What's what?

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Shatner'sBassoon started the topic in Friday, 6 Nov 2015 at 7:48pm

AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING KALEIDOSCOPIC JOIN-THE-DOTS/ADULT COLOURING BOOK EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT IN NARCISSISTIC/ONANISTIC BIG PICTURE PARASITIC FORUM BLEEDING.

LIKE POLITICAL LIFE, PARTICIPATION IS WELCOME, ENCOURAGED EVEN, BUT NOT NECESSARY.

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velocityjohnno Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 6:02pm

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/04/brexit-immigration-cut-drives-u...

Seems the chaos has lessened amount of new people, increased wages.

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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 6:48pm

Gooooooo BREXIT !

“The decline in EU immigration into the UK in the wake of the Brexit Turmoil has proven to be a massive boon for workers, with unemployment falling to the lowest level since the 1970s and UK wages surging:”

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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 6:49pm

UK wages surging

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 6:49pm

Unemployment falling

Blowin's picture
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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 6:50pm

Half their luck.

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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 7:23pm

Don’t trust the ALP.

They have form with treasonous relationships with the CCP

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/not-china-first-china-says-sour-grapes...

“From Australia, where the federal government is in election caretaker mode, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews will attend the forum after he controversially signed a Belt and Road memorandum of understanding between Victoria and China.”

No mandate for Australia to join One belt/One road Chinese empire .

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yorkessurfer Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 8:40pm

Sound like you’ve been watching the Canberra based political thriller Secret City blowin?

The first season has an imaginary Labor government being compromised by Chinese intelligence operatives.
It’s compelling viewing, I’m sure some of the anti Labor posters on here would enthusiastically lap it up!

Season 2 is out now on Showcase but Netflix has the first season and will release the second season later this year.
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/australian-political-thriller-s...

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Blowin Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 9:48pm

Never heard of it but I might check it out.

Cheers YS.

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truebluebasher Friday, 19 Apr 2019 at 10:37pm

Season 2...Secret 'State'
Immigration Minister's failed Leadership Coup reboots Asian Invasion.
Qlders piss themselves laughing...'Dutto! Grab a crab-pot & sink an Asian tinnie!'

Immigration minister's wrath upon his own people's larrikinism was diabolical.
Biblical sized plague of Bluebottles
Mass outbreak of high voltage Irukandji
Worst flood in both Old & New Testaments
Sharks were released upon Great Barrier Reef
Cyclone hovered of Gold Coast closing down the WSR for 5 seconds or less.
WSL Surf Contest went somewhere...we still can't say where.
Kangaroo chases Bikini Babes around the pool
Pack of Dingoes now running Qld Tourism
Disabled haven't got a leg to stand on either...

[ VOTE #1 DUTTO...if you wanna live...so not a Bully! ] (Nice Campaign Sticker)
Qld! A breakout attempt everyday...All hail Duttos border patrol the next.

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 10:53am

Well here we are three weeks out from the election with No Bullshit Bill and Slomo Scotty running neck and neck ......... in the soporific stakes. The election, on the other hand, in the minds of the voters, is done and dusted. They know how they are going to vote and nothing much is likely to shift them now. The polls say Labor by half a length or better and that is where the smart money went long ago. The odds are getting so long for the COALition that a smart man could cover his bet on Labor with a pretty small investment, which is always worth a thought because, you never know. Favourites have been known to fail in the home straight. The vets report on Bill though is all good, never looked better, fetlocks of steel, gaskins like girders, ready for anything.

Slomo, on the other hand, despite his invocation of the god Winx, could be headed to the knackery. He can survive a loss by half a length but if it stretches out to much more than that, the survivors are likely to be looking amongst themselves for a stronger runner next time out. Generals, they say, always plan for the previous war and there is something of that about the Coalition campaign. The bullshit that served them so well in the last couple of elections has thoroughly decomposed, but there they are shovelling it for all they are worth.

