The law is clear: Guide Dogs Australia must lose its charitable status.

Even more awks

https://joshfrydenberg.com.au/karen/

It truly is hard to know why the Solomons would want to deal with China, when they have ‘friends’ like us

Scott Morrison has been accused of causing an extraordinary rift between Australia and Pacific countries by the prime minister of Fiji, who said the Australian prime minister’s insulting behaviour while at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu would push nations closer to China.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/fiji-pm-frank-bainimarama-insulting-scott-morrison-rift-pacific-countries

A few facts:

Australia spends just 0.23% of our gross national income, or 23 cents in every $100, on Australian aid. This is the lowest level ever in our nation’s 60-plus years of using aid to tackle poverty.

Australia’s aid budget ranks a low 19th out of the 29 wealthy OECD member nations, despite the fact that we have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.

Perhaps we should acknowledge that we will never match China when it comes to military power but we at least might be competitive when it comes to “soft power”.

If we adopted a different “ideological” bent we might have a sovereign wealth fund (like Sweden) which would allow us to provide free university education to Pacific Islanders (up to and including Masters level) as well as all Australians.

Missed opportunities!

Yes, scumo tells a mother that he is blessed not to have children like hers, and so he wins

Seems legit

(Mmmm, Scotty and Teh Seven Summiteers might seem to have their work cut out for them in a(n anti)social media age.)

We’re all going to need our ‘P’s on to survive the next few weeks ivi the i 😉

They can –
* Play tennis and golf with their friends
* Swim at the beach or local pool
* Join a mixed basketball team
* Surf
* Go to the gym or for a run
…just don’t undermine participation in women’s sport

It looks like Grace Tame has a fine replacement

“How many transgender females actually compete in elite sport?”

Historically…………..

Trans women

Tifanny Abreu, volleyball
Mianne Bagger, golf
Savannah Burton, dodgeball
Parinya Charoenphol, Thai boxing
Roberta Cowell, motor sports
Michelle Duff, motorcycle road racing
Michelle Dumaresq, downhill mountain biking
Fallon Fox, mixed martial arts
Natalie van Gogh, cycling
Laurel Hubbard, weightlifting
Veronica Ivy, cycling[107][108]
Lauren Jeska, fell running
Janae Kroc, powerlifting
Bobbi Lancaster, golf
Charlie Christina Martin, motor sports
Cate McGregor, cricket
Hannah Mouncey, handball and Australian football
Apayauq Reitan, Iditarod[109]
Renée Richards, tennis
Jaiyah Saelua, football
Britney Stinson, baseball and football[110]
Cece Telfer, track and field[111]
Lia Thomas, swimming
Andraya Yearwood, track and field (high school)

Non-binary athletes

Laura Goodkind, Paralympic rowing[112]
Timothy LeDuc, figure skating[113]
Robyn Lambird, wheelchair racing[114]
Quinn, soccer[17]
Alana Smith, skateboarding[23]
Maria “Maz” Strong, Paralympic seated shot put[112]

Trans men

Kye Allums, basketball
Schuyler Bailar, swimming
Mack Beggs,[103] wrestling
Harrison Browne, ice hockey
Balian Buschbaum,[104] pole vault
Willy De Bruyn, cycling
Keelin Godsey, hammer throw[105]
Zdeněk Koubek, track
Andreas Krieger, shot put
Patricio Manuel, boxing
Chris Mosier, triathlon and duathlon
Quince Mountain, Iditarod[106]

I see albo getting trashed in the debate no one saw has him running scared

This is a fun map so we can all work out how far to run LOL.

I just nuked Suncorp Stadium 🙂

https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

I think society is generally moving to be more tolerant and inclusive. That’s great
Trans women will be given even opportunity to compete on their merits. Hopefully this will provide even more support for those that feel isolated
However as numbers increase, in sport the competition isn’t “on their merits”
Trans women maintain a significant advantage in strength and speed years after their transition.
That’s why it is better to address the issue before their are even larger numbers and higher expectations of competing in women’s sport.
You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t regard this as “shallow thinking”

No worries!
I’m sure you’re much the same with some issues. As I said earlier, my daughter is talented at sport, and maybe could get to an elite level if she gave up her career and just trained. But that’s not for her
The idea of someone beating her for a place because they had a male puberty doesn’t sit well with me.
And there may be few in numbers now, but it is entirely reasonable to expect that this won’t remain the case – as acceptance in society increases, and access to treatment improves.
It’s best to deal with the pitfalls now

There are plenty of people who are ineligible to compete in organised sport.
People that follow their doctor’s advice regarding the best medical treatment for asthma, for example. Or certain treatments for high blood pressure and heart disease.
These people aren’t trying to cheat, but their medical treatment renders them ineligible.
Trans women receive medical treatment, and thus can be placed in the ineligible to compete category.
It’s not the end of the world.

