Politics is a dirty word

The $56 billion valuation by Deloitte Access Economics on the Great Barrier Reef should encourage Governments to value more of Australia's natural assets. What are our rivers worth? how about wetlands and native vegetation? Our wide array of native animals surely has a value? The list is almost endless and its only after assets are properly valued should consideration be given to major developments and activities such as the deliberate burning of native vegetation in the guise of fire control!

A call by former US General David Petraeus for Australia to carry out military exercises in the South China Sea will be ignored by our Government if the politicians have any sense.

The race is on to build a supersonic passenger jet to replace Concorde which was withdrawn from service 13 years ago. In the US, NASA selected a team led by Lockheed Martin to complete a preliminary design for the QueSST X-plane. The aim is to develop a way for an aircraft to fly faster than sound without causing a loud sonic boom. QueSST is designed to fly at Mach 1.4, at a height of 55,000 feet. The aircraft is shaped to separate the shocks generated by air pressure. It is planned to produce a small 'thump' noise which technicians refer to as a 'heartbeat'. Sir Richard Branson has ordered 10 planes being built by a company he has backed, called Boom Technologies. The business says it already has 76 orders for the aircraft which will carry 40 -50 passengers at up to twice the speed of sound. It expects the planes to be operational within six years. In the UK. Oxfordshire firm, Reaction Engines has been developing a turbine that combines both jet and rocket technologie...

The US military machine appears to be in a state of mild panic after one of its 'state of the art' guided missile destroyers was rammed by a Japanese cargo ship, killing seven US sailors and one of its reconnaisance planes was buzzed by a Russian fighter over the Baltic Sea. This came after the US shot down a Syrian fighter jet which was attacking a group of Kurdish PKK terrorists. After the Russians announced that they would regard US and coalition partner planes as hostile, the RAAF halted bombing activities over Syria. It seems to be only a matter of time before the Russians shoot down a US jet in the Middle East.

1. The ramming of an American destroyer by a Japanese container ship in the Sea of Japan, which killed 7 US sailors created consternation in the Department of the Navy. The USS Fitzgerald, is an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer. Its sophisticated radar and defence systems should have prevented the collision and the failure led to speculation that the ship's defence systems may have been disabled, possibly by North Korea or the incident may demonstrate that US ships are particularly vulnerable at night. The ship limped back to port and is likely to be out of action for a year. The Fitzgerald is a key part of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group. The US navy may have to withdraw another destroyer from service elsewhere to fill the gap. There are concerns that US Aircraft Carriers may be just as vulnerable.

Australia's Department of Defence is spending $200 million to pull secretive data from a private data storage facility in Sydney operated by a company called Global Switch because a Chinese business has bought control of the business's parent company and trhe Government fears that the date may be compromised. The Australian Government is not alone in being paranoid about defence leaks. Bluffdale in the US state of Utah is home to the world's biggest and most secretive data centre – the $2 billion Utah Data Center built for the US National Security Agency. It is more than five times the size of the US Capitol and its purpose is to securely store Government data as well as to intercept, decipher and analyze huge volumes of the world’s communications via satellites and cables everywhere. Essentially it is able to intercept all forms of communication by governments, businesses and individuals through computer servers of almost unlimited capacity.

So-called Domestic violence must be re-evaluated in Australia.Hysteria has been used to pillory men in our community for offences they have not committed. The main killers of children in Australia, according to statistics from the Australian Institute of Criminology are: Mothers 47%. Fathers 30%. Mothers' new male partner 19% In the US an estimated 200 women kill their children every year. Mothers who deliberately kill their children are often found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity. A 1969 study conducted by Dr. Phillip Resnick found that when mothers kill their kids, 68% are sent to mental hospitals and only 27% are sent to prison; when fathers kill their children, 72% go to prison and only 14% are hospitalised. But. In Australia using the term 'Domestic Violence' downplays the seriousness of the problem. Violence should be treated equally by the law, no matter whether or not the perpetrator knew the victim. Many women seem to believe that they have some k...

Inflation in the economy is regarded as bad, but deflation is worse. This was seen during the 1930's Depression. Prices declined, but wages declined faster, and unemployment rose. The Center for Economic and Policy Research says that inflation is trending down, even when housing prices are factored in, but this really means that deflation is emerging again. I have been making strong arguments about deflation for years,but its effect is steadily growing. Private markets are running out of things to buy. Asset prices are peaking, with stocks trading at scary earnings multiples and homes have largely become unaffordable. Value is clearly dropping out of the world economy, and it's time for politicians and academic economists to address the seriousness of the situation and look at adopting Steady State economics in place of the current bid for constant growth which follows an unsustainable'boom and bust' mentality.A steady state economy is one with stable or mildly fluctu...

