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[Kildonan]

The truth about Australia's Fires - Arsonists aren't responsible for many this season

"I can confidently say the majority of the larger fires that we have been dealing with have been a result of fires coming out of remote areas as a result of dry lightning storms," he said.

In Victoria, where about 1.2 million hectares has burned, only 385 hectares — or 0.03 per cent — have been attributed to suspicious circumstances.

 

[MUFKilda]

The truth about Australia's Fires - Arsonists aren't responsible for many this season

"I can confidently say the majority of the larger fires that we have been dealing with have been a result of fires coming out of remote areas as a result of dry lightning storms," he said.

In Victoria, where about 1.2 million hectares has burned, only 385 hectares — or 0.03 per cent — have been attributed to suspicious circumstances.

That figure seems much more believable than the 40 per cent quoted earlier on the thread. A few nutters will deliberately make a disaster worse, but their number must be very small. Forty per cent would mean a nation of psychopaths!

 

[plugger66]

That figure seems much more believable than the 40 per cent quoted earlier on the thread. A few nutters will deliberately make a disaster worse, but their number must be very small. Forty per cent would mean a nation of psychopaths!

I wouldn’t doubt the figure. Many nutters like to start fires and then watch all of it on tv. And my generalisation on politics. If you are far right winger you are a genuine nut job like andrew bolt. If you are a far left winger you are still a nut job just not as crazy as bolt.

 

[Kildonan]

40% was a reliable stat, but it probably involves a lot of minor incidents like empty lot burnoffs and kids lighting grassfires.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

The only way that happens is nuclear power stations

I agree, but we also have a lot of mine sites, located in good area's for Solar.

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

True, however your first sentence;



Whilst it may not be a necessity to produce a nuclear explosive device today, you seemed to disregard half a century of history with nuclear power and absolving nations of basically screwing over life (FYI, France undertook 210 nuclear tests from 1940 to mid 1990, practice was banned in 1996, their last detonation was in 1995).

They've also had a nuclear plant since the 1960's, do you consider some 180 odd nuclear tests as independent to France's nuclear power generation?

And again?

History is history. Get on with it.

Anyone can peacefully generate nuclear power today. Out of horror weapons also came hope for a reliable and clean energy source. Hopefully Aus has the balls one day to build some nuclear plants for energy security whilst tapping into our own massive uranium reserves.

 

[gringo2011]

And again?

History is history. Get on with it.

Anyone can peacefully generate nuclear power today. Out of horror weapons also came hope for a reliable and clean energy source. Hopefully Aus has the balls one day to build some nuclear plants for energy security whilst tapping into our own massive uranium reserves.

Old fashioned reactors will never come back. Bill Gates has come up with a good model that is technically possible but can't build it in the US and now Trump won't allow them to build it in China as planned. Read this article it's pretty easy to understand and might temper your enthusiasm for it a bit. It's really expensive compared to other carbon free generation.

In his climate change quest, Bill Gates tries resetting after nuclear energy setback

A nuclear tech company he started is struggling

www.axios.com

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

Old fashioned reactors will never come back. Bill Gates has come up with a good model that is technically possible but can't build it in the US and now Trump won't allow them to build it in China as planned. Read this article it's pretty easy to understand and might temper your enthusiasm for it a bit. It's really expensive compared to other carbon free generation.

In his climate change quest, Bill Gates tries resetting after nuclear energy setback

A nuclear tech company he started is struggling

www.axios.com

Modern day nuclear reactors are great options and actually 100% reliable to actually work all the time when needed for a nations energy needs. Good luck to Bill Gates also, he is a very smart man.

But anyway, I have followed the quest for commercial nuclear fusion for a very long time. It is the holy grail of energy. We will get there one day but I find it astounding that the world, governments and people have shown little interest in this topic overall and contributed just as little to real and significant funding since it was hypothesized. If they get it right going forward, it will transform humanity in so many ways!

If the very wealthy get involved then it will happen. Its just a matter of time.

