willedoo

Gina has lent Pauline a Kidman plane to fly around SA campaigning.

Our domestic production has had a fairly brief history. Our first commercial oil field was discovered late in 1961. Before that we imported everything. We don't have a lot of heavy crude, but some of the oil from the Cooper and Surat basins is like ready made diesel. Santos used to fill their Toyotas with it under some excise agreement with the government. I'm not sure what type of fuel filters they used, but standard ones clog up fairly quick. A lot of our oil is not economical to extract.

Mining industry backing is a natural for Canavan as mining aligns with his economic beliefs. Just as union backing aligns with Labor party beliefs. He's one to watch and in his case it's an over simplification to pidgeon-hole him. He's got a fairly diverse background. Started out as a communist in high school and uni, got disillusioned with that (the communism, not uni), went on to get an economics degree, worked as an economist for the productivity commission and as a KMPG executive, then Barnaby's chief of staff before entering the senate under the LNP. He has the ability to think things through a lot better than Littleproud, which wouldn't be hard to do.

The LNP is an odd siuation. It was Lawrence Springborg's baby but I don't kow if it's been of any great electoral advantage in Queensland, maybe, maybe not. The Liberals were never big here. By convention, federal LNP members from Queensland sit with the party that traditionally held that seat, either Liberal or National, but I don't think there's any rules holding them to that. As time has gone by and with electoral boundary changes it might have blurred a bit in the city seats. Bearing in mind Littleproud is an LNP member, it's hard to work out his reasoning in breaking the coalition twice in recent times. Even though they are separate parties federally, the Queensland amalgamation put Littleproud in the situation of damaging his own party. Little wonder he's gone. Canavan is a lot smarter by streets and knows an unhappy coalition couldn't win a chook raffle. Something Littleproud failed to grasp.

The one to watch will be the Farrer by election. Labor is not fielding a candidate as it's unwinnable for them and they want their votes to go to the Climate 200 independant to beat One Nation. Most commentators are tipping One Nation will miss out on preferences.

I think with Dutton, they shot themselves in both feet. It will take a long time to shake that off. It wasn't a winning formula - elect one of the most unpopular politicians in the country as their leader.

All the hysterics aside, they'll be back. Just not next time.

That's their job. It's been the formula for success of every non-Labor government since 1923.

The way parties are shaping up in Australia, a first past the post voting system would possibly spell the end of the two party your turn/my turn system. It would be a bit more like some Europen countries where they need to form broad coalitions to govern. Going by current poll figures, a party like One Nation could swoop up heaps of seats around Australia under a first past the post system. In that case, a lot of people on the left would suddenly become big fans of preferential voting.

In Queensland a motorcycle costs around $630 per year in total. That's $140 registration, $70 traffic improvement fee and around $430 compulsory third party insurance. I think single seat rego knocks about $100 off the insurance. As far as I know, the fees are the same for all sizes of motorcycle.

She'll have to dye her hair maroon in that case. It's a bit too orange to claim ownership of footy here in Qld..

The Nationals trying to tackle One Nation:

Diesel is $2.80 here this morning, about 40 cents dearer than unleaded.

This is rare - someone has actually reduced their annual fees this year. The RACQ has reduced my membership plan fees by $20. This was at the head of the bill: 'Thank you for your continued trust in RACQ. We’re proud to support our members with dependable service and peace of mind on the road, wherever your journey takes you. As part of our ongoing commitment to delivering value and in response to ongoing cost of living pressures, we’ve reduced the price of our Roadside Assistance products. Whether you’re commuting locally or exploring Queensland’s hidden gems, we’re here to ensure you’re covered with reliable support and member-first value.' Most likely they've had a membership drop, no doubt due to those cost of living pressures they cite, and are doing this to encourage members to stay. Either way, it's a good thing to see.

The one I thought at first was a An-124 is definitely not so. It's an old Boeing 747-100 by the look of it. This article says the world's last operational 747-100 was destroyed in the strikes on the airport. https://www.sofx.com/israeli-strikes-destroy-worlds-last-operational-boeing-747-100-in-tehran/

Looking at the clearer photo in that Iranian link posted above, it doesn't look like any are stacked with a crane. It looks more like they all fit in with the varying height of the wings and tailplanes. Maybe the big one is a 747 and not an An-124.

From Google AI: 'Over 20 decommissioned, "cannibalized" aircraft have been parked at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport for over a decade due to international sanctions, which hinder maintenance and parts procurement. Mehrabad International Airport also serves as a major graveyard, with satellite images showing damaged or abandoned planes from Boeing, Airbus, and other manufactures.' https://www.iranintl.com/en/202309292594

On the otherside of the coin Boeing and Airbus use, or did use, Russian made parts. They were doing so only a handful of years ago, don't know if they still are. I know they made undercarriages and brake systems. Russia had high hopes for the big joint venture with Boeing they were building, but I think going to war with Ukraine stuffed that.

I had a look on Google Maps and zoomed in on high res, and that's exactly what it is - a big pile of scrap. Some have been craned on top of others. The big one is an An-124. It's most likely a section of the airport where all the workshops are. It would be a variety of scrapped planes not worth fixing or in the case of US and Ukrainian (Antonov) planes, they can't get vital parts. I remember back when Iran and Russia were looking at a deal for Iran to license build the Sukhoi Superjet and the US knocked the plan on the head as they had the veto call due to the percentage of US made parts in the Sukhoi. I forget the percentage, I think it's around 10 or 15 percent content and they can block things. At the time I was surprised at how many airliners Iran has and needs for domestic use.

I'd say they are all scrapped aircraft just stacked there as a source of parts. With sanctions they need every spare nut and bolt they can get.

I think it looks better the way it originally was in the second photo. Will see what happens when I see the end result. It's not hard to revert it back to photo 2 condition. The first photo is more embedded rust; the second photo is just light surface rust after a couple of salt and vinegar applications.

Just a Ratbikehelm update: since posting the original photo of it (second photo), it's had regular applications of a salt and vinegar solution for a couple of weeks, followed by leaving it out in the 230mm of rain we recently had. In this updated photo it's had a couple of applications of lanox. I might give it a couple more to get well and truly into the crevices. When it's all nice and dry and cured, it will get a coat of home made beeswax polish and a light burnish. Then all it needs is the ear flap leather trim put back on. At some time in the future I'll make an inner support so it can sit on a head.

I'm fairly sure our laws here in Queensland are that you can cross the double line if it is safe to do so to maintain the one meter distance from a cyclist.

Jerry, I'm a bit confused here. I though if you write on a ballot paper it's marked down as informal. ie: you fill out the ballot correctly then write a message on it = informal vote.

It's important to the comrades and that's why they have a quota system. They love their social engineering.