The evergreen US Academies are doing a May 16 scare webinar on the “fragile” coral reefs threatened by climate change.
A taste: “CoralReefs face growing stress from warming, acidification & extreme weather—leading to more frequent bleaching & broader ecological impacts. Researchers are exploring how to preserve the reefs & make them more resilient.”
Apple is largely responsible for the ascent of China as it has placed hundred of billions of money there into hi tech supply chains and trauined the operatives to the highest possible standards. The net result is a supply line of thousands of sophisticated Chinese companies whose experise can’t be obtained elsewhere and has made CHina a technological giant..
Couple that with the trillions of Dollars the west has spent on importing oil from the middle east-often from countries that don’t like us -and we have given the rest of the world a huge leg up whilst impoverishing ourselves.
This is a very narrow perspective on technology. China has been open to the west for about 45 years, as a source of intellectual property for them and a market for their goods. I still have a gift from a Chinese technology group that visited a smelter where I was the Electrical Engineer in 1982. In early 90s I spent an hour or more with a Chinese equipment supplier at a Sydney trade fair, who asked for my opinion on their equipment, pointing out the poor workmanship on their equipment. In the mid 90s, the company I worked for stationed inspectors at various fabricators in China to assess the quality of the steel supplied and the expertise of the fabricators. In early to mid 90s I was the industry adviser for a Chinese student doing a PhD on mining technology. Tens of thousands of Chinese students have passed through Australian universities.
China manufactures more than 50% of the global output of almost everything. I put steel technology at #1 spot and expect that came from Japan via Taiwan. Shipbuilding is probably #2; likely both Japan and Korea. Power generation probably #3 with technology from USA and Germany. Other mineral/metal concentrating, smelting and refining maybe #4 – much from Australia. Automative maybe #5 with technology support from Germany and others. Power transmission, power electronics, electric motors maybe #6. Civil/structural engineering including concrete, dams, roads, tunnels etc maybe #6. Consumer white goods, TVs, hand tools maybe #7.
Smart phones and computing probably rank mid to high teens in terms of technological ranking.
China opened its doors to the west in 1978 and has been a technological sponge since. I have contributed, in a small way, to their technological education and benefitted greatly from the inherent value of what they manufacture.
The Internet of Babel.
We can now access in moments very near the totality of information, in the palm of our hand.
And find ourselves even less able to agree on an interpretation of reality.
Only a tiny proportion of books printed since the printing press have been digitised.
I’m not sure about handwritten manuscripts (which may have been printed at a later date).
Goolag AI:
It’s estimated that around 4% of all books ever printed have been digitized. This equates to roughly 15 million books. While Google Books has scanned over 25 million books, only about one million of these are in the public domain.
In total, it’s estimated that there are around 129.8 million books published since the invention of the printing press. This means that a large portion of books remain in physical form and have not yet been digitized. The number of books in the public domain is estimated to be around 20% of the world’s books.
Neil Postman quote:
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.
The European Court of Justice has dismissed the European Commission’s rejection of a New York Times’ request to access text messages between its President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on the purchase of billions of euro of Covid-19 vaccines.
Former EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said the ECJ ruling is “very significant.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, she said the case has been “hanging over” Ms von der Leyen and the commission for “many years, has done some damage to it [Commission], but I imagine they will be relying on the chaos of the world at the moment for some sort of cover.”
The idea behind this UK quango is a good one. Unfortunately Quangos attract large sums of money and are headed those who are in tune with Govt thinking, in this case net zero. It is no surprise therefore that this is the organisation behind the scheme to “dim the sun”.
Personally, I would clear out all the current politicians and head of quangos in most of the western countries as they seem to have gone quite mad over the last decade. Their replacements could be people chosen at random off the streets who couldn’t do a worse job than the inadequates who have been overseeing-and seemingly encouraging-the decline of the west for years.
No it isn’t.
To create an unaccountable body which would use public money to fund high-stakes research in AI, quantum computing and synthetic biology is a recipe for corruption (and zero technological progress).
A recurring cry at Jo Nova’s is that government isn’t competent to make engineering decisions. Rather than create ARIA to “pick winners”, the UK should have scrapped UKRI. No government funded research at universities or anywhere else.
Government only really has power to *stifle* creativity. They should try doing less of that. Trying to boost it just brings out the parasites.
The study and report were commissioned in 2023 by House of Representatives members Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith, New Jersey; Andy Harris, Maryland; and Bruce Westerman, Arkansas. Van Drew opened a congressional inquiry into the industrialization of the Atlantic Ocean after the Jersey Shore saw an increase in the number of humpback whale strandings between the fall of 2022 and early winter 2023. He held multiple hearings, including one last year.
To provide a thorough look at the offshore wind industry in the U.S., the GAO convened a panel of nearly two dozen subject matter experts from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to identify and evaluate possible impacts. The watchdog agency also interviewed representatives from 22 tribes and tribal organizations, stakeholders from states, research institutes, fisheries and industry as well as officials from lead and coordinating agencies.
“The GAO’s findings confirm exactly what I have been warning about for years,” Van Drew said last week. “These wind projects were rushed through with little regard for how they could affect our national security, disrupt radar systems, interfere with military operations, or threaten navigation and safety along our coasts.”
…
Just last week, the BOEM, an arm of the Department of Interior, issued an order to Empire Offshore Wind, a project off the coast of New York and New Jersey, to “halt all ongoing activities” on the outer continental shelf so the federal agency could address feedback it has received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about the project’s environmental analysis.
I read an unreferenced comment somewhere today that Romania and Bulgaria are facing challenges in planning the offshore wind for the Black Sea coz there are some bridges that the turbine blades won’t fit under. New bridges is sounding like the answer … but will cause delays.
Why the Tennis players visa was revoked I suspect has more to do with the Lithium mine that he was protesting against than anything with his vaccination record.
Their main business model, as for all “renewables” businesses is not generating electricity but harvesting of taxpayer-funded subsidies.
As in Australia, hard working people pay for their profits through taxes and forcibly collected subsidies from electricity bills.
If you wanted to actually generate electricity you’d build a coal, gas, nuclear or real hydro (not SH2) power station wouldn’t you?
Goolag AI:
Norvento Enerxía has received significant support through subsidies, particularly from the European Investment Bank (EIB), in the form of a loan agreement. In December 2018, the EIB provided a EUR 54 million credit line to Norvento Enerxía SL for the construction and operation of several wind farms. Norvento also handles subsidies for PV self-consumption installations, offering turnkey solutions to companies.
In America, Leftists have finally found some immigrants that they don’t like.
Probably because they arrived legally and in an orderly and polite manner, are genuine refugees and intend to work hard, obey the law, assimmilate, pay taxes and be good patriots.
The type of refugees and immigrants Australia used to take, back in the day.
I refer to the South African farmers.
Australia could have had them here in 2018 but Dutton, fake conservative, refused to allow them to come here.
In 2023 the James Webb Space Telescope discovered rings around a minor planet in our solar system within the Kuiper Belt.
