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A lot of people can't see the woods for the trees. Some who are unhappy with the rise in popularity of One Nation delude themselves that the problem is all One Nation and it's supporters who their critics perceive as a bunch of ignorant, redneck idiots. Fact one: One Nation wouldn't be having this rise in popularity if the major parties were doing a half decent job. Fact two: The major parties have been complacent for too long, and as long as they have their comfortable two party system of your turn/my turn without any major threat to their voter base, they will never get any better. For sure, a lot of the rise in One Nation is a protest vote against that laziness, complacency, and disregard for ordinary Australians that a lot of people see in the major parties. The voter erosion to One Nation is the kick in the pants that the status quo needed and still needs. They won't voluntarily get any better, so they need a boot up the rear end like this to to make them get off their backsides and start performing better to provide Australians with what they want and need from a government. If the threat of losing voters in possible election losing numbers keeps the major parties on their toes, in my opinion that has to be a good thing and an incentive to provide good government. I'm not defending One Nation or any other party, but just trying to point out the small minded nature of just blaming One Nation and their supporters and dismissing them as fools. Throwing rocks at them is not going to make them go away. You need to ask yourself why. Why are so many people abandoning parties they have supported for years. The problem the major parties have is not One Nation. The problem is within themselves. They need to ask themselves why do so many people not want to vote for them any more. To be honest, nothing much in politics surprises me, but I have been surprised lately by the sheer numbers of people I run into who say they are changing their vote to One Nation at the next federal election. A lot of these people are the last people in the world where I would have expected to see that. There's a problem for the One nation critics who are stuck in that rut of name-calling, ridicule and stone throwing in their stereotyping of supporters. While they're so distracted doing that, they're not seeing what's really happening. There's a big groundswell of a protest vote building, and I think it will keep rolling. I don't personally think what's happening now is just a flash in the pan. The way I see it, the Greens are immune from it. The Coalition has already taken significant hits and a lot of it by their own hand. And Labor, well I wouldn't be too complacent about if I was one of their supporters. At the moment, they are almost guaranteed to win the next election, and that's about as far ahead as most pollies can think, but they are already starting to bleed blue collar votes and that loss will continue to grow. For anyone who doesn't want to see One Nation grow in size, the challenge is how to create an environment where those lost voters will return. That's where they need to spend their energy. Ridiculing and blaming those lost voters for leaving in the first place is unproductive, and as I said earlier, small minded.

Absolute shite. Trump couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery.

Did his lips move?

A prodigee of Abbott? Be careful what you ask for.

When the war finished they had a lot of Japanese held in pow type camps awaiting repatriation back to Japan. In a lot of them they didn't have allied soldiers guarding them, they were doing it themselves. One night my dad and his mate were returning back to camp from a local watering hole and walked past one of the camps. All hell broke loose, the sentry called the alarm and the camp commandant roused the whole camp of Japanese out of bed to form up on the parade ground. He got my dad and his mate who were full as a boot to inspect the troops. The old man said it was one of the craziest experiences he had over there, two private ranked Australians with the wobbly boot on walking up and down the Japanese ranks inspecting them. He told me they hammed it up a bit and did a fairly dodgy officer impersonation to give the commandant a bit of face.

It's been hanging over him for years. Kerry Stokes tried to assist him and I don't blame Kerry for that. We Train soldiers to Be effective killing Machines and expect them to still Be NORMAL. I see that as a quandary. What HE did was awful but WAR is not a Normal situation, A lot of returned Soldiers are Ruined by what they have seen and done. It used to be called Shellshock. The People who start the Wars are the REAL criminals. Nev

For sure that is what he says. But the easily found facts do not show any signs of USA improving the lives of ordinary people. However, the (minority) wealthiest are doing just fine, and Trumpy's family are achieving great wealth. So I choose to see him as a liar, motivated solely by self interest. No, I have neither rage nor agression. Only disappointment. Ours is a similar path to that which has led USA to it's present situation. One which Trump seems to be accelerating. We should take that as a warning. But then along came synthetics (oil based) and we fell off the sheep's back. Then failed to monetise our mining industry, which only benefits a minority. I hold both major political parties for this, as do a lot of USAnians for their situation. Thank you. I am not trying to convince you. I am only trying to explain why I feel the way I do, about current politics. My only proviso is that I believe if someone important tells lies or bullies others, it should be called out. Anyone, whatever race, gender, political party. It seems to me that Trump consistently makes himself an easy target, and I see no proof of him "Making America Great".

