“So what did the poor bloody horse do to deserve a slap in the face? You Greenies will need horses when you force gas guzzling cars off the road.”
Jason was flummoxed:
“Unfortunately these people don’t even know what they are protesting against. The raw materials for solar panels and wind farms need to come from somewhere and that is where mines come into play. Battery storage needs raw materials. Again mining. Electric cars need copper which again comes from mining.”
Ben named names:
“I would prefer they aren’t described as ‘climate activists’. They are anarchists, totalitarians, well meaning drones, Marxists and authoritarian ideologues. Amongst others.”
M was anti-mining:
“Well meaning drones are covered by the mining conference.”
Ben again:
“These ‘drones’ deliver real benefits every day and lift people and communities out of poverty whilst investing in better ways to harness our natural bounties in ever more holistic ways. The other drones are mindless foot soldiers of an old enemy of our western enlightenment.”
Nyet, said Brett:
“An anarchist would not support this group. Anarchy is no government these people want everything controlled by government. (Most people I find just want government to intervene in the their favour. Me too).”
Get real, said Janis:
“Surely they can’t be so ignorant as not to know that our way of life is built with raw material generated by mining: the cars, trams. trains, buildings, white goods, the humble toaster.”
Really, said Rebecca:
“It is a political protest and these protesters are totally ignorant about the reality that they have allowed themselves to be manipulated into being pawns for the Leftie socialist extremists who seek to destroy Western civilisation, democracy, Judaeo-Christian fundamentals which inform our whole society or ‘culture’! And the irony is that know nothing about the true history of anything. They are simply rebels without a (true!) cause and being used as puppets.”
PatrickJD was peeved:
“They talk about ‘transitioning’ out of mining. This is mealy mouthed rubbish. From time immemorial mining and quarrying is essential to human progress. A city like Melbourne could not exist without the extraction of minerals from the earth.”
John talked turkey:
“Are they going to be charged for cost of the security needed to control this as Milo, Jordan Peterson and Bettina Arndt have been?”
Dim, said Tim:
“So ironic that capitalism provides these activists with the products and money that afford them the time and luxury to disrupt what facilitates their lifestyle. Crazy times.”
Rodger rebutted:
“Didn’t Karl Marx say some thing like that the capitalists will provide the rope that we will be used to hang them?”
Steve suggested:
“It seems ironic that one of the protesters pictured here is wearing a shirt with the Eureka Southern Cross flag, the emblem of protesting MINERS at Ballarat. Talk about mixed metaphors!”
Gavin was grave:
“ ‘ … The Arctic Ocean is warming up. Icebergs are growing scarcer and, in some places, the seals are finding the water too hot according to a report to the Commerce Dept yesterday from the US Consulate at Bergen, Norway.
“Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard of temperatures in the Arctic zone.
Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 mins.
“Sounding to a depth of 3100 metres showed the Gulf Stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while, at many points, well known glaciers have entirely disappeared.
“Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years, it is predicted that due to the ice melts, the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.’
“I must apologise but I neglected to mention that this report was from 2 November 1922 and published in The Washington Post 97 years ago!”
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Robert Gottliebsen took issue with Paul Keating’s claim that our economy is stuck on idle, and offered four ways to rev things up, namely releasing brakes in the form of unfair contracts, mountains of regulations, ATO persecution of small businesses and mandating 30-day payment of bills by large enterprises. Centsworth had his two cents’ worth:
“Australia has embraced a services economy and in this context services are non-essentials. With the Reserve dropping the cash rate to negligible levels, Labor talking up a recession, pitiful interest rates on savings, real inflation rather than the selective CPI running at around 7pc and the highest public debt in the world, the majority of the population is not going to spend frivolously on non-essential imported goods or over priced coffee or restaurant food. “Rather they will try and pay down their debt and hang onto the pennies. The less well off will ration their electricity, hopefully pay the rent to keep a roof over their heads in a grossly over-inflated housing market and hopefully have sufficient left to subsist on poor but cheap fast food.”