It is about half the size of Pluto and called Quaor.
This adds to the list of other ringed objects in our solar system including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the dwarf planet Haumea and the asteroid Chariklo. Obviously, not all the rings are as prominent as those of Saturn.
In many ways, Germany’s wind power revolution has been a success, with wind power serving as the country’s largest source of electricity. However, the current wind lull over the last three months has led to an extreme dip in energy production, which is costing firms millions in losses.
The wind speed average has dropped below less than 5.5 meters per second in the first quarter of 2025, according to German Meteorological Service (DWD). The last time the country saw such low speeds was in 1972 and 1973, and before that, in 1963.
Wind energy producers have been hit hard. For example, PNE, a wind farm operator in Coxhaven, showed revenue dropped to €27.9 million from €31.4 million the previous year, but perhaps more importantly, it went from an operating profit of €1.1 million in the first quarter to a loss of €7.1 million, according to Welt….
It’s never a good idea to rely on the weather to produce electricity.
Perhaps they should try using coal, gas and nuclear power which is available 24/7, is inexpensive and reliable and doesn’t pollute the country with thousands of eyesores, kill bird, bat and insect life, and destroy productive farmland? There’s an idea!
The Germans have been trying to use wind power for electricity ever since the National Socialists and it’s STILL NOT WORKING. Isn’t that the definition of stupid?
Was there any serious estimation of the wind energy content in certain areas, beyond attaching the names, like – Roaring Forties? Order of magnitude, of course.
If so, had the study dealt with reasonable period of time, like – 10, 20 or 40 years?
Did it produce tangible data, like – so many GW over a day, a year ?
(IMay be millions of TW for what I know…)
From the article
“Former Economic Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens had already planned to provide incentives to build 40 large gas-fired plants by 2030 to deal with fluctuations in wind and solar energy. These gas plants had a number of climate protections allegedly built in, such as being able to be switched to hydrogen at some point in the future”.
If the Greens wanted gas plants it is a sure sign of Climate Change (or possibly Voter Change which is more important to politicians).
Although I wonder where that gas would come from? Not Russia, the USA (from fracking?) but obviously not from Europe because any industrial action would be banned by the EU.
However historical data is not much value when you are planning to extract energy from the wind on a large scale over a coastal region. No one knows the unintended consequences of extracting energy from the wind. I personally believe that wind energy is quite fragile. It depends on moisture content in the air over land. If you extract energy from wind carrying moisture to land then that is likely to reduce the moisture over land, which reduces the wind energy.
Deserts exist where the conditions are not conducive to advection of moist air from oceans to land – like behind a coastal mountain range. Once deserts are established, they maintain conditions to keep them as deserts.
An unintended consequence of wind power in Germany could be desertifying the country. To reverse that process would require bringing in freshwater to irrigate the land and grow trees so the atmosphere builds higher moisture content.
If I was planning to make a desert, I would build a coastal barrier that stilled onshore wind and remove all forested areas that tend to retain moisture. Almost axactly as Germany has been doing for the past 3 decades.
When I last looked at where the winds were strongest WRT Australia, we weren’t in those strong winds. Have forgotten the source of this info. The Betz Limit says that up to 60% of wind energy can be extracted, and one source claims that wind turbines average around 45% energy extraction.
Only the latest offshore wind farms in the North Sea manage 45%.
The average capacity factor for 137 U.S. wind projects self-reporting to the Energy Information Agency in 2003 was 26.9%. In 2012 it was 30.4%. The total capacity factor for EU-27 countries in 2007 was 13%, according to the EIA, not helped by those East Germany farms which (at best) managed 18%. Improvements in design, and bigger machines and siting off-shore all boosted the average, but unfortunately I’ve lost the document but only 2 German North Sea farms (and less than 2 years old) made 45%, the rest dropped off to about 33%. Danish farms were lower but might be earler adoption. I can’t remember whether any UK farms made 45% but some of these were in the Irish Sea.
TonyFromOz checked Australian ones and found the average was about 30%.
And the 12 ones near Albany (which I think may now being demolished) despite claims that they would make 41% were nonsense. That was engraved on a brass plate on site when I went there in 2008? An ideal location (on shore) with a row of turbines highish on a
low hill with outlook to the SW where the prevailing wind came (along with a smooth hill each end causing a small extra wind. Warwick checked the output figures and found (at best) 31-33% depending on the yearly weather.
Thanks for the extra CF data. I saw your figures provided on 6 Dec 2022, but then you stated that UK offshore was only 36.2%. Tony/Anton also provided other CF figures here on 12 March 2020, with the U.S. at 32.4% and China at 22%. Chris Marz in Dec 2014 said that U.S. onshore CF was 33.2%, and Robert Idel said that Texas CF was 35%. Gary Pearse in WUWT 2 July 2023 stated that China’s CF was 19.5%. Tonyb provided UK CF figures of 22% onshore, 32% offshore.
The first row can extract up to 59%. The next row can extract 59% of the 40+% left or 24% of the original energy. The third row can extract 59% of the remaining 16%. By then you are left with not much wind energy.
Germany has built a very effective wind shield that works most of the time. Stilling the wind that brings water to the land. Taller offshore towers do the best if they are not broken down because they are the first row.
RickWill:
59% is the Betz limit, the maximum THEORETICAL amount that the turbine can extract. At best the largest, newest turbines only get 45% (in a few cases).
Many thanks, Rick.
I hope to learn much from this Atlas but do YOU trust it?
If it is so meticously detailed why some projects do not show expected outcome? There mus’ve been other corroborating data, too.
Wind strength is a key input to structural design loads so it has been monitored and recorded for a long time. The Australian building code even specifies regional wind strength that structures should be designed to withstand. Those specified strengths are based on recorded data for many decades. Europe likely has engineering wind data for more than a century.
Air stilling is a well known issue for wind farms. But there is not much work being done on local climate change due to wind stilling. The vast majority of people think that wind has an inexhaustible supply. I know otherwise.
That what I hoped to get a gut feel for. if not the actual number of towers before the law of diminishing returns…
I guess the limit solar industry expansion can be calculated – the available area and irradiation are certain.
With wind ?
Out of that Atlas – now I see why current POTUS has designs for Greenland.
“In many ways, Germany’s wind power revolution has been a success, with wind power serving as the country’s largest source of electricity. However…….”
I wonder in what ways its a success? Does Germany have cheap power compared to othe EU countries.? Is German industry thriving due to access to abundant, reliable cheap energy? Is Germany a stabilizing force in the EU grid or a destabilizing force? Loading up your grid with variable, weather dependent generation and increasing reliance on interconnectors doesnt look like success to me.
No, German industry is definitely NOT thriving since renewables were introduced – their industrial production peaked in 2017, and since then has contracted by 14% up to December 2023.
UK government tells pension funds to ‘invest’ in the likes of Miliband’s mad schemes, and if they don’t do enough, they’ll make it mandatory. Presumably the tax payer will end up rescuing the pension funds.
