willedoo

ome, it is permissable. Section 121: 'The Parliament may admit to the Commonwealth or establish new States, and may upon such admission or establishment make or impose such terms and conditions, including the extent of representation in either House of the Parliament, as it thinks fit.' Section 124: 'A new state may be formed by separating a piece of land from an existing state, only with the consent of that state's parliament.'

If the above posts seem like I might be an advocate for NQ independence, I'm not. I'd much rather see our state remain as one, but I do understand the desire for some in the north to run their own show. It's a big state, 3,000 k's from bottom to top, and people up there often feel a lack of understanding from the pollies down in George Street, Brisbane. At the moment things are lot better in that department wiith a premier who is a North Queenslander.

I've never done much research into the economics of it that's been put forward over the years. Regarding health, education and law - the schools, hospitals, police, police stations and courthouses are already there, but the government bureaucracy side of it is not and would have to be built and funded. As far as paying their way, they'd have their share of the GST carve up, plus state taxes and fees like any other states. They also have a big slab of our state's resources in the form of mining, agriculture and fishing, and tourism. 60% of Queensland's export industries are located above the Tropic of Capricorn. There's always been two sides to the argument. The north has always felt like they're the cash cow being neglected in return, and the south doesn't want to lose that cash. As a comparison of populations below the millions level, NQ north of the Tropic is 800,000, Tasmania 580,000, Northern Territory 267,000. The GSP, Gross State Product of a North Queensland state is more than double that of Tasmania and equates to a GSP per capita of around $70,000 for Tasmania compared to $112,000 for NQ.

Marty, putting aside Katter ridicule for a minute, the debate on the formation of a NQ state has been going on for decades, involving public groups, local government and business. It's not all about Katter, he's just one of many mesengers on the subject.

In WA it's legal to buy pepper spray if over 18 but it's classed as a controlled weapon and can't be carried in public without reasonable grounds. General or routine self-defence is not accepted as a lawful excuse to carry it.

I don't know what the world's coming to. Just waiting for a movie to come on and caught the tail end of a show where they show film footage of little kids having accidents and hurting themselves and everybody is kacking themselves laughing at it.

Beautiful old F-5 Ford with the original V8 flathead just listed on marketplace in Brisbane.

I can remember it was fairly common for old blokes to live permanently at a pub in one of the rooms. Often WW1 vets. When I was growing up we had one old fella living permanently in our local pub. He had the nickname Woody as he used to chop the pub's firewood and do odd jobs for his board and lodging. He didn't drink, just lived at the pub. Woody was a lovely old bloke, a real gentleman. I got to know him quite well as he used to come out to the farm and stay and look after us if my dad had to go away for a couple of days. In those days the adults would go to the pub and take all the kids with them. Us kids would play around in the pub's backyard and climb the big tree there and at some stage we'd always end up going to see Woody in his room and have a yarn with him. After I'd moved away as a late teenager/early adult, whenever I was back visiting my dad I'd often drop in and see old Woody at the pub. Eventually he got so old and frail he ended up in a home.

A bit off topic but I found this pic of what was left of my old 750 fastback that I bought new in 1972. It went end over end a few times at 100mph+ so that's why it looks like a bashed crab. The gearbox was ok and most of the motor except the crankcases were cracked. The fibreglass tank had stress cracks as well. Bought it back from the insurance company for $80.

Thanks Pete, but I don't remember mentioning cost or value. It's something that's never entered my mind and won't. It's the journey not the destination.

Could be the future. Some pollsters are now doing two alternative 2PP estimates, one Labor against ON and one Labor against Coalition dependant on who gets the top vote between ON and the Coalition. The poll analyst's job is getting harder.

In 1983 in Cairns I stayed at the Barrier Reef Hotel in the old Barbary Coast waterfront area. Accommodation was $12 per day, bed and breakfast. By that stage the Barrier Reef Hotel was mainly accommodation and a public bar where old blokes would drink. Most of the action and business was down the street at the Oceanic Hotel, or the Big O as it was known. It was a funny place back then, the local bikies were like unofficial bouncers and probably saved the publican a lot of money on security. It was also where most of the fishermen hung out.