BarryF fulminated:
“Many, many examples of that 3rd brake. Mr Gottliebsen, if you haven’t already been told by other small businesses let me tell you about the so called single touch payroll that isn’t. We have used 2 months to set it up with our accounting software provider and our bank.
“What was 2 online transactions to pay salary and super for one person now takes multiple transactions. After setting up new accounts with the bank because the original ones can’t do it, then doing the account software transaction, upload the file to the new bank account it becomes multiple touch payroll. Then do the same for super contributions. The super contributions, the actual money, firstly goes to the accounting software provider and then to some intermediary superannuation payments organisation, both of which have it for a couple of days.
‘What a nice earner for both those businesses having all that money without actually providing a service. This is the type of red tape and bureaucracy that makes Australia an expensive country.”
John wanted a new start:
“A simple and fast way to boost economic activity is to increase such as newstart immediately to fairer level as that will go straight through to consumer spending. Those on such as newstart will spend all that increase on services and goods.”
Brad said:
“No government has repealed more time-wasting legislation that forces red tape on companies and the people than this one. Additionally, when it comes to Labor supporting legislation, under Bill Shorten they had a track record of siding with the government in the House only for Labor in the Senate to team up with the Greens to reject exactly the same bills. So the Opposition Senate Whips need to converse more with their counterparts in the House.”
Peter Peterson’s prescription:
“There are so many more things we can do.
1. Make super optional
2. Reduce power costs
3. Remove green tape totally
4. Exit Paris
5. Exit the UN
6. Police the doctors and Medicare
7. Make private homes negative geared
8. Return import tariffs
9. Recognise employers as the heroes that they are.”
Last word to Lutz:
”Another thing needs to be looked at and that is how much discretionary spending is left in the ordinary citizen’s pocket. Between taxes, state fees, high electricity and petrol prices, even high LNG costs, the compulsory super and all the local rates — all of these are rising constantly — very little is left in my pocket for splurging.
“Secondly, the Keynesians are still kidding themselves about infrastructure — it is simple redistribution: The government collects your money and gives it to someone else.”
–
Alan Jones proclaimed the two saviours of rugby are none other than Andrew Twiggy Forrest and Tony Abbott. Damon claimed they were not the messiahs:
“What a surprise all of Alan’s suggested board members are from the religious right … Coincidence? Me thinks not.
“Sack Qantas and re-employ an over the hill religious zealot who by his own admission deliberately offended many many people. I had to stop and pause and ask if he was genuinely serious. It seems lost on Alan that Landrover, Asics and most of the other sponsors would also need to go. No company wants to be seen supporting homophobia. As his radio show has proved Alan knows how to lose sponsors, I think the tally is up to 150 now.
“As for Tony Abbott on the board, you really have to laugh. It seems Alan still has absolutely no idea how unpopular Abbott is around the country. He got smashed and turfed out of the safest liberal seat in the country by someone who’s not far off being from the Greens, all because the attitude was anyone but Tony.”
Gregory said:
“Twiggy might be a good choice but Tony Abbott’s leadership credentials are vastly overstated. Tony’s first ministry as PM had many people picked for their conservative views rather then their ministerial ability. A close review of many decisions he made as a minister or as PM raise even more questions about his judgment as a leader. Rugby Australia needs a leader with sound judgment who can successfully manage several competing interests. Tony Abbott has repeatedly demonstrated that he does not have this skill set.”
Stephen C had faith:
“Twiggy and Tony … masterstroke, Mr Jones. Of course there would be plenty who label such a duo as ‘controversial’, but in reality they are anything but.”
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Welcome to the column where you provide the content. As climate activists and assorted Marxists hooted and hollered outside a Melbourne mining industry conference, the impartial observer might have wondered why only fools and horses work. Julian inquired: