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Circumstances change. What may appear to have been appropriate or good policy at one time, before an election, may be totally incorrect later. Rigidly sticking to an idea which is no longer appropriate just to avoid being accused of lying is irresponsible. One has to change with the tide.

My eldest son is 18 today. Couldn't be prouder of the fine young man he's become. 😊

A Moderator has issued a warning to Brendan, mainly for abusive posts. As a Moderator myself, I was wondering to myself if, due to the deterioration of the standard of debate we have come to expect, that this thread should be closed. The question has lead to inflammatory remarks, which are actually well off topic since the remarks have been personal attacks. However, closing a thread, no matter what the topic, could be seen as censorous, a denial of a freedom to express an opinion ON THE SENTIMENT OF THE TOPIC. Therefore, I have reached the conclusion that the thread should remain open. The point is, let's get back on topic. Perhaps we should move on to discussing the question, "Is a two-party system the most efficient way to provide governance to a Nation?" We have good examples of governments comprised of representatives of all political philosopies coming together to work for the good of a Nation. Consider teh British governmetn in WWII, and even the Australian Government in the same period. Let's have no more personal attacks. Let's raise ourselves out of the ralm of gutter politics. Say your piece on the topic, and back your statements on sources that can be examined.

I never drink alone but it would be better if I didn't drink at all. It costs and is NOT good for you. . Especially Distilled stuff. (Liver Cirrhosis) My wife invents occasions to celebrate.. Good wine is my favourite poison. Life is too short to drink bad wine , drive Land Rovers and eat British food. That's an old one. MAYBE the Land Rovers have improved. Nev

you reckon labour are doing a good job. net zero is costing us a fortune and in the end it will be dropped because it is unviable. bowen is a clown. every day we here about another labour minister abusing allowancees. labour in victoria have handed organised crime 15 billion or more using the big build as a front. jacintas idea for more housing is to build towers all over melbourne because they will come under cmfeu control. they don't get involved in residential home builds so no promoting that. daniel andrews left before he had to face the music but not before he amassed 90 million for himself. there is so much more than that too. andrews tripled workers comp policys overnight and that makes life hard for us employers . i never used to be interested in politics at all but these criminal and corrupt politicians made me take notice. i actually voted for andrews when he first ran. the other choice was napthine and his incompetent mates. now albo the liar is breaking his ellection promises and bringing far too many immigrants with no regard to infastructure. and labour believes criminals should all be set free with no consequences for thier actions. one nation might have its faults but they will be better than what we have now.

Whoa.. There were a few spicy pages I just caught up on. 🙂 I think it is fair to say the two party system is in transition. To what - who knows? I will leave the performance of Albo and his crew to the appropriate thread. However, it is clear that there is a perception that neither of the two majors are truly representing the majority of Aussies at the moment. And, from the polls, it is clear the libs at least (and possibly the Nats) aren't thought to be at all representing their traditional base. Labor, at least federally, seem to be not too far off their normal primary vote; I read it was somewhere around the 28% mark; not too much lower than the last federal election of, from memory, about 32%. At the same time, there is a perception (real or otherwise) that the gap is ever widening between the haves and have nots and that blame is being successfully laid at the feet immigration, which plays into both fear and bigotry. This is because more and more of what was the middle class is being squeezed more and more. For various reasons, which would take a book to go through, blame has successfully been laid at the feet of immigration. This results in a perception the immigrants are taking away previous little resources that the majority of the population have to fight for, and along comes Pauline with her silver bullet fixes to everyone's problems. The Libs had their time and between Morrison and Dutton (with a little Littleproud thrown in), screwed things up so royally, they were booted out (Albo technically won, but in the famous words of Bill Hayden - a drover's dog would have won that election). To his credit, he took an early lump in the form of the Voice, licked his wounds, and then did a reasonable job. But hubris seems to be setting in (early) as it inevitably does, and he is no longer looking like he is really looking after the majority of the people he purports to represent. Having said that, the loss of primary vote is probably not much more than a protest vote - yet. The Libs seem to be so far removed from reality, that all but their most ardent supporters seem to have jumped ship. It's hard to understand precisely what they stand for. If I was a betting person, I would suggest in 5 - 10 years, without a complete about-face, they will fade into oblivion. Which may leave a two party system - Labor and Phon.. Or more likely, some other party will spring up as the Greens seem to be marginalising themselves (or at least no one is covering them much anymore). Or there may be more parties, in which case it is likely to become lie some European countries where coalitions are formed and broken. Whilst I support the key budget changes on economic grounds, there is a lot more that can be done. And, people like David Pocock are using social media effectively to get a message across of what is wrong with Labor and the LNP. Just google or youtube him and you will see what I mean.

