JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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Is the Didgeridoo Australia’s national musical instrument? If not what? And, what does your answer tell us about Australia?
(I was going to ask if anyone here played the Didgeridoo … and if so, what “music” do you play on it … but I reckon the chances of anyone here playing it is remote.)
93
The question of whether a country has a national musical instrument and whether that tells us anything about the country itself, and even whether what’s played on it is actually ‘music’, is interesting coming from a country who’s national instrument is the bagpipes.
I’m in NZ which is not AFAIK uniquely associated with any particular instrument which could be described as musical.
120
There is the “bull roarer.” A flat bit of wood on a bit of string which when orchestrated made a terrifying racket.
In primary sckppl we used to make them with a 12 inch wooden ruler.
00
Drones are the most primitive instruments – drone pipes, didgeridoo, conch shells , etc
The ability to alter pitch came later.
90
I have a didgeridoo, made by an aboriginal tribal elder from Fitzroy Crossing. It is a fairly straight branch from a tree, hollowed out by termites which he smoked over a fire to get rid of the termites and decorated with ochre and charcoal.
It is not easy to play and the best I can get out of it is a droning noise. More experienced players add clicks and clucking noises.
The man who made it used to make some money busking on his instrument when he came to Melbourne.
201
FWIW
A friend who spent time in the NT learned that the communal corrobboree ones were kept in the local waterhole to seal cracks that might be air leaks. He soaked his in the bath tub before demonstrations.
90
“the best I can get out of it is a droning noise” … Thanks Peter. That explains a lot.
31
I have the didgeridoo used with an orchestra and the sound was wonderful to hear
50
Not long ago I took a didgeridoo to Kilimanjaro though no matter how I tried no sound was coming of it.
The idea was to make a photo with playing it sitting in the snow on my bare …
There is a good folk saying “The God is playing a man – but a man is playing on a tube”
30
When I reached the summit of Kilimanjaro nearly 28 years ago I would not have had enough breath to play any musical instrument that required blowing into it.
30
That is why I never managed to do the photo – I was semiconscious.
10
My BIL made and decorated one for a visiting Pom, except that there was no hole down the middle. He called it a digeridon’t.
30
>made and decorated… except that there was no hole down the middle.
Did yer re-do it for him?
40
>the most primitive instruments
…and percussion, hitting things with sticks and hands.
120
The comb and paper is a well tried drone …..schoolboys would become excellent players in my youthful days…… tamboura is a well known musical drone from India… four strings of different pitch played one after another to set a wall of sound behind the other instruments ….. sometimes the harmonium sets up a drone like background also….
10
Didgeridoo? Also known buy several other “regional” names, like “Yidaki” and Yiggi-yiggie”.
Basically a hollowed-out bit of “tree”.Some have a “mouth-piece formed at the musician end. This is formed from tree resin or bee’s wax.
The playing technique is basically similar to getting a sound from a “conventional” western brass instrument. The player’s lips form a “reed” inside the mouthpiece. A GOOD player can get at least three different pitches out of one, by varying lip and air pressure.
The trick for “western” brass players is to squeeze out FIVE “fundamentals” notes.
Until the advent of “valves” (trumpet, tuna French Horn, etc. and “slided (tromnone), you needed an ensemble of three or four Hifferently-pitched instruments to play a simple scale.
A few years ago, one Australian “Didge” player turned out a “modern” version, (made from an assortment of PVC pipes). This has a “sliding” element that adjusts the length of the “tube” giving different “fundamentals”. Thus, like a “western” trombone, good players can ‘slide from note to note. “Glis, in musical parlance). It is known as the “Didge-Bone” it is basically a PVC trombone with a large diameter mouthpiece
Just about anybody can squeeze some sort of note out of a traditional Didge. More than that is a matter of talent, technique and perseverance, especially when it comes to adding “vocalizations” as part of the tonal and rhythmic palette. Tradition has it that it was a “boys-omly’ club, but as interest has spread, that seems to be changing. Serious players also master “circular breathing”; applying out-going air via cheek pressure whilst breathing in via the nose. Hence continuous “drone” capability. The “cheek-puffs” can also be “pulsed”, thus producing a TUNED rhuthm sourceAdditional “percussin is provided by fire-hardened “sticks “Clickeing: and boomerangs slapped together for “clacks”.
To hear a bit of “cross-cultural” Didge playing, go here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_xNpdqwUWI
Scroll to: 34:20 and play.
Then go back to the start of the album for some “classic” 1983 Australian Jazz.
60
All that talk of brass instruments and classic OzJazz brought to mind one of your greatest musicians.
But probably this track is no more than nostalgia already, just a faint memory of what once was:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h_YDdViP0o&list=RD0h_YDdViP0o&start_radio=1
From Postcards from Down Under.
20
“Five notes” … that’s interesting. My “Didgeridoo” is a 2m long fishing pole tube with some gaffa tape on the end with a 1″ hole in the centre to cushion the end.
