Curtin’s “beating the big drum to stop the work force going on strike” was probably his greatest contribution. Even then…
Open Thread – Tues 18 July 2023
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
At 6.30am AET, a total of 70% of the electricity used across the five states in the Eastern grid was…
Our resident Maggies are rearing their second fledglings this year. Hope they get rid of them earlier than last year’s…
Watched my honeyeater kick the kiddies out of the nest and they’re gone. I love nature.
In local bird news, just watched my resident rail pass the window with a tiny black puffball chick in its…
Youse can all get fecked you ring-nosed malevolent mindless moron mouth-breathing misogynistic Damoclean-dystopian Dionysian-dribbling dickless-upticking ones.
Yes and well said on Mrs Stencho Pantyhose’s recent pathetic posts.
Lee,
Julie Burchill has coined the name “Transmaids” for women like Susie O’Brien. The tranny equivalent of Fag-Hag.
Never liked Woolworths having had the misfortune to work with them in the 90s. Even more despicable now and Coles is catching up. I wonder if Coles will plumb the depths BigW has. Of course BigW specializes in cheap crap.
Well this won’t lead to much strife I predict confidently!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/07/refusing-fund-spouse-partners-transition-domestic-abuse-cps/
Refusing to let your meth mouth ex cut your sons balls off will be domestic abuse.
Awesome.
I’m sure no chaps will rather see the ex in the ground than see that happen.
I must have missed a chapter in “How to make friends”.
One learns something every day.
Beer truck
But only look at the earlier version of Swallows and Amazons. The recent one is rubbish.
Rabz,
re your comment on Ed’s exploding head if he keeps on with his fairy stories, something like this, I reckon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI3NoBeNwfk
😀
I need to vent.
Cats may recall about 3 weeks ago I mentioned that my youngest daughter was starting distance education even though we live in metropolitan Brisbane. There are a number of reasons for the change but the primary reason is that Miss Speedbox is an elite athlete. The rationale was that distance education was portable and would allow her to train and compete, both here and overseas, whilst still maintaining her educational requirements.
She has already competed (won or placed) in overseas events in her chosen sport and has won or placed in a substantial number of events in several States of Australia. Although she is naturally gifted in her sporting ability she also trains 25+ hours per week. Yet she only recently turned 13 years old.
One of our grand plans was for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Although she had to achieve a high place in the selection process, her coach and ourselves were positioning her training regimen and competition schedule here and overseas for the next 2-3 years towards that end. It was highly likely she would have gained selection to the Commonwealth Games team. (she was selected for the national team earlier this year.)
Now, that Commonwealth Games goal is sunk and I am disappointed for her. But, I will also say how sad and angry I feel for the thousands of other athletes in the Commonwealth who train just as hard and have looked forward to a genuine life achievement. Forsaking many of the ‘luxuries’ of their pre-teen and teen years in pursuit of a sporting achievement. And this is a sport that his a ‘lifespan’. By your early/mid twenties, you’re getting too old to compete on the world stage. That means that for some, this Commonwealth Games would have been the last chance for international level competition.
I cannot express my feelings of bitterness and utter contempt for Daniel Andrews. If I said what I really thought…….I can’t.
She is weird.
I remember her once devoting an entire article to how distraught her 8 y.o. son was because he had copped an overdue library fine.
The thing is, how come the kid thought it was a big deal?
Mummy having a total hissy-fit, that’s how come.
Instead of saying, “Hey, it’s no biggie. You really should return stuff on time, but we’ll sort it out.”
But no.
She’s gone on about the oppression of minors by Big Library, to the point where the kid was scared shitless.
On top of everything, the kid’s father was an AFL umpire.
What hope has the kid got?
I imagine Sydney still has all the necessary infrastructure to hold a Commonwealth Games. Also suspect many…many cronies have received front loading money prior to the announcement.
The Dreadful Heat here is a summer day back home. Wear a hat, stick to the shade, enjoy the absence of mozzies and flies as you eat al fresco.
Killed a couple of hours before the taxi takes us to the airport car yard. The covered market is open this morning. Tiny, but all the good things represented – fruit & veg, breads, cheese, fish, and magical duck products. Tiny sweet melons, great red ox heart tomatoes, those funny flat and fragrant lunchbox peaches.
Its good to get it out of your system … and then find a new goal for your talented offspring to replace what Dan has snatched away.
Speedbox.
It is shitty.
Of course, the Stand Wif Dan brigade are out in force today.
“Ooooh, it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do.”
The justification is that the original cost of $2.6 bn has blown out to $6-$7 bn within 12 months.
Now, one or both of those estimates was hopelessly inaccurate.
Here’s the thing.
Jacinta Allen (2-I-C) says they are still building all the facilities and infrastructure for $2 bn. So what is the extra $4-$5 bn for?
Jacinta Everywhere also claimed it was “too hard” to hold the games in Melbourne using existing infrastructure (as against the original plan of regional cities). Apparently all stadiums are booked solid four years ahead.
Yeah, sure.
They could run the games between Grand Final day and Cup Day with s.f.a. disruption to other sports.
There is something else going on.
Mind you, I don’t think we should be holding the games anyway.
But it is a travesty to can them twelve months after signing up.
setting the stage for your own execution
dover0beach
Jul 18, 2023 8:37 PM
Cohenite, Stynes is one of the authors of that book.
In the old days of public stonings and burning of witches at the stake Yumi would be well done and well bruised.
Speedy – The Games will be held, just not in Yarragrad.
You may need to prepare for travel expenses though.
Best wishes for Ms Speedy in her chosen sport!
You sure about that?
Melbourne was the only “bidder” for 2026.
Which leads us to more spin.
Victoria apparently “won the right” to hold the Comm Games.
Today Hunchback says “we were approached and took it on to help out the Comm Games Federation.”
Huh? We are throwing taxpayers money at “helping out” some failing sports organisation overseas.
And now we hear there is a break fee.
So we have someone begging us to take it on, but then leave onerous break fees in the contract?
FMD.
The only chance I see of the Comm Games going ahead now is in India, and maybe it is pushed back to 2027.
Pogria, I haven’t seen Heidi or read the book. When a movie comes out based on a book, I like to read the book before seeing the movie. On the other hand, sometimes I will watch the credits at the end of a movie I liked to see if it is based on a book.
I did read a lot of Enid Blyton books in primary school. Secret Seven and Famous Five.
A bit of nostalgia has ‘kicked in.’ 😉
Descending to abuse, lizzie. Tut-tut!
Seriously, the whole eternally-running obsessively self-victimised posture over the comments of one person and some up-ticks on a blog is pathetic. You’d do yourself a great deal of good if you really did just get over yourself and start you own blog, even if it did only have an audience of one.
