onetrack

I've never seen anyone lose traction, chuck a burnout or do a wheelie in an EV, so I'm at a loss to explain how the higher powered EV's are dangerous. I have seen a Tesla zip away from the lights very rapidly, though - much faster than even I could keep up in a 2.5L Camry Atara, which has reasonably fast acceleration when you floor it. The Camry weighs 1465kgs and has 135Kw of power (180HP in the old money), so it's not underpowered. But that Tesla went like a cut cat let out of a bag. And my bottom line is - I went from Perth to Albany and back (over 800kms total) in early March, and got 6.1 litres/100km with two people and their luggage aboard, averaging around 105kmh, so it could be quite a while before I can warrant lashing out on an EV.

I have never ever developed a "big spare tyre" around my gut, and I really don't understand how people can let it happen, and do little about it. If I gain even a couple of kgs during a period of slacking, I feel a lot more restricted in my physical movements, so I make sure I lose it, with some energy expending work.

You obviously haven't studied what is happening in W.A. The W.A. State Govt has thrown multiple hundreds of millions (possibly billions by now), trying to keep W.A.'s coal-powered power generation going. W.A.'s coal powered electricity comes from two coal power stations at Collie. Muja (owned by the W.A. Govt) provides 85% of W.A.'s coal power, and Bluewaters, a privately-owned power station, provides the other 15% of W.A. coal power. First, about 10 or 12 years ago, it was $380M of W.A. taxpayers money sent down the drain trying to refurbish a rotted out Muja power station, under a State Liberal Govt. Like trying to restore a rotted-out vintage car, the more they repaired, the more corrosion they found. They gave up and called it a day before a billion or two went down the drain trying to fix the wreck of a power station. Enter Griffin Coal and Premier Coal. Griffin Coal is one of W.A.'s major coal producers. It has lost $1.3B since 2011. It is owned by an Indian corporation, it has been in receivership for several years, and it's almost certainly facing bankruptcy. But the W.A. Govt keeps pouring endless amounts of money into Griffin, to ensure it has adequate coal to keep the W.A.-Govt owned Muja coal-fired power station going. Over $300M at last count. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-21/roger-cook-extends-griffin-coal-financial-lifeline/106250998 Then we have Premier Coal. Premier (privately owned - by the Chinese) has too much coal, and can't sell what it produces, so the W.A. Govt pours money into Premier Coal to ensure hundreds of Collie workers don't end up unemployed. Despite all that subsidising, Premier have just announced around 70 to 100 jobs are to go at the company as they "readjust production" to suit the declining coal market. All this State Govt money going into coal-powered electricity production in W.A. means power prices aren't rocketing, and the power cost rises are being kept to an acceptable level. But the subsidies are a major burden on all W.A. taxpayers, and a hidden cost to W.A.'s coal-fired electricity production. So much for the "cost burden" of going over to renewable energy. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-22/collie-job-cuts-coal-mine-merger-push/106591996

One for the fishermen amongst us.....

Causing an uproar.

As I said, there's currently no requirement for real estate agents, solicitors or conveyancers in the real estate business to meet the reporting requirements under AUSTRAC money laundering laws. However, typical of Govts shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted - all of the above people will be obliged to fall into line with everyone else under the cash money reporting requirements, starting 1st July 2026. QUOTE: "Tranche 2 reporting entities are businesses in "gatekeeper" professions - specifically real estate professionals, lawyers, accountants, conveyancers, and trust/company service providers - that will be required to comply with Australia's Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Act. These new obligations take effect from 1 July 2026, requiring them to register, conduct due diligence, and report suspicious activities to AUSTRAC."

The construction of a wind turbine blade is extremely complex, and no doubt very costly. They don't lend themselves to re-usability very readily. Fibreglass is their major constituent. It seem to be the height of stupidity to just bury them.

