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One Nation would be a disaster for Australia’s interests. There would be no bright future from a right wing populist party with Pauline in charge.

A friend of mine was the Shire Engineer in a municipality in country Victoria. He complained that every time he attended a Council meeting he had to debate with ten other engineers.

Not standing in for anyone. Nev doesn't need a representative.

Might be fake news. AI Overview It is not entirely true that Australia rejected U.S. demands; rather, in early 2025, the U.S. rejected an Australian offer to trade guaranteed rare earth supplies for exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs. While the U.S. initially refused this, both nations later moved to secure a framework on critical minerals. Reserve Bank of Australia +2 Key Details of the Situation: The Swap Attempt: Australia proposed a deal offering the U.S. increased, secure access to its critical minerals (including rare earths) in exchange for exemptions from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. U.S. Rejection: The Trump administration rejected this, maintaining the tariffs, which Australian officials expressed disappointment in, noting the missed opportunity for secure supply chains. Subsequent Action: Despite this initial rejection, the two countries later established a "United States–Australia Framework for Securing of Supply" in October 2025, aiming to secure supply chains for defense and commercial industries, according to the Department of Industry Science and Resources website. Context: Australia is seeking to become a major supplier of rare earths to help the U.S. reduce reliance on Chinese supply chain dominance. Argus Media +4 The situation shows intense negotiations rather than a flat refusal of U.S. demands, with Australia using its mineral wealth as a bargaining chip to protect its domestic steel and aluminum industries from tariffs. ABC News +1

What about those who voted for the candidates who didn't win a quota? By your logic their vote had zero value, which is what you're complaining about.

No, the value remains as a record of the choice a person made when voting. So what would you like to see happen with a vote lodged for a party or person that didn't win a majority.

No, it is fair. That's how democracy works. Each vote counts because that's how they work out who won. Therefore each vote has value.

What I'm saying is that Democracy gives people a choice of which party they prefer, even if it's a choice between bad or worse. The result for One Nation after 30 years has been pretty dismal which suggests they have very little support in the community. You can make a case for alternative systems of voting, but ours is probably as fair as any.

No, he's saying it's because Democracy works that One Nation fails to get any.

That sounds pretty reasonable. I’d do much the same in terms of the family and I’m not likely to live long enough to spend the rest. I’ve got two cars (one was my wife’s) that date from 2002 and 2008 respectively, but they’re going fine at the moment so I don’t even need a new car. What else to spend the other $49m or so on? It’s too much money for most people. As long as you’ve got enough to live pretty well, having a lot more is not going to do much for you.

What would you do with $50 million? Probably try and avoid all your new friends for a start.

This clip shows just what a lowlife Trump is. Here he is relishing the fact that US Congressman Neal Dunn has still been turning up for work to bolster the Republican numbers in the House, despite having been diagnosed with a terminal illness. In the meantime while Trump is talking about death and the details of Dunn's illness, Susie Wiles is sitting next to him and has just been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. It's hard to believe how crass and self-centered this guy is.

The expression on Takaichi’s face and her uncomfortable shifting in her seat shows just how Trump’s unexpected and ignorant jibe landed. She was visibly shocked. He hasn’t got a clue of course. Then Eric Trump’s response on X; “One of the great responses to a reporter in history!” A true chip off the old block. The sooner they are all gone, the better.

I believe it’s around $12-14m. Just loose change in his world.

It was reported that his briefers about the upcoming war in Iran talked about an ‘incursion’ into the country, but Trump heard ‘excursion’, and nobody has dared to tell him that they weren’t talking about a picnic or a trip to the beach.

Looks like it’s a ‘no’ from us then.

I wonder when the Qatari’s are going to repossess the jet they gave Trump. That gift hasn’t worked out too well for them now his excursion into Iran has resulted in missiles and drones heading in their direction.

Trump bombed all the military installations on Kharg Island today which Iran uses to export 90% of its oil, nearly all to China. He has also threatened to bomb the oil infrastructure on the island if Iran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz. I think the Iranians will call his bluff. They can’t stop him, but it would just give them more incentive to hit back and keep the blockade up if he does go ahead. The regime will fight to the bitter end because they have nothing to lose. Trump is also supposed to meet with Xi Jin Ping at the end of the month. Xi won’t be happy if Trump has demolished his main source of oil.

He’s just sent 5000 marines into the area but it will take them two weeks to get there so this conflict is going to go on

Nobody would like to see Iran’s regime destroyed more than the Iranians themselves, but Trump went into this with no idea of what it would take to eliminate the regime and no thought of the consequences if he got it wrong. The outcome was entirely predictable had he taken the time to think it through. His military advisors, the real ones - not that idiot Hegseth, could have told him (probably did) because they have war gamed this scenario for years.

Good article. Let’s hope the US and Israel don’t start hitting Iran’s water supplies and hospitals. I don’t think the US would go that far because Trump couldn’t afford the political consequences, but I wouldn’t put it past Israel.

I think this will go on for weeks and months if not longer. Trump has lost control of the war and despite all the destruction in Iran, the regime is now in the driving seat. The US knows roughly how much enriched uranium Iran has but not where it is, so that’s a big problem. Khamenei had issued two fatwahs in the past stating that having a nuclear weapon was not compatible with their religious beliefs, so it’s a moot point as to whether Iran would ever have developed a bomb. Iran achieved its goal with the threat alone, which was enough to get the West’s attention. Now however, with a new leader all bets are off. They apparently have enough uranium for between 11 and 16 Hiroshima type weapons, although not the long range delivery systems. That doesn’t really matter because they just have to set off one or two underground to prove the point. Trump could likely have got a deal had he continued negotiating instead of going to war. Contrary to their ambitions the US and Israel have not wiped out all Iran’s drones and rockets, and they can make more. They don’t have to import them. They have a couple of thousand sea mines and a fleet of fishing boats and midget submarines that can lay them. They have already attacked the neighbouring countries aiming to get them to pressure the Americans to abandon their bases, which may happen as it’s now clear the bases are putting them at risk rather than being a deterrent. The US and Israel are also at risk of running short of expensive missiles themselves pretty soon too. In the meantime Russia has stepped in to help the Iranians giving Putin a bargaining chip to use on Trump - “We’ll stop helping Iran if you stop helping Ukraine”. Iran has successfully bottled up the Strait with severe consequences for world energy supplies and other products such as fertiliser. The US and Israeli attacks on infrastructure and historically important sites is turning the population against the US and Trump in particular. Trump and Hegseth have got most of the US population offside as well. Trump has no off-ramp here and it’s his nature to just make a bad situation worse by never wanting to be seen to be a loser, but he’s already lost this war. All that remains is to go through the process of losing.

Scomo and Abbot were a lot worse.

The Washington Post and other sources have reported that two ships owned by an Iranian company that the US has accused of supplying material to Iran's missile program left a Chinese chemical-storage port during the week and appeared to be headed towards Iran, according to a Washington Post analysis of ship-tracking data, satellite imagery and Treasury Department records. They are known to have transported perchlorate in the past to make rocket fuel. I wonder how far they'll get.

The ceremony would have been a lot more respectful if he hadn't shown up at all.