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I never take a HTV card. Firmly of the belief that everyone who is eligible to vote should take their responsibility to engage in democracy seriously and number all boxes. It's not a big ask, once every 3 years.

Wait up..... I'm confused ...... I'll have to go back and find some episodes of 'Blue Hills' and 'Dad n Dave'...... that should clear this up.

I'm have got to stop starting posts with headline-like sentences. They are always misinterpreted. What I was trying to say was that it was a good thing that domestic solar installations were being done at a great rate and that the battery subsidy was a big help. It was my belief that the inability to store excess electricity was holding back the adoption of solar. That disability now seems to have been overcome That's good. An aside: I was nearly going to write that solar installation rates were going through the roof, but I didn't want to pun.

Good onya Marty. Our choice is limited by needing AWD for our driveway. This limits us to more expensive cars - dual motor and more (unnecessary) bells n whistles. Presently looking a KIA 5 and Skoda. Really liked the big Zeeka, too. Not in a rush. Still waiting to see what's on the market later in the year. So far, our solar/battery is exporting enough surplus to cover an EV charger.

I used to take a HTV from every party so as not to signal my intentions. I haven't done this now for many years. My next stage where I used to live was because I knew the local school where the polling booth was, I was able to enter from a direction that avoided the people handing out HTVs Fir the last few years I have mostly voted by mail and therefore have done my research about who to vote for online. I did vote in person at the last election so I researched online, came up with a voting strategy and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. My area is a very safe seat so I usually vote for a smaller party or independent knowing who will win anyway.

I take every HTV card offered to me from every Party as I walk towards the polling station. I do that out of politeness to the volunteer. I already know who I am giving my first preference to, but the card is useful in sorting out lower preferences amongst a large number of candidates.

Two seats in the House ome, you forgot about Barnaby. Only two seats but one of them is an ex National Party leader, ex Deputy Prime Minister and a seasoned politician. So as one commentator said, it's not as if the new member will be wandering lost around Parliament House wondering where the coffee machine is, he'll be well chaperoned.

I have had my MG4 for nearly 3 years now & Have no regrets other than the price of the facelift 2026 model is 10k cheaper than what I paid. Still another 4+ years of warranty. I have had 2 problems, the first was a drooping rear undertray & the second was the drivers door window stopped working. The undertray is a known issue & is the cover for the electric drive motor. The window issue was just a poor connection. All new models have a 10 year warranty or 250k whichever comes first. Mine was 7 years but unlimited km warranty. I am 168 cm so no issue with fitting in. I like the edgy styling of the 4. It was actually designed by the Royal Academy of Arts & engineered by SAIC UK. It has sold very well around the world except in China. 50/50 weight distribution, low CoG & RWD gives really good handling better than most others anywhere near its price range. All the new models have LFP batteries so a bit less energy dense but no nickel or cobalt & they are cheaper to produce so that is reflected in the price drop. The new model has a bit less power but slightly better economy & a nice updated interior & a single piece spoiler, though I prefer the split spoilers of mine. The urban is FWD and has a bigger boot as there is no motor there. It has less power & range but unless you are doing long trips is a good buy for the price. For you i reckon the MG5 would be best. True SUV size though does not have the range of the MG4 nor the performance. Price depends on the spec level. I have the Essence with a 64 kWh battery so am biased but all the extra features were worth the extra money iIMHO. I'd go for the best offer without compromising your requirements. Do they still supply a granny charger? A lot of EVs no longer come with one. One thing I'd advise not to do is get talked in to one of their 7kW home chargers unless you get it thrown in for free. There are much better ones for much less on the market. I bought a ZJbeny for less than half the price & it is fully adjustable with app control, RFID, plug & play & OCCP capability. ZJ Beny make lots of chargers right up to massive super chargers. Also their V2L cable is over $200.00 & has a limited output of about 10 amps plus it is bulky. I bought a V2L adapter on line for $45.00 delivered & it has a max output of 32 amps but you need a big cable to take that load. Most of these are now limited to 16amps. Good to see another forumite joining the EV revolution. You won't regret the decision. I certainly haven't

So, since Trump is saving the world from the spread of mass killings and nuclear weapons, when can we expect him to make Israel give up their nuclear weapons?

Every ON voter questioned on TV, when asked why, said "We needed a change."

I recall when Prophets were going through the roof with IED's but it was a short lived, dying Habit. Now Watch Carefully. I'm only going to show you this ONCE. Nev

Here is one of several options for apartment dweller's Community Solar Programs If rooftop solar isn’t an option, residents can buy into a community solar project, where an external solar farm generates energy for subscribers. This works well when: The building can’t support solar panels. Residents want solar benefits without dealing with strata approvals.

