Is our 2 party system just a con?

[Litespeed]

Function over form is a BMW.

 

On account of your bikes first policy...you may be considered.

[nomadpete]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I would mandate everyone has to learn to ride a proper motorcycle before they can touch a car. 

Even when I was on L plates, I believed that.

 

And that was so 'last century'.

 

And YES!

 

 

 

As long as you come home to Australia.

[nomadpete]

Unlike our politics , The function of a motorcycle is a simple action/reaction eqyation. An honest tangible benefitial response to every twist of the RH grip.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

As long as you come home to Australia.

 pfft! This is the money pit. I have stopped counting how much I am putting into it as it will just depress me (and it has eaten into reserves already). 

 

Latest is on my return from Aus, I went straight to work .. partner calls in a panic - power put... Sparky called.. Whole basement had to be rewired... All work stopped for a week as power required for a lot of what was going on.. Thought it was going to be £7K, but "Happy" mates rates brought it down to £4k. 

 

Current builder spent 7 hours in last two weeks as he had a roofing issue at his own house. A decorator started today. This is the longest finals to landing I have ever been on.

Edited Friday at 09:51 AM by Jerry_Atrick

[facthunter]

Stop trying to make "Old Stuff" New again and Paying people to do it. You are at their Mercy.  Modern consumables have a finite life and lot's of it is not really meant to be repairable economically. Often more money is made by the sellers than the Manufacturer of the product...  Nev 

[facthunter]

Opening the throttle can cause all sorts of unpredictable things IF you don't know what you are doing. Best way to lean to ride is Off road and when you are young. 

 Anyhow is Our 2 party system just a Con. Well it's NOT a 2 Party system and whether YOU are conned is up to you.. Frazer said "Life wasn't meant to be  easy".  Nev

[willedoo]

A big swing to One Nation in the WA Secret Harbour by-election. ON is on around 35% primary vote, Labour has a 22% swing away from them to give 25% primary vote. It will come down to preferences, currently TPP giving ON 53%, Labor 47%. It will be a bit hard to predict with WA having optional preferential voting.

[willedoo]

One Nation has claimed the seat, finished all the speeches and started the victory party, but Labor hasn't conceded defeat yet, saying it's too close to call. If confirmed, it will be the first seat ON has taken from Labor since the Queensland election in 1998.

[willedoo]

It's a big call for a party to claim victory when the vote count is still below 50%. What they're basing their confidence on is the fairly large pre-poll booth that's yet to be counted fully. Exit polling at the pre-poll booth showed ON getting a better result than what they received today, so they're assuming the booth will go their way.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Pretty good, hey!

[Jerry_Atrick]

2 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

Pretty good, hey!

If ON get in, for some, yes.. For most, including - dare I say it - yourself, no, unless you want to be worse off than you are now. 

 

Regardless of the outcome, the differential between the primary vote should be a very star wake up call to both Albo and the LNP. And it is not a wake up call to lurch to the far right.. it is a wake up call no one can take votes for granted anymore. Over here, admittedly with a press dead against him, but a purely technocratic apprach, Starmer conceded a lot of ground to Reform and Restore (the breakaway part of Reform - both as bad as each other). Like Albo, his management of the economy and social cohesion was better than his peers and certainly very good given the constraints he faced compared to Albo. Yet his continual pursuit of economic prudence within constraints they had to promise less the press during the election campaign would have hung, drawn, and quartered them for at the cost of the middle and lower class population. Their attack on the vulnerable to appease the right wing press was duly castigated by the right wing press (well all of the press). And with each prudent move to save in relative terms, a pittance, was met with abhorrence from even his most ardent supporters. He is no longer, Burnham talks the talk and has taken small steps, and suddenly the protest vote Reform is, had tanked.. Burnham in the polls is by far the preferred leader.. If the Tories can sort themselves out, they will depose of Reform altogether. And you know he has got something right by at least talking about looking after the masses, as even the right wing MSM have stopped calling for a general election as he was not elected as leader for the prime ministership. 

