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Purtting the intent aside, are those particular words racist? Just on the wording alone, I'd call them nationalistic as only the country was mentioned, not the person's race or religion. As an example, if an anglo saxon descent Australian person told a Pom of anglo saxon descent to piss off back to England, is that rascist even tough both parties are of the same race. Intent can differ, but the wording is the same in both cases. I always thought rascism was bias against someone because of their race, not nationality. If you are white and told two South Africans to piss off back to South Africa and one is black and one is white, is it racism in both cases, only in one case or in none?

Maybe not only an EV issue.....

People who worry that Covid Vaccine might change their genetic make-up, should welcome that possibility.

I am humbled to be graced by the presence of so many Grande Masters! I bow to your superior grandiosity

OME, give Jerry his keyboard back.

Speak for yourself. The other senator is just as much an Australian as Hanson and has a right to her opinion. While her comment was a bit bolshie, that's because she's a Greens senator and probably nothing to do with her country of origin. And if you think about her words they are 100% correct, and also stand up for the original Australians. Pauline responded in your classical racist manner and deserves to lose. Maybe she should give up HER well paid position, her overseas holidays, clothes, plane and food all paid for by a billionaire buying influence, and piss off back to Ipswich.

So the Iran invasion achieved its purpose.

Jerry? Is that you?

The walk from my house to the pub is 5 minutes. The walk back, however, is 30 minutes. The difference is staggering!

My favorite colour is purple. I like it better than red and blue combined.

Nothing wrong with that. Understood it perfectly. I am sure it was written by my brother

USA has the Best Politicians Money can BUY. They then turn into Dictators you can't get rid of. .Nev

If you are invited into someones home and start to mouth of about the traditional parts of their lifestyle and mouth of about a person who didn't actually have anything to do with the stuff that upsets them, I am sure that you are within your rights to tell them to leave. Pretty sure if we were in Pakistan and started to act like that it wouldn't go down to well. My definition of racism would be that the person was told to go back there just because of their heritage.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of a high court challenge. The judge in this case said it functioned as a test case for the claims of both parties. Marty, you judge Hanson's intent on her past history and you have every reason to, but a court can't take any previous statements on other past matters into account; they must only judge on the matter at hand. If an appeal to the high court happens, they'll have to judge on whether her words I quoted in a previous post constitute racism. The words alone don't in my opinion. Pakistan is a geographic area and a soverign state, so on words alone she's telling someone to go back there. It's her intent in using those words that the courts decide on. On words alone it's no different than if you came up here and I told you to piss off back to Tasmania. You know yourself how many times Tasmanians have said they wish mainlanders would piss off back to the mainland. That's not racist, and it could be argued not necessarily Stateist, just a desire to be left alone. But on words alone, it's no different to what Hanson said.

No I'm not saying that Marty. Read my post more carefully. What I'm saying is that the words alone don't refer to race, only former nationality. Get over the Hanson thing for a minute and think about the words alone, no matter who utters them. She told the person to piss off back to the country she migrated from, no mention of the person's race or religion. Forget about Hanson and look at the example of a white Australian telling a white Kiwi to piss off back to NZ. Would those words alone constitute racism of one white person toward another? I'd consider a case like that to be nationalistic based and not race based. If Hanson had told a white South African to piss off back to South Africa, is that racist? Would she be having a go at the person's race or nationality? The point I'm making is, that the words she used are not racist but nationalistic. That's looking solely at the wording and not taking perceived intent into account. The court obviously made the decision that they thought she had racist intent in what she said. The words alone (regardless of who spoke them) don't convey that. That's what a high court challenge will have to sort out.

Money should be taken out of politics entirely. Yes there still should be free and fair elections, but I think the application of a few public service rules would do wonders for the political class. No ability to accept any gift, donation or service of any value, for a start. And integrity checks. The ability of interest groups to lobby politicians erodes democracy. Everyone knows gambling advertising should be banned completely. It's a no-brainer. So why isn't it happening?

