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It would be difficult to substantiate that statement. Epstein wanted people with BIG money and/or a BIG Public Profile not necessarily confined to American Shores. He wouldn't have worried enough Democrats for them as a body to get Involved with such an unpleasant Character. A consider he did NOT commit suicide. He had plenty who wanted him silenced and his writings Kept under cover. He lived dangerously. Nev

Fire levies are based on user pays. Rural property owners are wealthy people, they can afford to pay more for firefighting services, than someone living in a city apartment or house - and the farming properties are the places where the biggest fires develop, and need the biggest number of high-cost equipment. I seem to recall all the fire brigades have received hundreds of millions worth of new trucks and equipment in recent times - all due to whinging by farmers. Someone has to pay for it. I own a bare 2000 sq m industrial block in a country town, yet I still have to pay a very substantial fire levy, despite my fire loss risk being virtually zero. All the firies are running around in brand new 4WD Isuzu trucks and V8 diesel Landcruisers, I wish I could afford all the new equipment they get, on a regular basis.

Who Pays for the Helicopters and firebombers? Theres not many Bushfires in Cities and we are going to have MORE bushfires . There's an ongoing fight between the CFA and the Others. IT's LABOR in Australia BTW, and People vote freely here and it's NOT OK to abuse them personally on site like this. Nev

Epstein's death and coverup are proof that Republicans and Democrats can work together..... if the price is right.

The purpose of a good joke, is to disturb the humorless, and humour the disturbed.

There was a protest against the Allan government crippling farmers with fire Levy's on the weekend in Bendigo. Are those farmers and CFA volunteers right wing lunatics too . Labour have been waging war on farmers.

Not one reply about labour corruption either. 15 billion plus. Labour voters are very selective on topics

Why can't you Labour voters listen to anything but your labour agenda. Is it because deep down you know it's a train wreck.

Show us the rascist lies

At it again little man . Typical of the shit I cop from you. Left wing standard behaviour.

Don't worry, Marty; I can still input some Jerry-isms...

I don’t have a big social circle, but the people I mix with seem to reflect the surveys. I guess 80% of those over 50 are fed up with Labor and will vote for one of the alternatives. The younger ones are more likely to vote Labor , with only a third or so looking for change. Everyone bemoans the lack of a good alternative.

The ON surge is understandable in one way and unexplainable in another. Sure, I'm a Queenslander and know well that ON, a Queensland based party, has always done ok in elections in this state for a small party. By ok, I mean polling numbers like 10% compared to much smaller figures in other states. But this time around, I don't know how to put it in words, except to say the shift is major going by what I'm hearing from people everywhere. By that I mean people who haven't voted that way before. If we were six months out from a Federal election, I'd be of the opinion a lot of people still aren't fully aware of what's about to hit on voting day. But we're not six months out and the two major parties have almost two years to turn things around. Not such a hard job for the government as it is for the Liberals; if they don't rebuild to a reasonably solid base in the next twelve months, they're done and dusted for sure. The last year of a three year term is almost like one big long election campaign, so the Libs don't have much time on their hands. They're still sliding down, so they have to halt that before they even have any chance of heading back in the other direction. They're probably looking for a circuit breaker but it's hard for them to get traction when they're still losing supporters and One Nation is dominating the media. If it was newspapers, you'd find mention of the Libs somewhere down the back between the sport and classified ads, while the front page is all about Albo and Pauline.

That's kind of like saying "I'm sick of this rash, I'd rather have my arms amputated."

Better turn the spell checker off Jerry, it wouldn't be the same without your unique approach to the English language.

Beware of goats standing in clouds

Thanks, Chaps.. Just saw this thread.. Been terribly busy at work.. Still am, but took a couple of days off while the missus and daughter go to London for some culture. And for some reason, they browser spell checker is working again! Back to it on Tuesday, but have a lot of personal stuff to catch up on.

I did.. but this house is taking a bloody long time and draining more funds than we imagined. , so every so often we have to pause to let them build up. Unf, this year, I made a bit of a blue of a decision because I was too busy at work to think things through and that cost be £25K as well.. So that has to be made up, too. But this week, things are back on, and it is some rewiring and all the decorative work.. If I don't sell the lot, I will subdivide, where I can sell the cottage to pay off the mortgage and then rent out the main house.

Like you, OT, I was turned off alcohol and smokes at an early age. My grandfather was responsible. When I was a youngster, my family shared the farmhouse with my paternal grandparents. I can clearly recall my grandfather on the back verandah of the farmhouse giving me a puff of a roll-your-own and making me sick, and at another time giving me a sip of scotch, which I hated.We left the farm when I was seven, so it was before that age. I was never tempted again. My father didn't drink or smoke either. When he went to a hotel, he would drink sarsaparilla.

The main reason for the subs and indeed, the increase in Australian defence spending and mobilisation is the threat of China taking Taiwan. The reason we got second hand ones was America can't make them fast enough. $5 billion dollars each I believe. America needs to make 2 a year but can't keep up. Probably cos China has a stranglehold on critical minerals for the development of defence assets, along with a hollowing out of manufacturing like most western countries. Australia, like the rest of the developed world, will enter a technological dark age if China takes Taiwan.

They are worse now than they have everbeen.both sides

A magnet for people who are sick of the standard of politicians we have now. Surprised people can't see that

Too true. But somehow the world seems to think otherwise.

Wait up , didn't you say that last year, too?

I must say I'm very fortunate to have never taken up smoking or drinking in excessive amounts, from even pre-teen years. I can remember finding a packet of Turf cigarettes on the road whilst riding my bike when I was about 10 - tried one, and after coughing and spluttering for a while, thought, "Why the hell would anyone want to do this??" I threw the rest of the packet away. I guess having bad asthma for many years as a child, made me very wary about doing anything adverse, that would affect my breathing ability or lung capacity. The same went for alcohol. Neither of my parents drank much alcohol at all. They would buy a bottle of Rose or Vermouth and have a little with meals. I never saw them in the bars of pubs, knocking back constant glasses of beer, wine or spirits. My teenage mates were never big on booze, and when I went to parties where beer was offered, I decided I hated the taste of it. So I became a very moderate wine and spirits drinker. A bottle of Whisky lasts me 12 to 18 months, and even longer in recent times. I used have a few glasses every month, of mostly white wine, in the 70's and 80's, but mostly when dining out. I was never a big party-goer anyway, I was always working, trying to build up a business, and operating and repairing machines and dealing with clients. Funnily enough, I worked in industries (earthmoving/trucking/mining) where heavy boozing was just a daily habit. A "carton a day" was common amongst compatriots. Even in the Army, I drank very little, while at least half of the other blokes in the Army were borderline alcoholics, and the lager culture ruled in the military. The more I learn as I get older, is just how much many diseases and body organ failures, are linked back to excessive alcohol consumption and smoking. I have never seen a centenarian who was a heavy drinker, but I've watched a lot of business and work associates, and a few friends, die too young, with alcohol or smoking-related complaints. And of course, quite a few died in alcohol-related car accidents, often self-inflicted. But my elder brother was killed by a drunk in a 5 ton Ford truck when I was 15, and he was 25 and newly married, so I guess that affected me for life, too. Good on you Jerry, for going almost alcohol-free, it has major advantages as you age. I found that as I aged, the adverse effects of alcohol on the day after drinking a few, became harder to shake off.