The problem with Trump is that beyond quoting a slogan, he has no vision that he can articulate as to how to achieve what he allegedly wants for the country. On the other hand, it's very clear what he wants for himself - power, respect or fear (doesn't matter which), and money. His personality is that of a liar and cheat, and the energy and drive he has is all aimed at his own political survival and personal enrichment. As for Australia, if we had an outstanding and far-sighted politician who had a clear vision for improving the country and making it more self-sufficient that made sense to the voting population, he/she would likely be given a chance to implement their agenda.

Well all I see is people losing their minds over a guy who only wants for his country to be the best. How you get there of course is the methods you use. Why dont you point all your agression and comments and pontifications to the dickheads who lead our country down into the shi#t chute we are heading into. We are a Island..we dont have nutjobs on any of our borders than can just walk in. We have done our best over the past 30 plus years ( thanks to keatings globalization push) to defang and deindustrialize to a point now where we are a joke. We used to be self sufficient in power and oil and manufacturing pretty much anything we wanted. Exported all around the world and had a balance of trade far in excess of the situation we have in this country currently. Now we are a weak pissy shadow of our former selves. Both political parties are responsible for this terrible decline the problem is they are still in that mindset. We need someone to come in and reshape us. I am not saying thats Trump but we need someone with a big set of khunas or boobies..I dont care who it is just someone with the conviction that Trump seems to have. Not his runaway mouth but his drive and vision for a better country. If that makes me a racist or a woke hater in your eyes then so be it.Thats your opinion !...I have a thick skin and sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. Oh and I am aloowed to still have a opinion dont I...I mean if I offend you with what I have said..then good...its not illegal to offend anyone...yet. well the current govt seems to want to try to even take that away from us. What ever happened to common sense and critical thinking to run your country. We have the resources here to be one of the wealthies countrys in the world and give the population here a lifestyle that could rival anywhere in the world. Wether you are born here or immigrated here I dont care. If you have immigrated here dont bring your shit here or try to convert what we are or the way we want to live. We are Australians..well we used to be...sometimes I really wonder who or what we will become in the future as I can not currently see any path forward to a better country under our current and ever former numbskulls Now you have a opinion in my view and I ont or probably wont be offended by whatyou say. I will listen and make up my own mind of what I keep on board what you say or discard it into the rubbish bin of ideas..be they sane or insane

Starter motor for wills Merlin powered bike

Pure right wing American, MAGA-land, unadulterated BS. This part is especially untrue - "The contradiction being that Europe’s energy systems, industrial bases, and geopolitical sermons 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭." Europes energy systems don't ALL depend on America. They get energy from Russia, from Norway, Azerbaijan, and Algeria for pipeline natural gas. They ship in millions of tonnes of Australian canola and turn it into transportation fuel. They ship in Uranium for nuclear power plants from Canada, Kazhakstan and Australia. They have huge hydro, windpower and solar energy projects. They have diversified their energy suppliers since the start of the Ukraine War. And at the end of the day, European consumers of energy use around one-quarter of the average American energy user. They drive fuel-efficient vehicles and EV's, not gigantic V8 fuel guzzling urban assault vehicles, and even their homes only use modest levels of energy because they're well insulated. It is pure American propaganda. The Europeans are primarily seeking a ceasefire, as they see massive global upheaval, a huge global recession, high interest rates, and vastly increased levels of unemployment, if this idiocy of Trump and his sycophants is left unchecked.

Remember.... Never interrupt your enemy whilst they are shooting themselves in the foot. (Or summat like that)

Jeezus Jerry, I'm almost afraid to say anything now in case it brings forth another 50,000 words of reply! 😄 Look. If you want to ignore the almost daily reports of civilian killings, starvation, refusing to allow food and medical delivery by truck or ship, lack of any legal consequence for extrajudicial killings, targeting of noncombatants, etc - that's up to you. And no one is trying to hold Israel to any higher standard than anyone else. Is Hamas a terrorist organisation that should be disarmed? Of course it is. Do you keep killing a country's civilians until that terrorist organisation is disarmed? No you bloody don't. And as for throwing around the anti-semitic label at anyone who dares to speak out against Israel's invasions - Lebanon too now, as well as Iran - that's just lazy. I'm totally against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Trump's invasions of Venezuela and Iran, Hamas's October 7th invasion of Israel, and anyone else who takes uninvited military action in a country that isn't theirs. But because I'm also against Netanyahu's invasions of Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, I'm somehow anti semitic?

The Greens never knew about the tailings dam at Mary Kathleen Uranium until I told them. That dam was on bare ground and was covered with a yellow foam, leaching into the ground and exposed to the atmosphere. The Qld State govt minister told the Greens it was monitored. Nothing happened after that, that I know of. I felt disappointed the Greens didn't fight to get it cleaned up. I walked in it as part of my job to fetch a pump, had gum boots on of course. The foreman stayed well back on the bank.