I can probably get two different tones. If I’m right I should get a quarter wave standing wave with a wavelength of 8m. If the speed of sound is 340m/s the lowest frequency is 340/8 = 42Hz (~E1). The next should be 3x this or 126Hz (B2) and the next is 5x or 210Hz (G#3)
00
Just wondering how you play a ‘tuna French horn’. That sounds a bit fishy to me.
30
A tuna French horn is made by putting a tuna into the horn piece and holding the tuna in place whilst blowing …..the beauty of this uncommon techniques is that by the end of a lengthy musical piece the tuna is well and truly ready for a nice moray recipe.
20
moray = mornay
20
Old “musical humour”:
“How do you know you’ve been kissed by a French Horn Player?”
“You’ve got a fist up your …..”
(Makes a change from jokes about accordions, drummers and viola players).
00
The didgeridoo is also a little bit like welcome to country ceremonies. Accepted by aborigines all over Australia as their traditional musical instrument, played at big events in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne etc. The reality is this instrument was limited to a few tribes or groups in the north western part of the Northern Territory and along the Western Australian border. Ask most people and they think it was played all over the continent but no, this is also part of the great made up story, like nations, flags, smoking ceremonies, aboriginal art works etc etc etc.
260
This is the track that I was trying to remember – it’ a long time ago .LOL
Outback by James Morrison:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6pEnTpDCF8&list=RDi6pEnTpDCF8&start_radio=1
00
The irony is that most of what we know about Aboriginal culture is only because white people recorded it. Then with the didge, spread it around Australia. All those locations (towns /cities etc) using aboriginal names – only because the terrible white “colonists” wrote it down and then thought it would be great to use them.
60
I blame Rolf Harris.
50
Rolf Harris?
Charlie Drake?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRniKsa5kls
Kultcha!
00
And, speaking of Kultcha and musical instruments:
I give you, the LAGERPHONE!
https://www.dalejarvis.ca/2024/08/the-ugly-sticks-australian-cousin.html
Allegedly an instrument with a strong Irish heritage, no decent “Bush Band” would be without one.
00
And, in the late 1970’s,”Fairlight”, right here in Oz, launched the CMI (Computer Musical Instrument). The FIRST useful “sampling device” and one that incorporated waveform modelling / editing via a green phosphor GUI and a LIGHT-PEN, which they also had to invent. Storage on 8-inch floppy drives. USB and the ubiquitous “sticks” were decades off in the future.
Insanely expensive but for its time, insanely capable. Launched onto an unsuspecting world by Peter Vogel, and fellow computer designer Kim Ryrie
Among the musicians who “got it’ immediately, were Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Jean-Michel Jarre, Iva Davies, Kate Bush and Thomas Dolby.
It was the start of the whole “band in a box” phenomenon.
00
Victoria University Professor of Music, Jenny McLeod had one here in N.Z.
It was a huge advance on the Mellotron.
10
I heard that the original was discovered when a person found a hollow branch and blew into it to clear any debris, the sound fascinated him and others nearby who asked “how didgeridoo that”.
😉
100
And that holiday camp for people going walkabout, called Lingalonger
40
With history being rewritten all the time in favour of wokeness, it’s helpful to remind oneself about the difference between primitive music of pre-literste people and Western music.
E.g. Western music uses written notation, allowing precise reproduction by others, whereas primitive music is passed down through oral tradition. Western music emphasises chords and harmony, in contrast to the repetitive rhythms common in primitive music. Western music often employs complex formal structures, such as those found in symphonies, while primitive music is less formally structured. Western music uses standardised scales, whereas most primitive traditions do not. Western music is largely intended for entertainment, while primitive music is usually tied to rituals and ceremonies.
81
The skill in playing a didgeridoo is usually associated with circular breathing technique. This is not unique to the didgeridoo as it is used in many traditions to achieve long sustained notes.
You Scots cheat by using a bag to do this…🥴 although some really good pipers can also do circular breathing.
50
Expanding on Oliver Herford”
“Europe gave the bagpipes to the Irish as a punishment. The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke, but the Scots haven’t got the joke yet.”
30
The didgeridoo was only used by one small group of “tribes” (actually just a handful of extended family groups) in the Northern Territory.
Its spread to the rest of the country was done by white fellas.
It’s a similar story with the returning boomerang.
100
And the “woomera” reasonably wide spread but by no means universal.
20
Actually, what we call a woomera was common across a lot of human groups and found as far afield as the Americas.
10
“Atlatl”.
00
Australia’s national instrument has to be the “gum leaf” – you can get a tune out of it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3przA4Mgf8
National song – one word – Cooooeeeee!
30
Try a paspalum leaf!
10
A blade of grass works quite well, though only a single note. The trick is to stretch it tight between the ball of the palm and the fingers, IIRC.
00
The unfolding de-industrialisation of N.Z. is proceeding according to plan.
The destruction of the economy that Jacinda initiated show signs of accelerating – consumers were already broke, but the EnergyEmergencyTM is now upon us.
