All Activity

Just to clarify, Marty. The Haha icon I left on your post is not to put shite on the post; I just thought your post was a rather witty response.

Pocock is (or appears to be) on the correct side of most issues. The trouble is, for every Pocock there's a Bob Katter, a Clive Palmer, a Barmy Joyce or a Pauline Hanson. Well that puts them in front of PHON then, who have thought bubbles instead of policies and can't even agree amongst themselves as to what they are. Look I know the Greens sometimes seem nutty. My point is that if you want to park your vote with a protest party, at least give it to the nutters who have the best interests of the planet at heart, instead of the nutters who want to destroy it.

In my case, that is true. In the 22 federal election I would have probably voted for them. Sure, PHON is a party of protest too, and they are also nutters and LNP rejects, but they seem to espouse stuff more Aussies can relate to... Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. For the record, I would vote Green before PHON, but neither would get my vote. Australia needs a party of Pococks.

I think one reason the Greens have only appealed to one in ten voters is that they have some sensible policies that appeal but a lot that don't. I understand why they don't broaden their scope as it would entail getting away from their basic brief. A lot of people don't like their politics; they see them these days as more a party of protest than a party of trees. There's many reasons why the Greens don't have broad appeal. The people there have a bit to do with it. Many see them as a bunch of nutters. If they were any better, they'd get more votes, but I think they've hit their peak. They're often their own worst enemies. But they do provide a niche vote for some people.

The Greens are not getting enough votes.

There's my point. You start by saying you'd only vote for them if you had a lobotomy, but end by saying the environmental destruction in your area would have been less if they'd been in power. So people vote against their best interests... why?

Why is it a bad look to have them do what the premier is suggesting (I am assuming it is not forced)?

Did you actually read the article? "Premier Ben Carroll said if Labor won the November election, it would work with Corrections Victoria to develop a pilot program to put supervised, minimum-security prisoners to work performing roadside maintenance. The plan would include having inmates take over basic duties such as mowing lawns, controlling weeds, removing graffiti and picking up rubbish." A photo and then "Premier Ben Carroll, who served as roads minister between 2020 and 2022, said it would free up skilled roadside maintenance crews to concentrate on fixing potholes. Low-security inmates are already involved in day-release programs doing gardening, weeding and rubbish collection in some parks." So, there is no plan to use inmates to actually fix the roads... Another beat up

Going back to that assessment and prediction from Tony Barry of Redbridge Group, here's a quote of his opinion (based on polling) on reasons behind One Nation support: “For about 15 per cent of One Nation voters, they self-report immigration as their key consideration. But for most, they’re looking for an anti-establishment party. It’s a rejection of the two-party system,”

Go back to GON's post. They don't want to change things for the better. They want to punish the incumbents in a big way. It is that simple. Chump, Farage, PHON, and some of the right wing nut job parties in Europe are well funded and have the backing of enough of the press to make a dent. You bet it will get worse for them.. No one said it would get better - except those seeking to disrupt. Getting better doesn't factor into their thinking. Maybe it is getting even?

I think I'm on my last car. It's a diesel, 240,000 on the clock and I'd probably only do about 10,000 per year these days. Most likely lose the license before the car wears out.

I will if I ever get a frontal lobotomy first. I do give them full credit for trying in our area. They have well meaning candidates who front up every election but they just never get enough numbers in our electorates. They were a bit comical last election. They all dressed up in khaki for their corflute photos, probably thinking it would make them look very green like park rangers. It was like looking at the Irwins on the Australia Zoo ads every time you drove past a Green corflute. Having said that, if they'd been in local government over the years, the environmental destruction from over development around here would be a lot less for sure. A certain amount is due to state government but the council has a big say in town planning and development.

Let's say that those 'Trustees" work hard at their assigned tasks. I bet not one of them has the knowledge nor experience of how to make a road. All they will be able to do is throw down a few shovelfuls of cold ashphaltic concrete and pound it down. Come the next bit of rain and the stuff will be ripped out of the hole. Not their fault. Just bad procedure.

But But You are assuming the voters will engage in logical reasoning....... Hanrahan was right.

To save the world from pollution, I'd mandate that no person be allowed to purchase more than one vehicle in their lifetime. At present, cars are expected to be replaced every couple of years and the industry is geared up to make cars that quickly go out of fashion. We could save enormous amounts of manufacturing energy and massively reduce CO2 And other pollutants) produced by unnecessary duplication of product. It would encourage better quality engineering and construction. The modern motor car is now close enough to the pinnacle of its development.

