein. Lowy was to be among them but he was out of the country then and so will testify next week.
The Senate hearings have focused on the Swiss bank UBS and a private bank, LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein. Levin said that Frank Lowy, Peter's father, set up a foundation with LGT in 1998 after telling the bank that he did not want Australian tax authorities to know about the money involved.
LGT took measures to hide the Lowys' ownership, such as routing incoming funds through an offshore corporation and using a Delaware corporation headed by Peter Lowy to name the foundation's beneficiaries, Levin said. In 2001, he said, the Lowys dissolved the foundation in Liechtenstein and moved about $68 million to Switzerland.
"These were charitable contributions," Bennett said. "Not one penny went to Lowy or his sons."
Bennett, who represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, downplayed the significance of the $68 million banked by the Lowys. "For me, that's a lot. For the Lowys it's not."
The Los Angeles Business Journal recently estimated Peter Lowy's net worth at $880 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. He and his wife own a seven-bedroom house in Beverly Hills with an assessed value of almost $11 million.
Lowy's father was a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fought as a commando for Israeli independence before moving to Australia. Peter Lowy has helped raise millions of dollars for Jewish causes and serves on the board of directors of American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Lowy has been a major donor to California state and federal politicians. He and his company, Westfield, also funded a major ballot fight over shopping mall development in Arcadia, spending $6 million on two local measures in 2006 to protect its position at its Santa Anita shopping mall against a planned competing center.
Lowy donated $44,600 in 2005 and 2006 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. In addition, Westfield gave the governor $44,600, and $10,000 to the governor's Democratic foe, Phil Angelides.
The shopping mall mogul and his firm also give heavily to federal candidates.
In the last decade, Lowy has given $365,000 to federal candidates and political parties. His largest donations have gone to national Democratic Party organizations: $53,500 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
He gave $4,600 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and the Westfield political action committee gave her an additional $10,000.
ttp://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,73840.story
Australian Beverly Hills mall mogul to testify before Senate subcommittee
By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
A Beverly Hills shopping center magnate whose family investments have been routed through a bank in the tiny country of Liechtenstein is set to testify next week before a Senate subcommittee in Washington conducting a probe of overseas tax havens at the request of the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The committee has called Peter Lowy to testify Friday as part of its investigation into how financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein may be engaging in banking practices that result in "tax evasion and other misconduct," according to the panel.
* Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Australian-born Lowy, 49, is an American citizen and head of the U.S. division of Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping center chains. Ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles, he is a major political donor and philanthropist.
The Australian company has 24 regional malls in California, including centers in Century City, Arcadia and Woodland Hills.
Lowy has hired prominent Washington lawyer Robert S. Bennett, who said Friday that his client would testify voluntarily. He stressed that the committee was probing the role of the offshore banks and not his client or the Lowy relatives, the second-wealthiest family in Australia.
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held hearings this week into the use of tax havens that cost the country an estimated $100 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Treasury. The panel heard from witnesses who banked funds in Liechtenstein. Lowy was to be among them but he was out of the country then and so will testify next week.
The Senate hearings have focused on the Swiss bank UBS and a private bank, LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein. Levin said that Frank Lowy, Peter's father, set up a foundation with LGT in 1998 after telling the bank that he did not want Australian tax authorities to know about the money involved.
LGT took measures to hide the Lowys' ownership, such as routing incoming funds through an offshore corporation and using a Delaware corporation headed by Peter Lowy to name the foundation's beneficiaries, Levin said. In 2001, he said, the Lowys dissolved the foundation in Liechtenstein and moved about $68 million to Switzerland.
"These were charitable contributions," Bennett said. "Not one penny went to Lowy or his sons."
Bennett, who represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, downplayed the significance of the $68 million banked by the Lowys. "For me, that's a lot. For the Lowys it's not."
The Los Angeles Business Journal recently estimated Peter Lowy's net worth at $880 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. He and his wife own a seven-bedroom house in Beverly Hills with an assessed value of almost $11 million.
Lowy's father was a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fought as a commando for Israeli independence before moving to Australia. Peter Lowy has helped raise millions of dollars for Jewish causes and serves on the board of directors of American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Lowy has been a major donor to California state and federal politicians. He and his company, Westfield, also funded a major ballot fight over shopping mall development in Arcadia, spending $6 million on two local measures in 2006 to protect its position at its Santa Anita shopping mall against a planned competing center.
Lowy donated $44,600 in 2005 and 2006 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. In addition, Westfield gave the governor $44,600, and $10,000 to the governor's Democratic foe, Phil Angelides.
The shopping mall mogul and his firm also give heavily to federal candidates.
In the last decade, Lowy has given $365,000 to federal candidates and political parties. His largest donations have gone to national Democratic Party organizations: $53,500 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
He gave $4,600 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and the Westfield political action committee gave her an additional $10,000.
Its Official:Australia is only for losers
You heard it here. You read it here. Let there be no doubt. This is fact, people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10545562
4:00AM Saturday Nov 29, 2008
By Jarrod Booker
Kelvin Lawson left Auckland for Sydney about 10 years ago expecting to encounter the "land of milk and honey".
What he found was the opposite - long working hours, higher taxes, higher cost of living and intolerance and poor attitudes among the people.
He and fiancee Denise Laing moved back to Auckland a couple of months ago to be closer to their ageing parents and friends, and are relieved to be back home.
"I believe a lot of New Zealanders are going to get there and they are in for a shock," Mr Lawson said.
