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Rail tracks and rolling stock have to be safe OR nothing gets there. The SHOW goes off the rails. Nev

My View hew is trying to deny CHINA Oil.. Maybe disadvantage Europe as well and at the same time HELP his good Mate, Putin. Nev

Rave on. That's all it sounds like. You are NOT accurate either. Tony wants to Be President of a Political party, and my comment is made in that context. You just make things up, frequently. There's nothing corrupt about a Preferential system in essence either.. Some countries have First past the Post but is it suitable where a Lot of Candidates are Listed? I don't Know but it certainly doesn't keep ME awake at Night whereas having Abbot in any position of POWER again would be Nightmarish. . Most Politicians accept the Choice of the Voters. Libs have been dummy spitting rather than doing something about the Policies that saw them Kicked out convincingly. Their ranks are Unsafe for Women to start with. A bad sign. Nev

I've Never felt The Need to have One, but for the towing aspect. There's Plenty of IVECO's Pulling large Loads. The safest way to Pull things of any significant size is By having it articulated like a Lot of Horse floats are. Nev

Well the ISIS brides will get the pension as well when they reach 67, and they won't have improved with age either. The two party ALP and Coalition system is on it's last legs, we're all seeing them for what they really are, ideological dictators, telling everyone else to sit down and shut up. They rely solely on preference voting, not primary votes, to win seats. As such, all squares must be marked for votes to be formal. So the entire voting system is based on preferences, otherwise the system fails to work. Being mandatory to mark every square is dictatorship. Fill them all out, or your vote won't count.

Aren't they called ESV's - Emotional Support Vehicles?

Knowing Trumps total lack of strategic planning abilities, with his off-the-cuff, instantly-reversible decisions usually catching all his staff and operatives off-guard - I'd have to say definitely not.

That may be correct, but building the infrastructure to run them on is where the cost is. Also, railways need a higher level of maintenance than roads. Trains don't like potholes and other sorts of irregularities that trucks can accept from the roads they travel over.

You are pretty spot on about business owners. My son's business is fitting all those extra bits and pieces to 4WDs. Regarding the legality of driving an over-GVM vehicle, I can recall a case a few year ago in which a driver of a towing and over-GVM vehicle/caravan combination was convicted of causing the death of a passenger when the unit crashed.

Do you reckon that was the preliminary step towards launching the attack on Iran?

Maybe we should put some of the global warming budget into it. Trains are efficient when you work out the tonnes of freight/ litre of fuel.

What we forget is that although China is building heaps of intermittent generation, it is also building a lot of synchronous generation as well.(includes traditional hydro) It will include enough capacity to keep the grid stable. China aren't silly. Really like this comment. By all means decarbonise but don't make Australia a basket case to do it. Do it in a planned, sustainable way. It will make no difference to global warming. The other countries with low emissions should do the same thing.

What has that got to do with the price of bread? Had a house hold pump break down on the week end, That has no highly loaded bearings OR rapidly reversing loads etc in an electric Motor. Reciprocating motors are just trying to fling themselves apart and have Large Pressures and thermal stresses. and critical Lubrication issues" either but it still broke down. Welcome to the world of mechanical apparatus!

Your social status is defined instantly by the vehicle you drive. So you buy the biggest 4WD dual cab you can, regardless of the economics or running costs or practicality of the vehicle. Plus, nearly all the owners of these vehicles are operating businesses and they're simply a big tax deduction, paid for by business income. Add in the fact that when you're a business owner, able to quote an ABN, you can get "fleet" discounts, as well as factory-backed low interest rate financing (as low as 1%) - so the dealers have to knock back buyers with a stick. The waiting list for nearly all 4WD's is huge, up to 6 to 12 months for some "high range" models. And the factories keep production at precise levels to ensure that the demand is just being met, and that there's no oversupply. However, the Chinese are flooding the market with their new vehicles, so people who can't wait, simply go and buy a readily available Chinese car.

The U.S. has more than adequate oil reserves themselves to provide all their domestic needs. They actually export fuel. They have no need to import Middle Eastern oil, they only do so to acquire the more desirable "light crude", which is easier and less costly to refine. All American refineries are built to refine both light and heavy crude. They have access to all the Venezuelan oil they want, after ensuring the Venezuelan Govt became more compliant to U.S. demands.