It seems like most of the political journos are writing and saying that the rise of One Nation has meant the end of the two party system as we've known it. It might come to that, where we have three main parties for a period of time. Or One Nation could flame out, the coalition eventually rebuilds, and we're back to the old two party system. I don't follow European politics much, but some of those countries seem to have multi parties and they try to cobble together a coalition of parties after the election to get a governing majority. It makes me wonder if that's the direction we're heading here in Australia.

If you think the current crop of Federal Labor politicians are crooked and liars, you must have a short memory. Johnny Howard was a pretty good liar when it suited his aims. He took us into an unnecessary and useless War in Iraq, selling us American lies disguised as Truth. If Hanson gets any kind of power, she'd be right up there with Trump, sending all our Defence personnel and equipment to help in his unpopular, illegal, and unconstitutional Iranian War. I quoted the Hancocks, because Hanson adores Gina Hancock, takes millions from her, and thereby owes her "big-time", and would do whatever Gina insisted, such as ensuring unions were gutted - just like America, where workers rights don't exist, only continuous concessions to huge corporations. This American bloke in the video below points out how Australia is the land of robber barons, enriching themselves annually beyond the ordinary persons wildest dreams - whilst not working any harder than a lot of everyday employees. The corporate control over all over polticians is frightening - but the right wing politicians continually concede major concessions to them, thus making the everyday cost of living harder and harder for ordinary Australians. Hanson would be a pushover for corporate greed, and corporate greed drives a lot of Australia's basic problems. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/other/the-real-power-structure-controlling-australia-s-economy/vi-AA21hRmY

One problem is that during an election, the electorate doesn't really want to hear the truth. Take house affordability. Most people acknowledge that homes, especially for first-time buyers, are way too expensive. A politician who promises to lower housing prices will surely do well until people who actually own a home realise that devaluing housing prices devalues their property as well. Not a great election pitch to existing home owners. Note, I personally am fine with that; you can't have everything. I find that voters at election time are rather like kiddies sitting on Santa's lap. They just want to be told what is in it for them.

Same here. I like wine but decided at the start of the year that I'd stop buying it unless it was a special occasion. As I'm mostly by myself in the house it's not a good habit to get into. The second glass is always a bit bigger than the first. Anyway, I haven't missed it at all and the recycling bin is a lot less noisy when I put it out these days, so that's a positive.

I can relate to this. I mostly have 1 bottle a week, but these days Mrs Octave doesn't drink much at all so I end up drinking most of it. Whilst I am pretty moderate (mostly) if there is an open bottle, I will finish it. We are just experimenting with going out to a wine bar and having just one nice glass rather than a whole moderately priced bottle. Four times a year Mrs Octave is away for a week, so I tend to overdo it. When visiting my son in NZ I do fall into a bit of a trap. His household is pretty nerdy. They brew beer which is stored under the house and is piped into the kitchen. There are 3 taps with 3 different delicious home brews. A new addition is gin, which they distil themselves. There are bottles in a rack with a dispenser. This is a little problematic when I am cooking. Chop some onions, fill glass, saute onions fill glass, etc.

By labour, I guess you mean Labor. Here is a breakdown of the levels of crime per state. Here is how the states and territories generally break down by safety and crime rates: Here is how the states and territories generally break down by safety and crime rates: Northern Territory: Highest per-capita crime rate nationally. Cities like Alice Springs and Darwin often top national per-capita crime lists. [1, 2, 3] Queensland: Has the highest crime rate among the major eastern states, with surging rates of assault, break-ins, and youth-related property crime. [1, 2, 3] Victoria: Frequently ranks highly on a per-capita basis, with recent statistics indicating record highs in criminal incidents—particularly in the Melbourne CBD and specific regional centres. [1, 2] New South Wales: Despite the high total volume of reported crimes (driven by its large population), its per-capita crime rates are relatively low compared to the rest of the country. [1, 2] Australian Capital Territory: Consistently considered one of the safest jurisdictions in Australia with significantly lower crime rates. [1, 2, 3] If you are making a connection between Labor governments and crime, you have to account for the fact that NSW has a low per capita crime rate. Is this an achievement of the NSW Labor government? The ACT has been governed by Labor since 2001 and has significantly lower crime. I am not spruiking for Labor here, I am not a party political person. In one of your posts you link to an ABC News site, which is lists all the crime stories. These are Australia-wide, not just Victorian. If you keep doomscrolling, of course, you will become anxious. I live in Victoria, and of course, I would like crime to be as low as possible; however, you have to keep things in perspective.