Which part of my comment represents “dog whistling”

You said I was dog whistling.
But you’ve already made a comment on the subject. Are you dog whistling?

TB suggests there should be a separate competition for trans women.
But more rational comments are “dog whistling”
That’s typical of the type of double standard TB applies

You’re such a bullshit artist TB. Check the facts, you made a comment on the subject before me. And you suggested a separate category of competition.
The issue had been dormant until you were promoted to reply to a comment posted regarding the views of a swimmer.
*****
The only credible study (it seems) on whether trans women have an advantage in sport, found that they were 12% faster over a middle distance run years after the transition.
That’s significant. If they had that margin in a 1500m swim, the would have almost a 2 lap advantage.
It’s equivalent to 3 miles head start in a marathon. It’s well over a kilometre in a 10,000m race.
So it can be ignored or it can be addressed before increased numbers cause bitterness in women’s sport

From your link TB

“despite polling showing voters rank those as among their highest concerns.”

Only because ‘motherhood and apple pie’ weren’t offered as options. Fact is, these so-called “highest concerns” are rarely ‘vote changers’. While there are any number of ‘feel good’ notions out and about, the reasons why citizens vote as they do are much closer to home.

Further, the polls proceed as though this was a popular election for a President. The polling that matters is that undertaken in ‘marginal seats’ and we rarely get access to that.

Yep, the 5 to 10% ‘undecided’ (non-aligned) will be where it’s won or lost.

Don’t think that Albo will win it. More the case that Morrison will lose it. No more miracles!

What makes you think we could make solar panels?

https://www.tindosolar.com.au/our-panels/

Give the libs a few more years, and that will be gone to. replaced by nuclear panels built right where and installed by foreign contractors

fyi, Covid is still a thing (in case anyone had forgotten)

TomR

If we are so good at making stuff in Australia how come when you walk into KMart the shelves are empty until the next shipment from China comes in?

I think you can do better than that MN.
Although maybe not, because your argument recently was that (even though Australia’s and Russia’s economies are the same size), Russia has more credibility because they are a nuclear power.
So does a strong military provide international credibility or not?

You ask a very pertinent question nil. Where to begin?

ToM – in the USA the problems of guns in schools (for example) is tackled by proposals to arm teachers. Fight fire with fire! A one-track mind.

Perhaps we might think outside the box, at least on the odd occasion? Or do we really want to be the proverbial meat in the China/USA sandwich.

It comes down to the fact that China and the USA will pursue what they perceive to be in their own interests. Perhaps Australia should do that as well? And in the short to medium term(s), that (our interest) might involve us keeping our heads below the parapet and staying well clear of an arms race we’re destined to lose.

What seems important to Australia’s interests, as a middle-sized country of the Asia-Pacific, is for both China and the USA to draw in their horns, curb their mutual paranoias, and seek some mutually tolerable accommodation.

Perhaps that might be a role we could play. But for that to happen Dutton et al need to be retired.

ToM – as for North Korea, it bet the rent years and years ago after what the USA did (with bombs) when the War (and resistance) was well and truly over.

In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, the US dropped more bombs on North Korea than it had dropped in the entire Pacific theater during World War II. This carpet bombing, which included 32,000 tons of napalm, often deliberately targeted civilian as well as military targets, devastating the country far beyond what was necessary to fight the war. Whole cities were destroyed, with many thousands of innocent civilians killed and many more left homeless and hungry.

Yep far beyond what was necessary ! Talk about war crimes!

But you’re critical of Australia developing an independent military capacity. You even ridicule the notion.
Yest you suggest we need to have an independent capacity.
You have suggested volume of trade and economic muscle isn’t a reason to have a seat at the table, but somehow there’s some other way to get listened to?
Are you aware that “diplomacy” involves pressure and leverage as well as polite conversation?

