The possibility of one or more Very Fast Train (VFT) lines for Australia has been debated for more than 40 years, most often being treated as a complete joke. However, perhaps that’s about to change.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has long been a supporter of VFT transport for Australia, and his government is now putting its money where its mouth is. As this article in The Conversation notes:
There’s a strong gerontocratic tinge to US politics of late — the youngest of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren and Mitch McConnel is Chuck at 73.
Many a theory has been propounded to explain this phenomenon, but a simple one shall be put to the test in a couple of days: Trump is the last of the political candidates borne of the media monoculture and so Trump will win the election comfortably.
What is the Media Monoculture and What Does is Have to Do with a Gerontocracy?
As I argued in a recent article, the election of Donald Trump as President would be disastrous for climate change compared with the current Democrat administration of President Biden. The situation is quite different in Australia. The election of a Coalition government federally next year, even under Peter Dutton, would not be all that much worse than the situation under the current Labor administration of Anthony Albanese.
Cameron Murray’s The Great Housing Hijack is self-recommending. You certainly don’t need a review of any sort to tell you to go read it if you have any interest in the peculiar case of the housing market. Nevertheless, here I supply my own review of sorts and extrapolate on what I consider a couple of Murray’s core points.
The Great Housing Hijack in Miniature
As you can see we’ve adopted a new WordPress theme. Many thanks to our web guru Tony Sarhanis. What do you think? I really like it, although I have one reservation.You can’t scroll down the main posts column until the cursor gets to the bottom of the comments column. I suspect that’s a deliberate feature rather than a bug, because it forces the eye to look at the comments first.
Four years ago today, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation abolished its 15-minute 7.45am news bulletin.
The 7.45 bulletin was first broadcast in December 1939, at the outset of the Second World War. I have been unable to find the exact date.
Citing cost factors and a declining audience, the ABC announced in 2020 that the 7.45 bulletin would be abolished, 80 years after it began.
When this blog started almost twenty years ago, Josh Frydenberg was an ambitious political staffer challenging for Liberal preselection against the sitting MP for Kooyong, Petro Georgiou. Today, Josh Frydenberg is trying to undermine both the federal MP for Kooyong and the preselected Liberal candidate for Kooyong - who for the first time in almost 80 years are not the same person - and Josh is neither of them.
When Labor fails Palestine it fails its own members, and ultimately it fails itself.
So, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has announced he is seeking an arrest warrant for five people given there is substantial evidence to say they have committed war crimes. Two from the Israeli regime and three from Hamas. One of those Israeli’s is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
If you’ve spoken out against the Israeli genocide, you’ve probably been called an antisemite. Welcome to the industry.
I’ll start off by saying that I’m sure there has been a rise in antisemitism in Australia since Israel’s retaliation for the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
A genocide will always result in negative sentiment for those carrying it out, and those seen as aligned with it, either by defending it, or seeking to avert attention from it.
When standing up against a slaughter sees you branded as a “hater”, while those supporting a genocide paint themselves the victims.
Being a student in Australia these days has got to be tough.
Courses are tough to get into, you compete with overseas students for positions, the courses are ridiculously expensive, to survive you need to work crappy jobs for even crappier pay, and at the end of it all you start your adulthood with a debt that would have brought your grandparents that house that you’ll probably never afford on your own.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has left rates on hold, following its Board meeting over the past two days.
The cash rate remains at 4.35%. The rate was last changed in November 2023.
This is the statement issued by the Reserve Bank:
Selective school tutoring services are specialized programs designed to prepare students for entrance exams of selective schools, enhancing their academic skills and boosting competitiveness through tailored learning strategies based on individual capabilities.
Social media companies are finding themselves increasingly under attack, so who’s really being unsociable?
Just like many others around the country on a weekend, I often find myself wandering into a Bunnings store attempting to ignore the temptation of the smell of sausages cooking.
Even though it is often like a quest to find the Holy Grail to find a staff member free to direct you to what you’re looking for in aisle 236, there is one staff member that you can’t miss.
Jim Chalmers, the Federal Treasurer, has warned that global circumstances mean that the May Budget will lack the revenue growth of last year’s budget.
Listen to Chalmers’ press conference (25m):
Watch Chalmers’ press conference (25m):
Richard Marles, the Defence Minister, has launched a new National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program.
Marles spoke today at the National Press Club. A full transcript of his speech appears below.
Watch Richard Marles at the National Press Club (72m):