Dr. John Robson comments on key items from the latest Climate Discussion Nexus weekly “Wednesday Wakeup” newsletter (https://climatediscuss…, starting with Michael Mann and his lawyers getting a vicious smackdown from a court for “bad faith” presentation of false evidence, which surely casts a dark shadow on his scientific work, and the hosts of COP30 in Belém, Brazil hacking a highway through a protected rainforest to accommodate carbon-spewing global do-gooders, and moving on to heckling clickbait climate stories, addled politicians and green parties that are boring standard mechanistic leftists, more bad news on EVs, more bad news on winter and the trendy “polar vortex collapse”, the irony of local opposition foiling environmental dreams, and wrapping up with a #LookItUp item on global satellite temperature measurements, a study finding that rainfall in the Mediterranean once again defying modelers, and a St. Patrick’s Day note that clover also loves CO2.
Prof who sought to ‘ruin’ National Review ordered to pay outlet over $500k in legal fees
A climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania has been ordered to pay the conservative National Review over $500,000 in legal fees after his lawsuit against the publication was dismissed.
On Jan. 10, the editors of National Review published a piece announcing the Washington D.C. court’s decision.
A climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania has been ordered to pay the conservative National Review over $500,000 in legal fees after his lawsuit against the publication was dismissed.
Michael Mann brought the lawsuit in 2012 in response to a blog post by National Review written by Mark Steyn that criticized Mann’s climate research. Mann sued the conservative outlet and Steyn for libel over the piece, as well as over an article by National Review Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry titled “Get Lost.”
If you have any concerns about their willingness to pay, you could donate with the specific request to ensure it goes to Dr Mann:
While 2025 will be challenging, we are not backing down. We were able to accomplish so much in 2024 because of the support of people like you who stand with us and with scientists against the onslaught of anti-science, anti-truth intimidation campaigns. If we are to meet the virulently anti-science administration head-on, we will need your support. If you can, please donate today and join us in the fight for truth.
I expect that the CSLDF will pick up any tab Mann incurs. He is quite cosy with this organisation:
Pity that this “contribution” will not be considered “income” for Mann (and thus assessed income tax). Or at least have “gift tax” being paid by the contributor.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is banning festivals in council parks citing climate change concerns – unless they are for causes she supports.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the City of Sydney Council is enforcing a new strict policy that blocks new major events in parks to prevent grass damage.
A “Lord Mayoral Minute” prohibits bookings for events with the Council citing damage to the grass “accelerated by severe weather events due to climate change”.
Exceptions to Ms Moore’s ban – two events that she personally supports; the LGBT+ Mardi Gras Fair Day and an Aboriginal Yabun Festival. Everything else will be rejected.
The City’s parklands have long-held annual events like concerts, performances, and festivals.
Business Sydney says the decision will even further inhibit efforts to revitalise the CBD.
In the post-mortem of the Liberals’ 2025 federal election defeat, calls for gender quotas have once again taken centre stage as a panacea to the party’s woes.
However, mandatory female representation is profoundly illiberal in principle and demeaning to women for three key reasons. It suggests that women will only vote for women and that women are not concerned about policy, and it implies that women in parliament have the role because of their gender.
Former TV reporter, political staffer and founder of Hilma’s Network (which focuses on recruiting moderate women to the Liberal Party) Charlotte Mortlock has called for state, federal and structural gender quotas as a bare minimum.
Further, Mortlock claimed the Liberal Party would be “morons” to elect two men to the party’s leadership and such an outcome would be “insulting” to women.
Mortlock’s argument for quotas relies on the assumption that gender is a driving priority for women at the voting booth.
This philosophical position stems from theories that claim an individual’s political position will be basically determined by characteristics such as their class, race or gender. Implicit in this thinking is the assumption that most human interaction in society is underpinned by oppressive power structures based on group identities.
It leads to a view of the world that is inherently tribal and divisive. It pits men against women, rich against poor, and black against white.
A lovely but typical piece in the SMH, some Melbourne soyboy is horrified and it broke his heart that the woman who influenced his parents to marry is admired by Trump.. Confused yet? He explains that his mother was an Ayn Rand fan, his father happy to go along, and so he was born… and into a ‘better childhood’ by this ‘enabler of sociopaths’..
Of course it all falls apart in his ‘rebellion against parents’ phase when he becomes an ardent Socialist so he has a rant about how disgusting it is that Rand promotes the idea that some people are better than the masses. The final knife through the heart is when he learns Trump admires Rand too…
“a society based on undiluted capitalism and rampant individualism seems foolish at best and repulsive at worst.”
So… that’s why we have a Labor Govt in power again.
“And where Atlas Shrugged is a dystopian vision of left-wing villainy, it could equally be a portrait of 2025: a corrupt, vengeful and increasingly tyrannical government dismantling freedom, undermining reality and ruining the economy to enrich a handful of oligarchs.”
Although I think he’d like to attribute that to America under Trump, not the actuality of Australia under Albo!
Mr Hampton revealed to The Australian on Wednesday that he would face an “unfair” tax bill because the baseline for assessing whether losses could be carried forward would only begin on July 1. “The taxing of unrealised aggregate self-managed super fund balance gains has some completely unfair consequences,” Mr Hampton said. “Say a self-managed super fund member with a balance above $3m is sitting on a loss on an individual asset and the asset records a gain in the tax year but remains below cost price.
Bond University finance professor David Gallagher said the proposal had been badly thought through.
“The tax means you get punished on the cost base as of the date the tax starts. There just shouldn’t be a tax on unrealised gains,” Professor Gallagher said.
“The problem is that we now have a situation where the government is going further into debt and it needs to find tax revenue.
“We do need tax reform but we need takes that don’t attack incentives to invest. This tax attacks those incentives.”
Maitland-based superannuation expert Meg Heffron said she had plenty of clients who would be caught in this “nasty” situation of not being able to carry forward losses made before the tax started.
On top of that they may remove the CGT discount… which was originally introduced by Keating so that you were only taxed on the real gain, and not the portion that was due to inflation
Instead of calculating the CGT for each year since the purchase, the discount allows individuals and trusts to reduce their capital gain by 50% if they have owned the asset for at least 12 months before the CGT event happens.
This simplifies the tax calculation process and reduces the complexity for taxpayers.
The owner of a Dandenong South sandblasting business that has worked on some of the biggest construction projects in Melbourne, including the MCG, has been left reeling after his land tax bill spiralled from $8700 to more than $203,000 in the past decade.
Angie Romas, who has run his steelwork, sandblasting and painting business DH Corrosion & DPC Coatings for more than 20 years, is in the frontline of Labor’s assault on businesses and property investors that will see the Allan government reap a predicted $9.3bn from land taxes – including its extra Covid debt levy on landholdings – in 2027-28, up from the $5.2bn it collected in 2022-23.