The COALition label has stuck. They are the parties of CLIMATE CATASTROPHE. They are the parties that ran the RIVERS DRY. This might not have been fatal, the hip pocket nerve is as sensitive as ever, but the central nervous system of the voter is more precisely calibrated than last time around. They know that trickle down always turns into trickle up and their arithmetic is good enough for them to calculate that the only way to simultaneously reduce taxes and the deficit is to cut services. The best calculation is on going cuts of $40 billion ....... per year. This is AUSTERITY! And the burden of austerity always falls on those least able to carry it.

Slomo would love to pull the Tea Party/Trump trick of convincing those most vulnerable to his policies to vote for him, but he is not getting traction. Australia, despite our slavish foreign policy, is not the US. His "have a go, get a go" catch cry does not resonate. There are a couple of generations out there who have been having a bloody good go and have not got a go ........ well not to the same extent as their parents and grand-parents with their negatively geared properties, their franking credits and tax free superannuation. Then there are the disabled and the elderly unfortunate enough to end up in sub-standard aged care. Pretty fucking hard to give it a go when you are subject to NEGLECT and ABUSE....... and let's not even talk about indigenous policies under which most of the funding goes to condescending whitefellas whose only policies are proven, long term failures.

So Bill is sitting back watching as Slomo, every day, talks himself closer to the knacker's yard. Every so often Bill glances up, looks at the latest scary News Ltd headline, yawns, and demolishes its argument in a single sentence....... and this does resonate. Bill Shorten is slowly, but highly effectively, murdering personality politics. If he appears to have no personality it is to make sure that policy is paramount. He will do the routine stuff, putting on a hard hat, chatting to voters in the street, eating the local delicacies but he will never play a part. He will not try to be Mr Typicalsuburbandad, or Mr Footyplayingbloke. He will just be No Bullshit Bill, a politician with sound policies....... and very soon, once the boring part is over, he will be Prime Minister and those policies will replace the toxic nonsense imposed, for far too long, by the parties of the past.

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velocityjohnno Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 11:01am

Speaking of catastrophe, a nice version - earliest snowfall in WA recorded history, first snow in April on Bluff Knoll since 1970:

https://www.willyweather.com.au/news/9879/snow+falls+in+wa+in+april+for+...

That one is on the bucket list - timing a dump on the Stirlings to see snow in the state that hardly has any. Imagine if there was a nice little slope with runs down that way...

Please bring it over here!

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velocityjohnno Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 11:06am

Here's a link to the original article with pics, 3rd photo of snow on Bluff Knoll and sunrise is breathtaking:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-20/snow-in-albany-western-australia-...

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 11:58am

No bull shit Bill???

Didn't you see the news in the past week?

One day it's no new tax, then it's $34 billion of new taxes on superannuation??

Wasn't a great week for old Bill.

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 12:15pm

Not his best week Indo but still a mistake over taxing the super contributions of the wealthiest segment of the community is better than an under-handed plan to cut $40 billion per year out of services...... pensions, Newstart, health and education. Don't believe the Scomo's bullshit. The worst impact of these taxes might be that a few retirees have to miss out on their annual European holiday.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 1:22pm

The point is he spins shit like most politicians and was busted big time this week, so not at all a No Bullshit politician.

I guess we just have to accept that he will highly likely become PM, but personally as a tradie I'm am honestly worried, i can see him taking us into a recession like the early 90s especially with the pressure of the Greens behind him on this climate change thing.

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 1:49pm

If there is a recession the major causes will be beyond our control. In the medium term the quicker we reduce our dependence on coal exports the better our long term economic prospects. When China and India decide to dump coal it will happen quickly. If we had taken climate change seriously we could be selling them the solar panels the CSIRO invented instead of paying to import them.

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Blowin Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 2:02pm

Good link , VJ.

Along with the Jack Robinson vid it makes you realise how invisible the rest of the nation is to the East coast. SA gets a bit of a look in cause it’s achievable as a mission, but to go to WA is no small feat unless you’re a fly in / fly out and even then the vast majority would rather go to a Indo.

Oma got more exposure in a few days than WA does in a decade.

