Away back in the good old days
when men could find a job;
When money was as good as gold
and tax was just two bob;
When men would work and say with pride
that they weren’t on the dole;
T’was then that politicians came
to play an active role.
Continue reading “THE FEDERATION CROSS”
By Viv Forbes
20 January 2020
Politicians hide behind enquiries – their magic answer to all problems, especially bushfires.
Announcing enquiries give the impression of decisive action, they generate fees for armies of barristers, lawyers and bureaucrats, and provide momentary excitement for the media.
The proposed 2020 Australian Bushfires corrobboree will provide a grandstand for the Climate Rebellion Mob who will get starring roles on ABC/Fairfax. Big business will probably propose a carbon tax to fight bushfires while foresters and land owners will hardly be heard.
When the final report is ultimately delivered, the media will be off trumpeting some new climate “emergency” to scare the public. The expensive new report will be quietly filed with all the others. Continue reading “Government by Enquiry”
By Karen & Marc Johnson
I just came across your web site. Here in the City Bellingham the politicians want to force us to not replace our Gas heat or Gas hot water tanks replacing them with all electric. Furthermore the city wants to force us to either cover 50% of our roof tops with solar PV or pay a higher utility bill to fund an off site location for a large solar PV site. All this in the name of human caused climate change.
I am reaching out to you for scientific data debunking this human caused climate change claim as the main cause of climate change. I want to use information to educate citizens in my community to stop the rip off of the people and the political influence on science.
Sincerely, Karen & Marc Johnson Bellingham, Washington USA
By Bob Hoye December 6, 2019
From time to time, physics with a burst of discovery has enjoyed a renaissance. Regrettably, there have been times when it has been repressed by control freaks. One of the most daunting was the Church-mandated doctrine that the Solar System revolved around the Vatican. In the early 1600s, it was risky to your freedom and life to doubt the official word. Which consensus was based upon the authority of scripture–the most convincing peer review of the day.
Almost as threatening has been today’s state-sponsored notion that bureaucrats can and must “manage” the temperature of the nearest planet. Continue reading “Renaissance in Climate Physics and Political Reform”
By Viv Forbes, 23 September 2019
Our grandfathers built a low-cost reliable decentralised electricity supply for all states of Australia based mainly on black and brown coal-fields – Blair Athol, Callide, Ipswich, Sydney/Newcastle, Yallourn, Leigh Creek and Collie.
Then our fathers built the mighty Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric scheme which provided water to irrigate the inland while generating electricity to help pay for it. Continue reading “Electricity in Australia – Switching from Success to Failure”
By Viv Forbes
It may be possible for a perpetual committee of green bureaucrats to electrify Australia with a vast but flimsy spider-web of power lines connecting consumers to wind turbines, solar panels, lithium batteries and pumped-hydro batteries. In this wonder-world, electric scooters and mini-cars will be mandated and demand rationing will be imposed. Continue reading “Zero Emissions Australia?”
by Viv Forbes
What has happened to Australia’s once-bipartisan policies favouring decentralisation? Why is every proposal to develop an outback mine, dam, irrigation scheme or a real power station now labelled “controversial” by the ABC and opposed by the ALP/Greens?
This coastal-city focus and the hostility to new outback industry (except for wind/solar toys) has surely reached its zenith with the recent state budget for Queensland.
The population of coastal and metropolitan Queensland is surging with baby-boom retirees, welfare recipients, grey nomads, tourists, overseas students, migrants and winter refugees. But the outback is dying with lagging industry and many aging farmers retiring to the coast. We are creating a country with no heart.
Continue reading “How to Create a Country with no Heart? – Stack and Pack the Coast”
A personal opinion from Viv Forbes who takes responsibility for any electoral comment.
23 April 2019.
This is not meant to be a statement of Saltbush Club policy – our members have enough sense and experience to make up their own minds. But I believe these guidelines will help to achieve Saltbush policies. It also explains the background for my how-to-vote opinions.
A Quick Summary:
Hold your nose as you enter the polling booth. Then –
PDF version: https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/how-to-vote.pdf [PDF, 571 KB]
Continue reading “Australian Federal election – How to Vote”
John Mikkelsen
Pollsters stay at home on long weekends, but anyone watching Bill Shorten’s magical mystery tour on the big red diesel bus could be forgiven for thinking he took a turn down the Highway to Hell with his fumbling pit stop interviews during the opening week of the campaign.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison focused attention on the costs of Labor’s tax, energy and climate change policies, and Shorten opened the door wide to accusations he lied about new taxes on superannuation. He repeatedly denied, then finally gave a firm undertaking to a Sky News journalist there would be no new taxes. The next day he claimed he had “misunderstood the question,” admitted he ‘stuffed up’ and he should have chosen his words better.
Labor took down the policy from its website, along with negative gearing details, but has now conceded the impact of its planned crackdown on super tax concessions is $30 billion – substantially higher than the $19 billion it had previously claimed, and slightly less than the $34 billion cited by the PM.
If that wasn’t bad enough, a clearly very frustrated Shorten repeatedly dodged a question from a determined Channel 10 reporter about the cost of its climate change policy, based around 50 per cent renewable energy, 50 per cent new electric vehicle sales and a 45 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. After waffling on about the government’s failings and ignoring demands to answer the question, he simply moved on to another journalist.
Continue reading “Magical Mystery Tour or Highway to Hell for Labor’s Big Red Bus?”