GuySmiley wrote:

Good ole @info gotta hand it to you, all in on defending the unflushable turd, nothing wrong with your loyalty although a reading of those cabinet papers yesterday tells us that Sydney house prices went up 43% in the 2 years following Howard’s 1/2 CGT and negative gearing decisions and he was warned by Treasury that those increases would continue, as they have, if he didn’t reverse his decisions … but the cabinet papers go on to say that he was worried about the political fallout if he did … better economic vandals, hahaha

Thanks GS,

There's plenty more too, but I'll go and enjoy this glorious day.

Cheers

It's clear to me that having had a genuinely conservative government for all those years has been a blessing, possibly in disguise for many who seem reluctant to admit it. Unlike the so-called conservative parties elsewhere, such as the UK's Tories, which have often strayed from traditional conservative principles, The Howard-Costello government stayed true to its roots.

We all benefited, and still do to this very day.

When I observe the myriad issues plaguing other nations, I feel a profound sense of gratitude. We've managed to sidestep so many of the pitfalls that these countries are currently entangled in. Our social and cultural fabrics, our economy, our peace and stability – all these aspects are remarkably intact, almost unscathed in comparison.

It's like we've dodged a bullet, and for that, I am truly thankful to the Howard-Costello government .

^^ oh yeah, with even working families living in tents with their kids.

Chelsea L wrote:

It's clear to me that having had a genuinely conservative government for all those years has been a blessing, possibly in disguise for many who seem reluctant to admit it. Unlike the so-called conservative parties elsewhere, such as the UK's Tories, which have often strayed from traditional conservative principles, The Howard-Costello government stayed true to its roots.

We all benefited, and still do to this very day.

When I observe the myriad issues plaguing other nations, I feel a profound sense of gratitude. We've managed to sidestep so many of the pitfalls that these countries are currently entangled in. Our social and cultural fabrics, our economy, our peace and stability – all these aspects are remarkably intact, almost unscathed in comparison.

It's like we've dodged a bullet, and for that, I am truly thankful to the Howard-Costello government .

Comedy Gold!!!

GuySmiley wrote:

Good ole @info gotta hand it to you, all in on defending the unflushable turd, nothing wrong with your loyalty although a reading of those cabinet papers yesterday tells us that Sydney house prices went up 43% in the 2 years following Howard’s 1/2 CGT and negative gearing decisions and he was warned by Treasury that those increases would continue, as they have, if he didn’t reverse his decisions … but the cabinet papers go on to say that he was worried about the political fallout if he did … better economic vandals, hahaha

“…. Between March 2002 and March 2004, Sydney’s median price for an established home jumped by 43 per cent, from $365,000 to $523,000. Melbourne’s median price rose by 27 per cent to $305,000, while in Brisbane it jumped 64 per cent...”

“ … But the commission also called for a review of the tax system, particularly the Howard government’s 1999 change to capital gains tax, as soon as possible.

In a joint submission to the cabinet, Howard and Costello argued that most of the commission’s proposals were aimed at the states and territories.

In a sign of the political and economic issues involved, under a section entitled “sensitivities”, the two men noted that given the then “delicate stage” of “excess demand” for housing, the timing of any changes could influence property prices in the near term.

“That is, policy announcements that increase housing demand may provide a disproportionate boost to overall housing demand and prices, resulting in further declines in affordability,” they noted.

“In contrast, policies directed at curbing investor demand may result in a disproportionate decline in house prices in a short amount of time (investors fleeing the market), resulting in significant costs to household balance sheets and potentially serious impacts on the economy.

The 1999 capital gains tax change had come from a business taxation review that argued it would encourage investors to sink money into the Australian sharemarket.

Instead, it was already apparent by 2004 that property investors were using the concession.

At the time, the Reserve Bank raised concerns about the combined impact of negative gearing and the capital gains tax concession.

The Productivity Commission noted negative gearing and the concession had “combined to magnify the attractiveness of investing in residential property during the recent upswing in house prices, thereby adding to price pressures”.

“… By the first full year of the capital gains change, landlords reported a net $1 billion of losses. In 2003-04, they had reached $2 billion before doubling the following year to $4 billion. Net rental losses would reach a record $10.5 billion in 2008-09.

In a draft media release put to the cabinet, Howard and Costello stood by the capital gains tax changes, saying “they had improved incentives to save and invest by introducing an internationally competitive capital gains tax regime”.