Stopping immigration completely will not make the housing problem go away. Stopping huge investments in our housing by overseas investors such as the Chinese will go some way to help the housing problem. There are serious numbers of houses owned by Chinese investors that are purposely kept empty, because of the Chinese attitude towards property investing. This has to stop. Plus, all investors must be made to produce proof of the origins of their money in line with AUSTRAC reporting. As it is, real estate agents, solicitors and others in the real estate industry are not obliged to report people purchasing properties with suitcases full of cash money. It is legend here on the West Coast that Chinese buyers turn up to real estate agencies with suitcases full of cash, to prove they have the money and don't need to finance the property. This is a glaring hole in our control of legal money origins.

The oxygen locked into hematite is just as useful as the iron, because it is needed to facilitate the steel-making process. Oxygen is critical to many chemical processes which produce the products we need in our industrialised world. I agree, there's a large cost component in shipping iron ore many thousands of kilometres to furnaces in far-off countries. But those countries are prepared to pay that cost, and they often own the ore bulk carriers, as well as the iron and steel-making facilities. The simple fact remains that iron and steel-making is a business that just cannot be started from scratch without a monstrous financial investment, running into possibly multiple tens of billions of dollars, the need to find stable markets for that iron and steel, that are consistent purchasers of the product - and the end product goes into a world full of iron and steel products that are often sold cheaply. There are many "anti-dumping" legal actions against iron and steel manufacturers around the world, as the Chinese in particular, often dump iron and steel products at low prices during sales slumps, to keep their furnaces operational. They often over-produce iron and steel products. If we go into iron and steel making on a large scale, we are competing with huge global iron and steel producers in a vicious market. BHP and Rio Tinto are possibly the only corporations who could garner the huge investment backing required to indulge in large-scale iron and steel production. All businesses need to borrow money to finance big projects and you need to be able to convince lenders you can repay the borrowed money. Financiers would be reluctant to lend money to huge iron and steel manufacturing projects, as they are seen as low return. However, there is great interest in finding cheaper ways of making iron and steel, and especially "green" steel, where pollution levels from the manufacturing process are low. Iron and steel manufacturing is one of the worlds most polluting industrial production processes. To that end, there are three companies in W.A. currently either manufacturing or investing in "green" steel production on a modest scale. It appears the S.A. Govt is also intent on supporting "green" steel manufacturing in that State. https://international.austrade.gov.au/en/news-and-analysis/news/australia-forges-a-future-made-from-green-steel

So, how come Labor is totally corrupt, and the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation are pure and honest? Sounds like you're just carrying out repeating all the slanted, Labor-hating, Sky News reporting. And if you're going to accuse people in power of corruption, you'd better be able to back it up with proof, or you could become involved in defamation lawsuits.

Clearing for suburban developments and clearing for minesites and minesite access roads and facilities also takes up a substantial majority of the level of native vegetation clearing going on. Farmland in W.A. has been subject to highly restrictive clearing bans since 1985. In the 1960's, the catchwords of W.A.'s conservative politicians were, "we're aiming at clearing a million acres a year!". We've gone from one extreme to the other as regards farm clearing, but there's only minimal restrictions on clearing for roads and subdivisions.

Agree, we need to be harsher on these Middle Eastern criminals, and impose longer sentences on them, when they display criminality.

That's a typical, wide-ranging statement that has no facts to back it up. "Plenty" is a generic number that implies a substantial quantity. I don't believe that it's true that "plenty" of immigrants "hate Australia", that is typical Pauline Hanson sh*t-stirring talk. What we need to actually do, is identify those immigrants who are failing to become useful Australian citizens, and who are here only to devise criminal means of acquiring wealth, and to arrange deportation of same.

I'm not glad at all that an attempted U.S. Presidential assassination took place, and I don't hate that much, that I want leaders assassinated. But this is the U.S., where nutcases, conspiracy theorists, and promoters of hatred abound, and where guns are freely available and also available in huge quantities (1.3B firearms for a population of 380M). So that firearms-loving cult is only going to keep producing attempted assassinations. Despite the U.S.'s problems, they're still our primary ally, and still the worlds biggest superpower. China doesn't rate as an important ally, they wouldn't come to our assistance if attacked, whereas America normally would. Under Trump, there's a much lessened chance that America would come to help us repel an enemy who invaded. We don't have anything that Trump really wants, that is the major problem.