Luckily there are lots of electric bikes and scooters, so I guess the townsfolk will be cycling out to the farms to get food.
50 years ago we used to talk about whether we would need barbed wire and guns to protect our livestock from hungry predators.
Is this the coming reality?
No idea.
170
At least we are now talking about it publicly:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds5CLHYGuJw
40
Big assumption there. Food comes from supermarket shelves. End of story.
When the shelves are empty, the riots begin and government officials go into hiding.
280
Well actually I was only thinking of a select few of the townspeople.
We don’t need any riotous behaviour here thanks.
Gotta be realistic about the number of families 600 acres can support with meat, eggs , dairy and fruits.
🙂
120
Fingers crossed for a delivery today:-
https://www.joannenova.com.au/2026/03/wednesday-149/#comment-2903870
110
One can only look at our political scene in complete bemusement.
Never in the field of human politics has so little been known, by so many
231
On the contrary , I think most politicians are fully aware of what is happening, and will be the first rats to head for cover.
You are on your own from here on.
100
As Ronald Reagan famously quipped:
The 9 most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
70
Cyclone Narelle
Cyclone Narelle has taken an interesting course.
Starting in the Coral sea it moved fairly quickly crossing Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria. It then crossed over the Northern Territory, weakening to a tropical low but regained strength when it crossed into the Timor Sea. Since then it has hugged the Western Australian coast and is expected to turn the corner and head toward Perth over the next few days!
https://reg.bom.gov.au/
100
The remnants of a warmer than average summer feeding into the beginning of cooler than average winter. Sun zenith is now north of the Equator.
With so much water over central Australia a week or so back I was surprised it found enough energy to travel right across the top of Australia.
Central Australia is now losing atmospheric moisture so it may take a short cut across WA toward South Australia rather than getting all the way to Perth. Total water column over Ceduna is now down to 11mm. So quite dry and will warm up through each day. Dry warm air is good cyclone fuel providing there is water to evaporate. As soon as it turns inland, it will fizzle.
There is also a 983hPa low in the Tasman Sea that will bring more moisture to New Zealand over the next couple of days.
111
“more moisture to N.Z. over the next couple of days”
Farmers are counting on that, especially those who have managed to induce “drought” conditions for their soil as a result of their defoliating practises.
https://doi.org/10.33584/jnzg.2025.87.3736
This paper might be too heavy on the climate aspect , and too light on the pasture management aspect , of the “drought perception”.
81
Tend to agree with your predicted course Rick. Many NW WA cyclones end up as rain-bearing depressions that go down through central eastern WA, ending up in the Bight. One picked up a 30,000 gallon water tank off its perch at a railway siding, with the tank last seen bowling merrily across the Nullarbor Plain.
20
Ex-Cyclone Twentyeight, aka Tropical Depression 10F [via FijiMet] or what used to be known as a typical Nor’Easter back in the 20th century, is hammering us this morning with wild driven rain along with humid conditions and ugly messy seas on the east coast.
Has it started snowing in Tasmania yet?
80
You’re lucky. We have to wait until this evening to get whatever rain we are going to get.
Ventusky is modelling further rain for Godzone when this lot is past, which will be quite soon.
40
Tasmania: Snow to 1,100 metres
http://reg.bom.gov.au/tas/forecast/mtwellington.shtml
Friday: Nett Zero degrees by dawn & snow ‘possible’ to 1,100m. All those northern climate refugees must be loving the cold snap and it’s only March. Cl!mate©️ causes everyfink!
90
Tasmania: Snow to 1,100 metres
http://reg.bom.gov.au/tas/forecast/mtwellington.shtml
Friday: Nett Zero degrees by dawn & snow ‘possible’ to 1,100m. All those northern climate refugees must be loving the cold snap and it’s only March. Cl!mate©️ causes everyfink!
20
‘Page not found’ so I went to Weatherzone.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/nsw-and-victoria-bracing-for-severe-wintry-weather-this-friday/1891279
31
Although AI says that 14-15 cyclones have caused damage in Perth, I’m only aware of damage from Alby in 1978. Went right down to the southern cape region, taking out some jetties along the way.
20
G4, before the ABCers went on strike, they ran a hobgoblin [article] earlier this week re Narelle v Alby:
“Some global studies suggest cyclones could trend further south in the future due to climate change”, despite the previous paragraph clearly stating 1978’s TC Alby was the “most devastating system to hit south-western WA”, 48 years ago and never been out-devastated since – and Alby’s eye stayed offshore the whole way, maybe not so Narelle’s.
As some wit below suggested, someone should change the locks on all ABC premises so the brats can’t get back in.
60
Yes, Alby certainly impacted Perth and the SW. Have lived in Perth all my life and that was a biggie. Will be watching closely as Narelle comes south.
00
Alby was all hot wind and no promised rain. It devastated many old trees and gardens in Perth including big pines around the local cemetery. They never rose again!