It’s apparently your birthday tomorrow or something. Why not shut down the computer, give Hairy a hug, pour yourself a G&T or make a cocoa or whatever, put on some music and do a slow waltz around the lounge, or just sit down and talk about something nice and forget about bloody up-ticks and how you let one person on a blog get under your skin. Let yourself get in the mood for a nice day tomorrow. Chill out, FFS.
Watched La Vie En Rose on SBS. What a magnificent movie. Marion Cotillard as Piaf so good.
Andrews – student union s wet dream to sabotage comm games.
He really wants to insult the English and he bang on about the republic.
Next will be some idiot reproachment to China.
He really is spotty in real life
Andrews – student union s wet dream to sabotage comm games.
He really wants to insult the English and he bang on about the republic.
Next will be some idiot reproachment to China.
He really is spotty in real life
BoN – I hope so but am not so sure. Time is very short for anybody else to step up. Daniels may well have stuffed it entirely for 2026.
Beertruk,
I have the complete collections of the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.
I fervently hope nobody ever tries to make a series or such like of the books. If you recall in the Famous Five, George was actually a girl but refused to acknowledge the fact. It is ready made for pushing the tranny credo.
Boambee John
Jul 18, 2023 8:58 PM
Beer truck
But only look at the earlier version of Swallows and Amazons. The recent one is rubbish.
Matey, I would have thought as much. I am taking it that they crammed as much ‘virtue signalling’ into the remake that they could.
Linda Burney’s mood enhancer of choice is doing her no favours. She gave a Press Club speech where she stated the NO Campaign was being “Runned” by a group called Fair Australia. She was cheered. sigh… Michael Smith has the story.
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/07/pretend-impartial-press-pack-gives-linda-burney-a-standing-ovation-for-press-club-yes-speech.html#comments
Pogria, It would be truely disgusting if anyone did/attempted that. I am now just thinking that I might go to the libary and have a look to see if any Eynid Blyton books are there. I think from memory a few of the leftard brains trust were having a whinge about here books.
Bushkid, thank you for your frankness. I disagree, but appreciate your comments. I don’t want my ‘own blog’. I have no desire to be some horrid sort of online influencer or to garner ‘followers’. I don’t, I hope, ‘blather’, write meaningless nonsense, nor desire approving upticks of my comments as you seem to suggest I might. Largely I am happy with the few friends I have here who like what I write. I do think however that constant huge numbers of upticks to a known stalker trying to cause trouble are a problem for me. They are distressing, and unnecessary, and most unwelcoming.
I didn’t ask how other women felt about me, I asked how other women would like a denigrating stalker to make libellous comments about them, and have these comments upticked by a large number of people who come here to this public forum.
Let me give you an example, and it is certainly NOT what I think about you:
“Bushkid me me me and me again, is a lying paranoid slob, a trannie fantasist who steals horses and farts in bed, who doesn’t know her arse from elbow, a narcissist thief who thinks gracing the blog with her attention-seeking comments is the essence of commenting, always moaning about her dead husband’.
Upticks 40
Offensive in the extreme, and completely untruthful, isn’t it?
I do not think you would like it, so I hope you can appreciate that when something like that full of memes and tropes that have no basis in reality happens to me on a constant multi-year basis, at any time of any day or night, about nothing, I don’t like it either. I regret if I seem to you to be ‘hilarious’ in my ‘vapidity’. That’s your opinion and of course you are free to hold and make it. Opinions are not lies or falsehoods although they may attach to them. Also, I admit to getting terse recently when making a comment about something in my life and then, feeling it was the sort of thing that would bring down the hydra hell sword, saying pace (quieten down) to that Banchee and that I was getting my retaliation in first. I am only human after all.
Of course it’s just a blog and I certainly don’t own or run it. I simply want to be left to comment on it politely and well.
Liz Storer, Caleb and the other bloke were talking about this story from The US this evening. The US is an absolute farce.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/17/23797379/mali-ml-typo-us-military-emails-leak
And, this went on for ten years!
Today Hunchback says “we were approached and took it on to help out the Comm Games Federation.”
The Bat Eared Mong doing what he does best, lying.
There’s your problem, right there.
Ayn Rand has some prescient thoughts about Democrats’ avoidance of reality
Beertruk,
yes, the woke brigade attacked Noddy and Big Ears, and have pretty much made owning, selling or simply displaying Golliwogs a crime.
A notorious rapist might soon be freed again and at the top of the queue for public housing.
How the bloody hell does that work?
How the bloody hell does that work?
Mongstralia.
Meme
These f*ckers can do what they want with no regulatory oversight. What can go wrong?
—
The HighWire with Del Bigtree: Jaxxen Report.
A new era of genetically modified foods using CRISPR technologies are hitting a grocery store shelf near you. Watch to hear Jefferey’s in-depth reporting of this new genetically modified food, which regulators do not feel necessary to regulate, as new science is showing that this new technology may cause major problems.
CRISPR ENGINEERED FOODS COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU
Explain to me why CRISPR modified food would necessarily be bad for my health.
Genome editing.
“Life, uhh, finds a way.”
Jurassic Park 3D Movie CLIP – Life Finds a Way (1993)
Yes, the tranny mob need to be kept well away from Blyton’s The Famous Five. Sadly, I fear they may already have their paws on it. Can recall reading something about that, but didn’t note down where.
George was a terrific archetype for the boisterous and ‘tomboy’ girl. My sister, two years older and both bossy and extremely competent, was a George fan. She could use a sewing machine and crochet anything into dollies clothes – for me. I was a ballet mad kid, dancing even before I took lessons and I put to be each night as many dollies as I could make from whatever was around, as well as leaving my prized ‘proper’ doll Rosemary in charge of getting them all to sleep. I loved pretending to be Anne and in charge of the picnic and just a little bit scared, leaving the dangerous stuff to Julian and Dick to sort out first, with George. Women aren’t all from the same mould, apart from our xx basis.
Sounds like a pile-on.
Hang on:
What?
Anyway, “Sliante.”
Point regarding the issue of Aborigines being counted in the census – or not, one of the Indigenous rights websites was beating the big drum. “How would you feel, if you lived in a country, which didn’t feel enough about you, to count you in the population. How would you feel about that?”
So what?
Feed dogs salmon only for decades in a breeding programme and it is likely to trigger and change in the genome.
“Jurassic Park” isn’t an answer.
I’m open-minded about this but if you think genome editing is necessarily bad and Jurassic Park is a reasonable answer, I’m not sure you can point out where the risk to my health is.
