Politics is a dirty word

Proposed changes to consumer leasing regulations are probably long overdue. Big retailers make more by arranging financial loans then they do selling products.That has bolstered profits for major retailers for whom white goods and flat screen TV's are just the bait to attract consumers into their stores to sign up to exhorbitant financing deals.

Our politicians are spending an inordinate amount of time debating the so-called back packer tax which will add virtually nothing to revenue, whatever tax rate is levied - because the overwhelming majority of seasonal workers in the agricultural and horticultural sectors are engaged on a cash-in-hand basis so no tax or other deductions are made. The farmers can't be bothered with the paperwork and the backpackers just want cash.

Politicians have a habit of wasting their time (at our expense) rather than getting on with running the country (or the State) We have examples federally with the same-sex marriage debacle and the grandstanding over domestic violence. They don't understand that violence is the issue which needs to be addressed – If you hit someone you should go to jail whether you hit a stranger, your husband or your wife. Why is that so difficult to understand. Creating different categories of violence provides the illusion that thumping some people is OK. Then we have New South Wales where the head of the Independent Commission against Corruption was forced to resign for daring to launch investigations into alleged corrupt practices by Government Ministers.

The Australian Government's fixation with doing anything the US Government wants will likely add to pressure on the Australian economy at a time when this country's global financial rating is under scrutiny. It's unlikely that out AAA credit rating will last much longer because of fiscal irresponsibility. Put simply, our government is spending money it doesn't have – and politicians don't seem to care! Just one example is the $24 billion commitment to buy 72 F35 joint strike fighters from the US. The planes, built by Lockheed Martin, are already obsolete in the high-tech world of warfare because the company refused to implement technology developed in the UK. Britain's Hawker Siddeley developed a system called 'vectored thrust' during a program which resulted in production of the Harrier jump jet. That vectored thrust system is now an essential component of the Russian Sukhoi SU 37 fighter which is in service in Malaysia and India. The SU 37 is far more...

Journalism has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. When I trained in the 1960's and 70's, it was drummed into us that reporting facts was the essence of journalism. Now that ethos has been thrown out of the window in favour of presenting opinion. The spread of television has probably hastened the process – bringing in the era of 'personalities' masquerading as journalists rather than good old reporters. A Case in point is the reporting of the latest US election. So many commentators are still smarting obsessively at being wrong – they wanted Hilary Clinton to win and they can't forgive Donald Trump for confirming in the public mind that they are buffoons. They allowed their personal bias to infect their reporting. One opinionated presenter on ABC morning television went so far as to say that anyone who voted for Trump needed an IQ test. What a mindless thing to say. How dare she talk about US voters that way. She would have been sacked on the sp...

Australia's “debt and deficit disaster” is likely to get worse with current Government policies. The annual deficit is expected to reach $1 trillion within a decade – potentiallyplunging the country into a depression greater than the 1930's. Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison seems to be unwilling (or unable) to tackle the problems head-on. Total national income is declining but there is no sign of the Government reigning-in its own spending. Salaries and perks for bureaucrats and politicians are untouchable, and this is reflected in the corporate sector where CEO's pay themselves multi million dollar salaries structured in ways to minimise (or avoid) the payment of tax.

If fighting starts in the South China Sea, the world will see a massive use of thermobaric weapons. The US, China and Australia all have stockpiles of thermobaric bombs and rockets equipped with thermobaric warheads. The warheads may also be on the rockets vietnam purchased from Israel. The longer fighting continues, the more likely it is to develop into a full scale nuclear war.The US has used thermobaric weapons in the Middle East conflict - particularly in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Similarly, the Russians have fired them in Afghanistan and Syria. So their destructive capabilities are well known.

America's preparations for a war with China are still gathering momentum. David Gompert a former chief Government intelligence adviser said the US should make “sensible preparations to wage a long and fierce" war with China. The US is reported to be preparing a carrier strike group to send to the South China Sea.

Vietnam has installed mobile rocket launchers on islands in the South China Sea, in preparation for expected military action against China by the US and Australia. The rockets and launchers were bought from Israel.India has deployed 3 warships to the South China Sea. If the Australian Government does send in ships, there will be much discussion about which. If they just send one of our 10 frigates, the Chinese will laugh, so they might send HMAS Canberra, a $1.5 billion Amphibious assault ship, accompanied by a frigate and a Collins Class submarine. Just imagine the political backlash if they are all sunk with huge losses of personnel.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says taxation and economic policy changes will create "winners and losers" but will eventually strengthen the country's economy. Speaking to the Business Council of Australia, he said the Australian economy must become more "flexible and competitive". It's a fair bet that politicians and bureaucrats won't be amongst the losers.

The world doesn't have to wait for Donald Trump to start a world war. The Pentagon is pressing ahead as hard as it can. The head of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, says the U.S. Army should deploy new ship-killing units to threaten surface warships in the Western Pacific including in the East China Sea and South China Sea. “I think the army should be in the business of sinking ships with land-based surface-to-ship missile systems,” he said. The central element of the strategy would be built around holding islands that can deny potential adversaries such as China's People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) access to the open waters of the Western Pacific. Possible weapon systems to be deployed include the M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, the M142 High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the Army Tactical Missile System, which will be upgraded with the capability to engage moving targets on land and sea. Meanwhile, China has completed a second 12,000-ton Coas...