I'd actually argue that the rise of call centres is the cause of bad customer service. Businesses think that the number of calls answered and the wait times are the only KPI that matters. Staff don't have in depth business knowledge because they're hired, trained for a week then told to follow the script. A good employee who knows the business may spend 10 minutes or more sorting out a difficult problem. However if they spend this amount of time on one call they'll be reprimanded. The short sightedness of this is that the 10 minute call may have stopped the client ring back another 5 times, getting progressively more annoyed and then telling everyone they know how bad that business is.

As the 4th July 2026 approaches, I feel sorry for the average American. That will be the day they celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which they hold as being the date of the creation of their nation. Actually, independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain was gained on 3rd September, 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, whereby the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. Be that as it may, sometime in 2026 the American people get to celebrate the creation of their nation. From 1775 to 1781 battles were fought by the residents of the Thirteen Colonies to gain independence from Great Britain. From 1783 those residents and millions of migrants who arrived as free persons or slaves built a nation that by the 20th Century became the most powerful amongst nations, held in awe by all others. That was until the begining of 2025 when a freely elected government set about destroying it through avarice which led to the engaging in all sorts of activities considered to be corrupt and/or authoritarian. As a result of those activities, the shining light that was American Democracy has been dulled. I well remember how in 1976 the American people celebrated the 200th anniversary of their Nation's founding. It was a time of great happiness. I am so sad that in 2026, the American people cannot celebrate this further milestone with the same degree of happiness, all due the the actions of a narcissist who never possessed the abilities required of the leader of a Nation. One can only hope that by the 275th anniversary, the American nation has recovered from its present situation.

To clarify, the word average was quoted in the thread title "Sympathy for the AVERAGE American." This is why I included the word average, not as a mathematical statement. Some have suggested that Americans (average or otherwise) are not worried about Trump, so my point is that come the midterms, we will know what they do think or at least what those who vote think.

As there is a thread about Chump already, how about we make this about the "average American". Firstly, what is the "average American"? Or do we mean the stereotypical middle class American - and even this is hard to define as their preferences and attitudes can vary differently between states. But how does this correlate to their rise in economic and political power? And concentration of that economic and political power. Don't forget, the US economy was originally built on some of the most oppressive largesse compared to its peers - slavery, suppression of workers rights, etc. Even today, not a rise since 2009 of the minimum wage.. very little leave entitlements, virtually no redundancy rights, etc. at least compared to its peers. And let's not forget, the leader in a democracy, of which it still was in 2025 when Chump was elected, is the result of a majority of votes or seats or states or whatever, in accordance with the electoral laws and systems. In this case, in 2025, Chump was able to attract the popular majority of voters as well as states. Yep, I feel sorry for the Democrat voters, and for America not having what it considered a better option. But ultimately, they knew what he was going to do, knew he would do it and some cited that is why they voted for him. As a result, I don't feel so sorry for the Americans.. they made theiur bed (if not all of them - but that is how it works). In fact, I could argue the current administration doesn't break with their historical past, particularly with respect to avarice. I do feel sorry for the rest of the world (or at least the US allies) that bought into the US, had no say, and now have to deal with the fallout.