I wouldn't go quite that far but I do agree they often let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The prime example is when they knocked back Labor on the emissions trading scheme. We could have had a working ETS for almost 20 years now if they'd given a little ground.

Ahh.. but he is the master of the art of the deal... In his own mind

Actually, the swing to One Nation is probbly the best thing that could happen to the traditional governing Parties. They only have to ask Why?, and do a bit of soul-searching. Why is the electorate doing this? Why have we lost their support? Answering those questions should lead to a reassessment of their platforms and with reformed platforms they can hope to win back lost support. We would end up with our traditional parliamentary system - Labor -v- Conservatives.

Couldn't disagree more, Nev. It takes a special kind of skill to consistently and thoroughly screw up a country. Didn't someone recently say that:- "If, hypothetically, D J Trump was a Russian operative sent to destroy USA, is there anything he would do differently? I think not."

Yeah - I have to restart drinking... 😉

Well it was on the tele at the Shed, but I couldn't hear it. Others talking over the top of him, making jokes, and someone in the workshop using the belt sander. But I knew he was lying, his lips were moving.

That's right. The nation originated from the migration of Indo-Iranian tribes (Medes, Persians, Parthians) from Central Asia to the Iranian Plateau around the 2nd millennium BC. They established some of the first civilisations in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Their religion was Zoroastrianism. It is one of the world's oldest monotheistic faiths, founded in ancient Persia (modern-day Iran) by Prophet Zoroaster. Its influence was reduced by Islamisation during the 7th Century CE. A lot escaped to India where they mainly live in Mumbai. Persian (Fārsi) is the official language of Iran, spoken natively by roughly 50-70% of the population and understood by most others. As an Indo-European language, it is unrelated to Arabic, though it uses a modified Arabic script.

I'm just upset that the conflict between Isreal and the Arab world has caused to deterioration of how ethnic relations in Australia have been hurt.

It's not anti-Semitic to criticise the government of Israel for human rights abuses and war crimes, when they have done this. Or do you think Israel should get a free pass for anything they do, no matter how abhorrent?

It probably depends what you mean by `terrorist attacks'. I don't think the Israelis are terrorists but their relentless killing of the ordinary civilian population in Gaza and the property destruction they have carried out to make the place virtually uninhabitable borders on genocide. Netanyahu would certainly like to get rid of all the Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank. Of course, most of Israel's neighbours would like to get rid of the Israelis too. Nevertheless, as far as Gaza is concerned, Israel's reprisals against the Palestinians for Hamas's October 7 attack have gone well beyond what Hamas did to them. Also, when it comes to carrying out targeted assassinations, the Israeli intelligence services are pretty ruthless and efficient.

Jerry, I agree with you most of the time, but it really looks like you have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Israel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_journalists_in_the_Gaza_war If they killed almost 300 journalists "by accident" then they must be the most inept military ever. So which is it?

My daughter is looking for a big Yank ute. I told her to wait a couple of months and people will be giving them away.

Even if the Yanks pull out by the and of April, it is going to take years and years to get things back to where they were at the beginning of March. The Iranian threat of nuclear capability might have been squashed, but the damage done in doing so will take years to recover. Even if the oil started to flow today, the World is still missing the deliveries it expected over the past six weeks. While we have concentrated on the fuel component of crude oil, do not forget that we have develped so many othe products from that stuff that we seem to find essential for modern life.

He's a Dill acting for the Coal Industry. and He's only a Senator. (Not directly elected) and dresses Up as a Tradie. It's the NATS that have killed the Libs. Nev

Fine. A nice step, but only a little step. When do you think they will address the big players who offshore their profits to avoid tax? A few billion recovered there would help Australia's bottom line.

Albo has never held a real Job, always was a labor lackey, so what he lived in social housing and his Mum was a single parent, this did not set him up to be the prime minister of this great country, many of us emigrant(i came here 56 years ago), when you could walk to a new job the next day if you didnt like it always was more jobs than workers, then came the labor /socialist party to power ,downhill we all went , rents went up, morgage went up, fuel went up, labor spend like there is no tomorrow,taxes go up,yada yada yada, why do we as a nation keep voting these no talent pollies (on both sides) to power, we are not all fools, is it because the 2 party system splits us into different sides, the greens are a waste of taxpayers money to pay them, indepentants never achieve much at all ,One Nation seems to attract some strange people (but i do like the sentiments they espouse). we need strong politicians that see that our back is now up against the wall and take strong measures to counter this, relying on asia for our fuel is stupid, asians think we are all racist in Aus, they can bring us to our knees anytime they want, we as a country cannot survive without fuel and forget going full solar it is not ideal for the vastness of our great country, immigration should be stopped completely we are full up . As a country we need to go fully independant for our safety and advancement, yes i think we should go slightly isolationist for a while bring us back to a even keel, I am in the last years of my life , so wont see changes but i hope my kids and grandkids do