"Australia has been painted out to be the 'grass is greener'. It's not. Unless you are making a simple lifestyle choice as in, say, weather... then there's no other reason to go."
Although Mr Lawson, 48, might have earned more in Sydney "it's not a lot more". And he was hit with a 48 per cent tax rate on overtime he was expected to do working in installing and monitoring communications.
Then there was stamp duty for home ownership and higher costs of car ownership.
Back home, Mr Lawson and Ms Laing were amazed at how much cheaper they found basic food items.
Mr Lawson was also left with an impression of many Australians he encountered not being accepting of other cultures. Being from NZ was not so bad, but "if you're from other any part of the world, mate, they can make it really hard for them".
He was also unimpressed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians, illustrated most recently by their reaction to the Rugby League World Cup loss. "If they win at ping pong, you are going to hear about it. If they lose, it's like it never happened. It's unbelievable."
You heard it here. You read it here. Let there be no doubt. This is fact, people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10545562
4:00AM Saturday Nov 29, 2008
By Jarrod Booker
Kelvin Lawson left Auckland for Sydney about 10 years ago expecting to encounter the "land of milk and honey".
What he found was the opposite - long working hours, higher taxes, higher cost of living and intolerance and poor attitudes among the people.
He and fiancee Denise Laing moved back to Auckland a couple of months ago to be closer to their ageing parents and friends, and are relieved to be back home.
"I believe a lot of New Zealanders are going to get there and they are in for a shock," Mr Lawson said.
"Australia has been painted out to be the 'grass is greener'. It's not. Unless you are making a simple lifestyle choice as in, say, weather... then there's no other reason to go."
Although Mr Lawson, 48, might have earned more in Sydney "it's not a lot more". And he was hit with a 48 per cent tax rate on overtime he was expected to do working in installing and monitoring communications.
Then there was stamp duty for home ownership and higher costs of car ownership.
Back home, Mr Lawson and Ms Laing were amazed at how much cheaper they found basic food items.
Mr Lawson was also left with an impression of many Australians he encountered not being accepting of other cultures. Being from NZ was not so bad, but "if you're from other any part of the world, mate, they can make it really hard for them".
He was also unimpressed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians, illustrated most recently by their reaction to the Rugby League World Cup loss. "If they win at ping pong, you are going to hear about it. If they lose, it's like it never happened. It's unbelievable."
NZ Cheaper, better than Australia!
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592585a19716.html
The grass isn't greener across the Ditch
Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 June 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Sunday Star-Times
OZ BOUND: Thousands of Kiwis hop across the ditch every year in search of a better life in the Lucky Country - but don't expect the grass to always be greener, says recent Melbourne migrant Elinore Wellwood (with Loti, 3)
Australia lives up to its image in many ways.
Kiwi migrants to Melbourne, for example, can read the newspaper as though it's a novel, its fanciful descriptions of gang wars and restaurant assassinations, corrupt police passing names of police informers to gangland contacts, who call in the hitmen.
Even as you shrug off the language differences as background noise thongs for jandals, doona for duvet, a child's fluffy is a babycino, you will smile at the Italian grandmothers who stop polishing their iron railings to run a wrinkled hand under a three-year-old's chin and thrust a gold coin into the mother's hand. "She is beautiful. Buy her something with this."
At the large neighbourhoods of those who still regard themselves as Italians and Greeks even though their grandparents left those cultures behind when they were barely out of their teens.
So, at Easter, the local baker sells specialties like melomakarona (walnut cookies drenched in syrup) and kourabiethes (moonshaped almond shortbreads covered in icing sugar). And all year round, locals go to the brilliant tapas bars in the alleys which produce their own top-selling cookbooks, and the farmers' markets sell beef you can trust the rural folk have known it since it was a calf.
These are reasons to move to Melbourne, to Australia. The food, the warmer weather, the broader multiculturalism.
Just don't expect it to be cheap.
Despite salaries reported to be 25 per cent higher on average, middle-income professionals won't earn that much more than in New Zealand in the same job, says Kiwi lawyer Jo Davidson. She's been Tasman-hopping moving to Melbourne, then back to Wellington, before returning last year to Australia to a dream job.
She loves the gourmet food in and around the city. And for her, the weather is a relief. The summer in Melbourne is warm, the seasons actually change, it's always dawning fine and even when it rains, it's gentle.
She didn't return for the money, though. "I felt significantly better off when I moved back from Melbourne to New Zealand. As a single woman [in Australia] I would never have contemplated buying a house. I went back to New Zealand and within six months bought my own home."
Food, she says, is also much more expensive in Australia. Everyday items such as milk and bread will cost you more. Woolworths' chief executive even admitted to a national inquiry that the company charges shoppers more in Australia than in New Zealand.
"And the quality at supermarkets is appalling. I used to be able to go to New World in Wellington and buy every single thing I wanted, and it was delicatessen standard."
Even if your pay packet is larger, the money quickly disappears. Teacher Mike Arthur, who recently moved from Wellington, says he earns about $4000 more than in New Zealand. "But the higher cost of living here eats that up."
Houses and cars are the big unaffordables. Advertised prices do not include tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty when buying a house or vehicle. "Our car was far more expensive here, and then we had to pay stamp duty on it, plus about $700 to register it," says Arthur.
Some things cost less. Furniture because of superstores like Ikea and electricity (80 per cent generated from coal, the green-minded should note) are far cheaper, he says.