Most people have only owned them for a few years as the uptake was very slow to start with. In the MG forum there are lots of owners of MG4s who have owned them since they came out in 2022. I got mine new in 2023 & intend to keep it for at least 10 years so long as I live that long.

Look at the number of informal votes and other minor parties/independents.

What a disaster of a weekend. My daughter's team Collingwood - beaten. My eldest son's team Essendon - beaten. What made it worse was the security at the MCG. Last year, security let two people with guns through the gate, even though the detector beeped. Now they insist on everyone emptying their pockets. My daughter had already removed all metal objects from her pockets, but they insisted that she remove everything else, so she put the metal stuff on the table to remove hankies etc from her pocket, and didn't beep when scanned. Then she missed picking up her keys and didn't realise till she got back to Mitcham and couldn't get into her car. Andrew had to go to the station and pick her up. They are going to the Melbourne Storm NRL game this afternoon and will go early so they can go over to the MCG to pick up her keys.

Have you ever wondered about the weird and wonderful jobs that have to be done, and which never make any news articles, documentaries, or "this is your life" shows? Yes, there are hundreds of them, and many are so basic to everyday needs, that they just don't even get discussed. Jobs such as chicken sexers, aeroplane repossession agents, ball divers (yes, I know you never even considered what happens to those golf balls lost in deep water), and... wait for it - barnyard masturbators. Yes, there is even a job involving getting animals horny for ease of insemination, which must take a special type of person.

Here's a totally ficticious and theoretical scenario, given the demise of the Liberal Party and the reality it could take years to rebuild: It's becoming obvious traditional politics as we always knew it under the two party dominance system has changed, possibly forever. So at some stage in the future, could we see a three party system, ie: the left of the Labor party merges with the Greens as one party, the Labor right and the Liberal centre merge, and the third party is made up of the coalition right and One Nation merging. Three parties - left, centre and right.

I've only had 4 new cars in my entire life, and serviced them myself. You don't want to be working on todays cars. They are not designed to be fiddled with and can be a big Liability when the Original warrantee expires. Short trips ruin ICE cars, but don't bother electric.. Nev

One of the TV commentators during the election coverage last night made an obvious point. That was that the big challenge for One Nation to live up to their growing popularity is to address the traditional problems in their party structure and management. That included better candidate vetting, one area that has often let them down in the past. The party organisation has been hit and miss in the past and they will need a good management team going forward. It's only my opinion, but I think as popular as Pauline is among the voters, before too long she will have to take a step back from the front line and take on more of a party president, party elder statesman type of role. She's had a long time faithful sidekick in Malcolm Roberts, but his strength is in social media and not in real time speaking and interviews. At the moment she's got Barnby there sharing a lot of the spotlight, so that takes the pressure off her a bit. At times you could be forgiven for thinking that the only time Barnaby opens his mouth is to change feet, but he does have his moments and he resonates with a lot of voters.

I do find websearching to find real world experience of EV ownership very frustrating. Reading forums brand and blogs, well they all seem to rave about long term greatness. Then you find out that for most people, two years is long term! I realise these cars haven't been around very long, but most people seem to only keep cars a couple of years. My present cars are 18 -19yr and circa 300,000k. Not worn out yet!

I can understand how some people would feel a bit awkward only taking one how to vote card and ignoring the others , or ignoring the lot of them. It stems from basic Australian politeness. I can remember when I first went to S.E. Asia how hard it was to learn to ignore the street hawkers. Totally ignoring someone who is in your face is not easy in our culture but over there you have to or it would take all day to get anywhere. The only time I ignore anyone here is with the chuggers outside the supermarkets. Edit: election time how to vote cards as well.

The word 'Bogans' comes to mind..... the current generation 'tru blu Ozzies"

I take a HTV card from everyone. No-one knows which I will follow, if any of them. If you vote for X, then you want them to have the best chance to win. You may not know which order of preferences will best assist that result. Following X's HTV helps you decide which works best for them.

Thanks for the info @kgwilson. Yes we're leaning towards the MG5 62 Essence. It's $14k more than the Urban, but can tow 750kg and a more solid feel on the road, not to mention a bit higher which is better as we age. If we get that we can sell the Santa Fe. If we got the Urban we'd have to keep the Santa Fe for towing (no rubbish pick up here). Interested in V2L. Could you share any advice on how to set that up? Does it go through the solar inverter or is there separate equipment linked to the board?