When they ONLY talk only amongst themselves they don't come up with any NEW ideas. One of the Major Causes of the Libs being where they are Now would be Tony Abbott. This would have to Be the Ultimate attempt to flog a Dead Horse. He's been constantly trying a find a Raison d etre since he Lost his own seat.( Bad sign). Peta Credlin was HIS "Brain" then. His true Loyalty LIES back in England but he didn't have any success there. IF you caused a Mess surely you would HAVE to rule yourself out as being the One to FIX it. PLUS He's none the wiser He has not improved with AGE.. As long as he is Australina he will get the Pension .Nev

Don't be JUST another PANIC Merchant. We are doing a lot better than a Lot of others and after events Like this we will reduce our dependency on such sources of a diminishing, Conflict causing and highly Polluting resource.Nec

Have you got a NEW Cause Celebre, Mark? You can get artificial Spray on Mud for those Toorak Tractors. Enhance your MANLY Image (and that of your Wife ) when she takes little Johnie to Private school. each day. The whole 1-2 Kms that doesn't even get the engine Warm. Nev

Dangerously exceeding load capacity. Rig out one of these big vehcles, not matter what the power source is, and you are overweight, or need to be a fly-weight to drive them.

What I can't understand is why people drive those kinds of vehicle around the suburban area. They take up 1.5 car parking spaces, and anyone in a medium sized sedan parked beside them can't see past them when exiting their parking space.

Unintended consequences. Prior to Trump's excursion into Iran, tankers were sailing from the Gulf countries through the Strait of Hurmuz to the oil refineries of the United States. These tankers are slow. It takes them weeks to make the journey. This week, the last tanker out of the Gulf arrived in the USA. The ones that had been filled after it are stuck in the Persian Gulf because of the closure of the Strait. Think of this. If the Strait was opened today, it would take six or more weeks before the first tanker arrived at a US port to unload. Then thee is the time it takes to refine the oil and distribute it. In the meantime, fuel becomes scarce and economic knowledge tells us that the price will skyrocket to somethng around $US7.00 per US gallon for rteh American consumer. Experts predict that if teh Strait opened today, oil prices would remain at these very high prices until the middle of 2027. Even if the Democrats sweep the mid-term elections and oust Trump, Americans will be out of fuel well into 2028.

Just goes to show, what a bunch of out-of-touch has-beens, the Liberal Party has become.

My son has a BYD Shark PHEV. I've been looking at some Australian-made videos on Youtube made by 4WD influencers, and most of what they present is positive. However there are a few things that have got me thinking that the design concept of the vehicle is wrong. First, the vehicle is a 3-tonne dual cab. It is a tall vehicle, meaning that one has to climb up into it. Why so big? It has a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of 3,500 kg and a payload of approximately 790 kg. That 750 kg paylod has to include the weight of five persons plus luggage and other junk. Don't forget that if the vehicle is used to tow a caravan or other type of trailer, the towball weight has to be taken from the 750 kg. I wonder how useful it would be as a tradie's ute. How much do a tradie's tools weigh? And how often do five tradies travel in the one vehicle? Next I don't see it as an off-road vehicle. A lot of the videos show it being used off-raod, but I think this is a mistake. I think people might not understand that although each wheel of the vehicle is driven by its own motor, it does not, to my mind, equate to the traditional 4WD. While each motor delivers maximum torque immediately, off-road driving requires that the torque from an ICE or EV power plant should be controlled. I think that the correct application of an EV motor is through a gearbox if one wants to drive through mud, sand and climb mountains. BYD has been honest in stating that the battery-only range is 100 km. That is sufficient for daily running around the local area. They have been honest to say that for longer distances, the 1.5 litre ICE engine must be used. This engine is basically an onborad electrical generator which uses about 7.5 litres/100 km at highway speed without towing. Towing a medium sized caravan or horse float can blow that out to about 20 litres/100km. One advantage of teh BYD battery system is that it has outlest which can provide 240 volts. That would be useful for a tradie to run chargers for cordless tools. Why do I think the design concept is wrong? Around my way, the most popular style of work vehicle is the Toyota Hillux in single or dual cab. The vehicle weighs about 2 tonnes with a load capacity of about 900 kg. This design suits the needs of farmers and tradies. It is available in 2 or 4WD configuration. Why couldn't a model with an EV power system be made to this design? Toyota has a Hilux EV, but it is a big monster like the Shark.

Well this will help them turn the ship around... 😂 ABC Live blog says Tony Abbott is positioning himself to be the next president of the Liberal party. Kind of like hiring Putin to be a conflict mediator, or Trump to bring honesty back to politics. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-07/federal-politics-live-blog-early-childcare-commission/106651090