Labor has hiked land taxes as Victoria buckles under state debt which last year’s budget forecast to grow from $156.2bn this year to $187.8bn in June 2028.
Mr Romas, 60, who owns his business with his son Adam, 28, wrote in March to Jaclyn Symes, who will deliver her first budget as the state’s treasurer next Tuesday, pleading for relief. He told The Australian on Wednesday he had not received a response.
In his letter to Ms Symes, Mr Romas said he was looking at closing his business because the land tax had “become too large a cost to justify” its continuation at the premises.
The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia on July 1, 2000, was part of a broader package of tax reforms designed to phase out various state and territory taxes, including stamp duty and land tax.
The GST, a value-added tax of 10% on most goods and services, replaced the federal wholesale sales tax and aimed to eliminate a range of inefficient state taxes.
Revenue from the GST is paid to the states and territories, providing them with a stable and growing source of revenue and reducing their reliance on other taxes.
However, the complete elimination of stamp duty and land tax has not been fully realized.
While the GST was intended to phase out these taxes, state governments have been slow to abolish them entirely.
Some states have introduced opt-in land tax schemes as an alternative to stamp duty, but stamp duty remains a significant source of revenue for many states.
The Treasurer doubled-down on the government’s tax hikes after the owner of a Dandenong South sandblasting business that has worked on some of the biggest construction projects in Melbourne, including the MCG, was left reeling after his land tax bill spiralled from $8700 to more than $203,000 in the past decade.
Asked about the tax hit on Thursday, Ms Symes said the land tax payable by property owners was directly attributable to the value of their land.
“We want to ensure that we get the balance right in relation to the levies and taxes that people pay, we want to ensure that we have the revenue for the services that Victorians rely on to be delivered,” Ms Symes said.
“We don’t want impacts on those that are suffering cost of living pressures, ordinary households and the like, that’s why we set our tax settings with consideration of those that have the greater capacity to pay.”
Labor has hiked land taxes as Victoria buckles under state debt which last year’s budget forecast to grow from $156.2bn this year to $187.8bn in June 2028.
In his letter to Ms Symes, Mr Romas said he was looking at closing his business because the land tax had “become too large a cost to justify” its continuation at the premises.
Mr Romas said his business – which employs 14 people and has been a supplier for major Victorian projects including the MCG expansion and refurbishments, Docklands Stadium, Southern Cross station and EastLink bridges — had been operating consistently at its Dandenong South site since 1973.
“This business generates a steady tax income stream (GST, payroll tax, company tax) for the state and federal governments,” Mr Romas wrote.
Victoria does not need a grimy sand-blasting business. Just get the steel fabricated and painted in China. So tax the carp out of it until the business folds.
While I have your attention EG, what is happening with the strongly positive SAM? Any change? Getting a bit sick of these protracted Indian summers with no rain, would like a bit of cooler weather and some wet stuff.
Got my vote. One of the stupidest features on modern cars. While sounding simple it adds cost and complexity to achieve little. I have been working steadily to dumb down and shut up my wifes new car. Its been interesting just understanding terminolgy like lane assist, lane centering and emergency lane assist. People need lots of help with lanes apparently. We had some of this in the 2018 version we sold but things have progressed (I guess thats what you call it)
Gadget corner: infrared mosquito locator with laser
Placed in a location where it can see most of a room, the Iris utilizes a wide-angle camera and computer vision software to constantly scan the space for flying mosquitoes. It’s equipped with an array of infrared LEDs, so it can even scan in the dark.
Whenever a mosquito is detected, the Iris tracks its position until it lands. The device then marks that location with a Class-1 eye-safe red laser pointer, while also wirelessly alerting the user via an iOS/Android app on their smartphone. If more than one mosquito is detected at once, the Iris will move its pointer back and forth between all of their locations.
High power prices could force the closure of a major fertiliser plant employing about 500 workers in north-west Queensland unless a buyer can be found in what would be another blow to the Albanese government’s plans to revive manufacturing on the east coast.
Dyno Nobel chief executive Mauro Neves said the company’s Phosphate Hill plant 140 kilometres from Mount Isa was at risk of closure due to high gas prices driving up the costs of the energy-intensive process of making the fertiliser that is commonly used for food crops across the country.
Going the same way as Incitec Pivot.
Looks like the SOLE supplier of urea will certainly be China. This nitrogen based fertiliser when mixed with fossil fuel extracts, diesel / other products is used for explosives in mining,
Both underground & open pit!
So the Chinese will control our agricultural production & mining.
Good move from those performing prime ministerial & energy minister impressions!!!
United Arab Emirates Barakah nuclear power station, the list of contractors involved is interesting;
ENEC awarded a $20.4bn contract to the consortium led by KEPCO for the design, construction and operation of four APR1400 nuclear power units at the Barakah NPP in December 2009.
The consortium includes Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), Hyundai, Samsung, Doosan, Korea Power Engineering Company, and Korea Plant Service and Engineering (KPS).
KHNP was in charge of the operating support services and cooperative businesses while KEPCO Engineering and Construction (KEPCO E&C) was awarded the subcontract for providing plant design, architecture and engineering works.
Doosan was entrusted with the construction and management of the nuclear steam supply system, steam generator and other related components.
Hyundai and Samsung were responsible for the civil engineering works while Westinghouse provided technical assistance and licence-related works. KNF supplied nuclear fuel, which is maintained by KPS.
Hilal Bil Badi and Partners Contracting, a local company, was contracted to develop critical water intake structures for the project.
The reinforced concrete structures provide cooling water for the turbine condensers and heat exchangers in the turbine generator building.
Bechtel provided design and project management support services to KEPCO E&C, a subsidiary of KEPCO.
Nawah Energy Company signed a long-term operation and maintenance agreement with EDF for the Barakah nuclear power plant in November 2018.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering were awarded a long-term maintenance contract for the Barakah nuclear energy plant in June 2019.
KHNP also operates and maintains South Korea’s Shin Kori nuclear power plant Units 3 and 4.
A stroll on a Westernport beach this afternoon produced several interesting items:
1. An intact sea urchin shell,
2. Several strange spiral black things that look somewhat like sea weed. A check on the web suggests they are sharks eggs,
3. The third and most interesting item was a large ovoid grey lump, about the size of a human brain. I thought it might be a rock, but when I poked it with my toe it was a bit rubbery. When I turned it over it had a few inclusions that look like stones. It is rather smelly. Unfortunately the smell is rather hard to get off my hand, despite soap and then soaking in vinegar and lemon juice!
So what is it? I googled “large grey lump found on beach” and up came some pictures of Ambergis. What is that you say? Essentially it is whale poo. Remarkably, given the unpleasant smell it is used in the making of perfumes.
Can anyone tell me how to confirm the nature of my discovery?
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The evergreen US Academies are doing a May 16 scare webinar on the “fragile” coral reefs threatened by climate change.
