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I think this is the most exciting part of the article.

Yeah you're not wrong, though the generally does a lot of heavy lifting. There's a lot of assumptions in the scenario, and the retail worker could just as easily take that experience into salaried employment making far more than what is shown here. But for the sake of completeness for those who won't crunch the numbers themselves (and thankfully I didn't ditch the spreadsheet just yet!) Other assumptions I didn't factor include penalty rates and overtime, so the retail guy can absolutely pull further ahead. Chances are the graduate is putting in more than a 38 hour work week for no additional remuneration in some fields too - swings and roundabouts really. Assuming 12% super, and a simple 10% earnings rate on your super (Super Guarantee legislation calculates earnings on unpaid super at a simple 10% rate and I don't really care to look at long term industry earnings rates to be bothered using any other rates - the point is they've both got the same rate, so apples with apples as they say). By the end of the 13 years in the previous example, the retail worker is still ahead on super. Given the rapidly increasing salary of the graduate, it won't take long for the graduate to overtake, but again for the critics - this is a simplistic example - with 6-8 years experience the graduate is potentially climbing the ladder too. The graduate is still 6-7 grand behind the retail pleb, plus they still owe $113k in HECS to boot. If I keep everything the same from that point on - (let's say the graduate has topped out on salary at age 30) then it takes until they're nearly 42 years old before the HECS is paid off. By that time they've got an extra $180k in super. Short of things like covid stimulus, most people won't be able to touch their super for another few decades though, so Super is definitely the long game, but the short term sacrifice in super earnings does pay off - IF you succeed in your chosen field of study.

Depends on a lot of factors - including the person's drive and capability. Both the worker and the student can do worse, but they can also do better. I've spitballed this with google, but gone with fairly reliable sources like Fair Work, ATO websites, and some recruitment websites discussing graduate salaries etc. I've made a couple of assumptions, and erred on the conservative side when it came to indexation. Uni Graduate Assumes a four year full time degree with no supplemental employment, working on the average degree cost per year from Canstar Blue. I'm aware that I haven't factored in any centrelink payments as the whole thing gets messy offering up options for whether the student lives with parents or away from home, whether their parents earn too much money ($60k is the lower level for income reduction) so obviously the 'rolling earnings' is the worst possible figure possible. I used real indexation rates for the last 4 years, but the average of 4% per year wasn't historically accurate so I estimated a 2% ongoing indexation. Earnings for graduates varied according to Talent.com, but seemed to indicate a 10% growth per year with experience and promotion. Retail worker Assumes an 18 year old fresh out of high school with no prior employment experience - entry rate as a Junior Retail Assistant level 1, increasing with age to 21, and increasing retail level to maximum pay rate at level 8. I topped them out at the max retail pay rate and assumed they stayed in that job from that point. Naturally the award wage would increase with enterprise bargaining but there's already too many assumptions so i've left it as is. TL:DR Average four year uni degree can cost $131k before indexation In the same four years your retail worker has earned $183k Graduate starting salaries mean HECS\HELP repayments begin immediately upon entering the workforce It takes 13 years out of high school before the Uni Graduate has cumulatively earned more than the retail worker At that time, the graduate has paid $52k in repayments, but has only paid off $30k of the principal, due to indexation. There's still 80% of their HECS\HELP debt remaining - which could take 10 or more years to pay off You could absolutely do better than this. But you could also do far worse. Everyone's mileage may vary and end of the day the figures below don't mean shit in the real world - just a fun little spreadsheet exercise to get the mind moving on a monday morning.

To be fair, they were still closed 'without notice' which is the issue people have - not getting a chance to ride one last time, etc etc. The park knew they were going to remove it and instead of announcing it and giving people the opportunity to 'say goodbye', to give fans of the attraction a little 'send off'... They Kingda Ka'd it.

I believe that would be Rivals.

Yeah Narra wasnt saying that it was. He was referring to the text as the biggest in your face text on the front page...........

I agree, it is total bullshit that they would treat their assets and customers like that, but here we are..

It is, but it’s been happening for decades. It’s probably easier to list the rides that closed that they announced would be retiring, but here’s a list of what I can think of that has closed without notice: Looney Tunes River Ride Arkham Asylum/Lethal Weapon Batman Adventure: The Ride Bermuda Triangle Sea Viper/Corkscrew Pirate Ship SkyHigh Skyway Sea World Train Monorail Mach 5 Aqualoop