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Comment by rmtech | Hacker News Reader

They should pay the military decent money.

And he should have found a legal way to make more money, and he also should have been in control of his wife's spending (easier said than done in the modern age though...).

Selling the weapons was dumb because there was almost no way they wouldn't be tracked back to him.

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A captain in the Australian Army in 2018/19 earns between AUD$70,334 and AUD$130,704. Armed services salaries are tax-free, so that's not a terrible salary compared to the median in Australia of ~AUD$85k before tax or ~$65k after tax.

https://www.defence.gov.au/payandconditions/ADF/Resources/WR...

https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6302.0

> Armed services salaries are tax-free

In Australia, only reservists get tax-free pay, and only when they're not on full-time duty. I think some of the additional military allowances are tax free for full-timers, but not base salary.

> he also should have been in control of his wife's spending

Or, you know, divorced her.

I was being facetious. (looking at the downvotes I dont think many people got that).

But seriously though, this isn't about pay. The guy was a fucking idiot.

Well I have no idea what Australia has an Army for. What are they defending with rocket launchers anyway?

Have you not heard about the wildlife in Australia? From what I've read, every step you take outdoors, something is trying to kill you. I'm surprised every Australian school child isn't packing a rocket launcher.

Crocodile Dundee didn't need no rocket launchers man. An Akubra hat was enough.

...and that knife. That was a knife!

Our armed forces deploy overseas on a variety of missions that include NATO support as well as peacekeeping. More generally, a standing army helps counterbalance the threat of land invasions in a way that a navy on its own could not. Thirdly, our armed forces are often used for humanitarian purposes such as supporting the country during our (not infrequent) natural disasters, e.g. flooding or bushfires.

The ADF are key to the Coalitions mission: when America wants something dirty done, that will not have the complication of civilian oversight should an investigation be necessary, they come to the Australian Defence Forces...

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