Presuming you don't earn less than $A25,000 ($31,100) taxes are not too different from New Zealand - about $2500 less in Australia on average but 9 per cent of wages is taken for compulsory superannuation, a figure hidden in the salary packages that lure unsuspecting Kiwis across the Tasman (salary "packaging" to cut your tax burden is big business). Tough if you wanted to pay off the mortgage first.
That's if you can afford to buy. To live within 4km of Melbourne's centre, expect to pay well over $600,000 for a house. The house will be semi-detached, unrenovated, have a tiny courtyard and probably be next to a big highway.
If you can't afford to buy, finding lower-end rental accommodation may be difficult, with an inner-city rental crisis in Melbourne. Chris and Carly, who just moved over from New Zealand, told the Age newspaper they had "been to four inspections in four days. The perception from home is that there are plenty of places to rent, but when you get to a place, 30 people turn up".
Renters are being forced to offer more rent to beat the competition, or pay eight weeks in advance instead of four.
If you are going to go, do it when you don't have kids. Mother-of-one Jocelyn Prasad, who moved to Sydney last year from Auckland, says life in Australia seems harder for families. "If you're single, there's a lot more opportunity. I think the higher cost of living really kicks in when you bring a family here."
She's also found that private schools are not just a luxury for the privileged. Kiwis who would never dream of using anything but the local high school at home, scrimp and save to avoid the Australian government school system and put their child through private education.
Education experts such as Richard James, director of Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education, says the middle class here has lost confidence in government schools and moved its children to private schools, blaming funding cuts and closures under the previous state government.
In Victoria, last year, only 58 per cent of Year 12 students went to state government schools (which often lack sports fields and language options). Private school fees are often higher than in New Zealand.
It pays to go private. Seven out of 10 Melbourne University students were recruited from private or academically selective government schools, according to an Age survey of 2006 Year 12 students.
And the quality education quest starts early. In parts of Melbourne, even to get on a kindergarten waiting list you have to pay $A100 ($125). School waiting list fees can top $800. And forget picturing your kids growing up running under the sprinkler. Thanks to water restrictions, the grass definitely won't be greener for them.
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592585a19716.html
The grass isn't greener across the Ditch
Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 June 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Sunday Star-Times
OZ BOUND: Thousands of Kiwis hop across the ditch every year in search of a better life in the Lucky Country - but don't expect the grass to always be greener, says recent Melbourne migrant Elinore Wellwood (with Loti, 3)
Australia lives up to its image in many ways.
Kiwi migrants to Melbourne, for example, can read the newspaper as though it's a novel, its fanciful descriptions of gang wars and restaurant assassinations, corrupt police passing names of police informers to gangland contacts, who call in the hitmen.
Even as you shrug off the language differences as background noise thongs for jandals, doona for duvet, a child's fluffy is a babycino, you will smile at the Italian grandmothers who stop polishing their iron railings to run a wrinkled hand under a three-year-old's chin and thrust a gold coin into the mother's hand. "She is beautiful. Buy her something with this."
At the large neighbourhoods of those who still regard themselves as Italians and Greeks even though their grandparents left those cultures behind when they were barely out of their teens.
So, at Easter, the local baker sells specialties like melomakarona (walnut cookies drenched in syrup) and kourabiethes (moonshaped almond shortbreads covered in icing sugar). And all year round, locals go to the brilliant tapas bars in the alleys which produce their own top-selling cookbooks, and the farmers' markets sell beef you can trust the rural folk have known it since it was a calf.
These are reasons to move to Melbourne, to Australia. The food, the warmer weather, the broader multiculturalism.
Just don't expect it to be cheap.
Despite salaries reported to be 25 per cent higher on average, middle-income professionals won't earn that much more than in New Zealand in the same job, says Kiwi lawyer Jo Davidson. She's been Tasman-hopping moving to Melbourne, then back to Wellington, before returning last year to Australia to a dream job.
She loves the gourmet food in and around the city. And for her, the weather is a relief. The summer in Melbourne is warm, the seasons actually change, it's always dawning fine and even when it rains, it's gentle.
She didn't return for the money, though. "I felt significantly better off when I moved back from Melbourne to New Zealand. As a single woman [in Australia] I would never have contemplated buying a house. I went back to New Zealand and within six months bought my own home."
Food, she says, is also much more expensive in Australia. Everyday items such as milk and bread will cost you more. Woolworths' chief executive even admitted to a national inquiry that the company charges shoppers more in Australia than in New Zealand.
"And the quality at supermarkets is appalling. I used to be able to go to New World in Wellington and buy every single thing I wanted, and it was delicatessen standard."
Even if your pay packet is larger, the money quickly disappears. Teacher Mike Arthur, who recently moved from Wellington, says he earns about $4000 more than in New Zealand. "But the higher cost of living here eats that up."
Houses and cars are the big unaffordables. Advertised prices do not include tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty when buying a house or vehicle. "Our car was far more expensive here, and then we had to pay stamp duty on it, plus about $700 to register it," says Arthur.
Some things cost less. Furniture because of superstores like Ikea and electricity (80 per cent generated from coal, the green-minded should note) are far cheaper, he says.
Presuming you don't earn less than $A25,000 ($31,100) taxes are not too different from New Zealand - about $2500 less in Australia on average but 9 per cent of wages is taken for compulsory superannuation, a figure hidden in the salary packages that lure unsuspecting Kiwis across the Tasman (salary "packaging" to cut your tax burden is big business). Tough if you wanted to pay off the mortgage first.