Dot
Jul 18, 2023 11:02 PM
Explain to me why CRISPR modified food would necessarily be bad for my health.
Explain how it would be good with no adequate testing done? It’s Russian Roulette at this stage. Same with the mosquitoes.
Let’s just use the populace as guinea pigs, again … much like the C-19 jabs.
Bloody Bruce Pascoe and “Dark Emu” on ABC TV right now. FMD! Someone pass me a house brick, will you!
I refuse to submit my eyeballs to that rubbish.
on criticism:
“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own”
I think I can work that into the next Census form as my occupation.
It probably won’t be an option I can just uptick so I’ll have to enter it under “Other – please specify” I suppose.
Not CRISPR.
I think it is CRI-6PR.
One gets an occasional defensive reflex, Sancho.
Perfectly normal. And very rare.
I’ve seen the withering contempt of those, with genuine Aboriginal ancestry, for those “faux Aborigines.” How Bruce Paxton gets away with it, I don’t know!
I’d be quite pleased. I don’t want to live in a country that has feelings about me, one way or another. I’d prefer to be ignored altogether by the state.
Anyone who wants the state to love them and care for them has serious daddy issues.
I’m going to bed. I have to get to a dance class early tomorrow.
I trust Tom’s gone to bed.
Speedbox, Hairy sends his best wishes to your daughter, and hopes that the West Australians can come to the rescue. He is, like you, knows what it is like to have a sporting and competitive daughter, and is disgusted at Dan Andrews.
Lizzie,
I was more like your sister, except for the bossy bit. Second last of the siblings, too many older ones ready and willing to boss me. As early as I can remember, I preferred outdoor pursuits. Being horse mad helped, so boy’s clothes were all I ever wanted.
At the same time though, like your sister, I could sew, knit and crochet. Mad keen on make up as well. On the rare occasion I would say, “I wish I were a boy”, it was only in the context of not being able to take woodwork and metalwork as electives at school at the time. I didn’t really want to be a boy.
I was fortunate though that my father taught me how to change and or repair the tube in a bicycle tyre, use a lawn mower etc. I have never been afraid of operating machinery and even taught myself to drive and use a tractor.
Horses for courses. We seemed to have more freedom to be what we wanted to be decades ago. Now, it’s strictly in the box we have chosen for you.
Food has been GMO for a long while now.
Why is CRISPR as the method to make food GMO a problem?
weather
Just seen your kind thoughts here, Bushkid. I hope all is well with you and your life and why not come in here more often? I’m pleased to say that what you suggest is what we do all the time, not just on my birthday, which is Thursday, not tomorrow (my mistake). And while I’m finished now, I’ve made it quite clear now, I hope, that I won’t simply sit still, be told to leave (thank you, but no thanks, Tom) while being further insulted. I will not be driven off here and while I won’t follow Hairy’s advice and hit back as he’d like, or leave altogether, I’ll stay the course each and every time it happens. Should it ever happen again.
Forgive my ignorance.
Apparently, gene editing is not the same as genetic modification.
https://allianceforscience.org/blog/2022/05/gmos-and-gene-editing-whats-the-difference/
Gene editing isn’t as powerful a tool as people think. It is just another tool we have at our disposal.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgeed.2021.817279/full
Non-GM Genome Editing Approaches in Crops
CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing technologies have the potential to fast-track large-scale crop breeding programs. However, the rigid cell wall limits the delivery of CRISPR/Cas components into plant cells, decreasing genome editing efficiency. Established methods, such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated or biolistic transformation have been used to integrate genetic cassettes containing CRISPR components into the plant genome. Although efficient, these methods pose several problems, including 1) The transformation process requires laborious and time-consuming tissue culture and regeneration steps; 2) many crop species and elite varieties are recalcitrant to transformation; 3) The segregation of transgenes in vegetatively propagated or highly heterozygous crops, such as pineapple, is either difficult or impossible; and 4) The production of a genetically modified first generation can lead to public controversy and onerous government regulations. The development of transgene-free genome editing technologies can address many problems associated with transgenic-based approaches. Transgene-free genome editing have been achieved through the delivery of preassembled CRISPR/Cas ribonucleoproteins, although its application is limited. The use of viral vectors for delivery of CRISPR/Cas components has recently emerged as a powerful alternative but it requires further exploration. In this review, we discuss the different strategies, principles, applications, and future directions of transgene-free genome editing methods.
There’s more on the differences:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211912418300877
CRISPR versus GMOs: Public acceptance and valuation
So “franken foods” would be no more.
Err, could be no more:
Established methods, such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated or biolistic transformation have been used to integrate genetic cassettes containing CRISPR components into the plant genome.
Hmmmm
Not all CRISPRs are equal.
Yes, I see why it is necessary to downvote links to CRISPR-related articles.
Sure, let’s all believe anything “Del Bigtree” says because he’s a stoic Native American like John Redcorn.
That was a good thrashing of that aircraft.
—-
Dafydd Phillips.
RIAT 2023- FRANCE’S HIGH ENERGY RAFALE SOLO DISPLAY – 4K
We have arrived in Sarlat…the loooong left, short right worked. French roadworks without detour signs, not so much. We, and our little rented Peugeot, are intact.
We’re in a B&B just outside the medieval city, a little balcony perfect for sipping ice cold wine and gormandising on cheese and crackers. Just a little too hot right now. So we’re doing the plonk and beer in the room, and the Beloved is powering down from the journey (not a long one, but it was an exercise in muscle memory which can be very taxing). Also the lift was broken so he’s lugged our motherships up the stairs, the tough old bugger.
It’s some sort of converted large family home, circa the belle epoch. Double storey fanlight entrance, now a mezzanine, steep stairs to enormous rooms. When the owners bought it, the roof was caved in and the plumbing was non existent. The story reminded me of that chick flick about Tuscany. Not a ruin now, very comfortable.
No TV. Perhaps the last one suffered BBC rage and was attacked by a patron.
Chuckle. Just went to the communal fridge for another glass of wine.
A cardboard cask with “Le Heritage Carillan” on the side. The frogs have finally succumbed! In truth though, it ought to be labelled Le Heritage d’Australie. 🙂
A nice, crisp drop though. And on the house so I can’t complain.
John Stossel:
The Southern Poverty Law Center promises to warn us about dangerous hate groups and extremists. In reality, it smears grassroots activists like “Moms for Liberty” for daring to disagree about policy.