Politicians in Victoria don't seem to be able to get their heads around things. An example is the way Departments are structured - and who does what. It is unclear to anyone outside the Victorian Government which Department is the domain of the Minister for Agriculture The Hon. Jaala Pulford. Sometimes she is lumped in with the Department of Environment,Land, Water and Planning. But other times she is part of the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. No wonder things seldom get done!

US President Barrack Obama is heading off for discussions in Europe which will cover refugee issues amongst other things.Lets hope Air Force One doesn't become a target as it heads near the Middle East war zone on a trip to Greece. Russian and US missiles have been captured by militants in the various conflicts, and there is potentially enough hardware in the region to bring down the Presidential jet.

Politicians plan to change consumer law to protect dodgy free range egg producers from prosecution.The outrageous standard for free range egg production proposed by Ministers for Consumer Affairs is still not set in concrete.To protect unscrupulous producers from prosecution for deceptive conduct, new legislation is is being pushed through to change Consumer Law. Farmers and consumers have until December 9 to make submissions. If the amendment is passed, it will effectively nobble the ACCC from launching prosecutions against businesses which breach standards defined by Federal Court Justices. http://www.treasury.gov.au/…/Free-Range-Egg-Labelling-Infor…

Politicians in Australia still don't get it. After a disastrous election for the major parties, they still won't listen to voters. The coalition only just snuck back into Government with a one seat majority in the Lower House and they lost Senate seats. hardly a ringing endorsement of their policies. The public simply doesn't trust them. It was the same in the US where long-term politicians are regarded either as crooks or as jokes and are not worth voting for so they turned to Donald Trump. In NSW The Nationals have lost their safe seat in Orange - again because of a lack of trust. An interview this morning with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull demonstrates why voters are apathetic about politicians and why so many of us turned away from the major political parties in the last election. Despite what he says, Turnbull is not listening to the people. Rather than answer questions he refused to provide details of the ‘deal’ with the US on refugees (such as how much it wi...

Australia has been collaborating with the US military in a $54 million programme developing high speed aircraft and missiles capable of flying at more than five times the speed of sound. Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (the HIFiRE program) has been a reality for several years, and facilities have been used in Queensland and the Woomera rocket range in South Australia. Tests of the ramjet (or scramjet) engine at Woomera propelled a missile at over seven times the speed of sound. The US is keen to catch up with Russian techology.

Stupid commentators in Australia are baffled by Donald Trump's win in America. They resent that they were wrong and look like a bunch of clowns. Hows dare Trump win when they said he couldn't! They don't understand that political processes in the US are fundamentally different from here. For example: we don't vote for a Prime Minister, we vote for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Those members then choose the prime Minister. The people here didn't vote for Malcolm Turbull as PM, nor for Tony Abbott before him. Nor did we vote for Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard (except those voters who happened to be in their electorates.) Why can't the political commentators grasp that and move on? Accept that they were wrong!

Hypersonic cruise missiles which fly at five times the speed of sound and are practically undetectable and unstoppable, are expected to be deployed by Russia, China and India at least two years before the US has its hypersonic systems operational. The Russians plan to have their missiles on ships, submarines and aircraft by the middle of 2017 but military analysts say it is likely to be at least 2020 before the US missiles are ready for use.

Generals in the US Pentagon are said to already be gearing up for war – whoever wins the US Presidential election. For some time they are reported to have been advocating a pre-emptive nuclear strike against China and Russia before technology renders their defence systems completely useless. The Russians have already demonstrated their capacity to disable defence and navigational systems on sophisticated US warships. Both China and Russia have developed stealth missiles capable of evading detection and current anti-missile systems. Russia has built a prototype hypersonic stealth bomber which can fly at five times the speed of sound and go anywhere in the world within two hours. Nine countries currently have total stockpiles of over 15,000 nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia regularly deploy about 1,800 of them ready to be launched within minutes by missiles or aircraft. Complementary to nuclear warheads, the US, Russia, China and several other countries have substantial arse...

The closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired power station in the La Trobe Valley is a direct result of incompetent politicians.Closure was always on the cards once Victoria's power generating system was privatised by Jeff Kennet. Technology has been available to clean carbon emissions from the power plant. Environmental Auditor, Phil Westwood from Grantville said "Liquefaction processes with primary and secondary hydrogenation cleans up brown coal to produce a fuel which burns with virtually no ash or other residues as particulates. Various pilot projects have been run here, in Japan, China the UK and South Africa, in fact South Africa operates a commercial plant. If the system was perfected in Australia it would have massive potential for export earnings." Instead, 1000 people will lose their jobs in the La Trobe Valley and household power prices are likely to rise. An alternative would also have been to build a gas pipeline to the power station. Gas from the Yolla field c...

Ministers for Consumer Affairs throughout Australia have failed consumers by allowing potentially harmful substances to be included in food products without requiring the additives to be identified on labels. A prime example of this has been fish farming in Tasmania where the ABC TV Four Corners program revealed that additives are included in fish food to colour the flesh of salmon. The same additives are widely used in the poultry industry to colour egg yolks and the flesh of chicken meat. But the only action Ministers have taken is to promote a pathetic definition of the term 'free range'