If it wasn’t for exposure from Pro surfers , the WCT and clowns like Tim Baker the joint would be forgotten about by everyone except the lucky few who live there and those doing the big lap.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 2:41pm

It's pretty predictable when China and India will dump coal.

When the life cycle of their coal powered plants run out or if coal becomes too expensive to be viable, but to be expensive it needs to be in short supply, with demand falling elsewhere that is unlikely to happen, more likely to get cheaper and in 50 years time most likely worth nothing, unless we find another good use for it.

China and India aren't going to do anything silly they will plan ahead and transition or if coal become dirt cheap they might not even fully stop coal fuelled power plants.

Australia should be doing the same thing making a transition to renewables but also ensuring we only close coal power power plants once there life cycle comes to an end, that's just common sense.

As for recession, that is true to a degree but how bad things get depends on government policy, putting the environment in front of the economy is a recipe for disaster, especially when the benefits of doing so is completely unknown.

Why would China or India want something from us they can produce many many times cheaper?...they most likely could sell a solar panel retail for the cheaper than the cost it would take for us to produce.

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yorkessurfer Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 3:48pm

True blowin it seems like more and more travelling surfers are looking at South Oz as an end point destination rather then just passing through on their once in a lifetime loop of Australia.

I was over at Streaky a month ago and in the car park at Granites was an assortment of interstate plated vehicles. They far outnumbered the local cars.

A couple of guys from Sydney’s northern beaches were celebrating their 40th birthdays’ with a trip to the desert. Western Australians, Queenslanders, there were even a couple of French surfers lapping up the pumping 6 foot conditions.

Our original plan was to head to Cactus but we heard the campsite was full and everyone we talked to seemed to be heading that way.

The weather maps looked unreal for Vicco so I convinced my travelling mate to embark on a 17 hour drive across the bottom of the continent to the Surf Coast.

Managed to score a good deal at a timeshare resort 5 minutes from Bells the week before school holidays started. It was 6 foot almost everyday we were there.

Drove back to Yorkes and it was 6 foot and pumping down there too! There were a couple of young surfers from the Gold Coast out there frothing.

There was also a guy from the Sunshine Coast who looked like Ragnar Lothbrok from Vikings sitting way out the back charging on a big board as his young son scratched around on the inside trying his best to get a few.

It was a pretty good vibe in all the lineup’s I surfed. The visitors seemed stoked and respectful and I made sure I acted respectfully in Victoria and the locals over there were fine.

Meanwhile in the dusty centre of the Eyre Peninsula army exercises were on and the place resembled a war zone.

Thankfully the surfing lineups didn’t!

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 4:23pm

".....putting the environment in front of the economy is a recipe for disaster"

Indo I think, against super strong opposition, that would be the dumbest thing ever posted here. The evidence is already in for the exact opposite. Go do some reading. Google "ice loss in the Arctic" "Australian temperature records" or "climate change and insurance premiums" .

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velocityjohnno Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 4:57pm

I actually agree with BB on a few things here, the removal of distortions like NG, diversifying our economy away from one large income source like coal, etc. But yeah we will have to pull rabbit out of hat to produce solar panels cheaper than China (automate + scale), or support CSIRO methane to hydrogen membranes to power the Australian auto fleet, etc.

Life cycle of Chinese coal plants - well there are 250 going in that will be brand new, so 2070? They obviously do not believe in AGW.

Question to everyone, no political point to be made: what have we got that can replace the coal/oils to make everything and provide all motive power, that can be done without bankrupting the country and financial system?

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 5:14pm

The economy is always the most important thing.

Okay so you would prefer to see us risk going into a recession and feel good that we are doing something about climate change?

Even though Australia emissions are irrelevant in the bigger picture. (just over 1% of world carbon emissions)

BTW. agree of the diversity thing always being a good thing.

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 5:29pm

So you are comfortable, to sit here in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and totally ignore our responsibilities just to avoid a recession which probably wouldn't happen and could definitely have been avoided had our government taken the kind of steps that many other nations have already put in place to reduce emissions? I think the word is "parasite" which is how much of the rest of the world already views our appalling neglect of our own emissions and our willingness to go on profiting from selling coal. Australia uber alles? Yeh?

