Politics is a dirty word

The latest missile test by North Korea appears to have been a Pukguksong-1 ballistic missile designed to be launched from on land or from a submerged submarine.It has a range of more than 1,200 miles which means that the missile can reach every part of the United States and Australia if our leaders are stupid enough to involve us in a conflict on the Korean peninsula.

China has deployed substantial numbers of its DF-21D medium range anti ship ballistic missiles, known as 'Carrier Killers'. The DF-21D's warhead is built to plunge down from low-earth orbit at 10 times the speed of sound, penetrating an aircraft carrier and causing massive damage. The Russians have also deployed anti-ship missiles capable of speeds in excess of six times the speed of sound. These hypersonic missiles travel so fast that they are unstoppable with current missile defence systems. The sheer bulk of massive aircraft carriers like the US Nimitz class and the latest Ford class vessels make them unmissable targets for these latest missiles. It is almost certain that North Korea has at least three similar KN-17 missiles ready for action in case of US intrusion into their waters. Iran and India have also developed hypersonic anti-ship missiles. India's BrahmosII system has been configured for low level attack over relatively short distances, but a long distance...

The British government just can't accept that the days of 'Britannia ruling the waves' were over long ago. It has been throwing more than six billion pounds at building two aircraft carriers – the first of which is HMS Queen Elizabeth. In many respects the Elizabeth class carriers are no superior to carriers of past ages – such as HMS Ark Royal from the second world war which was finally scrapped in 2013 The new carriers are not fitted with catapults. Nor will they have arrestor wires- in the interests of keeping down costs. The military capabilities of the carriers rely on the unproven technology of the US built joint strike fighter, the 35BLightning II which is supposed to have short take off and vertical landing capabilities. But the problem is that many technical hurdles are still to be overcome before the planes can be operational. Britain has no plan B after scrapping its force of Sea Harriers and RAF ground-attack Harriers.Typhoon combat jets aren't designed...

Political and bureaucratic incompetence and corruption are to blame for the misuse of water allocations in the Murray Darling scheme. Billions of litres of water paid for by taxpayers to save Australia's inland rivers is instead being harvested by some cotton growers to boost production.

Holding a referendum to consider four year terms for Federal politicians would be yet another waste of money. Why limit the referendum to just that question? We need a drastic change to the constitution to get rid of Federal government altogether. Scrapping federal elections completely would remove the most wasteful tier of Government and provide huge benefits. All major functions are carried out by the States, and COAG should run the country.

At $15billion, the new USS Gerald R Ford is the most expensive aircraft carrier ever built. It has just been commissioned by President Donald Trump.The Americans don't seem to believe that the days of super ships are numbered. In the light of new missile and electronic developments, aircraft carriers are regarded by many as huge floating targets, destined to disappear just as battleships did years ago.

US politicians and Generals have demonstrated that they are full of bluff and bluster over North Korea. The reality probably is that they are scared witless at the prospect of losing another war. They jump up and down at North Korean missile and nuclear tests - without actually doing anything Not much has changed since the spy ship the USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea in 1968. It is still proudly displayed there as a symbol of US indecision and ineffectiveness. The ship was originally a light freighter for the US army, launched in the second world war but recommissioned into the US navy in 1966 as a spy ship. It was gathering electronic data off North Korea when it was intercepted and taken into custody with hardly a murmur from the embarrassed US military.

Australian streets will become safer from terrorist atrocities with changes to defence laws allowing police to call in Special Forces when needed. The forces will also train police in counter-terror methods. Police training has been shown to be grossly inadequate to deal with terrorism incidents. To be really effective, it is hoped that troops will not be subject to the 'professional standards' investigations which have hamstrung police when faced with armed and violent offenders.

Nuclear Aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has joined with USS Carl Vinson strike group for training exercises designed to threaten North Korea. Electronic jamming techniques may be used to disable the ships and turn them into defenceless targets. North Korea has been working on electronic systems to jam navigational and weapons systems and is believed to be in the final development stage of an electromagnetic pulse device which will wipe out military communications and warfare systems.The North also has a variety of fast motor torpedo boats and at least 12 missile boats equipped with Styx anti-ship missiles( equivalent to the Tomahawk cruise missile).

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is right in saying that the Liberal Party set up by Robert Menzies was never supposed to be a'conservative' party. It was established to bring together a range of views and create policies which met the needs of the general community. To some extent the party was high-jacked to the right by John Howard and then Tony Abbott. Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser objected to way the right wing destroyed liberal values and he resigned from the party, referring to Tony Abbott as 'one of the most dangerous men in Australia.' The public has lost confidence in all political parties, and the time has come to consider banning them. Voters elect members of Parliament to represent constituents - not to look after the interests of the party. We don't elect Prime Ministers - we elect local members and they do deals to choose their party leader. So there is no allegiance to constituents - the party is all that matters.

The assessment of US President Donald Trump by ABC's political reporter Chris Uhlmann that,amongst othedr things, “he had no desire and no capacity to lead the world.” at the G20 talks in Hamburg, demonstrated that his nose is still out of joint over trump's win, which showed that Uhlmann, along with most other political 'experts', didn't know what he was talking about. Uhlmann should stick to reporting facts rather than presenting his dubious opinions.

The Australian Government is believed to be about to place an order for a Patriot air defence missile system from US arms manufacturer Raytheon. The PAC3 missiles used by the system are made by Lockheed Martin and cost about $3 million. Each Patriot system is mounted on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck capable of carrying up to 16 missiles. The number of systems to be ordered is not known, but the Government is looking at ways to find an additional two billion dollars without it showing up as a further blowout in the budget deficit.

Plans for a third Melbourne airport to be built at Koo Wee Rup are doomed to failure. The plan was first mooted decades ago and has re-emerged every few years – to be rejected by residents and airlines as totally impractical. The Koo Wee Rup swamp is prime agricultural land, producing 90% of Australia's asparagus, growing exports worth over $18.5 million a year. This hair-brained proposal is from a private investment source and they say they will not require funding from the Government. The State Government and local Councils are unlikely to give planning approval.Land acquisition costs alone would total billions of dollars because of land values. In addition, the high water table would present huge technical difficulties in constructing runways. Even road building presents major difficulties and when a highway is built anywhere in the swamp, construction crews are back within weeks repairing subsidence problems. Passenger jets landing on the runways would be likely to disappear –...