How times have changed. I found this old photo taken of the welcome to Cairns sign on a road trip in 1976. Population 33,000, it's around 180,000 now. Cairns was a nice place in 1976 with a lot of character. I was also there in 1983 and it was much the same. The next time was 1998 and it was unrecognisable.

He's certainly unimpressive. I think there's no doubt Josh Frydenberg would be their leader if he'd retained his seat.

I think Albo is fairly safe in his job at the moment. Labor has hit their historically lowest primary vote ever in polling, but on a 2PP basis they'd still win an election if it was held now.

Marty, there's also that gap between them being contenders within their party and being accepted by the voters to win an election. I think that's where Burke and Bowen fall well short. Probably something we'll never find out regarding those two as I doubt they'd get anywhere in a party room spill. Bowen I put at the bottom of that list as being a successful leadership contender. There would be a lot putting their hand up for the job who would easily beat him.

Looking at the latest Morgan poll, Labor's primary vote is 3% lower than it was when Rudd rolled Gillard. The question is, will their numbers continue to drop or have they bottomed out. If they've hit rock bottom and stay where they, Albo will probably keep his job. If they rise he surely will. In the Rudd/Gillard days they were both strong figures in the party but the lineup under Albo is underwhelming as far as leadership contenders go. Chalmers would put the ship in a dive to the bottom and Burke and Bowen are a pair of peanuts. It really only leaves Richard Marles as a viable successor if it ever came to a spill.

Random pic from the net. Poor old Chief, it's sad to see, but I certainly wouldn't knock it back if I found it on a scrap heap.

Not sure if this is an old dodgem car or off a merry go round:

The immediate job in the project is to drop a possible contender engine in the bath for a couple of weeks. It's been in the weather for quite a while so could do with a good soak. While that's happening, it's back to the shed renovations so I can get the workshop better set up. It's got to the point of being barely functional and you probably wouldn't want to go in there without life insurance and a map to find your way back out. The main shed adjustments are to: refit a set of steel diagonal braces, and finish replacing some timber wall purlins with steel RHS that I have on hand. Then clean out enough floor space to pull a big heavy steel bench out and away from one wall section. Remove the steel diagonals from that section. Remove the cladding from the timber framed wall behind it. Run cyclone rods in that wall frame (it will be upgraded to a bracing wall to replace the bracing of the steel diagonals. The diagonals need to go to fit shelving flat against the bracing wall). Insulate the wall frame and clad it with bracing ply. Another 6 metre wall section that adjoins another shed section will be cladded in and a doorway blocked off in the process. Build another alternative access to the other shed section. The doorway is already there, I just need to build a ramp leading to it. That would just about finish the construction side of the shed. Then it's just a matter of fitting shelving, making some more benches, setting up the lathe, mill, bench grinders and all the other equipment in their permanent home, sorting out all the tools and bits and pieces and getting it looking like a workshop. Theoretically that should leave all the central shed floorspace free to start this project (and others). It all doesn't make much sense without photos.

I was reading in the news where Pauline referred to Angus Taylor as a smarmy management consultant. It got me curious enough to read the Wiki page on Taylor, and looking at his background you'd think he'd be a much better fit in the National Party considering his extensive agricultural background.

Agree Jerry, a PhD means little these days. Every second Joe Blow has one. Our ex premier did his PhD on trade unionism. Total work experience - straight from uni to work for the unions, then on to work for the Labor Party, then on to being elected as a Politician. What an asset.

It's a bit ironic when you have to bend down to pick up your pick up tool that you dropped.

So it's back to plan A to custom build a frame. A bit of work involved but at least it can be built to requirements instead of trying to adapt an unsuitable frame. I've got an old frame hanging about which might be ok for a couple of donor bits. Chopping the steering head, main spine and front down tubes as one piece and using it is feasible and would save a bit of work.

The old M-63 Ural frame is out of the equation. The high ground clearance frame doesn't allow anywhere near the cradle height to accommodate the engine. From ground to the bottom of the frame is 240mm, and that's with 16" wheels and not the 19" originals. Ok for the original boxer twin engine but hard to fit any other type in it. The Ural frame will hang on the wall waiting for a boxer engine to show up one day.