There is so much that Tump's Administration has done that cannot be undone. Take income from tariffs for example. Importers have paid the tariffs and passed those costs onto the wholesalers in the form of higher prices. The wholesalers have passed them on to the retailers, who passed them on to the consumer. How does the consumer recover the money that tariffs added to, say, the meat from Australia in his Macdonald beef pattie? Impossible. The US Treasury has had a massive injection of money that is impossible to return to its rightful owners. Notice that not much has been said about all the social service things like Medicaid and food stamps. The Trump Administration keeps creating situations which get media attention while earlier issues are ignored. I hear that teh UAE has stopped the USA using its military bases for the conflictr with Iran. Guess that's the end of the Golden 747.

Maybe "Bargearse"

One seat in the House, and that seat is on the Cross Benches. He will be a voice crying out in the wilderness. It is interesting to note that teh Libs directed their preferences to ON and away from the Independant. Guess we know which way he will vote. However with Labor having such a big majority, the rest of the House won't have much effect. In order to bolster the standing of ON, Farley will have to spend the majority of his time on the ground working for the people of Farrer. He can't spend his time in Canberra pushing the ON manifesto. If he concentrates on working for his electorate, he might get re-elected at the next General Election. Just a comment on the "donkey vote" discussion. I reckon most Australians don't care too much about politics and only come to vote for the Democracy Sanger. They have already decided which Party they will vote for and only take that Party's HTV card and follow it. Have you watched people going along the line of Party volunteers handing out HTV cards? You will see quite a lot of impoliteness. The percentage of votes found not to follow HTVs is an indication of teh amount of thought voters are putting into making their choice.

Farley seems quite a sensible individual, with a very diplomatic turn of speech, unlike a lot of the ON rabble. It will be interesting to see what happens from here on in. A well-spoken, thoughtful individual such as Farley may bring a lot more credibility to the ON Party. However, the general trend of elections in recent decades is voters vote for whoever is in Opposition, just to express dissatisfaction with the ruling Partys performance. No matter who is power, they all appear to have no answers to the ordinary voters pressing problems - inflation, the cost of living, fuel prices, housing unaffordability, lack of job opportunities - they all perform dismally in these fields. I'd like to see some politicians with real backbone, take on the billionaires and giant global corporations, and tax them more heavily, and also lay into the betting conglomerates that wield so much power, and which every politician is too frightened to offend.

One Nation won ... good hey! The Greens came last, and Labor second last. Fancy those terrorist brides coming back so soon after Bondi ... you can't believe the hellish mistakes that are being made these days.

It seems funny hearing people refer to 4% as high interest rates. It was 17.5% when I took out a variable rate loan to buy my place, and the loan peaked at around 20%. My father was paying around 22% on his business loan at it's peak.

Well, we're taking the jump. My wife and I test drove 3 EVs today - MG 4, MG 4 Urban and MG 5. Kate had already put down a deposit on the MG 4, but after driving all 3 we're tossing up between the Urban and the MG 5. In all 3 cars the acceleration is brilliant. Handling is great. We found the Urban and MG 5 more comfortable because we're both tall (and possibly a bit wider than we should be). Over the weekend we'll decide which way to go and switch the deposit on Monday.

I agree with him too, but he forgot to add that the US is responsible for creating the new normal that he's complaining about.

I didn't say Real Australians don't want to work. I said they don't want the kinds of jobs that Indians, Chinese and others typically do. And I'm generalising here, as you are. If they're sending some money overseas to help support their families, then good on them. Your $25 billion, if it can be believed, works out at about $20 per week per person, so it's hardly a large amount that is not being spent here. They've also typically earned that money, paid their taxes, and will spend far more than they send just on daily living. Overall, they are an asset to the country, not a liability. I might add that I'm also not a Real Australian, by your definition, so you would probably resent me being in this country too.

Anyhow we are Off Topic. Nev

This is beautiful.

In many ways, my daughter is weird. She has wanted an electric car for more than 15 years. Originally wanted to convert her Ford Festiva to electric. Even attended a seminar at Swinburne Tech. Now she wants to buy a Mustang Mach e and has almost saved up enough to do so. But she normally only drives a couple of km. a day.

The above was rhetorical. Back to What has Trump done? My big concern is 'What happens next'? Whilst the world focused on 'What has Trump done now', in the background project 2025 has been steadily progressing. What does that mean? Soon, when Trump is gone, how will the US administration proceed, now the old checks and balances are gone? I really have no idea, but from my limited knowledge, I cannot see a silver lining to the cloud of doubt.