And how is that looking so far? As I understand it, the memorandum of understanding which lasts for 60 days, does not include handing over nuclear materials. It does seemingly involve unfreezing billions dollars of assets for the Iranians. I also understand that the Iranians have not ruled out charging tolls for ships using the Strait of Hormuz. Then there is regime change. This has not occurred, but several leaders have been killed, and it is believed their replacements are even harder line. The US has squandered its arsenal of weapons such as the Tomahawk Missile, which will take years to replenish. https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-indefinitely-suspends-tomahawk-japan#:~:text=The United States has indefinitely,day U.S. assault on Iran. "The United States has indefinitely suspended the delivery of Japan’s first 400 RGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles, due to serious shortages of the missiles in the U.S. Navy that have resulted from the 39 day U.S. assault on Iran. " It would be a great time for China to take Taiwan. But I guess if Americans are feeling down because of increasing healthcare costs, high petrol prices, etc. I am sure they are massively cheered up by the bulldozing of the East Wing to build that big, Beautiful Ballroom to be used by the ultra-rich. MMmmmm you've got to love all that gold leaf. I bet they they cant wait for the Arch De Trump or to get their first $250 bill with the dear leader's face on. I am sure they are so proud of the immense intelligence of the leader. So smart that he aces tests that are used to detect dementia. But of course, the doctor administering the test has never seen such a perfect score.

On the basis that current aged voters would die out, yes. But it ignores two other things. First, and less likely, the new found popularity of one nation will result in those offspring and impressionable of those new found voters being conditioned into following... Of course, most of the new found voters probably have adult kds where it is too late (hence, less likely). But, as we age, our ideology tends to change - usually moderate more than flip.. But there are enough people on the boundaries that may keep PHON in popularity or even increase it (assuming every other factor stays the same). I just mentioned it as a possible outcome, but if UK experience is anything to go by - and indeed US experience - the electorate may well have had enough that something really bad has to happen before they change their tune. On any other electoral system, Farage and UK Reform would possibly be the second or likely third party in the UK House of Commons today - straight past the post averted that. Chump is in because of the protest vote - the die-hard MAGA base is not enough to give them more than a few states (yes, Chump is Republican, but lets face it, their national elections are usually based on the presidential candidates). Pauline#s rise is not dissimilar to Farage's.. disenfranchised population, structural unfairness, immigration concerns, etc. And now, a rise in the polls; the difference is Reform are now polling ahead of anyone else. Both parties have the same issues - candidate vetting is terrible, controlled by billionaires and open about it, offering cheap solutions to difficult problems, etc. It is likely, unless Labour in the UK turn things around quickly, Reform will be the next government (Conservatives are in the same position as the Libs). Then the shit will hit the fan and as the British are less rusted on, Reform will hopefully implode before they can do too much damage, or will at least be booted out and we will never hear of them or their people again. Although Albo is far less unpopular than Starmer, it is plausible that without Labor turning it around, Pauline could make a decent go of it at the next election.. definitely not a majority, but with preferential voting, you may well see quite a few One Nation taken seats in the House of Reps. That would give her enough to make a dent, but not enough to extend them the rope to hang themselves (metaphorically to those sensitive to Pauline). If Labor continue, then as long as ON don't royally screw up, they could be in for a treat in 2031. It is not that far away (and assuming no early elections called). At the polls stand today, they look to be the majority party on a "two-party" preferred basis, where if one substituted them for the Libs/Nats in that race. As it is, they are polling well ahead of the Lib/Nats. Once they are in, if they are, like Reform, they would likely screw everything up and we will never hear of them again. So, while I agree, they are a fringe riding a wave of discontent, there is a more than tight probability they will become a major at the next election and the libs will pay for it. Agreed. this is the major reason for voter discontent; it's just the billionaires are great at getting a manipulated message out to the population it is identity politics (pick whatever you like) that is the problem. She had so many "I don't do policy on the run" responses to basic policy questions - I would put her more like Joe BP - "Don't you worry about that!"

It had entered for the Pullet's Surprise award.. Nev

The ABC has a very good and highly relevant article on the current death of democracy, brought about by a common failure to tax billionaires, which leads to autocracy, and therefore excessive concentration of important decision-making power, into a small number of unelected super-rich people. What the article fails to include, is the point that concentration of wealth in just a few peoples hands, leads to a constant cost squeeze on the middle class and working class, who end up bearing the brunt of the taxation payments. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-17/democracy-cannot-survive-trillionaires-gabriel-zucman-elon-musk/106798842

If they interview the bird, maybe it can answer that age-old question of why it was crossing the road...

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.

Does that mean the cloud will be in the sky?

