She has gone.

[willedoo]

I wonder if he will stay on as opposition leader after the election.

[Litespeed]

2 hours ago, willedoo said:

I wonder if he will stay on as opposition leader after the election.

I am sure Brenden will

[Brendan]

5 hours ago, Litespeed said:

I am sure Brenden will

Typical answer from the left.

Labor have done so much damage to this state they need to go.

Ben carrol has been in the thick of it all along. I don't know if libs are any good either. One nation could be good if they  became a proper party and kicked out the leader. She is patriotic which is great but she doesn't have much else going for her. Labor need to go to fix Victoria.

[facthunter]

The ALTERNATIVE  could not be more disunited. Nev

[old man emu]

Think of the number of political Parties we have, and the number of Independents. With that number of differing opinions as to what is best for the Country, is it any wonder that there is no consensus? 

 

In this country, each of us has the Right to an opinion. One can amalgamate with those holding similar opinions. One can debate with those who hold differing opinions. The trouble is that just about everyone correctly identifies the problems to be solved. The conflict is in the way to solve them.

[facthunter]

A few just try to remain there and enjoy the "Spoils of Office" and they give the others a bad name. It's not a job I would seek especially  IF I was in Qld where Politics always seem to be different.   There's No  Libs and NP.. They are combined, but in other states it's a Coalition, which tends to not get along with each other at times. Now they are deserting to PHON in considerable Numbers, and there are FEW Women in their Ranks.  Nev

[Brendan]

On 01/09/2026 at 12:08 PM, facthunter said:

I doubt  It's real or legal. You can't trust the News these days. At Present Australia is a lot different to the USA. When Hanson gets in it won't be.. Nev

How long is it since you have been in the US. I can tell you the average person is no different to us. 

On the news each night they have the same complaints we do..  

Most want trump out,he is strangling his own people with tariffs .

 

[facthunter]

 Australia is NOT Like the USA. Of course a Lot of of Americans are nice, friendly and very easy to talk to but we DO have fundamentally different values. In the USA, if you aren't rich you are nothing. Only the Kid who comes first is Noticed.. WE are More fair dinkum and admire a trier even if he doesn't win and don't like Show Off's so much. 

Trump has no time for Democracy, due Process or the LAW .  USA is NOT UNITED. It's also Swamped with GUNS in private Hands. MONEY rules. Not a Place I would want to live in. You have always needed Ship loads of money to run for Congress. Nev

[facthunter]

Anyhow why reference a post of mine from over 3 weeks ago, Brendan? That Makes it pretty hard to put in context.. Nev

[Brendan]

7 hours ago, facthunter said:

Anyhow why reference a post of mine from over 3 weeks ago, Brendan? That Makes it pretty hard to put in context.. Nev

Sorry, I didn't look at the date.

I asked when was the last time you were in the US. It's a lot different to what you read and see on the news.

[facthunter]

I'm in contact with quit a few who live  there whose opinion I value. . Plenty of people who live there don't know what is going on either. It's a big Place with More than 13X our population.  I don't trust OUR Foreign-Owned biased Media for any FACTS at ALL. More's the  Pity. Nev

[red750]

I see the latest poll has Coalition at 33$, Labor at 24% and ON at 20%.

 

Two party preferred has the Coalition with a lead over Labor of 55-45.

[facthunter]

WHICH  Poll?  Nev

[Brendan]

I see Ben carrol has launched  new TV ad. He says he is the new premier and skites about launching a royal commission into the construction industry, he failed to mention he tried to put a clause in that prevented Jacinta and dan Andrews from being questioned over their involvement in the big build corruption.

Edited 1 hour ago by Brendan

[Brendan]

3 minutes ago, facthunter said:

WHICH  Poll?  Nev

A question you would not ask if Labor were in the lead.

[facthunter]

I would ask it every time Brendan, because it Matters.. There's a big variation of reliability and it depends on the question that was asked.. The REAL poll is on Election day.  IF I ever Post Poll results I WILL state the source. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Here is one of my favoured commentators. I think his personal political preferences lean towards Labor, but he seems to give an even handed assessment. This the assessment of the LNP pitch. I will post the ALP an others when he does those. 

 

 

[red750]

Here is a summary of a number of polls taken over the last month or so, pollsters named. Click to enlarge.

 

[red750]

How they fix potholes in our neck of the woods. Bitumen in the hole, but not level with the road. A bit of rain and they will fill with water and crumble again.

 

[old man emu]

In most of Australia people drive on the left. In Victoria they drive on what's left.

[Jerry_Atrick]

When I was in Melb in July, I was initially thinking "what potholes?" My first week was between Cantebury and Healesville both almost straight up Cantebury road, or when my brother drove, through some toll road built after I left that seemed a bit of a labyrinth way to go and didn't seem to save much time. I did a bit of driving around the old traps - mainly SE suburbs, down to Moorabbin airport and back via Clayton et al.. No real potholes to mention.. I don't even think I saw one. 

 

But when I drove up the Hume highway - OMG.. the potholes on the main route between Melbourne and Sydney and the Gateway to the central north of the state was littered with them.. and not small ones by any means. Thankfully the traffic was light and you could see them to avoid them, but all that was doing was putting pressure on the surface around them. The Goulburn Valley Highway (I think they are called something else these days) was not too bad comparatively, but when nearing Shepparton, it really got bad. I must have looked away at some sight for a second and thwack.. left front wheel into one and it was deep and long. I pulled over at the nearest safe place to inspect the damage. Thankfully nothing to note. I shudder to think what would have happened if I was on a bike - and it was only time before one was killed, which was near Ballarat, if I recall. 

 

Over here, we had a pothole crisis as well. However, there is a problem for the government in this case. If a pothole is reported and is beyond certain dimensions, they have a reasonable time to fix it or they are liable for damage to person or property. So, even though the model is similar (i.e. private road maintenance/construction companies), it got done. There was a cry out here, but that was because it al developed very quickly over prolong rain and storms. I did hit a new pothole with the bike coming home last week, but thankfully it was small enough for the suspension to stop a back compression injury. There are apps that will use the accelerometer to detect a bump, use the GPS to determine where and automatically file a pothole report. 

 

The other think I noticed about Vic roads from the potholes is the substrate looked quite sandy. Here the potholes seemed to have a more resilient substrate of hardcore. I image the sand is to provide flex and drainage. I am no engineer, but with hard core, you would get drainage but not so much flex. I have no idea, but the layers of the road just didn't quite look as robust as they could be.