10
Alby also picked up the northern red dust from the drought-stricken areas and dumped it on Perth. Was watching the dust roll in that afternoon into Perth CBD, along with roofing sheets peeling off building roofs and landing in the streets.
10
Midday satellite pic of Aus & NZ’s storms:
https://www.fvalk.com/images/Day_image/HIM-0000.jpg
Planet looks perfectly all right to me: surf, snow, sun, rain. Climate worriers need to step outside a little more often, relax, breathe…
20
The new Archbishop of Canterbury took up her position today. The first woman to do so in the 1400 years of the church in Britain.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/installed-today-a-feminist-archbishop-to-lead-the-church-of-disney-gaia-marx-and-pride/
Henry V111 threw off the church of Rome nearly 500 years ago and the Anglican community now looks to be in trouble because the extreme liberality of church hierarchy is at complete odds with the more dynamic but traditional Anglican community in much of Africa.
What is it with Rome? The Romans were forced to leave Britain in AD410. The Church of Rome Driven out by Henry in around 1540 and in 2016 when the treaty of Rome and the EU was rejected.
80
Let me say right up front that there is absolutely no logical reason why a woman cannot be a shepherd to a religious flock. However … the presence of female clergy is the first sign of a religious organization abandoning their traditions, which is indicative of secularization. I have yet to see a church that embraces secular values that can remain healthy and strong. Once they start down that road, they are doomed. If someone prefers secular life, then religion is redundant. So religions that embrace secular beliefs are paving the road to their own demise.
Which is why mainline Protestant churches are graying and dying out around the globe, since the vast majority of secularity occurs within their denominations. Islam is booming. Catholicism and Evangelical Christian denominations are booming in the global south (not so much in the west). Ditto for Orthodox Judaism, Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and other very traditional religious denominations. But liberal/secular mainline denominations? They are going the way of the Dodo and have no one to blame but themselves. Sucks for women who want to be clergy, but it is what it is.
130
Witch- doctors never go out of fashion , and the pay conditions were never so good as at present.
Imagination/superstition that is not verified by reality is the competitive advantage AND the Achilles heel of Homo sapiens.
Nothing to see here.
31
“Further, the Church Commissioners’ report suggests 368 parish churches will face closure in the next few years.
The closing down of parish churches is being speeded by the Church’s irreligious obsession with the climate‑change hoax.
It treats something referred to inanely as ‘climate action’ as a core part of the Christian mission and is committed to reaching Net Zero carbon by 2030 across all its buildings and operations.”
No, an unshakeable belief in something which is patently not true but very profitable is a religious obsession. It’s why Henry VIII dissolved/robbed the monasteries and setup his own church.
141
I do not mean to disparage religious beliefs, far from it. Just the organizations. Like politics. Climate Change is now a made up religion, like Scientology.
Ricky Gervais has an insightful wit. He is an athiest. But in arguing his case he says there are hundreds of competing religions which cannot all be true and he only believes in one religion fewer than others.
50
The big question now is , at what price point does demand destruction for fuel bring the supply/demand equation back into balance, because that will happen.
The supply destruction has already occurred, and indications are that it will take
3-6 months before that side of the equation approaches “normality” if it ever does.
Rabobank has scheduled a heads-up with their futurist Michael Every , for all their clients.
It remains to be seen if he has anything useful to add – other than saying it will get much , much worse before it gets better.
20
$1.99 for diesel in Kununurra yesterday which raises a lot of questions.
70
How much diesel did you get for $1.99? That buys a cupful here in SE Melbourne if you can find it.
10
Unfortunately not there yet it was posted on their Facebook page with some saying cheapest in Oz by far but someone from Darwin said hold my beer so must be cheap there too .
00
This subject has been reviewed before but this is a good additional take on the question of the effects-or not-of CO2
https://dailysceptic.org/2026/03/25/shock-new-evidence-showing-no-link-between-co2-and-temperature-over-last-three-million-years-stumps-net-zero-activists/
111
Talk of climate is completely irrelevant at this point – just a distraction from the real problem of continued existence that is facing populations.
Interesting fact – the Red Cross in NZ this week sent to all households a pamphlet on disaster survival.
That hasn’t happened before.
Unprecedented!
LOL.
100
Is that a natural disaster
or man-made economic/societal disorder:
one’s an act of God™️
the other, acts of men
who see themselves as ‘God’
or possibly his alter-ego / twin.
60
It’s The Plan TM , right?
20
It is good to quote Hilary Clinton.
“At this point , what difference does it make?”
At one point she is reported to have said:”We could hang for this”.
She was right , but I think she’s got away with it.
40
Excerpt from a conversation with Gwmini AI, sent from a friend asking for a comparison of Australia’s economic situation and Argentina’s (pre-Milei).
130
Video.