I'll address this in the What's Albo Done Now thread, but, if you'll pardon the pun, in short, Shorten went to the 2019 election with policies that would cool the market by making it harder for investors to open up the market for home owners. The Australian electorate decided on Morrison over Shorten - and let's be honest, most people would have known what they are in for by voting for Morrison at that stage. Given the pollies are supposed to represent the people,, Labor changed its policy to represent the people. Aussies really have no one to blame but themselves for that one. Making the housing market an investment rather than a, well, housing market is the Lib's motto. People bought into it.. Problem is, now they are realising the folly of that approach (see the What's Albo Done Now thread though). I agree - he is definitely more Australia focused than the Libs. Problem for me is he could do a lot better in this. Although something is better than nothing. Absolutely agree. Also, one of the problems we have is that a lot of senior parliamentarians have, as part of their investment portfolio, rental dwellings. And some MPs have a sizeable number of them. I like what appear to be the Green's idea - allow one or two, but not unlimited dwellings to be put through negative gearing. The UK conservatives - under BoJo, if not earlier, entirely removed the concept of negative gearing and deducting mroe than a small amount for costs from income received from renting dwellings. The exception is where a company is involved, but thhere is full capital gains tax payable - wherewas there was also relief on CGT for private investors. The result - a more affordable housing market.

Getting off topic a bit here, but this photo of my dad and his platoon making their way up through Balikpapan was taken on the first day of the landings. The same day, another platoon in their company got strafed by a trigger happy American plane. Lucky nobody was killed but some were wounded. They were right out in the open as well, in clearly visible land just off the beach.

Clives party was always all about benefits to Clive, bugger anyone else. Just like Trump. Full of BS and self-importance, and self-interest.

Trump complains no-one wants to help him when he said he didn't need help. Nato is a defence alliance. An attack on one is an attack on all. It has nothing to do with helping a member especially a malignant narcissist nutcase who attacks another sovereign state with no consultation with anyone except Israel. Now he is complaining that Japan, South Korea & Australia won't help either. Not our war Donny boy. Piss off & lie about something else. Oh and the 48 hours is almost up so tomorrow Iran will not exist. Yeah right.

It was Willie that said far left, not Peter.

Agree, except..... it's ok as long as the wake-up call actually wakes up the slumbering major party policy makers. In the USA extreme, twice now, the rebel voters created a One Party situation which permitted a political leadership disaster. Now they are stuck with a shadow of an opposition party that is unable to provide any balance to the excesses of the incumbents. We seem to agree that our two major parties need to get back in touch with the electorate, and prioitise the masses. But I fear our two parties are both too conservative to move forward.

That's my thoughts too @rgmwa. Everything this administration says is a lie, why would they start telling the truth now.

Actually I support centre left.

But it is not compulsory to drive. The fact is that people get injured in traffic accidents sometimes catastrophically. How, as a society, do we handle this? Do we deny people the means to live, perhaps as a paraplegic? If this insurance were not compulsory, would you not have it? If you were to cause an accident, would you be happy to be sued for every cent you have in order to provide for the person you may injure? If you yourself had life-changing injuries, would you want to be provided the financial means to help you live? You say you get nothing from this insurance, but what you get is protection from losing your house if you injure someone, and protection for yourself should the worst happen. In life, there are rights and responsibilities. To want the rights without the responsibilities is childish. Operating a car does involve responsibilities and expenses. I am compelled to have tyres on my car that are roadworthy, the brakes must be serviceable, etc. (oohhh it's so unfair sob sob). I have not had a significant accident in 46 years of driving; however, obviously, it could happen. I am not willing to lose my house if I injure someone. I also am not willing to be injured by another motorist, which could cause me to have to sell my house for my medical treatment. Sorry, but this is just another one of your endless list of "whinges"

It's not the first time a keen innovator has built a Lister-powered Rat Bike!

My grandfather used to grow red pontiac potatoes and he would bed them down in straw on the floor of the laundry outbuilding to keep them a long time. That was in a cool climate though. I don't know how he kept the rats away from them. I guess I'm an embarrassment to my Irish ancestors, not being a potato eater.