Im not sure why this is aimed at me?, i was just agreeing with Chelsea who summed up things very well.

But yes 100% Howard did cause housing prices to rise because he got Australia out of Labor's recession, people had job's again, interest rates went down and people had confidence in the economy and future, more people could buy houses again, creating competition increasing prices.

The complete opposite of the Labor years and their recession we had to have, where interest rates went sky high, unemployment rates went sky high and the housing market crashed.

People were pretty much giving away blocks down here because they couldn't afford the rates on top of their home repayments up town,.

But hey housing was cheap you say.

Chelsea L wrote:

It's clear to me that having had a genuinely conservative government for all those years has been a blessing, possibly in disguise for many who seem reluctant to admit it. Unlike the so-called conservative parties elsewhere, such as the UK's Tories, which have often strayed from traditional conservative principles, The Howard-Costello government stayed true to its roots.

We all benefited, and still do to this very day.

When I observe the myriad issues plaguing other nations, I feel a profound sense of gratitude. We've managed to sidestep so many of the pitfalls that these countries are currently entangled in. Our social and cultural fabrics, our economy, our peace and stability – all these aspects are remarkably intact, almost unscathed in comparison.

It's like we've dodged a bullet, and for that, I am truly thankful to the Howard-Costello government .

Yep, just look at the USA & Europe and huge problems that are having with illegal immigration, it's now not even an issue in Australia because we tackled it head on.

You’ve been sucked in well and truly Indo.
Seeking asylum isn’t Illegal.
That’s the hysterical label that has been bandied around for far too long.

Ha ha....the old school Sweellneters are right now yelling...No seeds nooo....dont get him started on that topic again.

Im just going to roll my eyes to your comment.

Yes as expected, ignore the premise.

indo-dreaming immigration is one of the issues I was hinting at, but not the only one.

seeds, look no further than the EU, the UK, and Canada to see the results of this so-called asylum seeking. Have you been to London recently? What about Paris? Montreal perhaps? There's an anecdote circulating right now about these "asylum seekers" who supposedly couldn't return to their home countries yet manage to go back for holidays. It's quite telling, isn't it? Our tight border policies (at least until recently) have been a godsend and I would never have had it any other way.

Now, I'm not suggesting that Australia is without flaws - far from it. However, when you compare our situation to those countries I mentioned, our problems - including homelessness - are on a vastly smaller scale and less pervasive. One reason I credit much of our recent prosperity to the Howard-Costello government is because, in my view, we haven't seen genuine, effective political leadership in Australia since their time.

Chelsea L
Look no further than International Law.
Confusing right wing self righteousness with decency is you fuck tards biggest problem.

seeds

If you're looking for a deeper understanding of the current trends you've clearly misread, I'd highly recommend turning your attention to the work of the esteemed evolutionary behavioural scientist, Gad Saad, particularly his upcoming book, 'Suicidal Empathy'.

It might just provide the clarity you appear to need on these complex issues.

Imagine an entire civilization that is taken over by an emotional parasite called suicidal empathy that trumps every other instinct that is within your adaptive repertoire. You are willing to sacrifice everything at the Altar of Suicidal Empathy. Nothing is more important than…

— Gad Saad (@GadSaad) January 2, 2025

My clarity is just fine. Dipshit!

Thanks for the arvo laugh seeds

;)

Different topic but I just realised that ASX only returned 7.5% in 2024. That tells me everything about how shit the Australian economy truly is. And edit: AUD is a worthless piece of paper that will even get worse as interest rates start dropping. Not a great situation for a country that imports everything.

Yeah baby, let’s go. These are still peanuts but if the trend continues someone might actually take notice.

https://www.afr.com/markets/equity-markets/australians-pour-record-5b-i…

well that's just embarrassing

really really embarrassing...

on so many levels

Here is Chris Bowen practising for his next job - car salesman.

Being paid by the tax payer to sell Chinese made electric trucks.

This feels like a dereliction of his duty and a waste of my taxes.

E-trucks are useless, so he had to make the good ones cost more.

I feel sick. pic.twitter.com/xlSGJEtdZm

— Matthew Camenzuli (@Matt_Camenzuli) January 5, 2025

and possibly illegal...

or at least should be

Forget the politics what about the car.