Southern Poverty Law Center Has Become a Left-wing, Money-grabbing, Slander Machine
That’s easy. I flipped onto that doco occasionally. Not once did I see a detailed analysis of his references and argument. It was all about the feelz and anyone who doesn’t have the feelz is a racist. Consider that “spiritual attachment to the land” argument. As if aborigines are the only people who feel a special bond to a special place. Have they never heard the song Green Green Grass of home?
Can’t wait.
That’s where Stockton Rush f#@ked up he didn’t serve plant based food in the Titan sub.
Ooookay, I can understand the Hydrogen bit, but what’s with the plant based food?
I suppose a lot of it would be lentils or beans?
Maybe an emergency fuel supply by the passangers?
John Spooner.
Mark Knight.
Mark Knight #2.
Morten Morland.
Michael Ramirez.
Matt Margolis.
Gary Varvel.
Gary Varvel #2.
Al Goodwyn.
Tom Stiglich.
A.F. Branco.
Lisa Benson.
Ben Garrison.
Good to see the Dan Andrews Collective suddenly interested in fiscal responsibility after blowing over $1billion to NOT build vital infrastructure all those years ago.
People will die on those planes. Very fast and very horribly. For no reason other than vanity.
Thanks Tom.
Terry McCrann giving Andrews both barrels:
Correct. The thing that heads up Victoria is a national embarrassment.
But Victorians voted for it. That doesn’t let others off the hook. Prosecutto is just as bad. He too bites the innocent.
Put the two in a sugar sack and chuck them in the Murray.
Thanks BB. These vile people think they’re still in the students’ union at Monash.
Nobody is entirely useless. They can always serve as a horrible example.
Paywallian:
Victorian taxpayers face a ¬compensation bill of tens of ¬millions of dollars after Daniel ¬Andrews dumped the 2026 Commonwealth Games, as officials in London and Australia claimed they were blindsided and accused the Premier of grossly exaggerating the cost of the event.
In a shock announcement on Tuesday, after months of questions about his state’s preparedness for the games, Mr Andrews claimed the final cost of the sporting gala could have been as high as $7bn despite his government -estimating they would cost $2.6bn before Labor’s state election victory late last year.
The nation’s sporting establishment – from Australia’s most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon to former Olympics boss John Coates – expressed their disappointment in Mr Andrews’ decision, with Mr Coates calling the move an embarrassment for the country.
The Commonwealth Games Federation in London was in crisis meetings on Tuesday to secure the future of the games and its lawyers were poring over the contract with Victoria’s Labor government.
Lawyers were looking at whether the Victorian government could be liable not only for the costs already incurred, but for substantial damages, and also the additional costs incurred by a ¬future Games host because of the short preparation time.
CGF chief executive Katie Sadleir, who is also on the board of the 2026 organising committee, told The Australian on Tuesday night (AEST) that “of course the Commonwealth Games will continue”. She claimed some other Australian states had already been in touch about hosting the event, while the organisation was getting “strong” support from other Commonwealth nations.
Mr Andrews’ counterparts in other states were quick on Tuesday to rule out bidding to take on the 2026 contract, putting the nation’s relationship with the Commonwealth Games in question.
“We are working through steps to reach a (financial) settlement (with the Victorian government) and regroup,” Ms Sadleir said. “We have great supporters of the Commonwealth movement, and already other cities have come to us. It is such early stage, the board will sit down and look all options, but this week is getting to a good state in regard to the exit agreement with Victoria.”
A defiant Mr Andrews claimed the games had to be axed because the costs had jumped to between $6bn and $7bn, fuelled by the bill for running events in five key community centres up to two hours’ drive from Melbourne.
“I’ve made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job,” Mr Andrews said. “This is not one of them. Frankly, $6bn (or) $7bn for a sporting event, we are not doing that. That does not represent value for money, that is all cost and no benefit.”
Mr Andrews said the $2.6bn initial estimate had been too low. “It is in fact at least $6bn and could be as high as $7bn and I cannot stand here and say to you that I have any confidence that even that $7bn number would appropriately and adequately fund these games.”
But Ms Sadleir said the federation was “absolutely blindsided’ and the last board meeting in April was shown a budget submission that bore no resemblance to the figures now quoted by the Victorian government.
She said the federation had not been consulted about the escalating costs claimed by the government, nor offered any chance to tweak or finetune plans.
“To find out with eight hours notice a decision made like this with no ability for the board, no opportunity or debate or ability to look at options, it is very difficult to express in words,’’ she said.
“We are in shock, it is incredibly disappointing … there has not been a lot of time to get our heads lined up about the implications, but it is really disappointing for aspiring athletes and our organising teams, they were well advanced in planning and preparation.’’
The 2026 Games would have been the first for King Charles and Queen Camilla since acceding to the throne, and the Games patron is Edward, Prince of Edinburgh.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: “This is something we would not comment on”.
Ms Sadleir said the federation only required two sports to be on the Commonwealth Games program, swimming and athletics, with all others being at the option of the host. She said Victorian officials had arrived at her office in late 2021 saying how excited they were to have a unique games, with the regional concept, because the federation’s new flexible guidelines allowed that to happen.
She said the number of sports and the containment of costs not directly associated with the Games – such as housing and improving facilities, were decisions for the Victorian government.
The timing was also unexpected by games officials, given the success of the Birmingham Games which came in $115m under its $1.5bn taxpayer budget.
Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips said the backflip could imperil the state’s global reputation as a sporting event location as Australian officials tried desperately, but without apparent success, to entice another state to bid for the games.
The decision was condemned across the sporting community on Tuesday with Mr Coates declaring the state should not have bidded for the games.
‘’This is a terrible embarrassment to Australian sport,’’ he said.
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto said the decision was a “con” while a series of athletes condemned the move, arguing they had been let down by a government that claimed it only knew of the cost increases in the past few months.
Mr Phillips accused the government of letting down athletes, fans and Indigenous Australians, claiming Labor had backed the flawed idea of an effectively ¬regional-only series of events.
“It’s a comprehensive letdown for the athletes, the excited host communities, First Nations Australians who were at the heart of the Games, and the millions of fans that would have embraced a sixth home Games in Australia,” he said.
“The stated costs overrun, in our opinion, (is) a gross exaggeration and not reflective of the operational costs presented to the Victoria 2026 Organising Committee board as recently as June.
“Beyond this, the Victorian government wilfully ignored ¬recommendations to move events to purpose-built stadia in ¬Melbourne and in fact remained wedded to proceeding with expensive temporary venues in regional Victoria.”
Anthony Albanese distanced himself from the decision, referring questions to Victoria.
Mr Andrews said the funds allocated for the games would be redirected to a $2bn regional package to funnel into sporting grounds, facilities, tourism and social and affordable housing.