Two UK companies target nuclear fusion reactor by 2030

This week in future tech, two small companies in the UK think they’re within a decade of achieving stable nuclear fusion in a reactor.

www.siliconrepublic.com

Redirect Notice

 

[Joffaboy]

More denalist #deathcults fake news destroyed

 

[Stewart66]

More denalist #deathcults fake news destroyedView attachment 805067

Clearing of native vegetation in NSW jumps 800% in three years

Exclusive: figures released after eight-month battle between Guardian Australia and state tribunal

www.theguardian.com

They have destroyed huge areas of Koala habitat my sister took over 1,000 Koala’ s in rescue destroyed
without care in the world they now reside in Grafton .
good old Gladys ....

 

[Stewart66]

More denalist #deathcults fake news destroyedView attachment 805067

Australia spends billions planting trees – then wipes out carbon gains by bulldozing them

Little more than two years of land clearing will cancel out the $1.5bn in taxpayer funds that goes towards protecting native habitat

www.theguardian.com

 

[Nutsngum]

Can I just say thank you everyone in this thread. I may not agree with many of you on football opinions or feelings but the last couple of weeks has shown that when real things matter most of you are intelligent good people who at least wish for a better world even if they might not have the answers themselves or feel they can do much about it themselves.

 

[Kildonan]

Australia spends billions planting trees – then wipes out carbon gains by bulldozing them

Little more than two years of land clearing will cancel out the $1.5bn in taxpayer funds that goes towards protecting native habitat

www.theguardian.com

The Australian Liberal Parties have a lot to answer for: State Liberal Parties have opened up forests for massive land clearing

Australia has a long history of forest clearing. The proportion of the country covered by forest has fallen from about 30% to less than 16% since European invasion. But, after a relative decline, a big upswing in land clearing began in 2013, when Campbell Newman’s Liberal National government relaxed laws preventing mass deforestation in Queensland.

Neither Western Australia nor the Northern Territory keep jurisdiction-wide data. In the west, where land-clearing laws were relaxed under the former Liberal premier Colin Barnett in the name of removing red tape, a partial picture can be calculated by tallying the permits granted by some departments – but this leaves significant gaps.

 

[gringo2011]

The Australian Liberal Parties have a lot to answer for: State Liberal Parties have opened up forests for massive land clearing

Australia has a long history of forest clearing. The proportion of the country covered by forest has fallen from about 30% to less than 16% since European invasion. But, after a relative decline, a big upswing in land clearing began in 2013, when Campbell Newman’s Liberal National government relaxed laws preventing mass deforestation in Queensland.

Neither Western Australia nor the Northern Territory keep jurisdiction-wide data. In the west, where land-clearing laws were relaxed under the former Liberal premier Colin Barnett in the name of removing red tape, a partial picture can be calculated by tallying the permits granted by some departments – but this leaves significant gaps.

You might call it cynical if you didn't know better. Apparently the ocean floor mining which will be an unprecedented ecological disaster is to keep up wth our demand for solar batteries and mobile devices. As a species we are a little bit doomed.

 

[gringo2011]

And again?

History is history. Get on with it.

Anyone can peacefully generate nuclear power today. Out of horror weapons also came hope for a reliable and clean energy source. Hopefully Aus has the balls one day to build some nuclear plants for energy security whilst tapping into our own massive uranium reserves.

Well it really hasn't managed the clean in some of the most extreme environmental disasters of modern times in Fukushima and Chernobyl.There have been something like 50 serious incidents since Chernobyl. That is the real issue but there is also the spent uranium that needs safe storage, plenty has been dumped in oceans and Fukushima looks like it might end up that way too. The spent material can be weaponised as well.

I was in Japan just after the Fukushima disaster, you literally couldn't buy food from a huge area of their country. There were holes in supermarket shelves where products couldn't be supplied and people panic bought stuff because they thought it would get to the point of running out. There are serious health consequences for people in a huge radius and an unrepairable town that continues to leech radioactive water through the pacific.