I am travelling to Aus for a couple of weeks - up to a month in mid-July. I am guessing that will become a gripe for you fellas 🙂 It's not the flight, nor the destination, but the purpose. what I call YAMD - yet another mercy dash. At least this time, it is not for a couple of days. I will be between my brother's place in Canterbury and my mother's place in the Yarra Valley - as well as Port Arlington, where my brother has his retirement place. Sadly, my mum has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and I am coming out for the prognosis scan. Then it will be making arrangements after that. Also, both my brother and I want to get her wishes, because, the feeling when my father was in ICU being asked by the doc to play dog was not a good one. And that time will come, so I want us to be prepared - as I have prepared my family for my inevitable demise. All good things must come to an end, unf. But, it will be a recce trip as well, so not all gripes. I will take a look at a parcel of land I intend to build my "retirement" lifestyle on - and yes - it will be GA/RAAA based. In addition, I will try to nip up to Sydney to introduce myself to our Aussie office and see if there may be any offerings in the future move - which is not far, now - end of year max - will explain in the reno thread. I won't have time to do any flying, plus I don't have an Aussie medical at the moment (couldn't get a mygov id in time for my last medical here.).

Labor changed their mind to HELP first Home Buyers get a leg on the Ladder of Home Ownership They knew Some would take the Opportunity to have a go at them but took the risk. Is THAT a BAD thing? Look where the Nat's/ Libs are NOW and it's looking worse for them every day. . Them's just the FACTS. For a Long time, all they have done is say NO and obstruct. The People have decided.. Nev

It sounds sad, but today marks 3 months a good mate has not visited at all. He actually stopped visiting in mid Jan, but popped in in mid Feb when another mate visited. And again, very quickly met up with me when I met an old work colleague in Mid March - but it was just a very quick visit that time - only one glass of wine. Of course, that mate is Wolfie (and his cohorts). Funny thing is, I haven't missed it. I got my partner a bottle of Plantagnet Chardy (a personal favourite for what you can get here these days), which she duly appreciated. I did sneak a sip and say to her, "This is a good wine, right" to which she was quite agreeable. I didn't like it at all! The most tempting time to have a drink was when I was in Frankfurt a couple of weeks ago. It was lovely weather and we were treated to dinner at a tavern, where the beers looked so tempting. Even when I was at the cricket with some Aussie and English mates last week - in the social club so with nice sit down meal and a flowing bar - I wasn't tempted. I feel I have lost a friend - and it is, in this case, cause for a celebration (Now I have to ditch the confectionery)

Bullying?? This - from one of the most abusive, right wing ranters I have seen on any forum? In every second post you are being personally abusive to other contributors, with personal denigration attacks. You take peoples statements out of context, or amplify them to extreme levels. You abuse Nev because he has reservations about Rotax engine designs, and makes out that he says all Rotax-powered aircraft are going to fall from the sky. I'm not "shit-scared" of getting out of my car in Northam - but I do have personal experience of my wife being threatened with rape in a womans toilet in Northam by a gang of dark-skinned teenage juveniles who followed her in, unbeknowns to me. I do know, with 5 police or ex-police in our extended family, that Northam registers high on crime rates, and I know it's a combination of drugs, poor parenting, and juvenile delinquency. My nephews big industrial property just out of Northam was raided, and the thieves stole every computer in the place, costing him a motza. The crims weren't immigrants. These problems, of poor parenting, drugs, juveniles being led in to crime, are world wide, not just in Victoria. Your state does seem to have a spike in crime by the offspring of Sudanese immigrants, I guess the police will get a handle on it, soon. You live in a world of "left-wing" hatred and abuse, generated by Hanson, Trump, Gina Hancock, et al. It's about time you took a hard look at yourself and put yourself in other peoples shoes. You're obviously very wealthy, you own several trucks, you're a businessman, you own aircraft, you can afford to fly regularly, you probably own more than one property. You've achieved all that, despite "left wing liars" (another abusive right wing tirade - as if right-wing politicians never lie) being in Federal and State power, for a large proportion of the 21st century. You still make good money under Labor control and decision-making. I guess you want to live in the right-wing dream world where there are only white people in Australia, where corporations can do what they like, where poor people are alway just regarded as poor, because they're lazy, and where juvenile criminals are sent to the electric chair for stealing a car. You live in a world of childish simplistic answers and solutions.