But Mr Coates warned: “We shouldn’t be bidding for events unless we know that we have the necessary commitments and support of the various governments.
“And unless the business case stacks up, clearly though from what Daniel Andrews is telling us now, it didn’t.”
The games were planned to be spread across Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and Shepparton in March 2026, away from Melbourne, where some of the world’s best sporting facilities are located. Mayors had ¬objected to the infrastructure required to host the Games in the regional centres. The games were to be run in three of Labor’s most crucial regional areas, in and around the cities of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Glynis Nunn said the Andrews government had taken a dream away from young athletes “hoping to compete in front of their country before the (Brisbane) Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
“It is rare you get to see the Commonwealth, Paralympics and Olympics in your home country and Australia has a great history of that. Now (Victorian premier Dan Andrews) has blown that all up which is disappointing,” she said.
Dave Culbert, sports marketer and former Commonwealth Games employee, maintained there is still value in the event despite the Victorian government’s decision to dump it.
I hope our dear Ragu still lurks here.
Tonight I toddled into Sarlat and had a marvellous salad of warm Rocamadour cheese, dressed with honey on an endive base. Heaven.
On the table next to us…Australians en vacances. Fun to eavesdrop on them. One was called Cheryl who asked if her chicken was leg or breast. Magret, Madame. It is duck.
I know. I am a wicked old woman. 🙂
Put the two in a sugar sack and chuck them in the Murray.
Unfortunately, that would only pollute the river. Pitchforks anyone?
I’ll add, just in case you think I’m a foodie snob, it was written in English under the French. More troubling were the guys who wanted their steaks “well done”.
The customer is always right.
Blue steak; I can’t imagine eating, but if it were a choice betwixt the two, I’d take the blue anytime.
The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.
– Stanley Kubrick
As the new day dawns in Australia, I’m sitting on my balcony overlooking Sarlat la Caneda, music from the square drifting up, the air warm and clear, the glow of the setting sun above the forest to the west.
Naturally we brought back some of the liquid produce to sample before shutting our bleary eyes.
The church spire, lead clad and looking rather like a salt shaker on an onion, sits dark against the apricot sky. It has a wind-vane on top. It’s a curly dragon.
THE COLUMN: In Praise of Toxic Masculinity
H/T INSTAPUNDIT
If you drink don’t drive. Don’t even putt.
– Dean Martin
Johnny, I always found a hangover improved my drive. Something about keeping the head very still.
The Commonwealth Games should be funded by sponsorship and donations.
On the plus side of Dickhead Dan’s withdrawal from hosting the Commonwealth Games, there will be less competition for trades and construction materials taking some pressure of building costs inflation. Anyone building in Victoria should be pleased.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m slightly bemused by those who want to watch people run around in circles or jump up and down. I don’t mind you doing it, I just think you’re weird. But I think you’ve got a nerve demanding that I pay through taxes for you to indulge your weird hobbies.
Calli, not a cross on top?
More Madrid
Visited one of the famous art galleries – the Prado. If you go between 5-7pm on Sundays it is free. Lotsa Goya and Bruegel.
Also tackled the Royal Palace – the largest in Europe and certainly the most ostentatious palace we have ever seen. Tapestries from 15thC, gold, ceramics, silver, carpets, chandeliers etc – completely over the top, room after room. It certainly was a rich dynasty.
Of course, it had an armoury and I had a drool over its “completeness, quality and quantity”.
We also walked by Casa Botín “the oldest restaurant in the world” – opened in 1725, and called in again to the magnificent Christ Church Cathedral.
– Martin Armstrong
-3 in the ancestral seat this morning.
Oh my.
-3 but feels like -6.
Better than smelling salts.
Gabor at 5:21
Having eaten with a mate who was served a virtually raw “rare” steak in Hossegor I’m not sure I would agree with you. Luckily I had the fish and the steak went back (which as a bonus probably annoyed the French).
I see no problem with the soon to be released raspist being given a housing priority.
After all, a drug criminal was appointed as Secretary for Education.
He simply needs to ask the people for ‘understanding’ as Coutts Trotter did.
Maybe he could find himself a convenient Labor woman and the oportunities would be boundless. The ABC would come knocking.
Putrid, the lot of them.
When we were operating in Victoriastan the biggest problem was the flow on from government sites terms and conditions. It was the desal plant and Westgate upgrade at that time.
Completely unacceptable and why you should always live on the coast. I think at worst I was 25 minutes to the beach.
Emperor Penguins live on the coast.
Never live anywhere with penguins either. An occasional trip to Philip Island for the bike racing or a few laps yourself is excusable.
Can’t stand the coast, nearly always windy, who wants to live in near constant wind?
-4 here this morning, coldest morning for quite a while, We normally get a lot of frost, not this winter, just grey dark days of constant drizzle, at least it’s not windy. This is the least windy place in Australia.
Just the spot for a few wind turbines sfw.
From the wreckage of the Victorian Commonwealth Games, a new political ultimate sin:
I never realised that Ballarat, or Geelong, or the Mornington Peninsula were the Victorian equivalents of Wadeye. Who knew that First Nations Australians were ever “at the heart of the Games”?
Perhaps they were; but this sounds suspiciously like the arrival of a new variety of moral bludgeon in the OPM-eaters’ toolkit. A glimpse of post-Voice budgetary best practice.
An Iron Rule.
The Kiwis have offered to stage the Commonwealth Games. Christchurch.
Aren’t they still rebuilding Christchurch?
Gez, fortunately we’re safer than most areas but who knows. I really feel for you and all the other areas that are being ruined by the turbines, solar farms and transmission lines. I love the way the environmental movement have gone silent.
It proves that they’re more about politics than principles but it doesn’t help. In twenty years our kids and their kids will ask why we did so much damage for little good.
The solar panel disgrace at Winton is being expanded even more, prime sheep country turned into an industrial landscape, it looks like a lake as you approach.
Can’t go sailing without wind. I like it. Our place on the coast being surrounded by water has only reached 29 deg in summer when it was 43 in Nowra. There is a gentle breeze that flows through the place to not ever need air-conditioning. The longest without wind is 2 hours. No penguins but plenty of cows with machine guns.
-1 down here. Only a light frost. Didn’t have to rug up well to let the chooks out. Ice on the buckets and ponds easy to crack. Apart from the three inches of snow in May, it has been quite a mild winter down here. Not complaining, mind. 😀
What idiocy to propose to build temporary stadiums at enormous expense.
It was a vote propping exercise that apparently no-one was prepared to lend Andrews money for any more.
Because it it was going to be debt funded, there had to be a lender as Dan can’t print his own dollars, can he?
And the first nation disappointment over the loss of invader games is bizarre.