That's if you can afford to buy. To live within 4km of Melbourne's centre, expect to pay well over $600,000 for a house. The house will be semi-detached, unrenovated, have a tiny courtyard and probably be next to a big highway.
If you can't afford to buy, finding lower-end rental accommodation may be difficult, with an inner-city rental crisis in Melbourne. Chris and Carly, who just moved over from New Zealand, told the Age newspaper they had "been to four inspections in four days. The perception from home is that there are plenty of places to rent, but when you get to a place, 30 people turn up".
Renters are being forced to offer more rent to beat the competition, or pay eight weeks in advance instead of four.
If you are going to go, do it when you don't have kids. Mother-of-one Jocelyn Prasad, who moved to Sydney last year from Auckland, says life in Australia seems harder for families. "If you're single, there's a lot more opportunity. I think the higher cost of living really kicks in when you bring a family here."
She's also found that private schools are not just a luxury for the privileged. Kiwis who would never dream of using anything but the local high school at home, scrimp and save to avoid the Australian government school system and put their child through private education.
Education experts such as Richard James, director of Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education, says the middle class here has lost confidence in government schools and moved its children to private schools, blaming funding cuts and closures under the previous state government.
In Victoria, last year, only 58 per cent of Year 12 students went to state government schools (which often lack sports fields and language options). Private school fees are often higher than in New Zealand.
It pays to go private. Seven out of 10 Melbourne University students were recruited from private or academically selective government schools, according to an Age survey of 2006 Year 12 students.
And the quality education quest starts early. In parts of Melbourne, even to get on a kindergarten waiting list you have to pay $A100 ($125). School waiting list fees can top $800. And forget picturing your kids growing up running under the sprinkler. Thanks to water restrictions, the grass definitely won't be greener for them.
Australians in Melbourne Habitually Beat Asians
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
July 29, 2008
Four men beat up M'sian student in Melbourne
MELBOURNE - A MALAYSIAN student who was walking to his cousin's house was badly beaten up by four men here last Friday.
Mr Kevinra Joseph, 19, son of Binary University College vice-chancellor Prof Joseph Adaikalam has emerged from a coma and is recovering from severe head injuries at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Police said that Kevinra, who arrived here just a month ago for his studies, was walking alone in Little Lonsdale Street at 2.50am on Friday when four men assaulted him.
Kevinra suffered head injuries and was found by passers-by lying unconscious on the footpath in nearby Russell Street.
The RMIT engineering student was walking to his cousin's house when he was attacked.
'Surgeons have found bleeding in Kevinra's brain. He has memory loss and is confused and traumatised,' said Prof Adaikalam, who arrived here on Sunday with his wife and daughter.
He said that his son, who was new to this city, had lost his way.
'He was talking to his cousin on the handphone when the attack took place. His cousin was still on the phone and could hear the screams and the whole attack,' added the father.
Police have CCTV footage of the assault and hope to catch the attackers soon.
Vicious attacks are becoming common after dark in the central business district here, and local police have repeatedly reminded the public to move in groups at night.
Most of the attacks are drug or alcohol-induced.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
July 29, 2008
Four men beat up M'sian student in Melbourne
MELBOURNE - A MALAYSIAN student who was walking to his cousin's house was badly beaten up by four men here last Friday.
Mr Kevinra Joseph, 19, son of Binary University College vice-chancellor Prof Joseph Adaikalam has emerged from a coma and is recovering from severe head injuries at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Police said that Kevinra, who arrived here just a month ago for his studies, was walking alone in Little Lonsdale Street at 2.50am on Friday when four men assaulted him.
Kevinra suffered head injuries and was found by passers-by lying unconscious on the footpath in nearby Russell Street.
The RMIT engineering student was walking to his cousin's house when he was attacked.
'Surgeons have found bleeding in Kevinra's brain. He has memory loss and is confused and traumatised,' said Prof Adaikalam, who arrived here on Sunday with his wife and daughter.
He said that his son, who was new to this city, had lost his way.
'He was talking to his cousin on the handphone when the attack took place. His cousin was still on the phone and could hear the screams and the whole attack,' added the father.
Police have CCTV footage of the assault and hope to catch the attackers soon.
Vicious attacks are becoming common after dark in the central business district here, and local police have repeatedly reminded the public to move in groups at night.
Most of the attacks are drug or alcohol-induced.
Reply With Quote
New Racist Party Formed in Australia-Asians Banned
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
New Racist Party Formed in Australia-Asians Banned
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
NZ Cheaper, better than Australia!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592585a19716.html
The grass isn't greener across the Ditch
Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 June 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Sunday Star-Times
OZ BOUND: Thousands of Kiwis hop across the ditch every year in search of a better life in the Lucky Country - but don't expect the grass to always be greener, says recent Melbourne migrant Elinore Wellwood (with Loti, 3)
Australia lives up to its image in many ways.
Kiwi migrants to Melbourne, for example, can read the newspaper as though it's a novel, its fanciful descriptions of gang wars and restaurant assassinations, corrupt police passing names of police informers to gangland contacts, who call in the hitmen.
Even as you shrug off the language differences as background noise thongs for jandals, doona for duvet, a child's fluffy is a babycino, you will smile at the Italian grandmothers who stop polishing their iron railings to run a wrinkled hand under a three-year-old's chin and thrust a gold coin into the mother's hand. "She is beautiful. Buy her something with this."
At the large neighbourhoods of those who still regard themselves as Italians and Greeks even though their grandparents left those cultures behind when they were barely out of their teens.