You talk a lot of shit, mate. Your right-wing parties are so useless they couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery if they bought their own glasses. As soon as Hanson gets any kind of power, she'll be asking Gina Hancock to help run the country. And Hancock is just a robber baron, shafting every Australian, while she claims we should all bow down and be grateful to her, for ripping all our minerals out of the ground so she can make more millions without lifting a finger. She gets multiple millions a year for just collecting royalties and pays no tax, because it all goes into the Hancock Family Trust. Her old man built a $20M mansion, pissing in everyones face with his blatant ripoff iron ore money, while ordinary people did it tough. Then when his Filipino floozy widow looked like taking over the iron ore income stream, Gina spent multiple tens of millions on lawyers to make the Filipino floozy get just a couple of million, and nothing else. Then Gina flattened the mansion, less than 20 years after it was built. Is this the kind of people you want running Australia? Australia is the land of lack of competition, monopolies, robber barons, and corporate lobbyists who would twist Hanson around their fingers, if Hanson ever got any kind of political power - so they could get more corporate rorts, and more extreme wealth. Now we have BHP refusing to pay electricians good money for doing a prick of a job in extreme dust and heat, and a Liberal or ON Govt would back BHP to the hilt, claiming unions were being greedy. They're the ones who know what greed looks like. Meantimes, corporate CEO's get salaries that look like Lotto wins every week, while they claim they can't pay workers any more money. Banducci, CEO of Woolworths, gets close on $10M in salary and perks, while he shafts Woolies customers and Woolworth employees. Joyce got $25M annually for shafting Qantas customers, and employees. At least Labor goes in to bat for the battlers, the pensioners, the veterans, and those who can't get a step up the rung of the wealth ladder. Labor tries to adjust the tax system so the housing bubble doesn't explode, and tries to help young people acquire an affordable home - and all the Landcruiser-driving, big boat boat-owning, multiple property owners and developers, start screeching they've been shafted, and Labor is a pack of arseholes. No, it's the greedy property owners who keep wanting million-dollar property gains every year, while they pay only a pittance in tax, thanks to all their wangled tax deductions - such as the Landcruisers and boats - who are shafting every Australian, and getting "unjust riches" from property investment. Crime has always been with us, you watch too much TV and social media crap, that blows crime out of all proportion. Were you complaining about gun crime in the 1990's when shootings were just as common as today, but only occasionally reported? When we had the worst massacre Australia has ever had, with 35 people shot down by one bloke, just for fun? What about the Hoddle St massacre, or the Fathers Day massacre in Milperra? Those people weren't recent immigrants. Car thefts were massive in the 1980's and 1990's, and immobilisers were introduced to try and stop it. So car thefts went down for a while, now the car thieves have electronic devices to beat immobilisers. We have more people in jail than ever, and yet you claim crims are getting away with crimes constantly. Not much has changed - just the rabid, rapid-fire media reporting that has increased, because the media of today want stories that attract clicks and eyeballs. You need to take a hard look at yourself and your one-eyed, right wing rants, or go to America and join the MAGA nutters who claim Trump has all the answers, too. And I forgot to add, Hanson thinks Trump has all the answers as well, she worships him as the answer to the worlds problems. So we'll get a Trump-style Govt, if Hanson gets any political power. Decisions on the fly, with no reference to anyone, and decisions reversed daily, so no-one knows what's going on. Hanson is a stunt-puller, and carries the same level of nastiness as Trump, abusing people, including allies, and causing disruption, left right and centre. Albo and Chalmers are doing their best with what they got handed, and a lot of what they got handed, came from Liberal Govt decisions.

Whilst I don't doubt that there are problems to be worked out, it is not insurmountable. Consider a sport such as wrestling or boxing. Within one gender, there is a range of sizes and weights. They don't pair up a 110kg competitor with a 60kg competitor. They have weight classes. The fact is that sport only works when it is competitive. We don't team up professionals with amateurs; it would not be interesting to watch. The point is that these problems have solutions. In any case, the sports argument is often that is presented is "what about sport" as if this is an argument against trans is and an argument about sports. Now personally, I have little interest sport however, I suspect these issues of competitiveness regarding gender are as solvable as problems of different weight and size, as well as experience.

Don't get me started, OT.. those big consultancies are the biggest scams on earth (Except, that I started with my earlier post - I think it was PWC that was consulting to the ATO on how to make changes to reduce the loopholes and were at the same time consulting to private corps on how to beat them).

Yep - no skills, but she wants to fly the plane.......

Announced Policies are generally not believed anyway. The public has lost trust in what politicians and speechwriters say.