Idaho is a beautiful state. I know people in Idaho as one of my best mates was from there. He was out here last year visiting and we got to catch up after a lot of years, but sadly he died suddenly three weeks after he went home. When he left here we were discussing his next trip back here in a couple of years time and the possibility of me going over there for a visit in the interim, as I haven't been there since the mid 80's. It's a very scenic place with the mountains and rivers and a nice slow, relaxed lifestyle a bit like we had here several decades ago. Not a big popuation, the capital has only 235,000 people. According to the mate, it hasn't changed much since I was there 40 years ago. His family live on the Snake River; attached is one of his photos of a canyon near their place.

In God's name any crime against Humanity can be justified. It's happening all the time. Where are All the God given Rights listed.? Made up as required I Would suggest. How terribly convenient. Nev

I was in Israel for a short time in 1973. The Israelis were very hospitable and were under constant threat then. The 6 day war in 67 was the last one then but the world was in the middle of the aircraft hijacking phase at the time. I fully supported Israels position and role then, after the holocaust & persecution they'd been through, to building a state and home for their people. Times, actions and attitudes have changed. Netanyahu is a War Criminal & needs to be prosecuted and jailed. He already would be if the Hamas terrorist attack had never happened. 75,000 Palestinians have been killed and Gaza destroyed. Palestinians are being evicted from the West bank and illegal Jewish settlements set up there. Israel has killed numerous aid workers & press personnel in Gaza with excuses or denials every time that they were targeting Hamas. They has excellent intelligence & the most sophisticated of weaponry but somehow can't get their targets and through the whole conflict still couldn't find Hamas or their hostages. They broke the ceasefire numerous times always with excuses and have now claimed part of Gaza for themselves. Now they are taking part of Lebanon. Without Trumps support this would not have happened who also wants Netanyahu pardoned. Trump has turned the US into a dictatorship with him as president assuming absolute power, achieved by appointing unqualified sycophants to top roles and ignoring all rules of order and decency. He is ignorant, poorly educated & supported by 60 million fundamentalist evangellical christians now called MAGA. He even thinks he was appointed by some GOD he professes to believe in. I have not read any of JAs long rants and don't intend to.

Begore I call BS, show evidence. - and that it is systematic. Even Australia has its eveil people - Roberts Smith hasn't even been tried while the whistleblower languishes in prison. Doesn't mean Australia is systematically war criminals 9but it seems to harbour their own, anyway). You think consant firing of rockets at civilians over the years.. and then breaking through and brutally killing 1500-ish people and taking hostages is throwing stones? So far peacepul Palestinian protestors? And now that? Give me a break about no antisemetism

They have two farm properties about 100km apart and need to move machinery and trailer rams etc between them. They spend a lot of time on the road.

Too much antisemitic nonsense here. Why accept the propaganda of inherently evil regimes?

Sorry... What? OK.. the milita of a country invade your country... but don't target your military - but your defencelss and well separated from the military civilians.. illegally under intenational law; you legitimately retaliate and target their mitilary assets, which they hide behind cilvilan assets - and you target their military assets legally, but because they use civilians aas part of their defence (which is not really even contested by them) and, by the way being totally legal under the rules of war as long as they are targeting legitimate military assets - and Israel is the terrorist? Yeah - they took the West Bank - but not through some arbitrary decision - it was the resuilt of a war waged on them.. Or have I missed something. And in exchange for peace, the Palestinians (which even Arabs don't class as a separate Arabic identity) were offered 96% of it back, but rejected it at the last minute.. Now, there are tensions, because Ramalla is a Palestinian controlled territory on the West Bank, and tensions in a war between Israel and Gaza are going to surface. Is it right? No! But no country has never been hostile to those of "enemy" ancestry in their territory (which I know, the UN doesn't sanction, but at the end of the day, it was territory siezed as a result of a war perpetrated on Israel). And did they actually target the journos and NGOs, or was it a) friendly fire or b) mistaken identity - IN A WAR, FFS.. I think in Kosovo (BTW, an illegal war as there was no direct threat to NATO states, and there was no UN security resolution, and humanitarian reasons ions not a defence), journos and NGOs were killed by firendly fire, as was that in Afghanistan, and the list goes one. In fact, the betrayal of firendly Afghans by the west doesn't need to be brought up again, eoither. What terrorism did Israel actually commit. Where, without procvocation, did they go in and wantonly kill people as a country/defence force? Sorry dude - you and I live in a different world when it comes to this. (Apologies, that was condascending and I take it back) You may disagree with what they are doing - and I don't agree with it all, either, but it is not terrorism.