So, at Easter, the local baker sells specialties like melomakarona (walnut cookies drenched in syrup) and kourabiethes (moonshaped almond shortbreads covered in icing sugar). And all year round, locals go to the brilliant tapas bars in the alleys which produce their own top-selling cookbooks, and the farmers' markets sell beef you can trust the rural folk have known it since it was a calf.
These are reasons to move to Melbourne, to Australia. The food, the warmer weather, the broader multiculturalism.
Just don't expect it to be cheap.
Despite salaries reported to be 25 per cent higher on average, middle-income professionals won't earn that much more than in New Zealand in the same job, says Kiwi lawyer Jo Davidson. She's been Tasman-hopping moving to Melbourne, then back to Wellington, before returning last year to Australia to a dream job.
She loves the gourmet food in and around the city. And for her, the weather is a relief. The summer in Melbourne is warm, the seasons actually change, it's always dawning fine and even when it rains, it's gentle.
She didn't return for the money, though. "I felt significantly better off when I moved back from Melbourne to New Zealand. As a single woman [in Australia] I would never have contemplated buying a house. I went back to New Zealand and within six months bought my own home."
Food, she says, is also much more expensive in Australia. Everyday items such as milk and bread will cost you more. Woolworths' chief executive even admitted to a national inquiry that the company charges shoppers more in Australia than in New Zealand.
"And the quality at supermarkets is appalling. I used to be able to go to New World in Wellington and buy every single thing I wanted, and it was delicatessen standard."
Even if your pay packet is larger, the money quickly disappears. Teacher Mike Arthur, who recently moved from Wellington, says he earns about $4000 more than in New Zealand. "But the higher cost of living here eats that up."
Houses and cars are the big unaffordables. Advertised prices do not include tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty when buying a house or vehicle. "Our car was far more expensive here, and then we had to pay stamp duty on it, plus about $700 to register it," says Arthur.
Some things cost less. Furniture because of superstores like Ikea and electricity (80 per cent generated from coal, the green-minded should note) are far cheaper, he says.
Presuming you don't earn less than $A25,000 ($31,100) taxes are not too different from New Zealand - about $2500 less in Australia on average but 9 per cent of wages is taken for compulsory superannuation, a figure hidden in the salary packages that lure unsuspecting Kiwis across the Tasman (salary "packaging" to cut your tax burden is big business). Tough if you wanted to pay off the mortgage first.
That's if you can afford to buy. To live within 4km of Melbourne's centre, expect to pay well over $600,000 for a house. The house will be semi-detached, unrenovated, have a tiny courtyard and probably be next to a big highway.
If you can't afford to buy, finding lower-end rental accommodation may be difficult, with an inner-city rental crisis in Melbourne. Chris and Carly, who just moved over from New Zealand, told the Age newspaper they had "been to four inspections in four days. The perception from home is that there are plenty of places to rent, but when you get to a place, 30 people turn up".
Renters are being forced to offer more rent to beat the competition, or pay eight weeks in advance instead of four.
If you are going to go, do it when you don't have kids. Mother-of-one Jocelyn Prasad, who moved to Sydney last year from Auckland, says life in Australia seems harder for families. "If you're single, there's a lot more opportunity. I think the higher cost of living really kicks in when you bring a family here."
She's also found that private schools are not just a luxury for the privileged. Kiwis who would never dream of using anything but the local high school at home, scrimp and save to avoid the Australian government school system and put their child through private education.
Education experts such as Richard James, director of Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education, says the middle class here has lost confidence in government schools and moved its children to private schools, blaming funding cuts and closures under the previous state government.
In Victoria, last year, only 58 per cent of Year 12 students went to state government schools (which often lack sports fields and language options). Private school fees are often higher than in New Zealand.
It pays to go private. Seven out of 10 Melbourne University students were recruited from private or academically selective government schools, according to an Age survey of 2006 Year 12 students.
And the quality education quest starts early. In parts of Melbourne, even to get on a kindergarten waiting list you have to pay $A100 ($125). School waiting list fees can top $800. And forget picturing your kids growing up running under the sprinkler. Thanks to water restrictions, the grass definitely won't be greener for them.
Edit/Delete Message
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4592585a19716.html
The grass isn't greener across the Ditch
Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 22 June 2008
Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say
Sunday Star-Times
OZ BOUND: Thousands of Kiwis hop across the ditch every year in search of a better life in the Lucky Country - but don't expect the grass to always be greener, says recent Melbourne migrant Elinore Wellwood (with Loti, 3)
Australia lives up to its image in many ways.
Kiwi migrants to Melbourne, for example, can read the newspaper as though it's a novel, its fanciful descriptions of gang wars and restaurant assassinations, corrupt police passing names of police informers to gangland contacts, who call in the hitmen.
Even as you shrug off the language differences as background noise thongs for jandals, doona for duvet, a child's fluffy is a babycino, you will smile at the Italian grandmothers who stop polishing their iron railings to run a wrinkled hand under a three-year-old's chin and thrust a gold coin into the mother's hand. "She is beautiful. Buy her something with this."
At the large neighbourhoods of those who still regard themselves as Italians and Greeks even though their grandparents left those cultures behind when they were barely out of their teens.
So, at Easter, the local baker sells specialties like melomakarona (walnut cookies drenched in syrup) and kourabiethes (moonshaped almond shortbreads covered in icing sugar). And all year round, locals go to the brilliant tapas bars in the alleys which produce their own top-selling cookbooks, and the farmers' markets sell beef you can trust the rural folk have known it since it was a calf.
