The election thread - Medicare Vs cost of living Vs OMG China! Vs housing Vs I'm not Trump! Vs prehistoric fish Vs nuclear energy Vs tariffs Vs AUKUS

Who will you vote for May 2025?

  • Liberals

    Votes: 2 3.4%

  • Labor

    Votes: 22 37.9%

  • Nationals

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Greens

    Votes: 13 22.4%

  • Independant (other than teals)

    Votes: 13 22.4%

  • Clive Palmer Trumpet of Patriots Shitshow

    Votes: 2 3.4%

  • Teals

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • One Nation

    Votes: 2 3.4%

  • Jacquie Lambie squad

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Donkey/Invalid vote

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • Total voters
    58
I’ll never forget getting a road trip takeaway coffee at a cafe in some random small town up in the mountains in Arizona somewhere, and being unreasonably excited to find it was actually good! Almost giddy with joy, I popped my head back into the cafe to say thanks from a coffee starved Aussie, and the guy behind the machine grins and said “no worries mate” in a very Aussie accent.
 
The Duckmeister said:
You can get some shit coffee in Australia. I've had some road-trip servo stuff and one from a so-called "cafe" that have been so overheated that I was more than 50km further down the road before it was cool enough to not cause 3rd degree burns in my mouth!
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Coffee in a shop in Hughenden. Usual cafe closed. It's OK, they have a machine. Machine frothed the milk. Instant coffee poured over frothed milk. I poured it down the drain.
 
Dales Cannon said:
Coffee in a shop in Hughenden. Usual cafe closed. It's OK, they have a machine. Machine frothed the milk. Instant coffee poured over frothed milk. I poured it down the drain.
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That's a bait 'n switch right there. They have no business having a espresso maker if they can't even fkn drive the thing to make a proper coffee.
 
I wonder what the big beautiful war in Iran has done to the profit margins on the butane, plastic, shipping, etc. of those lighters.
 
johnny said:
I wonder what the big beautiful war in Iran has done to the profit margins on the butane, plastic, shipping, etc. of those lighters.
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It would be interesting. I don't read the stats on world tobacco consumption, but I get the sense that the bigger markets for lighters/tobacco products etc are in developing countries.
According to the delightfully named Mordor Intelligence: The Asia-Pacific commanded 44.56% of 2025 Global Revenue. None of those lighters would need to go through the Middle-East, so the cost of shipping would presumably be lower.
African countries are also big consumers of tobacco products. A lot of the report appears to be behind a paywall, so while tobacco products that don't need to be burnt are gaining market share, I suspect that many people still reach for the good old coffin nails.

www.mordorintelligence.com

Tobacco Market Size, Trends, Growth Analysis & Outlook, 2026 - 2031

Tobacco Market Size will grow at a 3.32% CAGR by 2031, led by the Middle East & Africa, with Asia-Pacific as the fastest-growing region.
www.mordorintelligence.com www.mordorintelligence.com
 
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johnny said:
I wonder what the big beautiful war in Iran has done to the profit margins on the butane, plastic, shipping, etc. of those lighters.
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Careful @johnny we dont need to trigger another round of panic buying! If people store their lighters with their toilet paper we could be seeing a lot of houses go full Kimberly Clark.
 
johnny said:
I wonder what the big beautiful war in Iran has done to the profit margins on the butane, plastic, shipping, etc. of those lighters.
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Indeed. But given China is probably more insulated from it than anyone, shipping costs would be the biggest one and now maybe they're 15.5 cents a throw?
 
Not sure China is that insulated; it doesn't get a huge percentage of it's oil through Hormuz, but it's the flow on effects that will hit it. As you said shipping costs are a big one and given that exports are what are keeping the Chinese economy floating at the moment that's not a small issue. Added to that are the input costs they have to manage across all the supply chains they are embedded in - the motor industry is a good example with so many parts going back and forward across SE and NE Asia before final assembly in China. Then there's the 30% increase in plastics costs, which hits so many points of their manufacturing cycle and output. They also have a lot of investment in the Gulf region which will be heavily impacted. War is pretty bad for most Chinese business.
 
johnny said:
Not sure China is that insulated; it doesn't get a huge percentage of it's oil through Hormuz, but it's the flow on effects that will hit it. As you said shipping costs are a big one and given that exports are what are keeping the Chinese economy floating at the moment that's not a small issue. Added to that are the input costs they have to manage across all the supply chains they are embedded in - the motor industry is a good example with so many parts going back and forward across SE and NE Asia before final assembly in China. Then there's the 30% increase in plastics costs, which hits so many points of their manufacturing cycle and output. They also have a lot of investment in the Gulf region which will be heavily impacted. War is pretty bad for most Chinese business.
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Yep, but they are also pretty energy independent and have way more oil stockpiles (in days supply terms) than most - so maybe it just needs to be relative and be more insulated than the other guy? Like outrunning a bear - just need to be faster than the next guy #notaneconomist...

Also, they are going to get a boost in the spike in demand for EVs and renewable energy tech in general.
 
don't think anyone can argue we don't need some tax reform, and someone's always going to be a little worse off when they get hit. but the way its being handled now, throw out a little leak each day, suggests they still havent come up with a good plan the week of the budget and are waiting to see what gets the least hostility.
 
tubby74 said:
don't think anyone can argue we don't need some tax reform, and someone's always going to be a little worse off when they get hit. but the way its being handled now, throw out a little leak each day, suggests they still havent come up with a good plan the week of the budget and are waiting to see what gets the least hostility.
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I suggest you watch the brilliant ABC documentary 'The Hollowmen' on iView for some insights into how what is playing out in Jim Chalmers office right now.
The sooner we ban political donations and fund political parties through the AEC the better.

In the meantime the Victorian government is dribbling out small announcements to make it seem like they are actually doing something positive rather than just pouring petrol on the dumpster fire. My wife is currently on a road trip around regional centres to ensure the pre-election pork barrelling announcements they make may actually have some benefit to the population other than cutting a ribbon and filling press releases. This is a direct result of the last round of pork barrelling that Labor undertook in 22 which resulted in the construction of a few hundred million dollars worth of white elephants with massive ongoing running costs.
Not that I'm cynical or anything.
 
komdotkom said:
I suggest you watch the brilliant ABC documentary 'The Hollowmen' on iView for some insights into how what is playing out in Jim Chalmers office right now.
The sooner we ban political donations and fund political parties through the AEC the better.

In the meantime the Victorian government is dribbling out small announcements to make it seem like they are actually doing something positive rather than just pouring petrol on the dumpster fire. My wife is currently on a road trip around regional centres to ensure the pre-election pork barrelling announcements they make may actually have some benefit to the population other than cutting a ribbon and filling press releases. This is a direct result of the last round of pork barrelling that Labor undertook in 22 which resulted in the construction of a few hundred million dollars worth of white elephants with massive ongoing running costs.
Not that I'm cynical or anything.
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If you're not cynical you haven't been paying attention.

Definitely time to rewatch Hollowmen...
 
It seems the Conservative party in the UK aren't right wing enough for the general populace. Interesting Burrough and County councils have had big changes in the area I was in last year. Greens control one and are second to reform in the other. Neither able to create a majority it seems. Interesting times as the Chinese would say.
 
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