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GuySmiley Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 5:40pm

Lots of the usual foul rightard burley in the water today, not sure why anyone would take the bait.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 6:22pm

Yeah 100%.

Id much rather that than cut emissions screw up the economy and go into a recession.

For what?...maybe reduce our emissions from just over 1% to 1% making close to zero difference in the scheme of things.

Basically just doing it, to say we have done our part and can feel good.

Don't get me wrong im not against cutting emissions, but not at the expense of the economy especially at a time when we could be facing an upcoming recession.

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happyasS Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 6:26pm

Why would we have a recession anyhow? We're not talking about abandoning coal overnight.

Well in fact we have a plan, an easy target, 26 percent by 2030 and we are apparently not on track to meet it. Where is the recession but????

So perhaps the debate should be less about smashing the greens for the fanciful targets are more about asking why our government is not on track and instead finding excuses.

What will screw up the economy is waiting until the last minute. Course then again if you never intended to 'do good on your promise' then there's no worry is there.

Just a million excuses and reasons why we can or should fail to meet our easy targets.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 6:40pm

Well hopefully we wont have one but just googling "recession coming Australia" it came up with, so at least some think we are at risk.

The Next Recession We Have to Have
https://fbe.unimelb.edu.au › Exchange › Edition 2
The only uncertainty surrounding an impending recession in Australia is when it will happen. How we prepare now will map | Faculty of Business & Economics.

Six reasons Australia's not heading for a recession - SmartCompany
https://www.smartcompany.com.au/.../six-reasons-australia-not-heading-re...
Feb 22, 2019 - Australia will have a recession one day, but not any time soon! ... markets is “ manageable” but conceded now it's just as likely the next move in ...

Australia's economy just entered recession on a per capita basis - ABC
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-06/gdp-q4-2018/10874592
Mar 6, 2019 - It is the first time the nation has had a per capita recession since 2006. ... with annualised growth over the second half of the year coming in at 1 ...

Australia in 2019/2020: Recession likely, rates heading to zero - Chris ...
https://www.livewiremarkets.com/.../australia-in-2019-2020-recession-lik......
Feb 12, 2019 - Excess in the Australian housing market has been widely discussed by ... and should result in a recession later this year or early next year.

Targets are pointless the transition is already happening over 100 wind farms, over 2 million households have solar on their roofs.

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blindboy Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 7:29pm

vj if the government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry were removed in an orderly manner and redirected to solar we could easily be close to zero emissions within a decade. It is a myth pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their political lackeys that the transition would be a significant economic disruption.

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etarip Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 7:34pm

Indo, this is exactly the kind of thinking that has gotten us to this shit position. You’re displaying some serious Chicken Little-isms here. Fodder for the Conservative scare-mongering.

The economy is not going to tank if a sensible, forward-thinking, balanced plan is developed and implemented. Investment won’t flee the country - in fact the opposite. Business likes certainty.

Signaling (and committing) to development of an integrated policy would have been done years ago if the Libs weren’t beholden to their own far right. And backed up by the scare-mongering that goes on in the News Corp media.

Finally, you’ve been claiming the Coalitions’ better economic management skills for a while. How do you explain the the ‘impending’ recession on that basis?

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:22pm

"Well here we are three weeks out from the election with No Bullshit Bill and Slomo Scotty running neck and neck ......... in the soporific stakes. The election, on the other hand, in the minds of the voters, is done and dusted. They know how they are going to vote and nothing much is likely to shift them now. The polls say Labor by half a length or better and that is where the smart money went long ago. The odds are getting so long for the COALition that a smart man could cover his bet on Labor with a pretty small investment, which is always worth a thought because, you never know. Favourites have been known to fail in the home straight. The vets report on Bill though is all good, never looked better, fetlocks of steel, gaskins like girders, ready for anything.