Until they can turn the whole thing into a low risk and easy to store they won't bring it in. It's a much much more expensive form of power than renewables. They would be better to have mini battery substations on every large building, and self contained batteries on houses and use renewables if not.

My parents in law just built a house that is completely self reliant, it has huge underground water tanks, so much solar on the roof they could never get through it, it has batteries for a Tesla they have ordered but hasn't come yet, it's triple glazed and passive. It's not cheap but it has every luxury and won't cost a cent to run. It's still on the grid but if power goes off it can self power it's self.

The government has a scam that means you have to connect but feed your power to the grid and they pay FA for it but you have to stay connected so still pay supply charges.

On nuclear the Bill Gates one looks the most likely to succeed. It uses spent material and is much safer than traditional reactors.....only the fossil fuel companies seem determined to bury it. It would be the one chance the world has to stop a massive amount of carbon. Trump has shelved it by not allowing it in the US and then once it was signed up to be constructed in China, he stopped the transfer of technology so shelved it permanently.

TerraPower - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[gringo2011]

And this is an example of why politics is so on the nose.

Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party caught stacking the courts with cronies to cover-up government corruption

Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party have been caught out stacking the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), which is meant to keep the government accountable, with Liberal Party cronies. The AAT is a […]

kangaroocourtofaustralia.com

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

Little Greta's handlers and managers are at it again...the world has gone mad.

The Fed is so diplomatic and too nice a guy.

Redirect Notice

 

[Saints43]

I wonder if we can impose a higher GST on products / services provided by companies that do not pay their fair share of tax in Australia.

Some companies like below (Listed by Michael West as the top 40 tax dodgers)

Top 40 Tax Dodgers
Ranking Company Total Income Taxable Income Margin Tax Payable Tax Rate
1 GLENCORE INVESTMENT PTY LIMITED $27,929,635,183 $108,107,993 0.39% 0 0.00%
2 EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD $24,810,160,190 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
3 ENERGY AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED $23,901,332,940 $51,800,099 0.22% 0 0.00%
4 MITSUBISHI DEVELOPMENT PTY LTD $14,169,387,361 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
5 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS LIMITED $13,318,353,000 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
6 VODAFONE HUTCHISON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD $11,831,941,032 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
7 SANTOS LIMITED $11,222,883,109 $27,340,938 0.24% $3,147,975 11.51%
8 GENERAL MOTORS AUSTRALIA LIMITED $10,357,307,070 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
9 BHCA PTY LIMITED $9,914,941,527 $37,131,398 0.37% 0 0.00%
10 GRAINCORP LIMITED $9,728,771,192 $29,941,833 0.31% $4,652,945 15.54%
11 BNP PARIBAS $9,319,136,945 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
12 POMI PTY LIMITED $9,230,497,423 $1,323,847 0.01% $397,154 30.00%
13 FLETCHER BUILDING (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD $8,730,475,619 $35,968,543 0.41% $5,703,073 15.86%
14 PEABODY AUSTRALIA HOLDCO PTY LTD $8,678,625,132 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
15 BROADSPECTRUM LIMITED $8,616,335,336 $16,065,803 0.19% 0 0.00%
16 CHEVRON AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD $8,262,405,590 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
17 FORD MOTOR COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LTD $8,262,405,590 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
18 CITIC RESOURCES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD $7,876,392,114 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
19 SABMILLER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD $7,726,971,392 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
20 PUMA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) HOLDINGS PTY LTD $7,323,761,858 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
21 NISSAN MOTOR CO (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD $7,255,251,607 $22,471,232 0.31% $476 0.00%
22 SPOTLESS GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED $7,231,123,102 $12,613,537 0.17% 0 0.00%
23 AMCOR LIMITED $7,055,763,985 $17,362,193 0.25% 0 0.00%
24 ERM POWER LIMITED $6,945,455,014 $27,148,318 0.39% $7,782,313 28.67%
25 BG INTERNATIONAL (AUS) PTY LIMITED $6,770,646,727 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
26 HEALTHSCOPE LTD $6,651,396,744 $11,652,500 0.18% 0 0.00%
27 AGRIUM SP HOLDINGS PTY LIMITED $6,533,277,462 $13,138,092 0.20% 0 0.00%
28 FOOD INVESTMENTS PTY LTD $6,412,825,690 $16,750,045 0.26% 0 0.00%
29 ING BANK NV (SYDNEY BRANCH) $6,275,430,862 $15,641,277 0.25% $4,692,331 30.00%
30 MITSUBISHI MOTORS AUSTRALIA $6,195,436,833 $1,912,529 0.03% 0 0.00%
31 FOXTEL CABLE TELEVISION PTY LIMITED $6,006,084,503 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
32 HYDROX HOLDINGS LIMITED $5,722,736,905 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
33 UGL LIMITED $5,640,219,909 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
34 NEW ZEALAND MILK (AUSTRALASIA) PTY LTD $5,623,430,259 $2,598,710 0.05% 0 0.00%
35 MIRVAC LIMITED $5,486,283,493 $19,687,339 0.36% 0 0.00%
36 TRAVELEX AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD $5,335,790,513 $12,106,543 0.23% $3,429,912 28.33%
37 VENNOR INVESTMENTS PTY LTD $5,204,621,539 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
38 CSR LIMITED $5,190,938,106 0 0.00% 0 0.00%
39 SWISS RE AUSTRALIA LIMITED $5,188,023,218 $3,052,247 0.06% 0 0.00%