Erin Molan (Australian) talks to the non-woke UK Bishop who wrote an open letter to King Charles about the alarming demographic changes happening to the UK and King Charles’ infatuation with the religion of the new population, not the religion for which he’s “defender of the faith”.
https://youtu.be/n0JXuloaj1E
140
Good news. Their ABC is on strike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo3sWluwPBs
Their ABC Youtube rarely has comments enabled so if you feel the need to commiserate with their ABC staff you need to do it on Sky News:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxqHRbksWAQ
This appears to be the most popular commiseration:
Make the strike permanent. Please.
330
340
Similarly, “teachers” in Victoriastan Government schools went on strike on Tuesday.
Good.
Let the kids stay home and read a non-woke book or watch educational videos on their parents’ YouTube account (since Aussie kids aren’t allowed to use the YouTube except the kids version but they are not allowed to comment or upload content).
Or ideally get their parents to home school them.
190
I hope the taxpayer isn’t paying for ABC staff, or “teachers” to be on strike. And I hope they’re not allowed to claim sick leave for their day off.
130
Well, taxpayer is paying. All that advertising on air ABC TV must be worth $millions if they had to pay for it in private enterprise. I hope their contracts cover it otherwise there must be a demand on behalf of taxpayers that the service is paid for by the staff’s union and not by the ABC.
10
blockquote>Good news. Their ABC is on strike: Did anyone actually notice?
10
yes their ratings went up
10
Petrol shortages, possible water shortages… no doubt food shortages to follow…
The only thing we don’t have a shortage of is incompetent politicians and senior public serpents.
Why didn’t we build more dams? I believe even the former Victoriastan Liberal Government wanted to.
From a few weeks ago:
70
If you want your reset , you can keep your reset.
🙂
40
Why language, and hyphens, matter:
reset (Old French) recet, to receive stolen goods, harbouring a criminal or an outlaw or their goods
re-set, to set up again, to replant, to put a fresh edge upon
via 1946 Odhams Dictionary.
70
See this oldie” about the differences that phrasing and punctuation, make. Then, add ‘inflections”.
What is this thing called Love?
What is this thing called, Love?
What is this, thing called Love?
What? Is this thing called Love?
Etc., etc.
10
The Victorian Government is offering households 3 hours of free, electricity, from solar sources, at peak generating time. No mention of what happens when the sun don’t shine at peak, free electricity, times. Also, perhaps they could use some of the free electricity to run the desal plant. Seems like a win, win, to me, use up some of the surplus electricity and provide water.
40
Not much solar in Melbourne Town today with ceiling
to horizon cloud and persistent rain down-welling.
30
Renewables Alert: 😱🤡
What do we use to run the emergency diesel electric generators with when the wind does not blow, and the sun does not shine, and the 5-minute batteries run out? ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡
10
most of the emergency generators in hospitals and other important places dont have fuel anyway
00
Despite Australia’s failure to offer TRUMP assistance to secure the Strait of Hormuz, nevertheless the United States again comes to Australia’s rescue and sends fuel.
170
But you still have to buy the subs, and provide accomodation for military, right?
20
It’s highly questionable whether we’ll ever get those subs, at least not any time soon.
90
That’s O.K. if you haven’t given them anything for them in advance.
10
Just like there were no payments to France in advance. And no contract cancellation fee.
60
No.
Albanese also said at the above link:
But he always lies so I don’t know if the $3.4 billion figure is correct or not.
Oh, it’s only money, the Government can just print or borrow more… (sarc)
70
Unless Albanese Labor have cancelled the AUKUS Pillar 1.0 first submarine step being extended life repairs to the RAN 6 Collins Class diesel electric propulsion submarines (original design Swedish Gotland Class) they remain in service until the scheduled delivery of the first US Virginia Class nuclear submarine and followed by other deliveries, noting Collins Class have technology compatible and supplied by US.
The SSN AUKUS next generation design and to be built here and in the UK follow by about 2040, nuclear reactors from Rolls-Royce UK ordered early 2025
10
So far so good, if AUKUS collapses there will be a Plan B.
‘The Albanese Government has announced a $310 million payment for the acquisition of long‑lead items from the United Kingdom to support Australia’s future sovereign conventionally‑armed, nuclear‑powered submarine capability.
‘Today’s announcement will directly support the manufacture of critical components for nuclear‑powered submarines which will be built at Osborne in South Australia, including the nuclear propulsion systems of Australia’s first two SSN-AUKUS. ‘
01
“and almost 600,000 barrels of diesel. ”
Its cute, and captures the 8-second soundbite for the illiterate,but sadly-
““almost 600,000 barrels of diesel. ”
=96million liters, lasts ONE DAY!
“Based on the figures provided, Australia consumes approximately 92 million litres of diesel every 24 hours.””
…and it was probably “our” oil from the reserve America was meant to be storing for us!
51
Not our oil reserve. That was sold off by Albanese as one of his first acts of his engineered economic destruction of Australia.
150
It was a stranded asset.
04
Interestingly, the Amish produce their own biodiesel from trees and never need the commercial stuff…
21
They mostly produce it from waste vegetable oil and tallow.
It’s generally not cost effective unless you have cheap feedstock and labour.