Slomo, on the other hand, despite his invocation of the god Winx, could be headed to the knackery. He can survive a loss by half a length but if it stretches out to much more than that, the survivors are likely to be looking amongst themselves for a stronger runner next time out. Generals, they say, always plan for the previous war and there is something of that about the Coalition campaign. The bullshit that served them so well in the last couple of elections has thoroughly decomposed, but there they are shovelling it for all they are worth.

The COALition label has stuck. They are the parties of CLIMATE CATASTROPHE. They are the parties that ran the RIVERS DRY. This might not have been fatal, the hip pocket nerve is as sensitive as ever, but the central nervous system of the voter is more precisely calibrated than last time around. They know that trickle down always turns into trickle up and their arithmetic is good enough for them to calculate that the only way to simultaneously reduce taxes and the deficit is to cut services. The best calculation is on going cuts of $40 billion ....... per year. This is AUSTERITY! And the burden of austerity always falls on those least able to carry it.

Slomo would love to pull the Tea Party/Trump trick of convincing those most vulnerable to his policies to vote for him, but he is not getting traction. Australia, despite our slavish foreign policy, is not the US. His "have a go, get a go" catch cry does not resonate. There are a couple of generations out there who have been having a bloody good go and have not got a go ........ well not to the same extent as their parents and grand-parents with their negatively geared properties, their franking credits and tax free superannuation. Then there are the disabled and the elderly unfortunate enough to end up in sub-standard aged care. Pretty fucking hard to give it a go when you are subject to NEGLECT and ABUSE....... and let's not even talk about indigenous policies under which most of the funding goes to condescending whitefellas whose only policies are proven, long term failures.

So Bill is sitting back watching as Slomo, every day, talks himself closer to the knacker's yard. Every so often Bill glances up, looks at the latest scary News Ltd headline, yawns, and demolishes its argument in a single sentence....... and this does resonate. Bill Shorten is slowly, but highly effectively, murdering personality politics. If he appears to have no personality it is to make sure that policy is paramount. He will do the routine stuff, putting on a hard hat, chatting to voters in the street, eating the local delicacies but he will never play a part. He will not try to be Mr Typicalsuburbandad, or Mr Footyplayingbloke. He will just be No Bullshit Bill, a politician with sound policies....... and very soon, once the boring part is over, he will be Prime Minister and those policies will replace the toxic nonsense imposed, for far too long, by the parties of the past."

This post had me for a while...

I was thinking...yeh I suppose....

Then I got to this line...

"...... and very soon, once the boring part is over, he will be Prime Minister "

And a little voice inside me said Nooooo!

I don't know what it is, but the guy just really bugs me. He doesn't bug me more than scomo, but for some reason, something repels me so much that I feel he doesn't deserve to be PM

Even given the alternative...

Can't we have a third choice? Please! Please! Please!

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:57pm

.

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sypkan Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 12:22pm

.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:38pm

"Finally, you’ve been claiming the Coalitions’ better economic management skills for a while. How do you explain the the ‘impending’ recession on that basis?"

Nah dude sorry i haven't, i have critized the Keating government era and said in hindsight Howard did a good job to help get things back on track, but ive never said Labor are this or Liberal are better or worse in regard to economic managers.

Actually about a month ago in reply to a post by Sheepdog and talk of labor or Liberal being the best economic managers, I actually spent a bit of time going through all the recessions to see what the truth was because i really wanted to know and the verdict was pretty clear, there was no real pattern either way.

I even got praise from our own Swellnet rainman truebluebasher for my presentation of figures.

Difference now though and IMHO the danger is Labor are now the Greens bitch, we saw that under Rudd when he did his foolish open borders type policy that we are still paying for (Manus and Nauru), then he did a full 360 change on policy. (something very rarely done in politics so you know if that happens it's serious)

The fear now is if we really are on the cusp of a recession, they will do the same and be pig headed and pander to the greens and not use common sense and not put the economy first, it is a fear... but i think/hope just like the refugee issue, i think/hope end of the day if they see the danger signs coming they will make adjustments, if it was anyone other than Shorten id have a bit more faith.