These are reasons to move to Melbourne, to Australia. The food, the warmer weather, the broader multiculturalism.
Just don't expect it to be cheap.
Despite salaries reported to be 25 per cent higher on average, middle-income professionals won't earn that much more than in New Zealand in the same job, says Kiwi lawyer Jo Davidson. She's been Tasman-hopping moving to Melbourne, then back to Wellington, before returning last year to Australia to a dream job.
She loves the gourmet food in and around the city. And for her, the weather is a relief. The summer in Melbourne is warm, the seasons actually change, it's always dawning fine and even when it rains, it's gentle.
She didn't return for the money, though. "I felt significantly better off when I moved back from Melbourne to New Zealand. As a single woman [in Australia] I would never have contemplated buying a house. I went back to New Zealand and within six months bought my own home."
Food, she says, is also much more expensive in Australia. Everyday items such as milk and bread will cost you more. Woolworths' chief executive even admitted to a national inquiry that the company charges shoppers more in Australia than in New Zealand.
"And the quality at supermarkets is appalling. I used to be able to go to New World in Wellington and buy every single thing I wanted, and it was delicatessen standard."
Even if your pay packet is larger, the money quickly disappears. Teacher Mike Arthur, who recently moved from Wellington, says he earns about $4000 more than in New Zealand. "But the higher cost of living here eats that up."
Houses and cars are the big unaffordables. Advertised prices do not include tens of thousands of dollars in stamp duty when buying a house or vehicle. "Our car was far more expensive here, and then we had to pay stamp duty on it, plus about $700 to register it," says Arthur.
Some things cost less. Furniture because of superstores like Ikea and electricity (80 per cent generated from coal, the green-minded should note) are far cheaper, he says.
Presuming you don't earn less than $A25,000 ($31,100) taxes are not too different from New Zealand - about $2500 less in Australia on average but 9 per cent of wages is taken for compulsory superannuation, a figure hidden in the salary packages that lure unsuspecting Kiwis across the Tasman (salary "packaging" to cut your tax burden is big business). Tough if you wanted to pay off the mortgage first.
That's if you can afford to buy. To live within 4km of Melbourne's centre, expect to pay well over $600,000 for a house. The house will be semi-detached, unrenovated, have a tiny courtyard and probably be next to a big highway.
If you can't afford to buy, finding lower-end rental accommodation may be difficult, with an inner-city rental crisis in Melbourne. Chris and Carly, who just moved over from New Zealand, told the Age newspaper they had "been to four inspections in four days. The perception from home is that there are plenty of places to rent, but when you get to a place, 30 people turn up".
Renters are being forced to offer more rent to beat the competition, or pay eight weeks in advance instead of four.
If you are going to go, do it when you don't have kids. Mother-of-one Jocelyn Prasad, who moved to Sydney last year from Auckland, says life in Australia seems harder for families. "If you're single, there's a lot more opportunity. I think the higher cost of living really kicks in when you bring a family here."
She's also found that private schools are not just a luxury for the privileged. Kiwis who would never dream of using anything but the local high school at home, scrimp and save to avoid the Australian government school system and put their child through private education.
Education experts such as Richard James, director of Melbourne University's Centre for the Study of Higher Education, says the middle class here has lost confidence in government schools and moved its children to private schools, blaming funding cuts and closures under the previous state government.
In Victoria, last year, only 58 per cent of Year 12 students went to state government schools (which often lack sports fields and language options). Private school fees are often higher than in New Zealand.
It pays to go private. Seven out of 10 Melbourne University students were recruited from private or academically selective government schools, according to an Age survey of 2006 Year 12 students.
And the quality education quest starts early. In parts of Melbourne, even to get on a kindergarten waiting list you have to pay $A100 ($125). School waiting list fees can top $800. And forget picturing your kids growing up running under the sprinkler. Thanks to water restrictions, the grass definitely won't be greener for them.
Edit/Delete Message
Its Official:Australia is only for losers
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10545562
4:00AM Saturday Nov 29, 2008
By Jarrod Booker
Kelvin Lawson left Auckland for Sydney about 10 years ago expecting to encounter the "land of milk and honey".
What he found was the opposite - long working hours, higher taxes, higher cost of living and intolerance and poor attitudes among the people.
He and fiancee Denise Laing moved back to Auckland a couple of months ago to be closer to their ageing parents and friends, and are relieved to be back home.
"I believe a lot of New Zealanders are going to get there and they are in for a shock," Mr Lawson said.
"Australia has been painted out to be the 'grass is greener'. It's not. Unless you are making a simple lifestyle choice as in, say, weather... then there's no other reason to go."
Although Mr Lawson, 48, might have earned more in Sydney "it's not a lot more". And he was hit with a 48 per cent tax rate on overtime he was expected to do working in installing and monitoring communications.
Then there was stamp duty for home ownership and higher costs of car ownership.
Back home, Mr Lawson and Ms Laing were amazed at how much cheaper they found basic food items.
Mr Lawson was also left with an impression of many Australians he encountered not being accepting of other cultures. Being from NZ was not so bad, but "if you're from other any part of the world, mate, they can make it really hard for them".
He was also unimpressed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians, illustrated most recently by their reaction to the Rugby League World Cup loss. "If they win at ping pong, you are going to hear about it. If they lose, it's like it never happened. It's unbelievable
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10545562
4:00AM Saturday Nov 29, 2008
By Jarrod Booker
Kelvin Lawson left Auckland for Sydney about 10 years ago expecting to encounter the "land of milk and honey".