We need to tax these corporations a flat rate on turnover. Like a PAYE entity.
They can then look at their profits and decide whether to work in this market or not.
They just refuse to pay their tax obligations in a fair and reasonable manner.

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

‘We will not give in to threats’: Taiwan’s victorious president slams China

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected in a landslide victory yesterday, as a stern rebuke to China could fuel further tension.

www.news.com.au

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

Love seeing these sorts of scenes and results. From Hong Kong to Tehran also. Its great to see people fighting for their own democracy, rights and freedom. Just ordinary people in the world making a difference.

This is the sort of shit so many Aussies take for granted.

 

[BigPowerForward]

My parents emigrated to Australia in the 1950s from Italy.
Written English was always tricky for them, so I was intrigued to find a VHS tape in my mother's collection labelled "Cost"


I managed to find a VHS player and the problem was solved. Apparently "Cost" is a 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
Makes perfect sense now.

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

My parents emigrated to Australia in the 1950s from Italy.
Written English was always tricky for them, so I was intrigued to find a VHS tape in my mother's collection labelled "Cost"
View attachment 805282

I managed to find a VHS player and the problem was solved. Apparently "Cost" is a 1990 movie starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
Makes perfect sense now.

So funny.

 

[Crusty Undies]

‘We will not give in to threats’: Taiwan’s victorious president slams China

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected in a landslide victory yesterday, as a stern rebuke to China could fuel further tension.

www.news.com.au

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

Love seeing these sorts of scenes and results. From Hong Kong to Tehran also. Its great to see people fighting for their own democracy, rights and freedom. Just ordinary people in the world making a difference.

This is the sort of shit so many Aussies take for granted.

Funny that you're so pro democracy, everywhere except here where our government is taking steps to limit our democratic rights.

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

GREAT NEWS!!

Huge rain bomb forecast gives hope to exhausted firefighters - but the downpour will be so heavy it could cause LANDSLIDES

 

[jwikked]

GREAT NEWS!!

Huge rain bomb forecast gives hope to exhausted firefighters - but the downpour will be so heavy it could cause LANDSLIDES

Sweet hopefully the landslides can damage the homes the fires missed. Maybe some animals can get trapped in the mud and die

 

[Johnnyrayflamingo]

Sweet hopefully the landslides can damage the homes the fires missed. Maybe some animals can get trapped in the mud and die

Yeah, sounds awesome.