As to what has got us to what you call a shit position (if that's what you want to call global warming)

It's the result of the industrial revolution, electricity and petroleum products but lets not forget those two things have also provided us with almost everything we have in this world now and the quality of life and length of life we enjoy, electricity and petroleum products has been pretty much the the key to development of technology in all areas, that has made most people lives easier (although more complicated) and our health better and our length of life longer, travel easier, communication easier the negative is that has also fuelled world population growth which is then like the petrol on the fire of it all.

Im not saying we should continue with it, like anything some things run their course and its time to move on, im all good with that, but it's about how we do it, IMHO it should be a nice steady calculate transition as we have been making, not a Blindboy panic style transition.

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:38pm

.

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:37pm

"Question to everyone, no political point to be made: what have we got that can replace the coal/oils to make everything and provide all motive power, that can be done without bankrupting the country and financial system?"

Solar power, all over the desert, and big arse ord river scheme type dam to store the power, irrigating farms in the process. Plus a big arse thick extension cable connecting and selling the power to asia.

Or as karl krutensky once suggedted, australia has shit loads of solar power potential, and shit loads of roads, long black roads. Pave the roads with solar power catching capacity and collect a shit load of energy.

Or a big arse tidal / wave turbine in the bass straight, or in the gulfs of adelaide. Yeh its all dream stuff but the potential is there. It'd never pass the greens test, and probably would fuck shit up but who knows....maybe it can be done.

Just do it in/to south australia, the place is fucked anyway. No huge loss.

Sometimes sacrafices are worth it...

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:40pm

To me Bill is like school boy in a mans body, if i bought a new car i wouldn't trust him to drive it, let along run a country.

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:41pm

Disclaimer: It's all dream material/pie in the sky stuff above. Don't shoot the nessenger

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:41pm

Disclaimer: It's all dream material/pie in the sky stuff above. Don't shoot the nessenger

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:44pm

Sorry bad internet connbection here...things are getting weird...

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 9:44pm

Sorry bad internet connbection here...things are getting weird...

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etarip Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 10:03pm

Fair enough Indo, I did put those words in your mouth. Mea culpa on that. I still think there’s some issues with your position.

Coupla points:
- The ‘shit position’ we’re in refers to the sense, feeling, zeitgeist, Mabo, whatever that we can’t make a change to our dependency and faith in fossils fuels without bringing on a recession. The two issues are separate, and need to be treated as such. If we actually committed to a policy we could kill two birds with one stone. There’s a lot of smart people in this country, with a shitload of better ideas than “dig stuff up and burn it - oh and I’ll need a massive subsidy to do it”
- Calling Labor the greens “bitch” and judging them for compromising their respective position (your implied tone - not stated) ignores the inconvenient fact that that the Liberals and Nationals have done this for years to counter the fact that Labor gets more votes directly on its own policies. Would the Libs support some of their more fucked policies if it wasn’t for the influence of Barnaby and Co? Goose / Gander.
- As far as the point above goes, that goes to another level when you consider the internal schism in the Liberal Party. How the government (?) reconciles its internal dissonance has me fucked. And then has the nerve to scaremonger on the Greens / Labor nexus. How does this sound: “Vote for Wilson, get Abbot / Dutton”?
- Refugees aren’t a significant issue on the national bottom line. I know it’s a bugbear of yours, get it, but conflating recession with Manus / Nauru with national prosperity etc is a deadend. Immigration more broadly, might have a case, but refugees... yeah nah.
Going to go back and have a look at your figures on recession that you mentioned. Sounds interesting.

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indo-dreaming Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 10:03pm

@Sypkan A combination of wind and solar and

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etarip Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 10:09pm

Bill Shorten really gets your back up hey Indo? Why?
Just don’t get the vitriol that people spew about him. He’s just another politician. There’s way more insidious scumbags in parliament.

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sypkan Sunday, 21 Apr 2019 at 10:31pm

There's way better options too.

The fact that shorten is their 'best choice' both before and now, two cycles on - despite everyone saying how shit he is for five years shows somthing ain't working right...