In Australia some businesses collected used cooking oil and processed it into biodiesel but then in July 2016 the fake conservative Turnbull regime imposed the usual fuel taxes on their product (which was previously exempt) which put them out of business or seriously degraded it.
Biodiesel is a supposedly a “green” product but the fact that the Government taxes it to the point of putting companies out of business proves that their real motivation is not green.
80
The ghost squad with Labor Greens Teals voting in support introduced an emissions levy imposed on coal power stations but expandable to any emissions as a government decided to levy
40
The Amish can do that because they use very little in their lifestyle.
20
How many Sydney Harbours is that KP?
00
Who was the TV personality who spoke of “Syd harbs” as a unit of volume? Predated Burke.
00
Who could not like this man:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-U6BaTbdF8
How many leaders engage the press over such a range of questions in such an informative manner.
“Hatred is not good for making deals”
“Big beautiful B-2 bombers”
“Do we agree he has done a good job”
50
I hate the overuse of the term “wellness” when used as a marketing term to describe some sort of interpretation of health and well-being, usually not evidence-based but involving expensive treatment or supplements.
30
I’ve loathed the term ever since it first appeared.
50
As I understand it there is a useful distinction between “wellness” and the approved “prescription medicine”.
20
There are a number of interesting terms in that area.
“Healthcare”
Actually has morphed into sickness care with very little interest in “preventive medicine”.
Keep your vitamin D levels up !
30
The first flying machine that could lift itself off the ground, and steam powered as well?
Interesting machine from 1897.
Outstanding power to weight ratio of steam engine also developed for this application.
https://youtu.be/cwshvHTKmcE
20
Is that what letting off steam first meant?
sarc
10
I seem to recall that Sir Hiram Maxim and a bloke named Cayley were tinkering with steam-powered aircraft in the late 19th Century. But that was a bit before my time.
00
“wellness”TM is NewSpeak for health.
The Department of Defence is now the Department of War.
The Health Department is now the Pharmacy Department, with a little bit of A&E, but Darwin awards are encouraged.
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Following 47 years of defending against Iran direct and via proxies attacks and terrorism
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I’d rename the “Department of war” to “Team America: world police” 😆
31
Regarding the ‘ABC” strike can we change the door locks so they cant get back in?
Just a thought.
190
ABC staff union has a go fund us campaign underway, staffers in strike say they cannot pay their electricity bills and retreated to a local pub to buy expensive beers and wine
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FWIW – another try
“British Regulator OFCOM to Investigate Broadcaster Climate Denial”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/03/25/british-regulator-ofcom-to-investigate-broadcaster-climate-denial/
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Trump’s approval rating down to 36 percent.
04
Whose survey?
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Gallup.
10
another ian,
Who cares?
I recently linked to this two minute Pew Research video which (25 seconds in) explains just why any surveys involving Trump (or other contentious topics) should be ignored. Later they say how they are trying to sort this out, but it’s just mathematical voodoo that can only be right by accident.
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A while ago I read a report on US polling private sector pollsters and the partisan bias displayed against POTUS Trump first term and supporting POTUS Biden next term
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A national generic poll came up 50:50.
My thoughts are that the anti-Trump folk know who/what they are voting against but they do not know who they will be asked to vote for. No potential leader stands out.
30
A social democrat, like the New York mayor, has the potential to upend US politics.
This war has reduced the popularity of the POTUS.
https://quadrant.org.au/news-opinions/iran/326956/
13
Mamdani et al are splitting the (D)s.
As I said, many TDS sufferers may not vote for Mamdani or AOC when it is no longer a generic candidate.
20
FWIW
“Maryland Blocks Frivolous Climate Lawsuits”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/03/25/maryland-blocks-frivolous-climate-lawsuits/
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FWIW
“Climate Assumption Busted: Mega-Volcano, Falling CO₂”
“A recent piece in Eos highlights a result that will likely make climate modelers a bit uncomfortable: during one of Earth’s more dramatic volcanic episodes, atmospheric CO₂ didn’t spike—it fell. And not by a trivial amount, either.
We’re talking about roughly a 50% drop in atmospheric CO₂ during the emplacement of the Emeishan large igneous province (LIP) about 260 million years ago. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a regime shift. The standard storyline goes something like this: large-scale…
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https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/03/25/climate-assumption-busted-mega-volcano-falling-co%e2%82%82/
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FWIW – viewed from outside
“Nut Zeroes: Kiwis Are Up a Creek in 3 Weeks and Nearly No Diesel in the Land Down Under”
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/03/25/nut-zeroes-kiwis-are-up-a-creek-in-3-weeks-and-theres-no-diesel-in-the-land-downunder-n3813239
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Currently 13 tankers en route to N.Z. are being counted in our 45 day supply of diesel.
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How lucky are we to fly in modern airliners powered by FFs and with a safety record that is really close to a miracle?
Since 1970 the death rates per million passengers have dropped to record low numbers and extremely low trend since 2000.