 

Albo is better than Starmer, and has turned out better than I thought he would.. I will concede that. In fact, I would generally say he has been a good PM for Australia. He has proven that immigration is not the issue when it comes to property prices (purchasing at least). And despite everyone in the real estate industry saying rental properties will decrease and rents will go up (they have been anyway - at the same time house prices have been which is considered an economic inversion) there appears to be signs investors are returning to the market - with lower prices for the houses because their yield calculations have changed. However, the ratio of home buyers v. residential investment property buyers has definitely shifted in favour of the former, so the house prices will return to some semblance of normality. I will give Albo super credit - it took guts because a lot of recent home buyers are now in negative equity - investors and residential purchasers alike. My advice to wither is if you are not under some mortgage contract to top up a margin (and some will be), then, as long as you can make the payment, stay put. For both of you, the investment is long term. OK, if you just bought a one bedroom place and the wife is pregnant, this will prove a challenge.. and if you are into negative equity territory, this will be devastating. My first born in London was in the same position (although - at least until the money I have sunk into this place - I have never been in negative equity) where if I sold, I would not have had much to show for in in moving up the property ladder. You may have to have the cot in the corner of your bedroom or stick it in the living room.. You will get through it.. and if you hang out, you will make money.. but at the same time your brothers and sisters will also be able to put a roof over their and their newborn's heads. 

 

But the reality is, everyone today wants immediate results. So there are other things Albo can do immediately. The Gas Excise (those calling for 25% is too low in my estimation); reforming the tax take so things like funds transfer are mitigated, etc.. pouring money into people rather than foreign corporations, direecting the spend to stimulate Aussie owned innovation, etc etc.. These are not huge things to do.. but will go much further than the sponsorship the ALP (and LNP) gets now. Until he (and Angus) address that, Pauline - who I have to say - I admire her tenacity - will get a look in.. And I believe Clive sees an opportunity and is preapring for another tilt. 

 

@Grumpy Old Nasho - should PHON get in, I hope you have a significant amount of cash stashed.. because there is very little she really offers that will do anything but make life more difficult for you.. 

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

The cost of living is way too high. The ALP and Coalition have no idea how to reduce it, that's why One Nation is doing so well ... we've got to have a change.

 

Yes, I have cash stashed already, for electricity, vehicle rego, compulsory third party insurance, Council rates (just increased 30%), and food bill increases are emptying my wallet. Petrol has gone up, so has diesel. A haircut costs me $35, nothing fancy, just a quick back & sides of my thinning grey hair. 

 

We need to put the major parties out to pasture, they've been at it too long. They've lost their way, they're still stuck in their old elitist ways. They're forgetting who the real boss is, us grunts trying to make ends meet. Ignore the people, and you're done for.

 

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Grumpy Old Nasho

[facthunter]

Didn't you learn what a dud was in the Army? HER team is unstable. They can't even agree amongst them selves. IF they got into Power how would THAT work? Nev

[willedoo]

I haven't seen any updated figures, but the count as of this morning was 57-42 after preferences with 74.5% of the vote counted. Compared to the last election in 2025, One Nation increased their vote share by around 8,000 votes. 6,000 of those were taken from Labor and 2,000 from the Liberals. Labor's vote roughly halved compared to their last result. It's shown that One Nation can take very safe traditional Labor heartland seats. If you go back to Secret Harbour's former entities of Warnbro and Peel, it's been very safe Labor territoty since 1989.

[facthunter]

It's a STATE election,  and there's usually a Protest component of such votes. Nev

[willedoo]

Premier Roger Cook would be glad there's another three years to go before the state election. His neighbouring electorate is a similar demographic, so the way I see his margin, even though it's 12% higher than what Labor had in Secret Harbour, if the same thing happened ie: losing half the vote to ON and ON also picking up a third of the Liberal vote, Cook would be rolled as well. Three years is a good buffer.

[willedoo]

All the attention will be on Victoria now. Just under three months to go for that one.