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On the subject of voters no longer listening, it has a two part effect. On the one hand, they no longer trust or believe the incumbents and stop listening to the sales pitch. The other factor is that the only way the majors can dismantle the One Nation juggernaut is to point out the faults and weaknesses of ON. That's where the second part comes in; people stop listenening to that as well and basiclly couldn't care less about the party's faults if it means getting rid of the status quo.

Jerry gets it. What is happening with the swing to One Nation is a movement to burn down the house and start again. The problem for the incumbents is that at some point, people are so fed up that they just stop listening. The federal Labor government has long ago realised that this could hurt them, and not just the Coalition as they initially thought. The government is and will be trying to turn it around, but once people develop a deaf ear to them, the government is done. Maybe it's reached that point now, but if not, it's not far away.

I can't get a code anymore for my online banking changes. The bank will only send a code via mobile phone now, not landline, the way I used to receive it. I don't have a mobile, and even if I did have one, there is no reception here. I'm up the creek without a paddle. In this respect, online banking doesn't exist for me any longer, I'll have to drive all the way to town, at their whim, and do my banking at the counter. The only other way is to buy a mobile phone, travel 10ks or more to higher ground, download the code, rush back home, enter it, hoping I haven't been automatically logged out due to inactivity. Everyone around here will be similarly affected.

40 Nev

If you look at the process of governing in a critical way, you'll soon see that a government elected by the people is only means of appeasement to the couner teh complaints of the people about the way they are controlled by faceless men. Just look at teh way multi-national corporations control your life. That's not something new. The American Revolution would not have happened if Britain's biggest corporation, the East India Company had not made the British Parliament mess about with the tax on tea and on the goods coming into the Colonies. No matter where on the political spectrum your politics lie, no Party can solve your problems.

This post is an exemplary representation of the way many voters feel today. It is no use arguing with the post or the reasoning because the post isn't arguing for anything better, worse of different than we have today. It's a recognition that the average person is squeezed and those in power are not putting the people first. There is nothing in the post to say ON will be any better.. it is about punishing those in power who are ignoring the people - plain and simple. For a stereotypical family, both parents are working and struggling to make ends meet when in yesteryear that wasn't the case as much as it is today. There are structural reasons for it.. modern life is more complicated. It is useless a polly saying don#t have your avocado toast, because it makes little difference in the end. You're lifestyle today is busier. People are working longer hours or when in the office travelling longer to get there and back. Many people when they get back do some form of work where that was rarer in previous generations. So, they are time poor and it is less of a luxury and more of a necessity - unless you want them to eat unhealthy processed food and eventually put more pressure on an ailing public health system. Ad don the need for smart phones for virtually all the family as you just can't do some things without them these days (or it costs you a lot more), tolls, longer hours, after school activities, child care for younger ones. And to help with a far more complex family life than in my day, it costs the government more. What people don't realise is the government has little levers to pull to manage the cost of living unless it starts taking measures that people will then complain of government overreach. So in some respects, they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. To make things cheaper for example, we need denser housing because Australia suffers from diseconomies of scale. A land mass the size of the USA and 1/10th of the population. The more land with the fewer people, the more it costs to get services - especially those requiring infrastructure - to the people. So when the incumbents start to take things for granted - such as a vote - and let's face it even Labor is being a little less conspicuous in that taking for granted, people get pissed off because they can see the parties working for vested interests of the few - and themselves - and not at least trying to make decisions that are better for the people at the same time - like finding a balance. The gas excise issue is hotting up and people are now well educated on how Australia is being fleeced. This is a deal I think penned in the Howard years, but it can be fixed. The ALP consistently refuse to do it. That would add if I remember rightly $16bn to the coffers per year. You could solve quite some issues with that. The persistent morally corrupt lack of support for veterans; the Robodebt royal commission has not resulted in any meaningful change. The gambling ads report has not been implemented at all; Upping the public take of the pokies and other gambling is not being done. Approving fossil fuel leases/mining when there is clear majority opposition to it - and these never result in the promised jobs for locals; And then there was a recent bailing out of a mine or something... when was it Woodside or BHP (can't remember which one) are making massive profits?? WTF. In the last administration, they threw away a nascent market advantage by going for an early transition of energy (Yes, Siso, I know you don't approve). It wasn't until it was clear that SFM was going to lose the election and backing fossil fuel companies was costing him big time did he do a back flip. The above post says we have had enough of being fleeced. We want to send a signal to the incumbents that just because they may be the better, it is of a pretty bad bunch.. and we don't care if the next ones are worse, because until you get it through your thick brains that we are onto you, we are happy to vote in the next bunch of idiots, because in reality, for us, it will make little difference in the end... I don't think they believe ON will be any better.. they may use it to justify their actions, but when inaction is so poor with the incumbents, I agree wit the post - ignore the people and you're done for. This is exactly what is happening in the UK until Reform shot themselves in the foot; and it is exactly what happened in the USA (with the help of a media hell bent on getting an outcome for its advertisers regardless of the impact on the country). I think it is what is happening throughout Europe. People are sick of the same ol' same ol'. May as well make life hard for the "establishment".