I guess we might get a feel for how the average American (voter) feels in November.

In my opinion although many people go on about federal or state government corruption, it is local government (councils) that are by far the most corrupt level of government

Well the two party system has seen better days. What we should do now is change from voting for candidates, to voting on issues, because it's the issues that are dividing our nation so much. The Governor General can appoint administrators to manage the issues that the voting public have given priority to by majority vote. Old habits die hard, so this proposal will be viewed as radical, but only until it's not. The present system of parties with their own stalwart conflicting opinions is not achieving real harmony or contentment. They're only producing division, nationally incongruent protests and murders in the streets. We need to finish up with the bitter verbal chundering and get on with finding a better way.

Until the last few days, this forum has been pretty respectful between people with different political views. Suddenly, it has deteriorated. I am happy to listen to any reasoned, respectful argument.

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.

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.

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.

Speaking as A glider pilot, thay's the best place to put clouds

Apologies for quoting just a portion of a sentence, but I'm just commenting on that possibility. For them to gain any effective power I can only see three scenarios. The first and second are assuming Labor can't form a majority at the next election. In that case, One Nation could either be the senior partner in a One Nation/Liberal coalition government, or the junior partner. For the third scenario, Labor holds enough seats to govern in their own right or with the support of independents, but One Nation does well in the Senate and holds the balance of power in the upper house. I don't know whether that's possible or not as I haven't checked how that could happen given there's eight parties and two independents holding senate seats and it will likely be a half senate election if there's no double dissolution. At this stage, while always possible, it's hard to see One Nation gaining enough seats in the lower house to govern in their own right.

The only alcohol of any description that I have had since 2017 is the brandy in the Christmas pudding. I had a glass of the house white at a retired bank officer's luncheon in 2017 and that's the only stuff I've had in years. Throughout my entire life, the total amount would have been less than one bottle per year. A glass, or part thereof, on the odd festive occasion. Never red. Only a few sips and it wasn't for me.

Brendon, you maybe should reflect on your own postings. As a new poster, you did rather come in quite aggressively. Many of us have been posting here for many years. I started posting in 2007. Although we have different views, here we can politely disagree and move on, instead of referring to "left wing turkeys" etc. I have often had disagreements with Nev, but I would never say this, and he would not say this about me because I don't make aggressive posts. You generally get what you give. T

I'm getting a bit reluctant to approve anyone's post because it will Make them a Leftist turkey. Also IF someone approves My Posts the same inference will apply to them. Does having a social conscience Make you a lefty? In Trumpland that is equal to being a child molester or worse.. Get some facts into your ravings. Brendan has just experienced a severe Bout of Verbal Diarrhoea. I hope he feels better now. Nev

In case anyone is wondering why I clicked the informative button on Brendan's post - I saw the post and he had a string of icons there starting to resemble a poker machine. There was left to right, 1 Like, 1 Haha, 1 Winner and 1 Sad. So I thought why not give him a crack at getting the full jackpot - one of every type, the full string. So come on blokes, don't be mean, all it needs now is 1 Confused, 1 Thanks and 1 Agree. I'm not sure if anyone's ever hit the jackpot on this forum before.

Spot on Marty. The last job I had before retiring was as a customer service operator in a call centre for a company who handled calls for a number of companies. Therefore the person sittting opposite me was taking calls for a different company to me. My KPI was an AHT (average handling time) of three and a half minutes per call. I later found out no-one else was on such a stringent time limit. This time included writing up details of the call for the next person to take a call from this customer. The customer said that AHT was not important, that customer satisfaction was more important. However, they didn't employ me, the call centre operator did. At the time I was 6 months over retirement age, so I was told it was an appropriate time to retire, because my AHT's were too long. If I didn't retire, they had "alternative plans" in mind, and voluntary retirement would look better on my resume. As the net result was the same, against my wife's wishes, I took the retirement route. Sorry for late edit. I didn't know part of my post had dropped out.