What he found was the opposite - long working hours, higher taxes, higher cost of living and intolerance and poor attitudes among the people.
He and fiancee Denise Laing moved back to Auckland a couple of months ago to be closer to their ageing parents and friends, and are relieved to be back home.
"I believe a lot of New Zealanders are going to get there and they are in for a shock," Mr Lawson said.
"Australia has been painted out to be the 'grass is greener'. It's not. Unless you are making a simple lifestyle choice as in, say, weather... then there's no other reason to go."
Although Mr Lawson, 48, might have earned more in Sydney "it's not a lot more". And he was hit with a 48 per cent tax rate on overtime he was expected to do working in installing and monitoring communications.
Then there was stamp duty for home ownership and higher costs of car ownership.
Back home, Mr Lawson and Ms Laing were amazed at how much cheaper they found basic food items.
Mr Lawson was also left with an impression of many Australians he encountered not being accepting of other cultures. Being from NZ was not so bad, but "if you're from other any part of the world, mate, they can make it really hard for them".
He was also unimpressed at the lack of sportsmanship shown by Australians, illustrated most recently by their reaction to the Rugby League World Cup loss. "If they win at ping pong, you are going to hear about it. If they lose, it's like it never happened. It's unbelievable
Rich Australians Run Away from Massive Oz Taxes!
tp://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,73840.story
Australian Beverly Hills mall mogul to testify before Senate subcommittee
By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
A Beverly Hills shopping center magnate whose family investments have been routed through a bank in the tiny country of Liechtenstein is set to testify next week before a Senate subcommittee in Washington conducting a probe of overseas tax havens at the request of the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The committee has called Peter Lowy to testify Friday as part of its investigation into how financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein may be engaging in banking practices that result in "tax evasion and other misconduct," according to the panel.
* Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Australian-born Lowy, 49, is an American citizen and head of the U.S. division of Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping center chains. Ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles, he is a major political donor and philanthropist.
The Australian company has 24 regional malls in California, including centers in Century City, Arcadia and Woodland Hills.
Lowy has hired prominent Washington lawyer Robert S. Bennett, who said Friday that his client would testify voluntarily. He stressed that the committee was probing the role of the offshore banks and not his client or the Lowy relatives, the second-wealthiest family in Australia.
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held hearings this week into the use of tax havens that cost the country an estimated $100 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Treasury. The panel heard from witnesses who banked funds in Liechtenstein. Lowy was to be among them but he was out of the country then and so will testify next week.
The Senate hearings have focused on the Swiss bank UBS and a private bank, LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein. Levin said that Frank Lowy, Peter's father, set up a foundation with LGT in 1998 after telling the bank that he did not want Australian tax authorities to know about the money involved.
LGT took measures to hide the Lowys' ownership, such as routing incoming funds through an offshore corporation and using a Delaware corporation headed by Peter Lowy to name the foundation's beneficiaries, Levin said. In 2001, he said, the Lowys dissolved the foundation in Liechtenstein and moved about $68 million to Switzerland.
"These were charitable contributions," Bennett said. "Not one penny went to Lowy or his sons."
Bennett, who represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, downplayed the significance of the $68 million banked by the Lowys. "For me, that's a lot. For the Lowys it's not."
The Los Angeles Business Journal recently estimated Peter Lowy's net worth at $880 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. He and his wife own a seven-bedroom house in Beverly Hills with an assessed value of almost $11 million.
Lowy's father was a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fought as a commando for Israeli independence before moving to Australia. Peter Lowy has helped raise millions of dollars for Jewish causes and serves on the board of directors of American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Lowy has been a major donor to California state and federal politicians. He and his company, Westfield, also funded a major ballot fight over shopping mall development in Arcadia, spending $6 million on two local measures in 2006 to protect its position at its Santa Anita shopping mall against a planned competing center.
Lowy donated $44,600 in 2005 and 2006 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. In addition, Westfield gave the governor $44,600, and $10,000 to the governor's Democratic foe, Phil Angelides.
The shopping mall mogul and his firm also give heavily to federal candidates.
In the last decade, Lowy has given $365,000 to federal candidates and political parties. His largest donations have gone to national Democratic Party organizations: $53,500 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
He gave $4,600 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and the Westfield political action committee gave her an additional $10,000.
tp://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,0,73840.story
Australian Beverly Hills mall mogul to testify before Senate subcommittee
By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2008
A Beverly Hills shopping center magnate whose family investments have been routed through a bank in the tiny country of Liechtenstein is set to testify next week before a Senate subcommittee in Washington conducting a probe of overseas tax havens at the request of the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
The committee has called Peter Lowy to testify Friday as part of its investigation into how financial institutions in Switzerland and Liechtenstein may be engaging in banking practices that result in "tax evasion and other misconduct," according to the panel.
* Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Peter Lowy Westfield America malls
Australian-born Lowy, 49, is an American citizen and head of the U.S. division of Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping center chains. Ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in Los Angeles, he is a major political donor and philanthropist.
The Australian company has 24 regional malls in California, including centers in Century City, Arcadia and Woodland Hills.
Lowy has hired prominent Washington lawyer Robert S. Bennett, who said Friday that his client would testify voluntarily. He stressed that the committee was probing the role of the offshore banks and not his client or the Lowy relatives, the second-wealthiest family in Australia.