Three Federal Ministers are being hauled before the Victorian Supreme Court to explain why they should not be held in contempt for daring to suggest the Judges get it wrong in passing sentences on violent offenders – particularly those who have links to terrorists. The three were simply voicing the views of many members of the public – including their own constituents. So why do these judges think they have a right to avoid criticism? The community is sick of seeing light sentences for violent behaviour and the Ministers should be applauded for their comments. The court system has brought itself into disrepute by the actions of the judiciary. The ministers had a right to express the views of the community.

Coalition and Labor party Federal politicians should be made to pay the full cost of any settlement deal with refugees held on Manus Island. A class action brought on behalf of the refuges may be settled to avoid lengthy and embarrassing proceedings in the Victorian Supreme court. The payments should be made from the salaries and superannuation entitlements of all sitting politicians who forced the refugees into unsafe 'concentration camp' conditions. Clawing back the funds should start with big deductions from payments made to John Howard, Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. The rest should be divided up between all other Coalition and labor MP's. Manus Island and Nauru first became Australia’s offshore immigration detention centres in 2001, when former Prime Minister John Howard launched the infamous “Pacific Solution”.

The British Government is ramping up up its military spending by approving a 60 million pound grant to develop a new engine which could power ultra high speed missiles and aircraft.Reaction Engines,based in Oxfordshire expects to have the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine operational within three years. The company has been working with BAE Systems, which has a division in Australia.

Politicians all over the world still don't seem able to grasp the reality that the majority of people are fed up with the 'politics as usual' which parties want to dish up. First there was the election of Donald Trump in the US which defied all the predictions of so-called expert analysts and political journalists. Then there was the double dissolution election in Australia which was called in an effort to give the coalition Government more control over the Senate. The people rebelled and delivered a reduced majority for the Government in the lower house and an even more hostile Senate. Now the British Prime Minister called an unnecessary snap election to try to strengthen her negotiating position with the European Union over Brexit. Instead she was humiliated with a reduced parliamentary majority and was forced into a dealwhich will probably be unworkable. The Australian Government and the US President refuse to listen to people about climate change. Governments throughou...

Despite all the political bickering in Canberra over emissions targets, and other climate issues some small businesses have been playing their part in addressing the problem. Freeranger Eggs in Victoria has been getting on with mitigating the impact of carbon emissions. The farm's carbon footprint is limited by imposing a food miles policy for deliveries, using recycled materials and equipment whenever possible, utilising solar power and mechanical processes and an effective waste reduction programme. As a result, the 1200-chicken farm generates only about 60 tonnes of CO2 each year. But it is better than carbon neutral, it is carbon positive. The average organic matter in soil tests was 4.1 per cent in 2004, in 2006 it was 6.0 per cent, and in 2009 it was 7.9 percent. Calculations based on 2-inch deep samples, show that over those five years the farm sequestered about 14 tons of CO2 per acre or four tonnes of carbon per acre on the grasslands. Further testing and calculations h...

Terrorist attacks are nothing new in this world. Britain and Europe have been plagued over the years by the IRA, the Red Brigade, Bader Meinehof, Eoka and the Basques – to name just a few.Those attacks were brought on by feelings of injustice. When George W. Bush, assisted by Tony Blair and John Howard decided to wage war in the Middle East, the writing was on the wall for bloody reprisals in response to the wholesale destruction of people, villages, towns and cities. Acts of murder can never be tolerated, and perpetrators must be dealt with by lawful means. Many Muslims feel that they need to display their anger with western powers over what they see as genocide. There is concwern that a violent group, Nation of Islam has established ma presence in Australia. The US group was established in 1930 and became the power base for African-American militant activist Malcolm X. Politicians need to address the issues not just grandstand in an effort to generate political capital. The situation...

Iran has deployed air defence missiles capable of bringing down missiles, bombers and fighter jets. The missile system uses mobile units and is reported to have greater range and speed than previous Iranian versions which were based on Russian and North Korean systems.

Donald Trump's decision to take the US out of the Paris climate agreement makes America irrelevant. The White House announced that the United States would begin the process of leaving the Paris Agreement, a reckless and indefensible action which threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time.