No - if it was programmed by a teenage boy, and sighted a blonde girl in a miniskirt in close proximity, it would've developed a huge bulge in its groin area, then started talking gibberish, and then indulged in unexplainable acts of gross stupidity and bravado, mostly involving showing off.

The use of purposely twisted derogatory names for leaders is the same abusive, denigratory technique used by Trump, and every other person who suffers from narcissism, low emotional intelligence, and bullying behaviors - which are often driven by a need to assert superiority. You do nothing for the strength of your arguments by indulging in such childish moves.

Because no-one can produce an economically sound, profitable business case, for doing so, and thereby gain the necessary funding to carry the process out. In addition, Australia has a low level of available suitable labour for major projects such as you propose - and especially, cheap labour.

I was indeed - as were you and around 63,000 other young men. But the major difference between a "lone wolf" radical, mentally disturbed assassin, is that those young Australian men were screened for mental instability and other psychological problems, and those found unsuitable were rejected from induction into the military. Those men inducted, were trained to good levels of competency, and given instructions in what to do, as regards identifying enemy combatants - and they were also given "rules of engagement", which follow the Geneva Conventions. This is a world apart from the American scene, where any number of high powered firearms are freely available to any U.S. citizen, regardless of their soundness of mind, their ethics and morals, and their beliefs. In addition, there is no requirement for any firearms training whatsoever for U.S. civilians, and adherents of the U.S. firearm worship cult, also train up their young children in the use of firearms - which to me, is the sign of a morally and ethically bankrupt civilisation.

WIllie - If they made it into a fold-up job, it would be ideal for throwing into an aircraft, for a bit of speedy transport at your destination! But you're right, it needs a seat. I've noticed a lot of the footpath scooter riders slowing down, there must be some education or law enforcement or confiscation of scooters going on. Here on the Left Coast, it seems the police are giving short shrift to juveniles riding illegal souped-up scooters on the road - they just confiscate them, and crush them. There was a gang of juveniles on these things, terrorising both pedestrians and motorists, in the Northern suburbs a few weeks ago. Seems like the police sorted them out, caught the ringleaders and crushed the scooters.

Ho-hum, just another casual shooting incident, and another day in America. But I wonder what would have eventuated if a large number of deaths had occurred? Lots more guns being handed out, no doubt, just to make sure EVERYONE was armed to the teeth!

If you really had this "balance" sorted out in your mind, you wouldn't be carrying a lifelong, enduring and bitter grudge, against those who demanded that you be conscripted into the military.

I think you must have been studying some kind of pyschological quackery, to produce this "feast and famine" talk, involving thought processes and political leanings. I've never heard of such a thing, and I've heard and read about a lot of exotic ideas, around the workings of the mind.

GON - I'm no left-leaning Labour supporter and I consider myself pretty non-political. I've voted Liberal, NP and Labor, according to the issues of the individual election on the day. Also, I do vote, meaning I still have trust in our institutions. That doesn't appear to be the case in your situation, you claim all political parties are unrepresentative of the voters. But I do object to the constant right-wing whines about how all immigrants hate Australia and how the "White Australian culture" is purposely being subsumed by foreign immigrants from cultures the right-wingers love to project hate at. By doing so, they only place themselves in the same boat as the small number of Islamics who DO hate Australian values and our way of life. I don't need to denigrate Pauline Hanson, she can simply bring scorn on herself with her erratic and illogical outbursts, and her obvious hatred of anyone who isn't White European, and who comes from a different culture. But above all, she proposes things with no firm plans or vision, she just loves to agitate and see agitated people.

This is the biggest BS statement ever, one that ignores basic chemistry, and which is typical of Trump/MAGA scientific ignorance. A lot of minerals are made up of compounds, not just elements. Once you combine elements, or compounds of elements into other compounds, you get entirely new compounds, which have virtually no properties recognisable from the original elements or compounds. Oxygen is a fundamental element that only comprises 21% of the Earth's air. 78% of our air is Nitrogen, another fundamental element. The other 1% is a range of minority gases. Hematite, the most common form of our iron exports is an Iron Oxide, and there are quite a number of Iron Oxide forms, all possessing different qualities and abilities. These Iron Oxides are largely stable until heated to high temperatures, or become involved in chemical reactions. The bottom line is, Hematite is approximately 65% iron content and the Oxygen content of Hematite would be extremely low on a weight-comparison basis, so your argument that we are exporting air simply doesn't hold up to rigorous chemical examination.