It’s pretty f**king stupid that anyone thinks brutal dictatorships like Putin and the CCP react to negotiation without lots of leverage and pressure

Ukraine is proving that it is probably more trouble than it is worth to have a war with well equipped smaller nations.

ToM re:

chemical or biological war is possible

Indeed they are! But the nuclear option is not on your radar? So why not? Suspect it’s very much on the minds of the USA and NATO (as it should be). Hence their rather ‘limited’ response as exemplified with regard to ‘no fly’ zones. But its aggression also appears to be ‘ratcheting’ up.

Seems to me that Putin can’t afford to be seen to lose this war. And for a whole variety of reason. This is an Empire on its last legs and while it’s not the first Empire to be historically interred, it’s the first time that an Empire has the ‘nuclear’ option.

Which raises the ‘tense’ implied in your comment above:

Ukraine has proved that invasion of a well equipped small nation is more trouble than it is worth.

Why assume that this war is somehow over and therefore concrete conclusions can therefore be drawn? Where is the evidence (that’s it’s all over)? The ‘proof’ and all that.

And what meaning do you give to “more trouble than it’s worth”? In whose opinion?

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Putin seems to have ‘grand delusions’. Wants to be a successful ‘historical’ figure. Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, (who ‘acquired’ Ukraine) and Putin the Great (who … lost it)? Putin has a sense of history that should not be ignored. Possibly already designed his headstone to be installed in Novodevichy Cemetery.

He’s not going down without a fight. And as an ex KGB operative he’s probably on top of his own internal security so a coup seems an unlikely option.

Let’s not get too hairy chested. Australia is but a minnow.

On the thesis of some, spending anything on defence is pointless, because we can’t defend against a nuclear bomb.
So I’d ask them- do we just disarm or do we acquire nuclear weapons?

I mean seriously, what could Australia actually do…??

WE could make some nasty threats and then sit back and watch the Chinese laugh.

All China has to do to defeat us is to stop exporting stuff to KMart, BigW and Target and Australia would have to surrender in a few months.

According to some here it is pointless to defend a country without nuclear weapons. Because the CCP can just hold that over us and stroll in.
So why are we bothering to have a military?

Right now, I’m not bothered whether it is ALP or LNP.
The international scene is fraught, it has the potential to cause millions of deaths within months.
I want a mainstream government that isn’t overly focussed on shoring up it’s numbers every day.

his coalition partners.

lol.

The Shovel just has a way of highlighting stoopid, doesn’t it?

I just hope the Chinese are more thick skinned than spud is.

Such a shame

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRTDKO_VgAAqE8i?format=jpg&name=small

In fact the reality is:

Time will tell I guess. I mean, it could become a total bin fire, it could stay they same. It seems pretty free and open now, leaving it as is would be the best move imo

So say we all.

I do wonder if this is just elons entry into the world of data harvesting (or is it an extension?)

Twitter banned the NY Post for publishing a true story about the Hunter Biden Laptop.

At the time, the veracity wasn’t known, was it, and, amongst the deluge of lies at the time, was probably the wisest choice.

We’ve probably lost this battle without even knowing about it.

I think plenty know about it, but are either powerless, or lethargic, to stop it. Speaking to my son about it, and telling him all the potential downsides, he still doesn’t care, because it makes his life easier 😦

And, that seems to be a large consensus too. And who am I to say they are wrong?

I hope the RBA raise interest rates. I am sick of getting bugger all on my Term deposits. And higher interest rates may stop people investing in property and stop the insane rise in property prices.

30 feet between them. That’s the effect Putin has on people. It’s his body odor- the smell of decay and corruption

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-8Iitc17BF_exrlmAIDGHjd9CL73NSy7HuQ&usqp=CAU

TomR

There is a graph in the link below which explains why our car industry died. People stopped buying aussie made cars. Commodores went from 80,000 sales/year to 30,000 by 2012. Holden needed to sell 40,000 to break even.

Same goes for the Ford sedan. Sales went from 70,000/year to 15,000.

Apparently people wanted SUVs and Holden was making sedans. While price and quality may have been an issue the main issue was the market did not want sedans. So blame management for making cars nobody wanted for the death of the auto industry.

https://www.ausmotive.com/2013/12/12/commodore-and-falcon-decline-tells-the-real-story.html

Did he just spell stimulation wrong?