Okay Chinese made and terrible name but other than that it looks pretty cool and value for under $60KAUD.

And two Litres per 100km in Hybrid mode.

Would love one in a panel van

Flollo were you around when it was the Pacific Peso, near the turn of the century and went sub 50c?

It was actually a blessing, Holden was on a roll and exporting everywhere, jobs for Australians in Australian tech, house prices were more humble and yet to go truly mental as they did after 2000, we had recessionary hangover in WA at this time so jobs were a bit scarce and mining boom 1 yet to take off. Overall it was a far less pressured time, but you needed 3 years experience to get a look in as a barista.

And Sypy, that's absolutely mental.

They have vans full EV vans too, dont look as good though.

velocityjohnno wrote:

Flollo were you around when it was the Pacific Peso, near the turn of the century and went sub 50c?

It was actually a blessing, Holden was on a roll and exporting everywhere, jobs for Australians in Australian tech, house prices were more humble and yet to go truly mental as they did after 2000, we had recessionary hangover in WA at this time so jobs were a bit scarce and mining boom 1 yet to take off. Overall it was a far less pressured time, but you needed 3 years experience to get a look in as a barista.

And Sypy, that's absolutely mental.

Yes I agree but exactly will we sell this time around? There’s nothing to export other than the usual suspects (mining, agriculture etc). And construction costs can only get worse considering we are importing a lot of materials.

indo-dreaming wrote:

Forget the politics what about the car.

Okay Chinese made and terrible name but other than that it looks pretty cool and value for under $60KAUD.

And two Litres per 100km in Hybrid mode.

Would love one in a panel van

BYD is on fire. Numbers are very strong and every car manufacturing country is scrambling to implement tariffs to protect against them.

sypkan wrote:

well that's just embarrassing

really really embarrassing...

on so many levels

https://x.com/Matt_Camenzuli/status/1875781736157909061

and possibly illegal...

or at least should be

There was an article I read a few months ago. Basically saying that Australia is in a great shape for ev revolution as it doesn’t have a local car manufacturing industry to defend. The rationale was that we don’t have this whole dilemma around tariffs, protecting local industry like the US and Germany. And because we don’t have to worry about any of this we should just flood the market with cheap Chinese cars. Genius, isn’t it? We need more experts like this.

flollo wrote:

Yes I agree but exactly will we sell this time around? There’s nothing to export other than the usual suspects (mining, agriculture etc). And construction costs can only get worse considering we are importing a lot of materials.

Well I don't know about you but I'm going to make model boats 100% design, tooling and build in Australia, and export to the world (us nerds are evenly spread around the globe). I'll keep the business open because I am stubborn and patriotic. As for the rest of the country, have no idea, I'll be the only manufacturer left.

put me down for two, @VJ.

velocityjohnno wrote:

flollo wrote:

Yes I agree but exactly will we sell this time around? There’s nothing to export other than the usual suspects (mining, agriculture etc). And construction costs can only get worse considering we are importing a lot of materials.

Well I don't know about you but I'm going to make model boats 100% design, tooling and build in Australia, and export to the world (us nerds are evenly spread around the globe). I'll keep the business open because I am stubborn and patriotic. As for the rest of the country, have no idea, I'll be the only manufacturer left.

Wish you the best of luck mate. The rest of the country is not very keen and mostly defaults to imports for more or less everything.

Are they joined at the hip?
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/gina-rinehart-and-pauline-han…

seeds wrote:

Are they joined at the hip?

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/gina-rinehart-and-pauline-han…

…. and the other woman in the photo could very well be Teena McQueen, a nasty piece of work in anyone’s language

https://www.afr.com/rear-window/rinehart-s-right-hand-woman-still-party…

Indo, look at the BYD battery warranty before you get too excited.

flollo wrote:

indo-dreaming wrote:

Forget the politics what about the car.

Okay Chinese made and terrible name but other than that it looks pretty cool and value for under $60KAUD.

And two Litres per 100km in Hybrid mode.

Would love one in a panel van

BYD is on fire. Numbers are very strong and every car manufacturing country is scrambling to implement tariffs to protect against them.

Yeah right.

It's probably a good thing, Ev's and Hybrids need to be cheaper and competitive for take up to happen.

Teslas are nice but way too expensive as are most EV's

Optimist wrote:

Indo, look at the BYD battery warranty before you get too excited.