Unless your phone is really old, you should be able to search up "wi-fi calling" in Settings and switch that on. Then you can get calls and texts with your phone using wi-fi from your home internet.

Count Binface, a satirical candidate in the Clacton by-election included in his policies requiring anyone who denies human-caused climate change to return to school. Quite frankly, I would have voted for him if he was in my electorate on that alone. The Australian death toll from the Nepal disaster alone - which is hard not to ague was the result of climate change - was 46. Stuff will get worse.. My favourite saying is facts don't give a ship about what people think.

Should climate change denialism be a new form of crime against humanity? I think so.

This belongs in the Gripes thread, it has nothing to do with the two party system or Australian elections. But I agree, the overriding demand to do everything on your phone is a real pain. Now you can get your drivers licence on your phone. Soon it will be the only way, like it or not. Not happy, Jan.

Australian boxer Tony Mundine has died, aged 75. It is believed he had a heart attack and couldn't be revived.

Donald Trump has two parts to his brain - left and right. The left half, there's nothing right. The right half, there's nothing left.

Debate? I see no debate. Thwaites glacier (and others) are melting. "Dubbed the “doomsday glacier”, Thwaites is about the size of Britain, but it is shrinking rapidly and is already responsible for 4 per cent of all global sea-level rise. Worse still, its collapse is expected to set off a domino effect in the entire West Antarctic ice sheet, ultimately resulting in a calamitous sea-level rise of 3.3 metres and changing the coastline of the entire planet." https://www.newscientist.com/article/2526826-the-doomsday-glaciers-giant-ice-shelf-is-about-to-break-away/ “Its final demise could happen suddenly, and to avoid being caught on the hop, we have already prepared an ‘obituary’ press release,” says Rob Larter at the British Antarctic Survey.

Looks like Kentucky hasn't discovered 'roadworthiness' yet. No mufflers, no mudguards, no roofs, no door handles, no windows, no seatbelts......... They seem to register anything that rolls. The Munstermobile would look very ordinary in that lineup!

Among that parade of cars I saw a fairly ordinary old station wagon drive by with a few passengers and a heap of gear in the back. Still not sure whether they were meant to be part of it or just someone like the Griswolds who had taken a wrong turn and got caught up in it all.

Well, I watched about 10 minutes but the bum in the jeans was nowhere to be seen. False advertising! 😄

Yep, Lots of great bargains for the canny and slowish rider. Some add a high compression big bore kit, cam etc with nice pipes, ecu change. It's a common mod that makes a big change in power. One such kitted would be great second hand.

Nice old Studebaker. I like the current culture where unrestored or minimally restored cars are as popular as full restorations. It makes it a lot more financially accessable for more people. For too long the main goal was to restore back to as new condition, and that was a very labour intensive and expensive process. It's horses for courses and the full resto people get great satisfaction doing their thing, but it's also nice not to see the history rubbed off or painted away on a lot of these old vehicles. I like the lived in look.