A taste: “CoralReefs face growing stress from warming, acidification & extreme weather—leading to more frequent bleaching & broader ecological impacts. Researchers are exploring how to preserve the reefs & make them more resilient.”
https://mailchi.mp/nationalacademies/climate-conversations-coral-reefs2?e=c3c03e3b28
Pure junk.
191
There have been excerpts in the British press about this new book
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biggest-untold-story-tech-explosive-book-reveals-how-apple-sold-out-america-china
Apple is largely responsible for the ascent of China as it has placed hundred of billions of money there into hi tech supply chains and trauined the operatives to the highest possible standards. The net result is a supply line of thousands of sophisticated Chinese companies whose experise can’t be obtained elsewhere and has made CHina a technological giant..
Couple that with the trillions of Dollars the west has spent on importing oil from the middle east-often from countries that don’t like us -and we have given the rest of the world a huge leg up whilst impoverishing ourselves.
140
This is a very narrow perspective on technology. China has been open to the west for about 45 years, as a source of intellectual property for them and a market for their goods. I still have a gift from a Chinese technology group that visited a smelter where I was the Electrical Engineer in 1982. In early 90s I spent an hour or more with a Chinese equipment supplier at a Sydney trade fair, who asked for my opinion on their equipment, pointing out the poor workmanship on their equipment. In the mid 90s, the company I worked for stationed inspectors at various fabricators in China to assess the quality of the steel supplied and the expertise of the fabricators. In early to mid 90s I was the industry adviser for a Chinese student doing a PhD on mining technology. Tens of thousands of Chinese students have passed through Australian universities.
China manufactures more than 50% of the global output of almost everything. I put steel technology at #1 spot and expect that came from Japan via Taiwan. Shipbuilding is probably #2; likely both Japan and Korea. Power generation probably #3 with technology from USA and Germany. Other mineral/metal concentrating, smelting and refining maybe #4 – much from Australia. Automative maybe #5 with technology support from Germany and others. Power transmission, power electronics, electric motors maybe #6. Civil/structural engineering including concrete, dams, roads, tunnels etc maybe #6. Consumer white goods, TVs, hand tools maybe #7.
Smart phones and computing probably rank mid to high teens in terms of technological ranking.
China opened its doors to the west in 1978 and has been a technological sponge since. I have contributed, in a small way, to their technological education and benefitted greatly from the inherent value of what they manufacture.
52
Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/ghost-in-the-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-in-chinese-inverters-4043741
130
The Internet of Babel.
We can now access in moments very near the totality of information, in the palm of our hand.
And find ourselves even less able to agree on an interpretation of reality.
I still support the tower project.
130
Onwards and upwards…
31
Only a tiny proportion of books printed since the printing press have been digitised.
I’m not sure about handwritten manuscripts (which may have been printed at a later date).
Goolag AI:
Neil Postman quote:
Are we going the way of Huxley or Orwell?
110
Both. Our controllers use both the carrot and the stick?
100
https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2025/0514/1512730-ecj-von-der-leyen-texts/
The European Court of Justice has dismissed the European Commission’s rejection of a New York Times’ request to access text messages between its President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on the purchase of billions of euro of Covid-19 vaccines.
Former EU ombudsman Emily O’Reilly said the ECJ ruling is “very significant.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, she said the case has been “hanging over” Ms von der Leyen and the commission for “many years, has done some damage to it [Commission], but I imagine they will be relying on the chaos of the world at the moment for some sort of cover.”
120
The idea behind this UK quango is a good one. Unfortunately Quangos attract large sums of money and are headed those who are in tune with Govt thinking, in this case net zero. It is no surprise therefore that this is the organisation behind the scheme to “dim the sun”.
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/05/13/a-closer-look-at-aria-britains-secretive-800-million-sun-dimming-quango/
Personally, I would clear out all the current politicians and head of quangos in most of the western countries as they seem to have gone quite mad over the last decade. Their replacements could be people chosen at random off the streets who couldn’t do a worse job than the inadequates who have been overseeing-and seemingly encouraging-the decline of the west for years.
160
Tobyb,
No it isn’t.
To create an unaccountable body which would use public money to fund high-stakes research in AI, quantum computing and synthetic biology is a recipe for corruption (and zero technological progress).
A recurring cry at Jo Nova’s is that government isn’t competent to make engineering decisions. Rather than create ARIA to “pick winners”, the UK should have scrapped UKRI. No government funded research at universities or anywhere else.
Government only really has power to *stifle* creativity. They should try doing less of that. Trying to boost it just brings out the parasites.
70
A long and thoughtful article
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-awkward-truth-for-trump-haters/
Can the President halt the long term decline of the US, solve its huge debt crisis and tackle the ascendancy of China?
40
https://www.thesandpaper.net/articles/offshore-wind-study-inconclusive-on-extent-of-potential-impacts/
The study and report were commissioned in 2023 by House of Representatives members Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith, New Jersey; Andy Harris, Maryland; and Bruce Westerman, Arkansas. Van Drew opened a congressional inquiry into the industrialization of the Atlantic Ocean after the Jersey Shore saw an increase in the number of humpback whale strandings between the fall of 2022 and early winter 2023. He held multiple hearings, including one last year.
To provide a thorough look at the offshore wind industry in the U.S., the GAO convened a panel of nearly two dozen subject matter experts from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to identify and evaluate possible impacts. The watchdog agency also interviewed representatives from 22 tribes and tribal organizations, stakeholders from states, research institutes, fisheries and industry as well as officials from lead and coordinating agencies.
“The GAO’s findings confirm exactly what I have been warning about for years,” Van Drew said last week. “These wind projects were rushed through with little regard for how they could affect our national security, disrupt radar systems, interfere with military operations, or threaten navigation and safety along our coasts.”
…
Just last week, the BOEM, an arm of the Department of Interior, issued an order to Empire Offshore Wind, a project off the coast of New York and New Jersey, to “halt all ongoing activities” on the outer continental shelf so the federal agency could address feedback it has received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about the project’s environmental analysis.
110
Happily Empire Wind may collapse.
https://www.offshorewind.biz/2025/05/13/equinor-situation-for-empire-wind-unsustainable-we-need-to-find-way-forward-for-project-quickly/
121
I read an unreferenced comment somewhere today that Romania and Bulgaria are facing challenges in planning the offshore wind for the Black Sea coz there are some bridges that the turbine blades won’t fit under. New bridges is sounding like the answer … but will cause delays.
50
I wonder if the cost of the new bridges will be factored into the true electricity cost?
I doubt it.
120
They are already involved in wind system projects in Australia.
20
https://balkangreenenergynews.com/serbian-organizations-academic-community-urge-eu-against-declaring-lithium-project-jadar-strategic/
Why the Tennis players visa was revoked I suspect has more to do with the Lithium mine that he was protesting against than anything with his vaccination record.
40
https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/how-one-spanish-wind-turbine-maker-kept-the-lights-on-during-the-blackout/2-1-1814360
Great news everyone (said as the professor in Futurama) – The company making the wind turbines is off-grid, so not affected by power cuts.