The numbers were spelled out, but hockey told them to piss off,
and in so doing, nailed the lid on manufacturing in this country

Hockey said no such thing. Ford had announced they were leaving when Gillard was PM and Hockey wanted to know what Holdens plans were. Fair enough since Holden has been given billions in subsidies with more to come.

But for some reason you are not interested in the true story.

Re:

a willing defendant like News Corp slinging money to Bjelke-Petersen.

It was Bond who (supposedly) ‘lost’ the ‘defamation’ case brought by Joh. Bond put up his hand very, very early and settled out of Court for a much larger sum than any Court would award. So in effect it was a legalised way of paying a bribe.

Re BRS – his legal costs are being paid by Kerry Stokes. No doubt, it will become a legal tax deduction.

TB

I do a google search for my email address and it never comes up. I am sure the govt could get a email address used by someone who posts on a blog but i suspect they may need a warrant or something like that.

I doubt the govt could get someones email address without some sort of approval by some authority.

So Canavan has belled the cat re net zero. And he wouldn’t have done it that without a nod from Barnaby.

The Nats know how to play politics . (Respect!)

In comparison, Labor is but a babe in the woods . Why, they can’t even do a deal with The Greens before an election.

Would be a different matter afterwards. Just look at the ACT. Been doing it for years and years.

He too is master troll

Yes, he mimics our media quite nicely, doesn’t he?

Also, I have a slight preference for IBAC.

At the moment, anything. I’m not smart enough to know the best, or why it needs to be different (it probably doesn’t) But get something in. We need it, because ………

Our AFP are cooked

My prime security is …. not having anything of interest 😦

And splats, Don’t trust ANYONE (especially you 😉 )

tosy is morrisons staffie (allegedly).

How are my primates, still screeching at the duopoly and throwing poo from the high branch l hope. (-: Sorry splats, l doubt underwhelmy albonese will get over the line, despite those pole’rs that pole’d you all, including 2016. My bet is the blue gaggle will get over the line, with or without slomo, with or without the help of katter/ clive/ other. The aqua indi’s will snag a small quantity of perches off the teabags, but knot any great quantity to decide the/a watermelon govt. Remember, the shadow minister for whatever, blib stooten, will have to face reportland and similar shows in the week or two before vote-day .. and the knifed kevin07 viewers .. and the red gaggles numbers will plummet thru the floor .. like the last two elections.`

Yep

The people who believe deficit budgets solve problems have won. The people who believe in higher taxes have won.

Jim Chalmers agrees with higher taxes and higher govt spending so what is his point?

Anybody in govt who proposes cuts in govt spending to get the budget back into surplus will not survive.

TB

Take a Bex and lie down.

Fact is people who believe in deficit budgets have won.

Howard is being consistent. Said he wouldn’t get involved in party politics after he retired.

You have a link for that??

NoS – Could provide link BUT you come from a position of mala fides . So I won’t! That’s my wont.

Suspect you only read selectively. You choose to be ignorant. Very sad!

As for ‘taxes’. Surely people (imbued with conventional economic understandings) know that ‘low taxes’ equates to ‘low services’. Or do such people still believe in ‘magic puddings’?

As an effective non-taxpaying Citizen (and having ‘done the sums’) that’s what my conclusions indicate.

Housing prices are exploding in Britain as well. I wonder if all this govt deficit spending has anything to do with rising home prices?

House prices rose by another 12.1 per cent in April as many Britons continue to trade up to bigger properties, Nationwide building society has said.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/other/house-prices-rise-another-12-despite-cost-of-living-pressures/ar-AAWJ4OO?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=db388c0bc211490baf51d2463651d740

(Intriguingly, for ‘a long, long time’ and/or ‘a far, far away’, (disturbance in) the Force (apparently?) ‘travels’ at c.1.4 billion x c, or at hypertranswarp.)

Mysoginistic sex maniac, liar, cheat, IQless, bully, wannabe dynastic autocrat dictator, ignorant of global geography, democracy and history and far right religious nutcase

What’s not to like?

Is this the final nail in Medicares coffin? Brought down the little weasel who killed thousands because he’d rather grift money to his rich mates instead of following best practices

Over ripe bananas should remain calm when viewers discuss the leader/s of the ‘free’ world and the perfect hood ornament they find from time to time or else you might unhinge kooyong for ‘disparaging’ kleptocracy. (-:`