There already exists a National childrens day and an international childrens day. Whats the issue? Aboriginal children have the lowest health, educational and social outcomes in the country as a group. They obviously need extra attention and the day just expresses that need.

The TOPIC is ME conflict and the debates in the Parliament are recorded. Public Service is Not elected. The most Important things for a Functioning Democracy (a) A free and fair Election Process. Checks and rules applying to any Money donated or spent, A GOOD honest Press which is Not a fully incorporated arm of the Liberal Part and NOW PHON Otherwise why not Cut out the Middlemen/women) and let Gina and Merdey run the Country directly, Nats have been all about Fracking and mining Not Farms etc as they once were. Follow the Money trail That will find out who calls the shots. Nev

Become an *Islamic* republic perhaps? Gotta watch these muslims, they'll do anything to further their cause for Allah. Mehreen Faruqi didn't think things through before she opened her gob. If she got all the things she wanted, expressed in her "school kid" statement, she'd still be living on "stolen" land ... so, would she go live somewhere else and leave the Aboriginals in peace? ... not likely, she'd probably pretend to be their saviour and advise them of the virtues of Islam. God willing.

"Go back to where you came from?" Yeah, very much racism

You're missing the point. If Hanson was offended by those comments, she could have responded strongly in many ways without the racism. That she chose tell another Australian to "piss off back to Pakistan" just shows (if anyone needed more proof) that she's just a dog-whistling racist.

And no other indigenous population wherever on the planet has no cultural reference to the Moon? Australia is creating a culture of lunar tics.

Changing the conditions for negative gearing in a small economy like Australia's would not endanger the global economic system in the way unprovoked attacks on the economy of another country have done.

I was speaking to my local Member the other day. (I vote for another Party.) We spoke of Pauline and ON. He said that ON had no practical policies, which is something that many people are coming to consider to be correct. He said that he doubted if ON's results in the next election would mirror the current polling figures. The unfortunte thing is that I don't beleive his Party nor mine have a decent set of policies that would benefit all Australians. It seems to me that we have become terribly divided in our wants. Perhaps it's because we have been infected with the 'me first, last and every otehr time' virus.

So that everyone understands the context of Pauline Hanson’s loss on appeal: On 9 September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi posted the following statement online: “Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples. We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.” Senator Pauline Hanson responded: “Your attitude appals and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan.” I am 100% with Pauline on this, it is one of the reasons Australians want ON.

There's a bit of aggro going on between a couple of members. Hardly the sort of thing that makes for a pleasant place to come and interact with others. The aggro does not carry any of the discussion to a suitable resolve. In fact, it diminishes respect for those creating th aggro, and respecting others should be a foundational rule for we members. Let's make it the custom here to play the ball, not the man.

I’m basically saying don’t defend yourself by attacking the other person. Stick to defending your opinion and keep personal criticism out of it. That applies to both sides. Just stating the obvious really.

And almost no coverage of the Epstein files outrage

I think that would be the least threatening possibility. It's what it might do when it's turned loose deliberately or accidetally on the interconnected systems and devices that we all use these days that would be the bigger threat. Banks and other financial institutions, public facilities like hospitals, power stations and distribution networks, the military etc., and especially if nobody knows that it's there or what it's doing.

OME was just showing solderarity

There seems to be a largely diminished coverage in the Russia Ukraine war as well..