40
Their main business model, as for all “renewables” businesses is not generating electricity but harvesting of taxpayer-funded subsidies.
As in Australia, hard working people pay for their profits through taxes and forcibly collected subsidies from electricity bills.
If you wanted to actually generate electricity you’d build a coal, gas, nuclear or real hydro (not SH2) power station wouldn’t you?
120
In America, Leftists have finally found some immigrants that they don’t like.
Probably because they arrived legally and in an orderly and polite manner, are genuine refugees and intend to work hard, obey the law, assimmilate, pay taxes and be good patriots.
The type of refugees and immigrants Australia used to take, back in the day.
I refer to the South African farmers.
Australia could have had them here in 2018 but Dutton, fake conservative, refused to allow them to come here.
America’s gain, Australia’s loss.
Also, see comments by Paul Joseph Watson:
https://youtu.be/gHo0KkYAyRI
162
In 2023 the James Webb Space Telescope discovered rings around a minor planet in our solar system within the Kuiper Belt.
It is about half the size of Pluto and called Quaor.
This adds to the list of other ringed objects in our solar system including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the dwarf planet Haumea and the asteroid Chariklo. Obviously, not all the rings are as prominent as those of Saturn.
70
Germany: Wind power firms face millions in losses as wind speed drops to 50-year low
https://rmx.news/article/germany-wind-power-firms-face-millions-in-losses-as-wind-speed-drops-to-50-year-low/
In many ways, Germany’s wind power revolution has been a success, with wind power serving as the country’s largest source of electricity. However, the current wind lull over the last three months has led to an extreme dip in energy production, which is costing firms millions in losses.
The wind speed average has dropped below less than 5.5 meters per second in the first quarter of 2025, according to German Meteorological Service (DWD). The last time the country saw such low speeds was in 1972 and 1973, and before that, in 1963.
Wind energy producers have been hit hard. For example, PNE, a wind farm operator in Coxhaven, showed revenue dropped to €27.9 million from €31.4 million the previous year, but perhaps more importantly, it went from an operating profit of €1.1 million in the first quarter to a loss of €7.1 million, according to Welt….
140
It’s never a good idea to rely on the weather to produce electricity.
Perhaps they should try using coal, gas and nuclear power which is available 24/7, is inexpensive and reliable and doesn’t pollute the country with thousands of eyesores, kill bird, bat and insect life, and destroy productive farmland? There’s an idea!
The Germans have been trying to use wind power for electricity ever since the National Socialists and it’s STILL NOT WORKING. Isn’t that the definition of stupid?
190
German industrial production peaked in 2017 and has been declining since then.
40
Over 2000 German manufacturers have already set up in Ukraine, and Germany is definitely involved in creating an arms hub.
https://ubn.news/german-gunsmiths-and-the-ukrainian-defense-industry-multiple-german-companies-are-planning-to-increase-their-investment-in-ukraine-based-production-capacities/
10
Was there any serious estimation of the wind energy content in certain areas, beyond attaching the names, like – Roaring Forties? Order of magnitude, of course.
If so, had the study dealt with reasonable period of time, like – 10, 20 or 40 years?
Did it produce tangible data, like – so many GW over a day, a year ?
(IMay be millions of TW for what I know…)
40
From the article
“Former Economic Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens had already planned to provide incentives to build 40 large gas-fired plants by 2030 to deal with fluctuations in wind and solar energy. These gas plants had a number of climate protections allegedly built in, such as being able to be switched to hydrogen at some point in the future”.
If the Greens wanted gas plants it is a sure sign of Climate Change (or possibly Voter Change which is more important to politicians).
Although I wonder where that gas would come from? Not Russia, the USA (from fracking?) but obviously not from Europe because any industrial action would be banned by the EU.
40
There is a mountain of historical data on wind speed. This is an example:
https://globalwindatlas.info/en/
However historical data is not much value when you are planning to extract energy from the wind on a large scale over a coastal region. No one knows the unintended consequences of extracting energy from the wind. I personally believe that wind energy is quite fragile. It depends on moisture content in the air over land. If you extract energy from wind carrying moisture to land then that is likely to reduce the moisture over land, which reduces the wind energy.
Deserts exist where the conditions are not conducive to advection of moist air from oceans to land – like behind a coastal mountain range. Once deserts are established, they maintain conditions to keep them as deserts.
An unintended consequence of wind power in Germany could be desertifying the country. To reverse that process would require bringing in freshwater to irrigate the land and grow trees so the atmosphere builds higher moisture content.
If I was planning to make a desert, I would build a coastal barrier that stilled onshore wind and remove all forested areas that tend to retain moisture. Almost axactly as Germany has been doing for the past 3 decades.
60
When I last looked at where the winds were strongest WRT Australia, we weren’t in those strong winds. Have forgotten the source of this info. The Betz Limit says that up to 60% of wind energy can be extracted, and one source claims that wind turbines average around 45% energy extraction.
00
Only the latest offshore wind farms in the North Sea manage 45%.
The average capacity factor for 137 U.S. wind projects self-reporting to the Energy Information Agency in 2003 was 26.9%. In 2012 it was 30.4%. The total capacity factor for EU-27 countries in 2007 was 13%, according to the EIA, not helped by those East Germany farms which (at best) managed 18%. Improvements in design, and bigger machines and siting off-shore all boosted the average, but unfortunately I’ve lost the document but only 2 German North Sea farms (and less than 2 years old) made 45%, the rest dropped off to about 33%. Danish farms were lower but might be earler adoption. I can’t remember whether any UK farms made 45% but some of these were in the Irish Sea.
TonyFromOz checked Australian ones and found the average was about 30%.
And the 12 ones near Albany (which I think may now being demolished) despite claims that they would make 41% were nonsense. That was engraved on a brass plate on site when I went there in 2008? An ideal location (on shore) with a row of turbines highish on a
low hill with outlook to the SW where the prevailing wind came (along with a smooth hill each end causing a small extra wind. Warwick checked the output figures and found (at best) 31-33% depending on the yearly weather.
50
Thanks for the extra CF data. I saw your figures provided on 6 Dec 2022, but then you stated that UK offshore was only 36.2%. Tony/Anton also provided other CF figures here on 12 March 2020, with the U.S. at 32.4% and China at 22%. Chris Marz in Dec 2014 said that U.S. onshore CF was 33.2%, and Robert Idel said that Texas CF was 35%. Gary Pearse in WUWT 2 July 2023 stated that China’s CF was 19.5%. Tonyb provided UK CF figures of 22% onshore, 32% offshore.
10
The first row can extract up to 59%. The next row can extract 59% of the 40+% left or 24% of the original energy. The third row can extract 59% of the remaining 16%. By then you are left with not much wind energy.
Germany has built a very effective wind shield that works most of the time. Stilling the wind that brings water to the land. Taller offshore towers do the best if they are not broken down because they are the first row.
40
RickWill:
59% is the Betz limit, the maximum THEORETICAL amount that the turbine can extract. At best the largest, newest turbines only get 45% (in a few cases).