I wont be buying one, but i just think it's good to see this space start developing, and there being options for real cars like vans and utes etc and at more realistic prices

Batteries will only get better and cheaper, and i guess with second hand EV's prices will be factored into replacing the battery.

sypkan wrote:

well that's just embarrassing

really really embarrassing...

on so many levels

https://x.com/Matt_Camenzuli/status/1875781736157909061

and possibly illegal...

or at least should be

Well, embarrassing for the LNP actually.

This gets back to the “debate” last year over the introduction of Euro 6 emission standards. The LNP who had previously supported stricter emission controls, now opposed them (no surprise there), and made outrageous claims tradies would no longer be able to buy their Hi-Lux or Rangers, and it would be “the end of the ute”.

Contrary to the LNP’s claims, Hi-Luxes and Rangers are still available and comply with Euro 6. Both Ford and Toyota are releasing PHEV versions, and the release of the BYD opens up another option for those interested in that segment of the market.

As Bowen points out the ALP have simply provided more choices for motorists, and while having a dig at the LNP, simply proves again the LNP are simply a road block on the way to progress.

And what sort of person would take any notice of an egotistical, self-opinionated, attention seeking boof-headed clown like Camenzuli, a LP tragic. I reckon he’s just bought a Hi-Lux and has a serious case of buyer’s remorse.

I think the biggest shame is that there was a window of opportunity after Ford and then GM packed it in to develop a local EV manufacturing industry. The old sites and some equipment could have been repurposed, appropriate government support provided. I remember reading years back about a bloke suggesting the old Ford factory be used for this purpose. However, no one has been willing to make the investment given the piss poor state of our politics. Any movement towards the uptake of EV's has been weaponized, as demonstrated in sypkan's twatter post, and anything from Abbott, Morrison, Littleproud, Barnaby etc. Why is Bowen pumping a Chinese manufacturer? Because his party have a policy to increase the uptake of them and because of moronic ideologues we don't have a local industry of our own.

I don’t see anything wrong with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy bringing attention to an EV manufacturer. Especially one that is cheaper than Tesla.
Part of our commitment to climate change accords surely.
SexxyBoy was correct, I think, in Tesla shares have dropped 7% and peeps selling off shares as BYD sales are now matching Tesla.
Simple take from an article I read on the weekend.
I’m more concerned that Hanson and Barnaby were at that mining party and now Hanson is in Thailand with Gina.

BYD and Geely will dominate the Australian car market over the next 2-3 decades. Politicians, media can say whatever they want but this is coming and it’s unstoppable.

With a battery that only has 160,000 k warranty...and a chinese car warranty at that...I dont think so.

Optimist wrote:

With a battery that only has 160,000 k warranty...and a chinese car warranty at that...I dont think so.

Most cars come with a five to seven-year, or 100,000km warranty – whichever comes first.

And it doesn't mean the battery will only last that long.

Im not a fan of Chinese made things though, but again I just think its a good thing having decent EV or Hybrid's at resonable prices in the market

Im obviously a conservative but i also just think EV's make sense, im really looking forward to not having huge fuel bills, and while i dont see climate change as a sky is falling type way, i still believe we do need to reduce emission's.

26 EV manufacturers here:

https://www.carsguide.com.au/ev/advice/electric-car-battery-warranties-…

24 offer 160k km warranties on batteries.

seeds wrote:

and now Hanson is in Thailand with Gina.

That would make an amazing fly on the wall docco.

They sure aint no oil paintings, but both are go get em take no shit girls.

resale on evs will have to be really bad .......no one will buy a ev thats 6 years old or more imo.

@Indo….Ugly as a hat full of arseholes. Add Barnaby to that too. But that’s not the point.
Bad look! Why is she there? Who’s paying for Hanson’s trip?

Ha ha okay you could put it that way

simba wrote:

resale on evs will have to be really bad .......no one will buy a ev thats 6 years old or more imo.

Yeah ive looked into them second hand, when i looked they held their value real well, but i think that's strange with battery life and just the fact you are buying an outdated product.

I mean sure you could say the same about petrol driven cars but it's a different tech improvement, EV advances in tech from year to year are still quite big in range etc, i think its starting to flatten out though

Yes but 160000ks in a petrol car if looked after is nothing these days...easy do 300000ks or more if serviced properly.......

basesix wrote:

put me down for two, @VJ.