I wonder how we’ll manage when we change to hydrogen fuel or their new electric battery planes? SARC.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/aviation-fatalities-per-million-passengers
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A Kiwi glider pilot died when the battery for his electric motor for self launching exploded. The article I read finished with: “Friends don’t let friends fly electric gliders”.
The absolute absurdity of the concept of large electric aircraft becomes obvious when you realise that take off weight is also landing weight. VERY inefficient.
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“Now when you have a democracy, there’s always the possibility that the guy who could turn out to be the biggest menace to the planet could just get voted in.
And the place where it’s most likely to happen is here, because of the media saturation, the illiteracy rate of the population, and the social desperation of the population.
– Frank Zappa
Spin magazine interview – July 1991
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RIP Frank, what a legend: he could think and play a guitar 🎸
20
For the ‘didge’ enthusiasts: I made mine from 1.3m X 50mm BlueLine HDPE black poly pipe with a wall thickness of 3.7mm. Very resonant and accommodating to native animal simulations and prolonged droning for background accompaniment. Not a traditional approach to materials but works a treat. When I did a dingo simulation, dingoes popped up all over the place. Kinda like an Aussie outback Dr Doolittle.
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Can you do the “pied piper” thing? My district has what could be called plague of dingoes that could do with being didgeridooed away.
Classified by the National Museum as an introduced animal and by the Victorian government as a native, if you could just walk them to somewhere else its possible that most people would be happy.
20
In Tone Deaf News:
Broadcasting great Fran Kelly told striking staff outside the broadcaster’s Ultimo headquarters in Sydney that some of her producers live in Wollongong or Newcastle because they can’t afford to live in Sydney, and have been in the same pay bracket for almost a decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/abc-staff-strike
Claude tells us that entry-level ABC Radio producers are on $50-$70k – rising to $100k+ after ~5 years. So, comparable, or higher than starting retail and hospitality workers.
I wonder where all the shoppies, waiters, and baristas live?
The Western Burbs and up the Paramatta?
The horror. The unimaginable horror.
110
Ultimo HQ ? Havent they moved to Parramatta yet?
If you have been in the same pay bracket for a decade you either lack ambition or potential. I left out competence, it probably isn’t a big factor there.
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Just heard that Strait of Trump has become the negotiating hand Iran has on offer. No idea if that is true but he did mention that Iran has offered a gift for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLLAizHKThw
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The first Q I’d ask is: Who is negotiating on behalf of Iran? No answer, no point.
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I wouldn’t trust a single word from the Iranian side at this point. Whatever the eventual terms of a ceasefire/surrender might be, I would always assume the Islamists will renege. Israel understands this.
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Indeed, they are the sort that would missile strike you while negotiating.
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Indeed. Some parties are known to routinely strike not only during negotiations, but to actually target the negotiating team.
One gets the distinct impression such people are not concerned about deals.
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Yarpos the Iranians weren’t negotiating they were stalling , and the only reason for stalling would have been they were trying to refine the uranium for a nuke because they knew what was coming and they were never going to give an inch .
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Gasoline and diesel shipments are already on their way from the US to help save Australia as I mentioned above.
The US has been a net petroleum exporter since 2019 after TRUMP’s “drill baby, drill” policy.
As Australia has strict anti-energy and anti-oil-exploration policies and our two remaining oil refineries are no longer economic and operate with taxpayer subsidies, why not make the US a permanent supplier of our petrol and diesel, not South Korea or Singapore? The US doesn’t rely on Gulf oil as does Singapore and South Korea.
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Why not make the US a permanent supplier of our petrol and diesel?
Conceptually sound but TDS will shut it down.
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Why not mine and refine our own resources for our market?
140
Australia, AFAIK, has little “cheap” oil. We DO have some locked in porous rock which needs modern, expensive extraction, including fracking.
Best of luck with that.
20
We wouldn’t know what we have, as we’re not allowed to look.
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We do know what has already been discovered. It’s on the record.
10
And we don’t know what hasn’t been discovered, yeah?
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Lots of wells drilled and capped waiting to be exploited in Oz and there’s other areas where oil is expected to be but no exploration has ever been done .
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Why? Oil companies have shareholders who want production.
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The problem is transport and volume. From the US it would have to come from their west coast. The US is not unlike a lot of other countries around the world even though they have oodles of oil themselves. They have shut down a lot of their refining capacity in recent decades and in particular on their west coast. Everyone thought that California would be 100 % Teslas by now- hasn’t happened. So, they may not be a reliable supplier because they wont have the product (petrol/diesel) in the first place. Then you have transport and getting ships is not an easy prospect.
40
We haven’t considered Canada.
‘Canada sends almost all of its export oil to the United States. Recently, the industry has gotten more serious about finding more markets, to which end the Trans Mountain pipeline was expanded, doubling its capacity.
