Hahaha! We have the choice of Tony Abbott, the bigoted mindless fool, and Bill Shorten, who is at least center left but is totally lacking in charisma and leadership spirit. He's too. . . by the book? Lacking imagination? Drive? It's difficult to define, he just isn't a born leader.
Hahaha! We have the choice of Tony Abbott, the bigoted mindless fool, and Bill Shorten, who is at least center left but is totally lacking in charisma and leadership spirit. He's too. . . by the book? Lacking imagination? Drive? It's difficult to define, he just isn't a born leader.
Personally I always vote for the person rather than the party (and by that I mean the person running to be my MP/MPP and not the party leader). Which probably makes me a representative of about 0.1% of voters hehe.
Personally I always vote for the person rather than the party. Which probably makes me a representative of about 0.1% of voters hehe.
Yea me to. I vote Labor regardless of who's leading it because they usually always have the policies I agree with. There are dozens of smaller parties as well but they are so small they don't really factor into it majorly. Our only two choice are Liberal and Labor.
We're going to New Zealand in September. We need passports. For me, no problem, I have my citizenship papers and those of my father. Two million pages of paperwork and 250 dollars later I've got a passport.
Jess was born here, has an Australian Birth Certificate. Her mother passed away in 1999 and her dad is a drunk imbecilic ass. He won't give us his birth certificate, which for some reason we need, despite the fact Jess is a citizen by default as she was born here and is over 18. After some research online we figure out we can get her fathers birth certificate from the Office of Birth, Deaths and Marriages, for a price.
Go in, fill out the paperwork, turns out we can't without him there to provide ID. So off we go to ring the passport office, who tell us it's not their problem and tell us to ask the immigration office. Despite the fact she is a citizen and was born here. We need to get a 'Confirmation Citizenship Certificate'. Which requires another two million pages of paperwork and 60 dollars, as well as signed photos and paperwork from a JP. It will then take them one to two weeks to receive it and mail it back to us. Then we can go get a passport for Jess so she can leave the country she was born in for THREE days. . .
Why in the hell is it so god damn hard to get out of the country in which we live? Who in the hell came up with this dumb ass system? We can't get rid of it now because there are 20 000 pen pushing, desk sucking, blotter jotters who's job it is to read and rubber stump mountains of pages as high as the Eiffel Tower. . . So are we stuck with it? Am I doomed to be stuck here for the rest of my life because we can't get my other half a god damn passport?!
We're going up to Canada in a few weeks. My parents needed to sort out passport stuff, and it didn't seem like a big deal(they already have passports, I think they just need to renew them or whatever. It didn't seem like a big deal so I wasn't paying much attention) I am, however, about 2 months shy of the age of needing a passport. Less complerator!:)
We're going up to Canada in a few weeks. My parents needed to sort out passport stuff, and it didn't seem like a big deal(they already have passports, I think they just need to renew them or whatever. It didn't seem like a big deal so I wasn't paying much attention) I am, however, about 2 months shy of the age of needing a passport. Less complerator!:)
@CaloNord - At the moment the UK passport office has a backlog, or so the papers say. If you've already got one it's a pretty simple matter to pay & renew though. None of this "bring your dad along" nonsense.
Half of my mates seem to want to work in Australia though. For all the political problems, you (and Canada) seem to have the best quality of life stuff.
We're going up to Canada in a few weeks. My parents needed to sort out passport stuff, and it didn't seem like a big deal(they already have passports, I think they just need to renew them or whatever. It didn't seem like a big deal so I wasn't paying much attention) I am, however, about 2 months shy of the age of needing a passport. Less complerator!:)
Good vacation choice
It'll be interesting. We're going canoeing(I think) with some friends that live in Ontario. I'll be sure to drop by and say hi:P what makes it more fun is that we're going like two days after we get back from Colorado, and then school starts the day after we get back. Adventure!
@Corvino Yea Aussie's not to bad, depends to on what you want to do when you get here. Tradies and trained mining personnel will have no trouble. Good thing with democracy is this government will be done in a few years and we can go back to Labor. Which we will, every now and again we forget WHY we don't vote Liberal in the first place. Won't happen again for another 10~15 years or so.
Canada looks like a wonderful place to move to. I hear Vancouver is nice. Qubec looks amazing to!
@Corvino Yea Aussie's not to bad, depends to on what you want to do when you get here. Tradies and trained mining personnel will have no trouble. Good thing with democracy is this government will be done in a few years and we can go back to Labor. Which we will, every now and again we forget WHY we don't vote Liberal in the first place. Won't happen again for another 10~15 years or so.
Canada looks like a wonderful place to move to. I hear Vancouver is nice. Qubec looks amazing to!
Vancouver is probably the most expensive city in Canada. Even more than Toronto. It has better climate though. Quebec City looks very nice though personally I prefer Montreal because its more cosmopolitan. Its been a long time since I've been to either though.