The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held hearings this week into the use of tax havens that cost the country an estimated $100 billion a year in lost revenue, according to the Treasury. The panel heard from witnesses who banked funds in Liechtenstein. Lowy was to be among them but he was out of the country then and so will testify next week.
The Senate hearings have focused on the Swiss bank UBS and a private bank, LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein. Levin said that Frank Lowy, Peter's father, set up a foundation with LGT in 1998 after telling the bank that he did not want Australian tax authorities to know about the money involved.
LGT took measures to hide the Lowys' ownership, such as routing incoming funds through an offshore corporation and using a Delaware corporation headed by Peter Lowy to name the foundation's beneficiaries, Levin said. In 2001, he said, the Lowys dissolved the foundation in Liechtenstein and moved about $68 million to Switzerland.
"These were charitable contributions," Bennett said. "Not one penny went to Lowy or his sons."
Bennett, who represented President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky investigation, downplayed the significance of the $68 million banked by the Lowys. "For me, that's a lot. For the Lowys it's not."
The Los Angeles Business Journal recently estimated Peter Lowy's net worth at $880 million, down from $1 billion a year ago. He and his wife own a seven-bedroom house in Beverly Hills with an assessed value of almost $11 million.
Lowy's father was a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and fought as a commando for Israeli independence before moving to Australia. Peter Lowy has helped raise millions of dollars for Jewish causes and serves on the board of directors of American Jewish University and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Lowy has been a major donor to California state and federal politicians. He and his company, Westfield, also funded a major ballot fight over shopping mall development in Arcadia, spending $6 million on two local measures in 2006 to protect its position at its Santa Anita shopping mall against a planned competing center.
Lowy donated $44,600 in 2005 and 2006 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign. In addition, Westfield gave the governor $44,600, and $10,000 to the governor's Democratic foe, Phil Angelides.
The shopping mall mogul and his firm also give heavily to federal candidates.
In the last decade, Lowy has given $365,000 to federal candidates and political parties. His largest donations have gone to national Democratic Party organizations: $53,500 to the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee; $35,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; and $25,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
He gave $4,600 to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, and the Westfield political action committee gave her an additional $10,000.
Australia Petrol Excise 38% !
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_Australia
Fuel taxes in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The fuel tax system in Australia is very similar to Canada in terms of its double-dipping tax rates, but varies in the case of exemptions including and certain excise free fuel sources. Fuel taxes are handled by both the Federal and State Governments, including both an Excise Tax and a Goods and Services Tax or "GST". The tax collected is generally used to help fund national road infrastructure projects and repair roads, as well as provide extra revenue for other services.
The Goods and Services Tax of 10% is charged and included in the price of all fuel purchases in Australia.
The excise tax on commonly used fuels in Australia as of June 2006 are as follows:[citation needed]
* A$0.38143 per litre on Unleaded Petrol fuel (Includes standard, blended (E10) and premium grades)
* A$0.38143/0.40143 per litre on Diesel fuel (Ultra-low sulphur/Conventional)
ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_Australia
Fuel taxes in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The fuel tax system in Australia is very similar to Canada in terms of its double-dipping tax rates, but varies in the case of exemptions including and certain excise free fuel sources. Fuel taxes are handled by both the Federal and State Governments, including both an Excise Tax and a Goods and Services Tax or "GST". The tax collected is generally used to help fund national road infrastructure projects and repair roads, as well as provide extra revenue for other services.
The Goods and Services Tax of 10% is charged and included in the price of all fuel purchases in Australia.
The excise tax on commonly used fuels in Australia as of June 2006 are as follows:[citation needed]
* A$0.38143 per litre on Unleaded Petrol fuel (Includes standard, blended (E10) and premium grades)
* A$0.38143/0.40143 per litre on Diesel fuel (Ultra-low sulphur/Conventional)
New Racist Party Formed in Australia-Asians Banned
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
Originally Posted by OzSucks View Post
once again you read it here, you saw it here, people.
so australian whites are not contented with beating and killing asians, now this Neil Smith wants to ban all non-white colored people for 100 years.
and dont forget pauline hanson ran in 2007 trying to ban muslims from australia because she gets letters from whites saying they are afraid of foreigners.
yet another reason why australia is the worst country in the world.
http://monash.yourguide.com.au/news/...n/1368090.aspx
Ousted candidate eyes 'next election'
24/11/2008 4:09:00 PM
A MULGRAVE Ward council election candidate, who was expelled by One Nation, has vowed to form his own political party with a platform slammed as "immoral and impossible".
Last month, Neil Henry Smith, who ran as a self-proclaimed "racist" in recent state and federal elections,
said he would form his own political party Pauline's One Nation White Australia Party.
His party's main platform is a "100 years moratorium on coloured immigration" to ease problems caused by
overpopulation. Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research director, Bob Birrell, said a slowdown in migration movement would help ease demand for water and other resources, but to link it to a 'white Australia' policy was "immoral and impossible". "The point about migration is legitimate but not based on colour. It's a real pity that this kind of advocacy gets wrapped up in an extraneous issue."
Mr Smith said he formed the party to get him "some billing in the next election".
One Nation state secretary Pat Loy said the party would fight against Mr Smith registering the proposed party name. "He is still bringing us into disrepute. We will have to take legal action if he doesn't stop. It's harmful to us and it's harmful to Pauline [Hanson]."
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said its jurisdiction came into play once a party attempted to register.
One Nation founder Pauline Hanson did not respond to the Journal before publication.
Kirsten Leiminger
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