I quite like the idea of, I think it was @nomadpete's from some time ago about introducing a transaction tax - that is basically every transaction is taxed a percentage.. So, I did something not necessarily statistically valid and haven't yet validated any of it; and I think the idea would have to be refined (e.g. not to price us out of export markets, etc). I asked ChatGPT if we removed all taxes from Australians and replaced it with a flat transaction tax that is not able to be offset like CGT, and the transaction tax is applied at all levels in the Supply Chain, what would be the % required to replace the existing revenues of the government. To ChatGPT's credit, it did also inform me there are many variables and it needed refinement itself, but settled on 10%. I asked it what would be the cumulative impact on consumer prices (so not house transfers, financial investments, loans, etc), to narrow it down. I asked chat as I couldn't be bothered doing the compound math myself, and it said for a 3 stage supply chain process, 33%; 4 stage 47% an d 5 stage 63%. Ouch, but that is a raw value and it doesn't take into account some reduced costs on the way, but businesses would probably take these into profit for a time before competition started to take effect - as per the Whitlam years when he removed a lot of import duties. Also, note, you take roughly 10% off for CGT from those (not entirely accurate but for these purposes will do), as well as for some products (e.g. wine) the baked in taxes that are already there. Next I asked what would be the impact on net disposable income in quartiles from the lowest income earners (minimum wage) to the highest reported income earner. As expected, this would be regressive, but not by as much as I thought, with the lowest quartile being between 5% and 10% worse off, the next being between 3% and 4% worse off the third being between 3% a 12% better off and the top 25% of earners being between 15% and 55% better off. I didn't go into comparing to how much disposable income each quartile has against some average cost of living for a comparison as that was not the purpose of the exercise. And note, this does not include state and council stand alone revenue and I have not validated how Chat came to its answers. But it leaves some food for thought for a complete tax overhaul along these lines. The obvious risk is an increase in black market activity to circumvent the taxes. Leaving that aside, I asked Chat what non deductible tax to apply on a proportional basis to the 3rd and 4th quartile to allow the government to distribute income to the 1st and second quartile to ensure that the bottom two quartiles can be directly distributed the money such that they will be no worse off - i.e. net disposable income is the same as the current process. It was 0.55% for the third quartile and up to 2.0% on the 4th quartile. Of course, there will be lots of statistical error in these numbers, but it gives a guide that for no other than a consumption tax, the bottom two quartiles cost of living will not change, yet the top tier will be better off and with a much smaller PAYG tax rate. Of course, it leaves room to move a little more income to those on lower income and according to Chat, around 4.5% applied to both tiers would make the bottom two tiers 10% better off than they were. This would leave the third tier up to 7.5% better off and the top tier up to 49% better off.. and the government still gets the same money. It would probably be in large corporate taxation. They would now have to pay the tax where a lot don't pay anywhere near where they should be. And then you can factor in additional taxes that we should be charging like the fossil fuel export royalties to the correct level, and you have a far more fairer, flexible, and targetable taxation system. Of course, this is rudimentary modelling.. There are second and third order factors that have to be addressed. For example, the cost of compliance (accounting, legal, etc) will drop massively as there aren't complex accounting rules required for taxation. This will result is a lower level of transactions and therefore, tax. It may result in increased unemployment as you need less para finance and para legals as well as less tax compliance people in ATO, and if we went federal for all funding (local and state), less public servants at that level collecting, keeping track of, etc. Also, less transactions to billing providers, software, etc. Which can increase government costs (welfare) and reduce taxation, which can increase the transaction tax required, or increase other taxes such as fossil fuel royalties, etc. But,if we are looking at fairer taxation, then surely the whole system needs reform. (Sorry for the long post.. first day off for ages.. and I am in a boring meeting).

I have to admit; I am struggling to see what the issue us, except that a property that has been used to reduce your normal tax liability is now assessable - and still at under the marginal rate they would have used the property to reduce from. It is in effect still a deferment of tax. Yes, I know that the reduction of your assessable income during the negative gearing years are a loss made thanks to the interest payment and rather generous depreciation rules, but the reality is, you can't offset the costs of establishing any other investment against your PAYG income - although happy to be corrected in the case of sole proprietorship or partnership - so why housing? What leaves a sour taste is the excuse of the fairness of the tax system when the government still allows transfer pricing and does not tax our fossil fuels and other assets for big corps properly.

That's just a comforting distraction. Compare: Generally people knew DJT was a liar, a cheat, etc... but there he is, at the top. Because people voted for him because they hoped he will drain their swamp and punish the over entitled partys. Generally ON Pauline has a poor record, has trouble keeping party members, and no concrete policy.... but people still vote for her because they hope she will drain their swamp and give the over entitled partys a drumming. Still a problem for us.