O.K. We stop immigration, who is going to do all the crap dirty jobs you expect to get done? We haven't got enough labour as it is. All the old tradies are retiring and dying off and no young "White Australians" want to take these jobs on - especially where those kids come from wealthy white families where oodles of money is freely available to them, without working for it. You send all the Asians, Indians and Islanders home, who's going to drive your taxis and delivery trucks? Who's going to do your office and house cleaning? Who's going to build your new house? We can't get enough truck drivers of any kind because wealthy white kids don't want to drive trucks for long hours and long distances, putting up with crap food and being away from family. We can't get enough tradies to repair anything, such as house repairs, and mechanical repairs - because rich White Australians only want managerial jobs, and only like to play with electronic stuff. I'm currently giving the fencing bloke across the road from my block in a little country town, a hand to do limestone block retaining walls, on a new caravan park the Shire is building. He can't get any kind of labour to help him, so he comes to the old bloke across the road, to help him out. It's gut-busting work, out in the open, in all kinds of weather - while the young rich kids in town tear up the local reserves on their expensive trail motorbikes - because they don't have to work for anything, the Bank of Mum and Dad give them any toys they want, and they don't need to work! SWMBO and I rebuilt our bathroom just over 2 years ago. The only tradies we could find to do it, were two Iranian blokes. They were good conscientous workers, careful with the tiling and accuracy in alignment, and their work was a credit to them. These blokes had fled from a murderous regime, same as lot of immigrants, and they still had family there. They didn't "hate Australia", they see Australia as a chance to live peacefully and make some money and progress in life. I'd be pretty sure they suffer from "divided loyalties" and probably don't understand what the Anzac tradition is all about - same as if I went to live in a foreign country, and couldn't understand what they celebrated. But I marched in an Anzac March yesterday, and saw about 25,000 people waving Aussie flags, cheering and clapping all the soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen, and emergency services people - and the number of "White Australians" I saw in the crowd was pretty low, probably less than a quarter. There were Asians galore, Indians galore, and all the colours of the rainbow in the crowd. And they all obviously loved Australia, and what we are as a nation - otherwise they wouldn't have been there. I'll also wager there was a huge number of "White Australians" who never bothered attending any Anzac celebration - because they don't give a rats rectum about the Anzacs or Australian traditions, they're only interested in themselves, and their rich hedonistic pursuits - such as flying. A lot of these people would have been whinging that nearly all the shops were shut, and they couldn't buy something they wanted. Albo and his mob are struggling to do the best they can with the cards they've been handed by all the previous Govts - and that includes a lot of Liberal/NP decision-making that only ever benefited rich people and giant global corporations. If previous Liberal and NP Govts had done the right thing as regards Govt decision-making for the countrys long term benefit, we wouldn't be facing the problems we have today - and the Liberal Party and National Party wouldn't have disappeared up their fundamental orifices, to the point where they have virtually ceased to exist as parties and as a useful Opposition - simply because they failed to look after the people who originally voted for them. One Nation is an erratic flash in the pan with a track record of achieving very little, except pulling stunts that are designed to be divisive and make people feel unwanted - because they aren't Anglo-Saxon, white skinned, blue-eyed, and jingoistic. I've got some news for the jingoistic types. Australia became a multi-cultural country many decades ago, and Anglo-Saxons and White Europeans only make up a very small percentage of the worlds population (around 9%, according to the figures I get handed) - and that percentage continues to decrease as this largely rich cohort continue to reduce their reproduction rate. In the future, the majority of your doctors, scientists, engineers, tradespeople, and many of your leaders will be from some country you consider has an inferior culture. You'd better get used to it. Voting for One Nation will do nothing to reverse this trend and the Fish and Chip Shop Lady has no answers to the "immigration problem" either - except creating a vastly more divided and hateful Australia.