Thank you very much basesix. And Flollo too. Did you know next to nobody does Australian ships in model form? There are a couple like the Showtime Vendetta model, but tooled and made overseas to Australian spec I think. Every company makes a SS Titanic or Bismark... This is a pity as there is some fantastic history around ships & the Australian coast, there are the wrecks, the mystery disappearances, the heroic sorties to save others etc etc.

I've had a wonderful response to the pre-production hulls machined in timber, there is probably also a market for those who want hippy natural materials to build out of, eg cedar/premium pine and PVA wood glue, instead of plastic and plastics glue.

The other thing is kits have got incredibly complicated in recent years, hundreds may start it but no one can finish it, for eg 1000 parts in a tiny 1/700 scale kit, you almost need a scanning electron microscope to put it together - there's a place for a simple but good looking kit that can be made in a single weekend.

Oh! Here is one Australian company (I think overseas tooling & production) that is actually doing Australian plastic kit subjects in the 1/24 car scale. For decades this has been US and Japanese producers, with no Australian cars, so now you can build the Aussie classics. I have no relation to them, just stoked to see things like this in the shops:

https://www.tuffcollectables.com.au/hobbies/model-car-kits/mad-max-hj-h…

In the Streaky Bay museum there is an excellent collection of model coastal trading ketches with a brief history of each one.
Handcrafted by a deceased local I believe.

I have a model of the Oronsay that dropped my Scottish/Yorkshire grandies and my 9-year-old dad off in Adelaide in 1951. Bought it new online 10 years ago, frigging well done. in terms of Aussie vessels, there's a few I'd be into, like a little runabout called the Admella (ADelaide, MELbourne, LAunceston) especially.. petty iconic ship for us Otway Basin dwellers. Are you gonna concentrate on military @VJ?
(good intel @mattlock, haven't seen them, cheers).

A subject close to my heart VJ, not the models so much but historic vessels.
I grew up in Adelaide next door to a kid my age, whose dad was the skipper of Falie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falie
At that time 60’s and 70’s Falie was a working vessel based in Port Adelaide mainly transporting freight to and from Kangaroo Island. I did a few trips, fond memories as a kid fishing off Falie while berthed in American River while loading. Also in the Wiki article is mention of a vessel called Coomonderry, which did the same job prior to Falie, skippered by the neighbour also, but she met her end running aground on Semaphore beach in a storm. The salvage operation sent him broke as he owned her. Then he spent the remainder of his career working for the company that owned Falie.
Falie is still in Port Adelaide in limbo, maintained by volunteers. Port Adelaide has such a rich history.

Mattlock - thanks for that tip! The Shell station at Streaky has that 1:1 scale 5m female fibreglass GWS too... In north Freo Rolly Tasker used to have every America's cup yacht as a model when I was a kid, the whole collection was in a big warehouse and the models were absolutely phenomenal.

The Oronsay looks cool, got a bit of that interwar steamer look to it! We have similar background to you, Mum's fam left Cork in 1842 on the Neptune I think (Neptune free ship, not the Neptune convict hell ship of 1815)... she took the Fairstar (again, iirc) back to UK in 1964 and met Dad. Everyone does military, so I'd want to do something different - peace, free trade, passenger ships at first, and where the dramatic stories are. Will keep cards close to chest until I get confident on the metal toolings, much travel early this year so it will be later on and I'll keep doing the CAD for about 5 or six of them until then. There's definitely gaps in the market and room to repopulate old affordable easy-to-build scales.

Chin I love the history too, that sounds like a wonderful childhood doing the runs to KI. We just had the ferry runs to Rotto where Dad loved to stay at Geordie and Longreach, for him it brought back Balearic island memories from his youth, for us we went feral all over the island. I learned to sail and got to the stage where I could sail a yacht and berth it alone, got to do this on a beaut S&S yacht with a great teacher. In terms of wrecks, we've flown over the 1629 Batavia wreck on the morning reef and seen the oldest European structure in Australia - made by it's marines to stop the mutineers cutting their throats in the night! Perth also has the Omeo wreck which is just amazing for kids, and me gliding over it checking out how they built the bulkheads and counting rivets:

https://perthisok.com/best-of-wa/everything-you-need-to-know-omeo-wreck…

And Pt Philip bay has the Cerberus wreck (when Victoria had a navy!) which I have yet to see.