‘As a result, China quickly became Canada’s second-largest oil client after the United States. South Korea, India, and Singapore have also become buyers of Canadian crude after the expansion of the Trans Mountain conduit.’ (Oilprice)
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With only 2 small refineries we are more in need of finished product than oil, at least in the short term.
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True, if its economically viable they might do it.
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Very true Yarpos .
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Oil refining is an industrial process. High energy and labour costs are forcing deindustrialisation, but you know that.
20
The Conservative Woman website (TCW): popular with some readers here.
In spite of the pro-War editorial slant of its owner, there’s a lot of pushback in the “Comments” section… and it’s from longterm readers.
16
According to a government enquiry, Australia is flooded with climate misinformation, but only from those people and organisations opposed to climate action (Big Oil’s in the frame, of course). The Climateers would appear to have clear conscience.
Mind you, the article was originally from The Conversation.
30
On climate Change.
‘Significantly, they also called for powers to compel social media companies to remove fake content …’
Bring it on, they would have to prove that CO2 causes global warming.
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Did you know that the original opinion poll was located to indicated a barber’s shop?
30
Remember how everyone mocked all those crazy Preppers and their stockpiles of food and fuel? 😱🤡
Who keeps an emergency stockpile of toilet paper just in case? 🤪😭😭
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Andrew Hastie is looking good, its time for bipartisanship.
‘Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie says he is open to a new 25% tax on soaring gas profits as part of a Scandinavian-style sovereign wealth fund to strengthen the federal budget amid the global energy crisis.
‘Budget leaks suggest the Albanese government is modelling the effects of placing a flat 25% tax on gas profits, as well as possible further changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax’ (Guardian)
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Hastie has a case of TDS and Kath and Kim itis, look at moy , look at moy , look at moy .
20
The Brownstone Institute calls it :-
https://brownstone.org/articles/energy-lockdown-the-drumbeat-begins/
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Have you thought about the stockpiling of Chinese EV in several locations around Australia over the past year? At first glance question why, it costs money to stockpile any vehicles and is usually avoided by manufacturers and dealers.
Then the focus on EV, why not buy one and escape the fuel crisis Labor keeps saying to us.
Transition away from fossil fuels policy, legislation, regulations.
The Iran aggression situation and continuing Israel-Iran-Terrorists Proxies has been increasing in recent years after 47 years non-stop with short intervals in between.
And now the EU Government Trade Agreement and focus on Paris 2015 and Glasgow 2021 net zero emissions requirements by EU for Australia to export to EU countries.
The puzzle pieces are falling into place aren’t they?
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Absolutely, but when the puzzle is complete it won’t be a picture of an EV that will emerge but of China. EVs are just one way that China’s creeping dominance is being asserted.
50
Massive ‘oversight’ exposed.
https://notrickszone.com/2026/03/24/devastating-assessment-of-comirnaty-vaccine-by-former-senior-pfizer-europe-toxicologist/
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Video.
Comments about Australia’s fuel shortage.
Apparently Australia is still paying rent on empty tanks for fuel storage in Texas until 2030 even though Al-bozo sold off our reserves.
https://youtu.be/3DkR9X9GX1Q
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If you sign a lease you pay even if you vacate.
50
According to Dr Steve Turley the rabidly anti-Trump PM of Denmark suffered a big reversal in an election she called 6 mths early to capitalise on anti-Trump sentiment. She has resigned.
I don’t know their politics but the winners may be a nationalist ON type party.
BTW China is out of power in Panama, they mocked Trump for his stand there too.
60
Learning geography from literature and accidental talks maybe I got a wrong impression,.. anyway – a question:
Why there did not appear a “leader of natives” like Lawrence of Bengal or Glubb Raja ?
R. Kipling, in my eyes, is a colossal figure but not for Indians…
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FWIW – more around that post a couple of days ago about things in Washington State –
“LOOK THERE WAS A REASON FOR THE BERLIN WAR AND IT WASN’T TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF COMMUNIST UTOPIA: Even Politicians are Leaving Washington State. And the hits just keep coming.”
“Even Politicians are Leaving Washington State. And the hits just keep coming.”
“My readers will already be aware of the new, unconstitutional income tax just passed with glee and celebrations by our commie legislature. Really, there are videos being passed around of the DemocRats in the legislature celebrating its passage. Tech businesses, restaurants, digital advertising agencies, and wealthy investors have already begun the process of leaving Washington to get out from under an income tax that they know is unlawful per our State Constitution. Hell, even Howard Schultz, the one who got Starbucks on its feet, has already moved to Florida.”
And more to come
https://rushbabe49.com/2026/03/25/even-politicians-are-leaving-washington-state-and-the-hits-just-keep-coming/
Any Oz state politicians noticed leaving their state yet?
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FWIW –
Ammunition
For use on anyone who posts here quoting anything from “The Atlantic”
“Debating themselves”
Long, interesting and salty (IMO)
https://wlehman.substack.com/p/debating-themselves?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
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Anyone else having issues starting YT videos in brave? OK on firefox but that doesn’t have an ad blocker installed.
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