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GuySmiley Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 7:18am

After 6 years of #killbill nothing has stuck .... not the RC, not the endless parliamentary attacks on Shorten, the unions and Labor by the policy free LNP nor the daily dross from shock jocks and the Murdoch rags

He's still there leading a united & talented team that will form gov't after May 18.

As good as that gets it will be icing on the cake to see the infighting in the liberals and national parties afterwards, something about fighting for the soul and direction of these once centre right parties. ALP/DLP split like.

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indo-dreaming Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 11:14am

@etarip

Everyone has politicians they like or don't like, and even though policy is important so is the prime minster.

I personally dont like the vibe Bill gives off and he seems very weak and very left leaning, id much rather a stronger more right leaning labor leader with some balls and personality.

Many of you guys dont like Scomo personally i think he is one of the better leaders of our time (since Howard), he was a great immigration minister and doing a decent job, especially considering where we are in the political cycle.

Much harder for a leader at the end of a reign especially one that hasn't been all that great or stable with changes of leadership, i think if he had been prime mister from the start instead of Abbott things would very different, i think he could have had a similar reign to Howard, who even though is not well liked here, in reality has been one of the most successful prime ministers of our period, most of Australia agrees with me, that's why his reign was so long.(over 11 years) Australia's second longest serving prime mister.

If Bill gets in he is at the opposite end of things the easiest time of the political cycle where people are more forgiving and things are fresh again, so he will get a bit of a free ride, but that said that free ride only last so long.

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GuySmiley Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 1:51pm

". ...the easiest time of the political cycle ..."

Perspective and timing is a wonderful thing.

You might want to revisit the Howard years and how he benefited from the Hawke/Keating reforms and the mining boom #1. Because of that boom he remains the highest taxing PM in AU history. Of course it is also AU political history that he mostly spent the tax receipts of that boom, record low spending on infrastructure and the biggest selling off of publicly owed assets (far surpassing what Thatcher did) on buying votes at each election in recurrent tax cuts and middle/upper class welfare that any objective economist or person will tell you still dogs the budget today. The sort of tax cuts Morrison is promising at this election that will/might/perhaps come into effect after a further 2 elections .... i.e. it will never happen.

Of Shorten no-one is discussing how his fully announced policy agenda makes him and his team a big target for scare campaigns. Conservatives are squealing because Shorten, to his credit, is going after some of that Howard era largesse.

..... but all this is dross because we all know the LNP are the better money managers don't we?

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etarip Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 2:01pm

@indo
Right leaning labor leader with personality... you mean Mark Latham? Or Malcolm Trumbull...

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blindboy Monday, 22 Apr 2019 at 4:23pm

Howard was the man who increased middle class welfare and began the COALition project of diverting ever greater wealth into ever fewer hands. If one of the measures of leadership is to govern for the whole nation, he failed miserably. He governed for the class he came from - upper middle class. You are right in claiming that Morrison is of the same ilk. He is another representative of the upper middle class and his policies are even more extreme than Howard's. A vote for Morrison is a vote for the big end of town and a level of austerity for many others not seen in Australia since the 1930s. Even if his wildly optimistic projections of growth in the tax base occur, he is still $40 billion a year short of balancing the budget. More likely, since his "Magic Pudding" budget is based on such unrealistic figures, is that he will continue to cut welfare and raise further bureaucratic barriers to people trying to claim their entitlements. At a time when many disabled people are in desperate need, the barriers they put in place meant the NDIS underspent this years budget by $1.6 billion. Think wheelchairs, bathroom modifications, transport, just the basics necessary to live with some dignity ....... if you believe that this was some kind of mistake you are a fool. it is a key feature of their policy across all forms of welfare. If you are thinking of voting for Morrison you would want to be damned sure that you, and none of your family or friends, are ever going to need any government support beyond the numerous subsidies available to the wealthy via franking credits, superannuation, family trusts, etc etc.

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Westofthelake Tuesday, 23 Apr 2019 at 4:21pm