Huguenot tears I could understand.
Christchurch, we already have the facilities, a bit like Melbourne really
Think of the potential for money harvesting, a welcome to country before every event and even every competitor.
Probably still in a better financial shape than Danistan.
And the first nation disappointment over the loss of invader games is bizarre.
I read that bit about the 251s and wondered why it should affect them more than the next bloke .. but then realised it’s the media “feel” .. ya getz extra brownie points and
a bigger headline for a 251 sympathy angle regardless of the story …….
My mother couldn’t stand the wind when we lived in Coogee when I was a kid. She insisted it gave her headaches. We kids loved the beach life while it lasted.
Linda Burney’s mood enhancer of choice is doing her no favours. She gave a Press Club speech where she stated the NO Campaign was being “Runned” by a group called Fair Australia
NO YES references to be seen anywhere around Fairfield/Liverpool but lotza NO posters from Fair Australia ………..!
Crossie,
agree.
Chairman Dan brings shame to the glorious revolution.
I don’t believe Chairman Dan and his comrades had any intention of going ahead with the Games. It was a ploy to help win regional seats in last year’s election, and it worked a treat.
Afternoon sea breeze makes most Perth beaches pretty ordinary in the afternoon. No sea breeze around 6pm means fish and chips on the grass at Scarborough or Cott should definitely be considered.
Decades ago a retailer told me that what kept people at home was not drenching rain, was not thunderstorms, was not heatwaves, but wind. People don’t like wind.
Jacinta Price will shoot Linda Burney down in flames.
I just want to ‘circle back’ to our mate the Ed Mong.
Ed. I linked to it with a page and section reference, as subsequently did Roger, after which you then wrote:
Stop being a deliberately ignorant dickhead and go back to being just your usual self – a common all garden ignorant dickhead.
You are looking at the wrong part of the census. As pointed out to you by numerous people, Aborigines were counted separately from the general population (for the reasons being discussed). They weren’t counted fully.
The link is Volume III – Part XIV
Page 2054, “INTRODUCTORY SECTION.-POPULATION. ”
Section 2. “FULL-BLOODED AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINALS ENUMERATED IN THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA ”
Now do run along.
You could see Linda Burney and Chris Bowen in a Whitlam Cabinet.
Chairman Dan has no shame, never has, never will. He can easily stand before the world and do what he did yesterday, shamelessly cancel the Commonwealth Games and in the process humiliate Victoria, because he lacks a conscience, but people vote for that, in droves.
If you’re a young Indigenous male, you are more likely to go to jail than to go to university.
Silly me! .. there was me thinkin’ you go to gaol for committing crimes and university cos your committing to learning ..
But NO! .. it’s more to do with whether your born 251 or not ..! FFS! ,,
You could see Linda Burney and Chris Bowen in a Whitlam Cabinet.
My preference would be to see them in a CentreLink “dole” queue ..
where they both belong ..!
Like most maths Ph D theses.
It’s dangerous, imagine a bad wind on Epping Road in heavy traffic.
You could be stuck there for hours, let alone hurt.
Sydney has too many bloody gum trees.
Living near penguins is fine.
Provided the “Shark Watch” is strapped.
Bloke walked past me in the local shopping centre last Sunday .. took me a few seconds to twig who it was .. the “turrle” .. Oh dear! a lot worse look in real life than on teeve!
Fat face, bulging cheeks, beaky nose, very reddish complexion and tending towards the the obese, sporting a tight, tucked into jeans, tee shirt (had some slogan on the front but didn’t register it) is not a good luck for someone with a, fairly, prominent tummy …..
Wouldn’t surprise me if Andrews used the funding earmarked for the Games as capital for the Yes campaign. Commonwealth Games of course a throwback to colonialist oppression. In fact I would bookmark it.
Aaron Kheriaty, MD
@akheriaty
Excellent comments here from @billmaher and @mtaibbi on medical freedom and freedom of speech.
There is nothing in the Referendum proposal that says how things will be done differently – indeed how ‘things’ will be done at all.
The only real concept is the hope that the Voice will somehow provide practical solutions that have eluded decades of well-funded, well-meaning, and (allegedly) culturally expert attempts – and that the whole machinery of State and Commonwealth government will change gear and deliver matching results.
If Australia votes No, it’s certainly not ordering up ‘more of the same’.
Rather it is assuming that you, Albanese, and Executive Government, and the State mouth breathers, and the myriad agencies, are most likely to keep doing the same thing and achieving the same results.
A compleat political gnome; lying, dissembling, and denying agency – the full package.
The depravity of contemporary law and mores isn’t limited to surrogacy.
EXCLUSIVE: Young North Carolina woman sues the doctors who put her on testosterone at age 17, saying she needed therapy, not a double mastectomy, in latest blockbuster ‘detransition’ lawsuit
Prepare for Big Distraction – IRS Whistleblowers Scheduled for Public Testimony in Biden Bribery Scandal Tomorrow 1:00pm
FBI told Hunter Biden investigator to duck Committee questions, bombshell letter shows
We’ve had enough bombshells to blow up Washington, but nothing ever happens.
A nasty little Trot.
It is devoutly to be wished that the failure of the referendum is his political epitaph.
Leading scientists reject Biden’s climate policy
Ron DeSantis Just Parroted the Democrat Line on Jan 6.
Jacinta Price will shoot Linda Burney down in flames.?
Mysterious Giant Object Washes Up on Remote Australian Beach
Beer truck
The new Swallows and Amazons is beautifully photographed, but the story is junk. The kids are nasty, the villains are cardboard cutouts, and Captain Flint is too young.
Pay that one, Beery.
As obvious as the nose on your face.
Wide Awake Media
@wideawake_media
In a secret Project Veritas recording from April 2021, CNN Technical Director Charlie Chester, states that once the public are no longer scared of “Covid”, “climate change” will take centre stage as the new imaginary boogeyman to terrify everyone into submission with.
“They’ve already announced in our office that once the public is open to it, we’re going to start focusing mainly on climate… There’s a definitive ending to the pandemic. It’ll taper off to a point that it’s not a problem anymore. The climate thing is gonna take years, so they’ll probably be able to milk that for quite a bit. ”
“Be prepared, it’s coming.”
And sure enough, two whole years later, we’re now seeing this play out in the mainstream media—in total lockstep, just like with the “Covid” narrative.
A story about wind.
When I was about 10, we went to visit our Great Grandmother at Orient Point, which is on the coast from Nowra. (Every time we went there it was always windy but Grandma would say “it wasn’t windy yesterday!”)
