Commenting on the story: Dan the man still the Speaker | Greens use One Nation as inspiration

I have no interest in listening to Robert Simms’ sanctimonious rantings about the conduct of others.

This is a man who on two occasions took the Elected Member’s pledge at the Adelaide City Council to serve the community and on both occasions he quit mid-term to fulfil his own ambitions, leaving the ratepayers to fund by-elections. – Lachlan Miller

Commenting on the Notes on Adelaide podcast: Picking up the pieces

This concern about David Speirs’ attitude to church and state is misplaced. Anyone who saw the speech and know a bit of political history would know that Speirs didn’t understand the concept of separation of church and state when he made the comment.

He was encouraging church members to get involved in politics through lobbying and joining parties. He was not proposing some sort of institutionalised control of government by the church, which was what was historically opposed by those arguing for the separation of church and state. – Ian Radbone

Commenting on the story: Blowing the whistle on the AFL’s dissent rule

While the initial hardline from umpires seemed to have mellowed somewhat by last week, and arms moving in disappointment were not interpreted nor penalised as dissent, I am delighted that the overwhelming number of players have very quickly adapted to the new rules.

It is a pity the media pundits and past players seem to be taking so much longer. – Michael Kenny

Commenting on the opinion piece: Serving up a different take on jobs and unemployment

Spot on, Dale Beasley. So much easier to blame ‘job snobs’ than to actually understand what is going on with the labour market.

As a lifelong (now retired) employee at Centrelink I understand that the mismatch between jobseekers and vacancies is far more nuanced than ‘picky job seekers’. The massive growth in insecure work has created its own problems. I believe that over 51% of the workforce faces this problem.

There are long-standing, systemic issues with employers engaging older jobseekers. The late Susan Ryan, when working for the Human Rights Commission, back in 2016 released “Willing to Work’ at the behest of the Abbott Govt. She spent around a year travelling the country taking submissions from older jobseekers. A few recommendations were acted on and then the report was put in the bottom draw.

Add to that the fact that 25% of all of those on Jobseeker have a permanent disability, as many have been pushed off the Disability Support Pension. So hospo work would not suit the abilities/age of many current jobseekers.

Then there’s the number of jobseekers living in regional and rural areas, not in cities or towns. In the past these people may have looked to move where work is. The lack of affordable accomodation plus the insecurity of work would make moving too risky. In short, it’s a complex area that will require a number of solutions. – Helen Chadwick