00
Many thanks, Rick.
I hope to learn much from this Atlas but do YOU trust it?
If it is so meticously detailed why some projects do not show expected outcome? There mus’ve been other corroborating data, too.
10
Wind strength is a key input to structural design loads so it has been monitored and recorded for a long time. The Australian building code even specifies regional wind strength that structures should be designed to withstand. Those specified strengths are based on recorded data for many decades. Europe likely has engineering wind data for more than a century.
Air stilling is a well known issue for wind farms. But there is not much work being done on local climate change due to wind stilling. The vast majority of people think that wind has an inexhaustible supply. I know otherwise.
40
That what I hoped to get a gut feel for. if not the actual number of towers before the law of diminishing returns…
I guess the limit solar industry expansion can be calculated – the available area and irradiation are certain.
With wind ?
Out of that Atlas – now I see why current POTUS has designs for Greenland.
20
Not sure if I would want my wind turbine mounted on a block of ice that melts from the sides and bottom and grows from the top.
00
“In many ways, Germany’s wind power revolution has been a success, with wind power serving as the country’s largest source of electricity. However…….”
I wonder in what ways its a success? Does Germany have cheap power compared to othe EU countries.? Is German industry thriving due to access to abundant, reliable cheap energy? Is Germany a stabilizing force in the EU grid or a destabilizing force? Loading up your grid with variable, weather dependent generation and increasing reliance on interconnectors doesnt look like success to me.
90
No, German industry is definitely NOT thriving since renewables were introduced – their industrial production peaked in 2017, and since then has contracted by 14% up to December 2023.
60
This site is very slow today, barely usable. It seems to be under attack again (not that it ever seemed to stop, it just wasn’t as severe).
What more do the Left want? They have won the Australian and Canadian elections and there are no more elections forthcoming.
61
Timed out 6 times.
Jo’s been creating waves in the bathtub again..
30
UK government tells pension funds to ‘invest’ in the likes of Miliband’s mad schemes, and if they don’t do enough, they’ll make it mandatory. Presumably the tax payer will end up rescuing the pension funds.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pension-schemes-back-british-growth
80
In Australia the superannuation (pension) schemes were also encouraged (but I don’t think forced) to invest in these types of mad schemes.
Thus when they all eventually fall over, in the case of windmills, quite literally, the financial pain for the pension funds will be immense.
That’s why it’s important to make sure you select funds which don’t invest in such insanity and other woke nonsense.
120
You really need to know where investment funds are placing funds. Those investing in “renewable” energy are exposed to sovereign risk.
60
From Climate Discussion Nexus YouTube channel (pro-science), 25th April.
Michael Mann has to pay $550,000.
Also see:
120
I expect that the CSLDF will pick up any tab Mann incurs. He is quite cosy with this organisation:
https://www.csldf.org/2024/12/23/2024-our-year-in-review/
If you have any concerns about their willingness to pay, you could donate with the specific request to ensure it goes to Dr Mann:
40
I expect that the CSLDF will pick up any tab Mann incurs. He is quite cosy with this organisation:
Pity that this “contribution” will not be considered “income” for Mann (and thus assessed income tax). Or at least have “gift tax” being paid by the contributor.
00
From Newsmax Australia on Farcebook:
121
The fake conservative Liberal Party should not adopt DEI policies.
50
Has anyone noticed that NASA GISS seem to have readjusted Reykjavik’s temp back to what seems to be the original v2 data in their v4 newest graph. What is happening?
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/stdata_show_v4.cgi?id=IC000004030&dt=1&ds=14
50
I’ve noticed that NASA GISS seem to have readjusted Reykjavik’s temp back to what seems to be the original v2 data in their v4 newest graph. What is happening?
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/stdata_show_v4.cgi?id=IC000004030&dt=1&ds=14
01
Sorry. Accidentally posted twice.
30
A lovely but typical piece in the SMH, some Melbourne soyboy is horrified and it broke his heart that the woman who influenced his parents to marry is admired by Trump.. Confused yet? He explains that his mother was an Ayn Rand fan, his father happy to go along, and so he was born… and into a ‘better childhood’ by this ‘enabler of sociopaths’..
Of course it all falls apart in his ‘rebellion against parents’ phase when he becomes an ardent Socialist so he has a rant about how disgusting it is that Rand promotes the idea that some people are better than the masses. The final knife through the heart is when he learns Trump admires Rand too…
“a society based on undiluted capitalism and rampant individualism seems foolish at best and repulsive at worst.”
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/she-s-the-reason-my-parents-fell-in-love-and-trump-s-idol-that-s-the-part-which-breaks-my-heart-20250404-p5lp97.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true
So… that’s why we have a Labor Govt in power again.
“And where Atlas Shrugged is a dystopian vision of left-wing villainy, it could equally be a portrait of 2025: a corrupt, vengeful and increasingly tyrannical government dismantling freedom, undermining reality and ruining the economy to enrich a handful of oligarchs.”
Although I think he’d like to attribute that to America under Trump, not the actuality of Australia under Albo!
51
Sky: Australian banks pushing customers to go digital
https://youtu.be/fMBo9zYIJYE?si=BRfUJPGQewq2M5in
Why do you have cash?
20
Labor’s ‘hidden trap’: Jim Chalmers seeks unrealised political gains
Mr Hampton revealed to The Australian on Wednesday that he would face an “unfair” tax bill because the baseline for assessing whether losses could be carried forward would only begin on July 1. “The taxing of unrealised aggregate self-managed super fund balance gains has some completely unfair consequences,” Mr Hampton said. “Say a self-managed super fund member with a balance above $3m is sitting on a loss on an individual asset and the asset records a gain in the tax year but remains below cost price.
Bond University finance professor David Gallagher said the proposal had been badly thought through.
“The tax means you get punished on the cost base as of the date the tax starts. There just shouldn’t be a tax on unrealised gains,” Professor Gallagher said.
“The problem is that we now have a situation where the government is going further into debt and it needs to find tax revenue.
“We do need tax reform but we need takes that don’t attack incentives to invest. This tax attacks those incentives.”
Maitland-based superannuation expert Meg Heffron said she had plenty of clients who would be caught in this “nasty” situation of not being able to carry forward losses made before the tax started.
70
On top of that they may remove the CGT discount… which was originally introduced by Keating so that you were only taxed on the real gain, and not the portion that was due to inflation
CGT Discount Purpose
The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount in Australia was introduced to simplify the calculation of CGT for assets held for more than 12 months.
Instead of calculating the CGT for each year since the purchase, the discount allows individuals and trusts to reduce their capital gain by 50% if they have owned the asset for at least 12 months before the CGT event happens.
This simplifies the tax calculation process and reduces the complexity for taxpayers.
80
Victorian budget: Breaking point of 2300 per cent tax hike
The owner of a Dandenong South sandblasting business that has worked on some of the biggest construction projects in Melbourne, including the MCG, has been left reeling after his land tax bill spiralled from $8700 to more than $203,000 in the past decade.