On this particular visit we went fishing for blackfish – to the politically correct, now called Luderick. (Incidentally, I come from a long line of blackfish fishermen).
So, there was my Grandfather, (the son of Great Grandma), my Dad, and us, kids. The wind was blowing a gale and we were standing with our backs to it, fishing in an inlet. In the paddock behind – I think about 8-10 metres from us – were some cows.
With one particularly gusty gust, apart from Pa, who was a bit further along the strip, we all felt a firmish patter on our backs. Which suddenly ended the fishing.
Country music star Jason Aldean sparks controversy with new song ‘Try That in a Small Town’ – which dares BLM and social justice warriors to riot in the rural South
I have no doubt it will be. The only question is whether the Left faction try and save him or tap him on the shoulder and do a Gillard and Australians wake up one morning to a new Prime Minister.
BREAKING: Feds seize Trump advisors’ phones in Jan 6 investigation
The current state of the world in one minute flat.
New World Odor™
@hugh_mankind
“I hope everyone knows it was a test”
There’s no such thing as the ‘greater good’ if it depends on individuals’ loss of personal rights & freedoms.
Cough, cough.
You left out the crucial element of snivelling demagoguery but otherwise, spot on.
Flying back from Europe last week on a non-Australian airlines. They have a flight tracker which shows you where the plane is and nearby towns or points of interest. As we crossed Australia I had a little chuckle as saw the name Ayers Rock displayed in the centre. Landed in Melbourne and no welcome to country bs.
I still call Thai Airways home!
Don’t forget Tony Burka.
If he could he’d order wage rises by decree.
Noel Pearson just on Sky with Laura Jayes. When asked why we need a voice he responded that “it’s only blackfellas who get rheumatic heart disease – whites used to have that illness in the ’20s-’30s, but not now.” He then asserts that the voice will fix that by making representations to politicians. Is that clear?
Question: what do the health departments, indigenous medical clinics, doctors etc do? Surely they should all know how to fix this, and any other illness?
From Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheumatic_fever
Now he’s referring to Greg Craven, who sees the voice as a “a moral question”, to which Pearson agrees. People need to “look into their hearts”, Pearson asserts.
So, the voice is a moral question, which will fix rheumatic heart disease.
Oh, I can see the connection. /sarc.
THE COLUMN: In Praise of Toxic Masculinity
Ta bespoke.
Filed away in the ‘have to get and read’ section.
Calli,
my wife and I enjoyed Sarlat in 2019 and also stayed in AirBnB – Dreams & love in sarlat, 4 Pl. de Lattre de Tassigny, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, France – up steep flight stairs (thankfully Retired Guy driver from hotel opposite Train Station Brive-la-Gaillarde to Sarlat, carried bags up the stairs) view looking at railway bridge with nice Boulangerie underneath & Lidl Supermarket and easy 20 min walk to town centre
We went on a number of Mini-Bus tours from Sarlat like
Lascaux IV Visit – Half Day Tour from Sarlat
with the same group which departed from
Place Pasteur, Pl. Pasteur, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, France
Please meet your guide 10 minutes before departure time in front of the bus stop.
just down from park entrance to town
Would reccomend Restaurant L’Esprit Sarlat Rue Gabriel Tarde, 24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda, France
Enjoy your stay especially the Foie de Gras
For shame, don’t you realize that the Voice is a moral question that will cure all ailments, from ingrowing toenails to full blown syphilis.
More of that, please. We need more people like Bill Maher to speak out like that.
Jesse Watter’s screwed up bigtime having his mother ring into the show. It’ll come back to bite him.
Why? She’s a brainwashed retard who’s views and advice are appalling. She probably switched over to CNN after the call ended.
“Enough of the Biden bashing” she said. ” We have to make sure you keep your job”, meaning, just be a good little media whore and don’t make waves. Pathetic.
Have a listen – 2:16.
Democrat Mother of Jesse Watters Calls in on Son’s Debut 8 PM Show – Advises Against Conspiracy Theories and Urges to Move on From Biden-Bashing and Hunter’s Laptop
Democrat Mother of Jesse Watters Urges to Move on From Biden-Bashing & Hunter’s Laptop
Speaking of government decrees…
Xi has ordered local officials to rip out forests planted two decades ago to curb erosion and return the land to cropping.
The clearing reportedly exceeds that happening in the Amazon.
‘…we all felt a firmish patter on our backs.’
The girls were only after a friendly pat and scratch. 😉
Where they’ll find an aboriginal Jesus, presumably.
Pearson’s shtick as an evangelist for the Voice – vocal cadences lifted from MLK Jr. even – strikes ordinary people as just weird.
Plays well on the Catholic social justice speaking circuit, though, I hear.
That was actually Doug Walters.
The same mob that infest ‘plenary councils’, in other words, enough people to count on one hand.
Minister blocks bid to bring down airfares, boost tourism
Ayesha de Kretser
Senior reporter
The Australian government has terminated a request from Qatar Airways to add more Australian routes, dashing hopes that consumers might get relief from high international airfares.
In a move that should boost Qantas’ international earnings, Transport Minister Catherine King said: “The Australian government is not considering additional bilateral air rights with Qatar”.
The Australian Financial Review reported in June that Ms King was considering Qatar Airways’ request as part of a broader agreement with the Gulf state that is being negotiated by Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell.
Nationals MP and opposition spokesman on tourism Kevin Hogan said it was disappointing and did not make sense for travellers. “I strongly support competition in the sector and more slots for airlines like Qatar would be beneficial to our slow recovery in international tourism,” Mr Hogan said.
Sources said Qatar Airways both maintained services for stranded Australians, and also played a significant role in evacuating Australians when Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, and had been seeking an expansion to its landing rights in a show of goodwill.
The bid was understood to have had the support of state premiers keen to see more international tourists return. But another industry source said granting Qatar more landing rights would potentially destabilise the landscape as other airlines return to full capacity.
A group of women who allege they were taken off a Qatar Airways flight in Doha at gunpoint and stripped, then subjected to invasive searches, wrote to Ms King in July urging her to consider the airline’s “insensitive and irresponsible treatment of us and its failure to ensure the safety and dignity of its passengers”.
The minister responded to the women, according to a letter dated July 10 and seen by the Financial Review, assuring them that the request is no longer being considered. But sources close to the airline said they had not been told the same on Tuesday.
The women, represented by Marque Lawyers, have taken their case against Qatar Airways, and the Qatar authorities that operate the airport, to the Federal Court, seeking compensation under the Montreal Convention governing the treatment of international passengers.
Until July, they had heard nothing from the Labor government regarding their case. One of the women, known as Anna but whose real identity has been suppressed by the courts, said she was disappointed by the lack of pressure put on the airline by politicians.
