Politics is a dirty word

The US missile defence shield is still undergoing trials and there is no guarantee it will work if North Korea launches an attack. In recent days,the US managed to destroy a missile launched from a Pacific base to simulate an attack on America.A missile developed by Raytheon, known as a 'Kill Vehicle' brought the incoming missile down but apparently the success rate of the missile defence system is only 40%.

Politicians are likely to demonstrate their inability to grasp economic realities at the State of the Nation Conference being held in Canberra by the Committee for Economic Development Australia. Both the Government and opposition have demonstrated that they have no agendas which have any hope of returning the budget to surplus in the foreseeable future. Both sides of politics are unable understand the fundamental issue of cutting spending and are locked into an irrational time-warp dream of perpetual economic growth to drag us out of our economic woes. They need to address realities, not illusions and should be looking at adopting a steady-state economic model proposed by John Stuart Mill. Such economies are not driven by booms and busts but are stable or mildly fluctuating in size.Steady State Economics presents a different view of how we could run the world, instead of chasing the illusion of perpetual growth. It offers the concept of an economy that is completely sustainable. A co...

The UK's Daily Star newspaper has published a map show how far North Korean nuclear missiles can reach. Darwin is vulnerable as is the entire US west coast, including Alaska. With the enhancement of North Korea's missile technology, the Australian Government is believed to be cxonsidering spending billions of dollars on a missile defence system, such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) hardware being offered around the world by the US.

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. Ministers allow the additives, even on free range poultry farms despite being completely unnecessary.

Lets hope that the Lindt Cafe debacle leads to some fundamental changes in Australia's policing and counter-terrorism standards. It has been just one example demonstrating how wrong the Australian Prime Minister is when he makes claims that 'we have 'the best police and security services in the world.' Their training has been inadequate, but maybe the problems can be rectified. Quite apart from the question of why Man Haron Monis was allowed to be walking the streets when he was a known risk there is no question that the lone gunman could have been eliminated by a sniper from across the street. SAS troops are trained assassins and could have used 566 steel tipped penetrating ammunition to take out Monis with almost no risk to hostages.The ammunition was developed in Belgium for ant-terrorist actions and is used all over the world. Or, once it was know that he was acting alone, a single marksman with a handgun could have entered the cafe and shot Monis dead. The mass en...

US President Donald Trump signed a deal with Saudi Arabia estimated to be worth $350 billion over 10 years. It includes supplying a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system known as THAAD designed to destroy incoming missiles. Mr Trump's next stop is Israel and it will be interesting to see what reception he gets and what deals are made.

Pakistan is believed to have more than doubled its arsenal of short range tactical missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Realistically the only targets it can reach are in Afghanistan,parts of Iran, India or inside its own territory to halt any invading troops.

James Comey, the former FBI Director who was fired by President Donald Trump is reported to have a net worth of at least $15 million. It's not clear how big a payout he will received for being fired from his $200,000 a year job.

North Korea's Strategic Rocket Force is reported to have deployed more medium and long range missiles, in a show of continuing defiance in the face of US aggression. The missiles are believed to include three stage surface to surface versions with combinations of solid fuel and liquid fuel engines.One advantage of using solid fuel is that there is less preparation time prior to launch. It takes time to pump liquid fuel into rockets and satellite imagery warns when a launch is imminent.

The Australian Government i wasting its time chasing a seat on the united Nations Human Rights Council given our track record with the mistreatment of refugees and our indigenous population. Far from being given a seat, the Australian Government should ostracised by the international community for is actions. Has the Government really forgotten its treatment of Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission?

The Indian Navy’s new guided missile stealth frigate INS Sahyadri is taking part in a six-day exercise with the Singapore Navy from Malacca Straits to the South China Sea. this month. The exercise is expected to completed next week. The Indian navy has four stealth frigates armed with land attack Brahmos missiles The INS Sahydri is expected to visit Fremantle before returning to its home port.

The Federal Government's $6.2 billion tax on banks is likely to be counter-productive and may create instability within the economy. One result might be to encourage more foreign banks to set up in Australia, creating massive competition for the big four and undermining their profitability. The Bank of China has been operating in Australia since 1942 along with a handful of other foreign banks. But if international banks see an opportunity to make a killing at the expense of our local banks, they will jump at it. number of foreign banks, such as HSBC and CitiBank offer personal and business banking services to Australians. Internet banking makes it simple to deal with a bank in Bermuda or any other tax haven.

The Federal Government is spending $2 billion on upgrading shipyards in South Australia and Western Australia and a further $90 - $100 billion in actually building ships for the Australian navy at a time when large surface warships are increasingly seen as floating targets in any war situation. Our politicians are locked into deficit spending – probably for generations.

The Federal Coalition Government could take lessons on economic performance from Bass Coast Shire Council. The Shire has a big accumulated cash surplus and its latest annual budget projects a surplus of $3.9 million – but it is still jacking up rates by 2%. It plans capital works expenditure of 18.5 million in the next 4 years and employee costs of $28 million. Far from increasing rates, it seems that the Shire could afford to reduce charges for ratepayers.

Fair? What's fair about this budget? It's just another attempt by bureaucrats and politicians to cobble together a vehicle to ensure that they maintain all their perks and privileges – and make us pay for them. It is as tax and spend budget. There is little to encourage 'jobs and growth' and even less to demonstrate the achievability of the Treasurer's promise of a return to surplus in 2021.That claim lacks any degree of credibility. As for allocating another $15 million for sport, that just follows a mantra about sport being the “Opiate of the masses” The Government clearly believes that spending our money on sport will keep us quiet. But how is it fair when hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted each year by sporting bodies in Australia. It 's not just a problem with the Australian Olympic Committee. Vast sums are also haemorrhaging from the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Institute for Sport and myriad state sports institutes. The g...

Hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted each year by sporting bodies in Australia. It 's not just a problem with the Australian Olympic Committee. Vast sums are also haemorrhaging from the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Institute for Sport and myriad state sports institutes.

A shooting murder in Keysborough overnight demonstrated the futility of the knee-jerk gun control laws rushed in by Prime Minister John Howard in 1997. Australia now has more homicides every year than prior to the gun legislation. Australian Institute of Criminology figures show that In 1995 there were 321 murders. The Port Arthur shootings happened in 1996. During 1999 there were 344 homicides. With the gun control lkegislation, only honest people handed in their guns, the crims and thugs kept them, so what was the point?

Reports that University students will he targeted by the Government to pay more for qualifications – and be forced to repay their hecs debts more quickly demonstrate just how out of touch this Government is. Education is the key to the future of this country so it seems incomprehensible to try to dumb-down the community. Higher education should be a priority but instead our politicians are chasing the lowest common-denominator. Why cause financial chaos for graduates who have the country's future in their hands? A better approach for the Treasurerwould be getelite sports people who have received massive handouts of taxpayer dollars through bodies like the Australian Institute for sport? Their training cost big money and when they excel they often command annual payments worth millions of dollars. But what do they do – many head off to tax havens like Bermuda or Monaco and live the high life. Why aren't they forced to pay the country back?