Angie Romas, who has run his steelwork, sandblasting and painting business DH Corrosion & DPC Coatings for more than 20 years, is in the frontline of Labor’s assault on businesses and property investors that will see the Allan government reap a predicted $9.3bn from land taxes – including its extra Covid debt levy on landholdings – in 2027-28, up from the $5.2bn it collected in 2022-23.
Labor has hiked land taxes as Victoria buckles under state debt which last year’s budget forecast to grow from $156.2bn this year to $187.8bn in June 2028.
Mr Romas, 60, who owns his business with his son Adam, 28, wrote in March to Jaclyn Symes, who will deliver her first budget as the state’s treasurer next Tuesday, pleading for relief. He told The Australian on Wednesday he had not received a response.
In his letter to Ms Symes, Mr Romas said he was looking at closing his business because the land tax had “become too large a cost to justify” its continuation at the premises.
A Reminder – GST and Tax Reforms
The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Australia on July 1, 2000, was part of a broader package of tax reforms designed to phase out various state and territory taxes, including stamp duty and land tax.
The GST, a value-added tax of 10% on most goods and services, replaced the federal wholesale sales tax and aimed to eliminate a range of inefficient state taxes.
Revenue from the GST is paid to the states and territories, providing them with a stable and growing source of revenue and reducing their reliance on other taxes.
However, the complete elimination of stamp duty and land tax has not been fully realized.
While the GST was intended to phase out these taxes, state governments have been slow to abolish them entirely.
Some states have introduced opt-in land tax schemes as an alternative to stamp duty, but stamp duty remains a significant source of revenue for many states.
70
Time to renew Italian Passport & retire to Malta or Southern Italy?
60
30-40 years ago, yes.
Now, no way in hell.
00
‘They can afford to pay’; Symes doubles down on land tax
Jaclyn Symes has defended a 2300 per cent land tax hike on a Victorian small business owner, saying that businesses have a greater capacity than ordinary households to cough up taxes.
The Treasurer doubled-down on the government’s tax hikes after the owner of a Dandenong South sandblasting business that has worked on some of the biggest construction projects in Melbourne, including the MCG, was left reeling after his land tax bill spiralled from $8700 to more than $203,000 in the past decade.
Asked about the tax hit on Thursday, Ms Symes said the land tax payable by property owners was directly attributable to the value of their land.
“We want to ensure that we get the balance right in relation to the levies and taxes that people pay, we want to ensure that we have the revenue for the services that Victorians rely on to be delivered,” Ms Symes said.
“We don’t want impacts on those that are suffering cost of living pressures, ordinary households and the like, that’s why we set our tax settings with consideration of those that have the greater capacity to pay.”
Labor has hiked land taxes as Victoria buckles under state debt which last year’s budget forecast to grow from $156.2bn this year to $187.8bn in June 2028.
In his letter to Ms Symes, Mr Romas said he was looking at closing his business because the land tax had “become too large a cost to justify” its continuation at the premises.
Mr Romas said his business – which employs 14 people and has been a supplier for major Victorian projects including the MCG expansion and refurbishments, Docklands Stadium, Southern Cross station and EastLink bridges — had been operating consistently at its Dandenong South site since 1973.
“This business generates a steady tax income stream (GST, payroll tax, company tax) for the state and federal governments,” Mr Romas wrote.
80
Victoria does not need a grimy sand-blasting business. Just get the steel fabricated and painted in China. So tax the carp out of it until the business folds.
70
Arctic sea ice has remained stable over the past decade and in 2022 Antarctic sea ice increased abruptly.
The models have failed and should be chucked out.
https://notrickszone.com/2025/05/13/antarctic-ice-is-increasing-climate-models-no-longer-reflect-reality/
21
While I have your attention EG, what is happening with the strongly positive SAM? Any change? Getting a bit sick of these protracted Indian summers with no rain, would like a bit of cooler weather and some wet stuff.
10
SAM’s positive trend means the subtropical ridge (high pressure belt) is stuck too far south for this time of year.
https://chaac.meteo.plus/en/climate/aao-index-monthly.png
00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/epa-targets-engine-start-stop-systems-cars
Got my vote. One of the stupidest features on modern cars. While sounding simple it adds cost and complexity to achieve little. I have been working steadily to dumb down and shut up my wifes new car. Its been interesting just understanding terminolgy like lane assist, lane centering and emergency lane assist. People need lots of help with lanes apparently. We had some of this in the 2018 version we sold but things have progressed (I guess thats what you call it)
50
Dealers keep good stocks of new engines for those cars for a reason. 😎
30
Suzuki Ignis GL – Simple, but soonn to disappear from Australia
From
$24,490*
Drive away
10
Gadget corner: infrared mosquito locator with laser
Placed in a location where it can see most of a room, the Iris utilizes a wide-angle camera and computer vision software to constantly scan the space for flying mosquitoes. It’s equipped with an array of infrared LEDs, so it can even scan in the dark.
Whenever a mosquito is detected, the Iris tracks its position until it lands. The device then marks that location with a Class-1 eye-safe red laser pointer, while also wirelessly alerting the user via an iOS/Android app on their smartphone. If more than one mosquito is detected at once, the Iris will move its pointer back and forth between all of their locations.
https://bzigo.com/
Ramping up the laser power seems a better idea. 😁
30
30
Going the same way as Incitec Pivot.
Looks like the SOLE supplier of urea will certainly be China. This nitrogen based fertiliser when mixed with fossil fuel extracts, diesel / other products is used for explosives in mining,
Both underground & open pit!
So the Chinese will control our agricultural production & mining.
Good move from those performing prime ministerial & energy minister impressions!!!
10
United Arab Emirates Barakah nuclear power station, the list of contractors involved is interesting;
10
Exciting Find at the Beach?
A stroll on a Westernport beach this afternoon produced several interesting items:
1. An intact sea urchin shell,
2. Several strange spiral black things that look somewhat like sea weed. A check on the web suggests they are sharks eggs,
3. The third and most interesting item was a large ovoid grey lump, about the size of a human brain. I thought it might be a rock, but when I poked it with my toe it was a bit rubbery. When I turned it over it had a few inclusions that look like stones. It is rather smelly. Unfortunately the smell is rather hard to get off my hand, despite soap and then soaking in vinegar and lemon juice!
So what is it? I googled “large grey lump found on beach” and up came some pictures of Ambergis. What is that you say? Essentially it is whale poo. Remarkably, given the unpleasant smell it is used in the making of perfumes.
Can anyone tell me how to confirm the nature of my discovery?
10
Sell Sell Sell is all I can say: https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/national/uk-today/24159870.ambergris-60-000-golden-lumps-found-uk-beaches/
(no information of value sorry, just that if it is it is of value)
00
EU leaders doing Coke
https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_sw7si4w5Yz1a8wa9m.mp4
😆😆
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