But on Tuesday, the minister did not respond to questions asking what the government planned to do to help the women, nor had the women heard anything further about representations being made on their behalf.
The airline says it was at the mercy of the Qatar police at the time of the incident like other carriers that were subject to the same orders. “Qatar Airways has confirmed it will have this matter dealt with through the Australian court system so it can be addressed on its legal merit,” a spokeswoman said.
I don’t know about that Dougie W.
I find images from books linger far longer.
Well, my understanding is he’s ofetn engaged by diocesan education departments to address teachers.
The AFR View
The Andrews shambles takes the global stage
Surely this is the last straw for Premier Dan Andrews and the madness of his left-wing populist governing model.
Just before last November’s state election, Victorian Labor Premier Dan Andrews rode in with a $15 million sponsorship for Netball Australia after mining magnate Gina Rinehart had been told her money wasn’t welcome anymore.
Yesterday the debt-laden state blew up the 2026 Commonwealth Games at eight hours’ notice to the Commonwealth Games Federation and its 72 member nations.
Mr Andrews ludicrously dressed himself in fiscal rectitude to say that scrapping the Games was not a difficult decision to make. Regrettably it is the right decision for Victoria’s parlous budget, the state of which Mr Andrews is very largely to blame.
It was also a shocking error of judgment – and that special kind of Dan Andrews chutzpah – to bid for an international commitment in April 2022 and then walk away from it 15 months later.
The reputational damage and sovereign risk will weigh on anyone who wants to deal with Victoria in future, and perhaps Australia as well.
At best, the Victorian government looks utterly inept by taking on the Games and then failing by a massive margin to anticipate the cost of an event it last held in 2006.
Surely this is the last straw for Premier Andrews and the madness of his left-wing populist governing model in excessively locking down the state during the pandemic while racking up debt on one spending monument after another.
The latest result of abruptly cancelling the Games, with nearly 300 events and 5,000 athletes, now puts the whole Andrews shambles on the global stage.
It’s a solution straight from the ABC’s satire Utopia.
But even after cutting his losses by trashing Australia’s sporting name, Mr Andrews’ money spending twitch continues.
In 2022, he still thought a Commonwealth Games held largely around the state’s regions would be a great election winning idea.
The ever-wily Mr Andrews hopes he can still win the political medals by continuing the boondoggle spending on regional venues using most of the original $2.6 billion Games budget. He hopes that will keep voters in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Gippsland onside.
There just won’t be any international events at those venues. That will save the $4 billion to $5 billion or so extra that having real running and jumping athletes at the Commonwealth Games would have cost.
It’s a solution straight from the ABC’s satire Utopia. And some of the higher costs came from changes which the Victorian government had insisted on itself because of the political wheeze of the regional venues.
Needless spending is now normal in the fantasy governance of Victoria. It already has the highest debt at $171 billion by 2027, the most damaging taxes, the highest business costs, and the lowest credit rating of any Australian state.
Its total post-pandemic debt levels are comparable with NSW. But it’s Victoria that sets off alarms with a debt to revenue ratio at Japanese levels of 200 per cent because of the run-up in debt-funded projects and payroll costs.
Its response has been to squeeze business by doubling down on the most inefficient taxation. This time, there are no public asset sales to bail out the state.
Instead, Mr Andrews is resurrecting the State Electricity Commission, the same electoral gimmick that a regional Commonwealth Games once was.
Delaying the Melbourne airport rail link and the Geelong fast rail link were among the few savings options left. Now the Games has gone, but the empty stadiums will live on. So does Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop, which may blow out to $200 billion by the time it is finished.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese demanded in opposition that all big projects with federal funding be assessed by Infrastructure Australia to prevent pork barrelling. But that does not seem to apply to Victorian Labor allies.
Mr Andrews might hope that long-suffering local investors, never mind foreign ones watching on, will be impressed by his financial call. But the blunders in risk and reputational management just blow all that away.
Events like the Olympics, the Pan-American Games and the Asian Games have never left their four-year cycles except for war or pandemic.
Durban in South Africa lost its right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games over financial worries.
But it’s hard to find a host government unilaterally dumping a massive sporting event itself. Until now.
Cue the outrage!
Country megastar Jason Aldean just released song TORCHING radical left
How will the Voice get aboriginal families to clean their houses, bathe their children, wash their clothes and bedding, or even their hands, and hen take them to the free clinic when they are sick?
???
Never heard of him.
Teachers in Catholic schools aren’t necessarily Catholic.
The missionaries managed it with tough love, not Marxism.
Nor the students, I suppose, but the largest non-government education system in the land provides a very useful conduit for the sort of stuff Pearson preaches.
Victoriastanis have basically voted themselves back into a 20 year fiscal dark age. Given a choice, what business or developer would choose to be in Victoriastan?
The Invoice is going to stop the women being beaten and killed, children being raped, provided accommodation burnt or wrecked, children not going to school, pisswrecks dying needlessly etc. Instead of a voice how about a Listen then do coz nothing else has worked. Sit down money has destroyed Aboriginal communities. Our own BB, not a white fella, could tell them how to live a productive life but that wouldn’t be enough coz he comes from a different area and each area reckons their neighbours know nothing.
Grant returns to stage to demystify referendum issues
By AAP Newswire
Jul 19, 2023
Journalist Stan Grant will moderate a forum on the voice to parliament in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and lawyer and land rights activist Noel Pearson will address the Sydney Town Hall forum before the panel of experts, including prominent ‘yes’ campaigners, take audience questions on Wednesday night.
Dot, your (and my) “never heard of him” stands in stark contrast to Jason Aldean’s quadruple platinum My Kinda Party, double platinum Night Train, and five Grammy Award nominations.
Perhaps he doesn’t see Oz as a large market.
Not just an inner city rally, but right in the heart of the CBD.
Up yours, westies!
Barack Obama’s brother in Kenya has reportedly responded to the former US president’s effort to promote the inclusion of LGBTQ-themed books in school libraries by suggesting that his half-sibling is homosexual.
https://www.rt.com/news/579927-brother-says-barack-obama-is-gay/
Even the Population Ponzi, international students and high rise dog boxes can’t save them from here.
Victoria the hardest state in Australia to do business, says survey
Only 7% say Andrews is doing a good job…
– AFR Feb 2022
The Romans were smart. Who knew they had drainable settling pools (piscinae limariae) near the terminal ends of the aqueducts?
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Piscinae-Limariae-of-Aqua-Alessandrina-left-and-Aqua-Virgo-right-Adapted-from-Piranesi_fig6_228857133