He does know that he has British citizenship by inheritance; if asked, he would have to answer truthfully. So a trip for my son to the UK would involve him, in your opinion applying for an ETA and if that is refused then he would have to start the onerous process of applying for a UK passport, which in his case would involve all sorts of documents including my and my wife's birth certificates and more. Yes Aussie who do not hold British citizenship. I would need a British Passport to travel to England and my son would require a UK passport an NZ passport, and if he were to spend a few days in Aus would require an Aus passport as well, a total of about $700 worth. You seem to imply my gripe is a little petty or a "storm in a teacup" simply because he may be able to travel in the UK without giving away the fact that he is also a UK citizen. Whilst many people may be doing this real people are being affected. UK passport changes leave Australians with dual citizenship scrambling before border rules kick in Teenage Girl Spends 6 Weeks Stuck Abroad Due to New Passport Rule, Her Dad Says More than a million Brits risk being caught out by new passport rule launched this year – with kids stranded abroad The common theme Most of these people were already British citizens. Their mistake wasn't failing to obtain citizenship—it was assuming they could continue travelling on their other passport as they had done previously. The February 2026 changes caught many people because: they had never applied for a British passport, they didn't realise their children automatically held British citizenship, or they had travelled for years using only their Australian, American or European passport. The UK Home Office has stated that from 25 February 2026, British dual nationals generally must travel with a valid British passport (or, in limited cases, a passport containing a Certificate of Entitlement), otherwise they risk being refused boarding. Given your earlier questions about travelling on an Australian passport, these examples illustrate that the airlines are enforcing the rule before passengers even reach the UK border. Yes, I am aware of that. My gripe is not about the UK but the need for 3 passports . There simply must a better way. Sorry if you think I am it is in your words "It's mountain out of molehill stuff.." but it came as news to me and going by newspaper reports IT IS catching people out

I figure if I keep cutting they'll I think Jerry put a curse, not a cursor, on my keyboard.

Just teach them to swim first. The ones with guns will sink.

While Little donold is usung the US military to manipulate the oil futures market, the media has forgotten the Israel/Palestine battles. Palestine, which only existed for 28 years, was carved out of the Ottoman Empire by the Brits in 1920. The Ottomans had been there for 500 years but backed the wrong side in WW1. Nobody wants to see Israel returned to the Ottomans, and the Ottomans probably don’t want it back. Before that the Romans merged Judea into Syria-Palestine and as such it was owned by countless empires without a separate identity until the British mandate of Palestine. The first Arabs arrived in about the 7th century. The Jewish tribes of Israel had lived there since the Bronze Age , so about 2,700-3,500 years before them. Even if the dates are off, the Jews of Canaan and Judea were in Israel then Palestine before the Arabs. Who came first and where they came from needn’t matter. What matters is what exists now and how to fix it. Kicking the 7 million Israelis out of Israel and calling it Palestine is not a viable or moral option. Nor is driving the Palestinians into the sea.

Takes me back to my holiday in Scotland.

What is happening in the ME will give a real Impetus to EV sales. People don't want to be hung out to dry every time someone does silly things with supply.. Nev

Don't worry too much. There's always the option to amalgamate the fading Republic of United States of Trumpistan into the fading United Soviet Socialist Republic. That would give two ageing sociopaths a claim to fame. They can both be winners with the bigliest deal in the world! What shall we call it?

Me too.

Just as well I can lift heavy things, or use to be able to.😁

In the foreseeable future, it's only the moon they have to worry about. It will be a long time before they have the technology to shoot rockets at the Emu.

Memes like that one make one realise that one is getting old.

Hear, hear. Our present political mobs seem too afraid to promote a coherent easily understood plan. Refer to the success of project 2025. Lack of a clear plan leaves the public with an easy choice of Vacuous populist three word slogans to vote for. So here we are.

Not necessarily, but it helps if both sides can have a discussion without arguing and escalating differences of opinion or fact into personal criticism or ridicule.

This is being advertised on Facebook for US$59.00. https://www.artspace.ai/lifetime?utm_campaign=120238296206500490&utm_content=120240627676020490&utm_id=120238296206500490&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=fb&utm_term=120238296206490490

The corollary of that implies I've made a sytload of stuff. No wonder I need a nap.

Things keep moving faster and faster. I got a call this afternoon saying the tentative date for my cochlear implant surgery is Sept 19.

Her successor has come out throwing punches, announcing a royal commission into corruption in the construction industry. Of course, if he was serious about integrity, with three weeks left of parliament, he could push through legislation to bring transparency to IBAC, in a similar way as the NSW ICAC. It is likely a new Lib government will call a royal commission anyway. But he also has announced a pro business an tougher on crime agenda. Surprisingly similar to Crusafilli (hope I spelt that right). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-28/ben-carroll-vic-labor-premier-analysis/106966210?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other