Actually - I don't buy it. The biggest reason things go downhill for blue collar workers is inequality. More of the pie goes to the massively rich and trickle down economics is the same joke it's always been. Even if they blame the major parties, they're voting for the fringe party that's bought and paid for by the same rich fucks that are already ruining their lives. If they truly wanted to change things for the better, they'd vote Green or progressive independents like Pocock.

We'll all be rooned.

If they think things are bad now, wait until the oligarchs are directly in charge (as opposed to the current proxy by bribery).

There's some interesting numbers in the upcoming Victorian election. The lower house has 88 seats currently consisting of Labor 56, Liberal 19, Nationals 9 and Greens 4. That gives Labor a buffer of 11 seats, meaning they could lose 11 seats and still govern in their own right with a majority of 1 at 45 seats. If it came down to the wire they've always got four greens for minority government support if the Greens retain their seats The blokes from Redbridge are constantly crunching numbers and polling figures. Kos Samaras has identified 11 seats with very similar demographics to the wipe out of Labor in Secret Harbour, WA. According to him, Labor can almost safely write those 11 off to One Nation, with a twelth seat being one to watch as the demographics of diversity split between the north and the south half of the electorate. His partner Tony Barry is tipping a Labor loss and that the Coalition will get a majority in their own right without needing the support of One Nation. He said a lot of the eastern seats that were formerly Liberal heartland are swinging back to the Liberals, and that is the problem for Labor. Seats with a high diversity (high migrant population) are polling up to 70% primary vote for Labor, so they should have no problem holding those. Victoria is the only state where the Liberals are polling better than One Nation.

What, they're better for the planet driving a diesel LandCruiser or G-Wagen?

Speaking of MAGA, I was reading a news article on one of the recent elections and it had a file photo of what was obviously some enthusiastic ON supporters on election night at wherever their campaign function was being held. A couple of them were wearing blue MAGA hats which I hadn't seen before. At first I assumed they might be ON caps with a take-off of the Trumpian caps, eg: MAGA being Make Australia Great Again. I zoomed in on the photo and could see the smaller lettering underneath; the caps represented MAGA - Make Albo Go Away. They've probably been around for a while, I've just never seen them before.

It doesn't matter.. The fact we are heading downhill slower than the others doesn't make it good nor excusable People are wanting things to turn around, not to be told it will turn around and then the same path continue. After at least two generations of things getting worse, people are saying how do we change this. They only have one really big lever. The problem is, there is no one to step up with the real fixes so the only alternative is to, as @willedoo put it - burn the house down and start again. A lot of people don't see Chump's actions as anything but that... Even one of his MAGA supporters said it is the bitter medicine America needs to heal and get better (I am not sure I subscribe to that way of thinking, but the reality is there are far too many being pushed to the margins and they are getting angry).

Nobody is really disputing all the above. The problem is that the rest of the big party politicians are tarred with the same brush. And often enough it is sufficiently true to drown out any good they actually do.

Not a good look, even IF they don't fix the Potholes themselves.. Bad principle. The roads break up because they were never designed to carry heavy traffic and water gets in under the edges, softening the Underburden.. Australia has a lot of roads and not a lot of people to pay for their upkeep.. Nev

Here's another good old banger, a 1943 Chev Blitz winch truck listed on marketplace not far from here. It would come up good, cleaned up and oiled or waxed. It's a pity it didn't have just a bit more OD on it. The interior still has a bit, and the back of the cab. It would have been SCC No.15, fairly similar tint to the later American FS 34088 which is a nice colour. I can remember back in the 80's, a cane farmer I knew had a 4x4 ex-Army AB Inter with a similar big Army winch mounted on the front. That thing would pull Christ off the cross. One day we had a cane harvester that had gone through a bridge and was sitting bellied out on the bridge stringers. There was no planking left on the bridge; the harvester spiral points had picked up the first tranverse plank at speed and sheared the lot off before it came to rest on the stringers. The farmer got a tractor with a ripper implement, sunk the rippers into the ground for an anchor and chained it to the truck. That winch sucked the cane harvestor straight off the bridge stringers like it was a Mini Minor.