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Pocock is (or appears to be) on the correct side of most issues. The trouble is, for every Pocock there's a Bob Katter, a Clive Palmer, a Barmy Joyce or a Pauline Hanson. Well that puts them in front of PHON then, who have thought bubbles instead of policies and can't even agree amongst themselves as to what they are. Look I know the Greens sometimes seem nutty. My point is that if you want to park your vote with a protest party, at least give it to the nutters who have the best interests of the planet at heart, instead of the nutters who want to destroy it.

Going back to that assessment and prediction from Tony Barry of Redbridge Group, here's a quote of his opinion (based on polling) on reasons behind One Nation support: “For about 15 per cent of One Nation voters, they self-report immigration as their key consideration. But for most, they’re looking for an anti-establishment party. It’s a rejection of the two-party system,”

It doesn't matter.. The fact we are heading downhill slower than the others doesn't make it good nor excusable People are wanting things to turn around, not to be told it will turn around and then the same path continue. After at least two generations of things getting worse, people are saying how do we change this. They only have one really big lever. The problem is, there is no one to step up with the real fixes so the only alternative is to, as @willedoo put it - burn the house down and start again. A lot of people don't see Chump's actions as anything but that... Even one of his MAGA supporters said it is the bitter medicine America needs to heal and get better (I am not sure I subscribe to that way of thinking, but the reality is there are far too many being pushed to the margins and they are getting angry).

Good job it was an Offenhauser and not an Oppenheimer. That would have been a bomb.

I've come to the conclusion that my hypothesis is WRONG. The British did not go to Botany Bay to establish a base for agriculture and commerce. They went there to create a dumping ground to releive the congestion in the hulks and prisons which were filled with souls whose crimes we now consider to be at the lowest end of criminality. I've reached this conclusion through a bit more reading. My main source that lead me to this conclusion is the book 1788 by David Hill. (See notes below for book identification) From this book I learned thatin 1717 the British parliament passed an Act which enabled the transportation of felons to foreign shores. At that time those shores were those of the American colonies, to which some forty thousand convicts were taransported (into slavery) over the following sixty years. Convicts committed to transportatin were sold by theo goalers to the shipping contactors, who took them actoss the Atlantic and sold the prisoners to plantation owners for the duration of their sentences. In 1777, the Parliament passed the Hulk Act, which allowed for the confinement of convicts in decommissioned British naval vessels on the Thames and other English rivers and ports. This was seen as a temporary measure until the American insurrection was quashed, but those colonies were granted independence in 1783 through the Treaty of Paris. leaving Britain with no place to transport convicts to, and crowding began to get bad in the hulks. So, based on the promptings of Sir Joseph Banks that the east coast of New South Wales (as Cook named it) would be a great place, in depth plans were made to sens an advance party to establish a colony to which thousands of convicts could be sent in future. The problem with Botany Bay was/is that it is no good for agriculture. (I grew up on its shores, and I know what the soil is like - crap.) Joseph Banks doesn’t come out of it very well. He enthused about Australia as a verdant land of opportunity when (a) his own notes were less effusive, and (b) he’d seen hardly anything of the place and was only here for a week. All he had done was collect a lot of plants. He obviously knew nothing of the requirements for agriculture. If these comments raise your interest in that bit of histroy, I recommend the book to you. After reading it, you will wonder at the survival of those convicts, Marines and officials during their first few years on these Fatal Shores. You can chase up the book with these details: Author: David Hill Title: 1788, The Brutal Truth of the First Fleet, Publisher: Random House (William Heinemann) ISBN: 9781741668001

How often do we hear of any good work that our Local Member does for the electorate? As Mark Anthony was want to say, "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones." If those good works were publicised, then a Local Member would be assured of continued support.

I suspect one root cause of the malaise, is that politics has become a business dominated by professional politicians. Their greatest motivation is a desire to keep their job and rise through the ranks. They act as though it's a game of 'say whatever it takes, to get the votes'. The electorate no longer believes anything any of them says (even the honest ones). To restore trust they will have to get the punters to start saying 'Hey, thank goodness, xxxx did this for us! '

You are having a bad day. Don't feel bad, it could be worse. Imagine running into a wall with a boner, and breaking your nose first.

In my case, that is true. In the 22 federal election I would have probably voted for them. Sure, PHON is a party of protest too, and they are also nutters and LNP rejects, but they seem to espouse stuff more Aussies can relate to... Not sure if that is a good or bad thing. For the record, I would vote Green before PHON, but neither would get my vote. Australia needs a party of Pococks.

There's my point. You start by saying you'd only vote for them if you had a lobotomy, but end by saying the environmental destruction in your area would have been less if they'd been in power. So people vote against their best interests... why?

Actually - I don't buy it. The biggest reason things go downhill for blue collar workers is inequality. More of the pie goes to the massively rich and trickle down economics is the same joke it's always been. Even if they blame the major parties, they're voting for the fringe party that's bought and paid for by the same rich fucks that are already ruining their lives. If they truly wanted to change things for the better, they'd vote Green or progressive independents like Pocock.

WHAT News? THAT seems extremely UNLIKELY. Nev

Anyone can, but few do. Old scandalsheet maxim: Never let the truth get in the way of a godd story.

Australian music legend Gary “Angry” Anderson has suffered a cardiac arrest and is in hospital under the watch of doctors.

Righto... All those profiting by stopping action on climate policy and fossil fuels including bankers please make a orderly queue to the right.. Just close your eyes and go through the door to your reward.. Those on the left can enjoy the view of the cliff diving.

The major parties have had 125 years to get it right. In all that time you'd think they would have learned that democracy means more than just having an election every three years and then treating the electorate with contempt. They're simply not the kind of people we want governing us anymore, they've had their day, their psyches are no longer fit for purpose.

I think you'll find they get their information from their bank account and what is left in them after the bills are paid.. or their crumbling health services, etc. Murdich makes it easy ti fund someone to blame and someone to use to punish the incumbents. Look over here.. a PM who finally gets it and with really tiny tweaks, the protest party, Reform and his mates are imploding in the polls

I kind of agree but only where the holder of such views influences others with them. If it's just your average idiot on a forum, no. If it's an influencer with 10,000 followers, yes.

I don't think our system of preferential voting is the fault. The fault with modern elections is the contributions made to Parties by organisations. Dose an organisation have a franchise to vote? Is an organisation a person? We are coming to the conclusion that donations to political parties by organisations are bribes - a rose by any other name.

But But You are assuming the voters will engage in logical reasoning....... Hanrahan was right.

If they think things are bad now, wait until the oligarchs are directly in charge (as opposed to the current proxy by bribery).

Too much mass of metal per person is every electric Toorak Tractor taking kids to school today.