You are aware that federally Canada has a conservative government at the moment right? (for the last 8 years). Just giving you the heads up
Montreal looks good. I'm not bothered by the cold. In fact after 16 years in 45 degree Celsius summers some cold weather would be great.
Oh I have no problems with conservative governments on the whole, I just dislike it when they break every single promise they made to get into office in the first place and proceed to ruin the lives of pensioners and the poor to fund their hair brained anti refugee schemes. :P
We're going up to Canada in a few weeks. My parents needed to sort out passport stuff, and it didn't seem like a big deal(they already have passports, I think they just need to renew them or whatever. It didn't seem like a big deal so I wasn't paying much attention) I am, however, about 2 months shy of the age of needing a passport. Less complerator!:)
It is incredibly easy to travel between the US and Canada. In fact, immigration is also far easier between the US and Canada. My family's practice does immigration physicals for USCIS and the process is far simpler for Canadians and Australians (both ingoing and outgoing). The benefits of good immigration laws on both sides, as well as cultural similarities that makes cooperation much easier. I've been to Toronto on four occasions (usually weddings) and it is a wonderful city. Remarkably clean and the dining options are just as diverse as you would find in New York. Can't wait to go back.
Never really thought of Toronto as being clean but it could become Toronto's new slogan. Forget "diversity is our strength" or whatever it is now. It could be
That said I miss the days when you could travel between the US and Canada with just a drivers license. Now that was convenient! (and a pre 9/11 phenomena).
I miss a lot of things from before 9/11. I liked being able to spend most of my flights in the cockpit with the pilots, if not all of it. I'm an avid pilot so I love being in the pointy end. Now it's really hard to get 2 minutes up there, unless you get a good and fairly game flight crew.
It was easier to get passports, easier to get through airports and they didn't swab my shoes, hands and bags for explosives because I seem to look like a terrorist. ( Irony )
Anyway, I'm happy to discuss anything on this thread until something political happens. I should rename it. . . "General Mad Chats and Occasionally we talk about politics."
Anyway, I'm happy to discuss anything on this thread until something political happens. I should rename it. . . "General Mad Chats and Occasionally we talk about politics."
Another unintended side-effect of the Internet is that *everything* gets politicized at some point.
Comments
JackJack for president!
It's difficult to define, he just isn't a born leader.
We're going to New Zealand in September. We need passports. For me, no problem, I have my citizenship papers and those of my father. Two million pages of paperwork and 250 dollars later I've got a passport.
Jess was born here, has an Australian Birth Certificate. Her mother passed away in 1999 and her dad is a drunk imbecilic ass. He won't give us his birth certificate, which for some reason we need, despite the fact Jess is a citizen by default as she was born here and is over 18. After some research online we figure out we can get her fathers birth certificate from the Office of Birth, Deaths and Marriages, for a price.
Go in, fill out the paperwork, turns out we can't without him there to provide ID. So off we go to ring the passport office, who tell us it's not their problem and tell us to ask the immigration office. Despite the fact she is a citizen and was born here. We need to get a 'Confirmation Citizenship Certificate'. Which requires another two million pages of paperwork and 60 dollars, as well as signed photos and paperwork from a JP. It will then take them one to two weeks to receive it and mail it back to us. Then we can go get a passport for Jess so she can leave the country she was born in for THREE days. . .
Why in the hell is it so god damn hard to get out of the country in which we live? Who in the hell came up with this dumb ass system? We can't get rid of it now because there are 20 000 pen pushing, desk sucking, blotter jotters who's job it is to read and rubber stump mountains of pages as high as the Eiffel Tower. . . So are we stuck with it? Am I doomed to be stuck here for the rest of my life because we can't get my other half a god damn passport?!
/rant/
Half of my mates seem to want to work in Australia though. For all the political problems, you (and Canada) seem to have the best quality of life stuff.
@Corvino Well I guess it's a good thing I'm a level 100 sorcerer.
Canada looks like a wonderful place to move to. I hear Vancouver is nice. Qubec looks amazing to!
You are aware that federally Canada has a conservative government at the moment right? (for the last 8 years). Just giving you the heads up
Oh I have no problems with conservative governments on the whole, I just dislike it when they break every single promise they made to get into office in the first place and proceed to ruin the lives of pensioners and the poor to fund their hair brained anti refugee schemes. :P
I've been to Toronto on four occasions (usually weddings) and it is a wonderful city. Remarkably clean and the dining options are just as diverse as you would find in New York. Can't wait to go back.
"Even our mayor is getting cleaned up."
It was easier to get passports, easier to get through airports and they didn't swab my shoes, hands and bags for explosives because I seem to look like a terrorist. ( Irony )
Anyway, I'm happy to discuss anything on this thread until something political happens.