Rory

@TMFScottP Not to mention law makers being slow to adjust to the times.

This is fascinating. The thing that stops/delays autonomous driving is probably not the tech, but our ability and willingness to recognise the point at which humans are less capable than robots. Lots of ego, fear and resistance to change to overcome.

@Leo_Puglisi6 Makes sense for the moderate liberals. The right of the party has them in a death spiral egged on by their echo chamber.

Teal Party might be real: Nine reports Liberal moderates (including MPs) have been approached to join, with Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender reportedly leading the push 👀 smh.com.au/politics/feder…

@aj_geo_analysis I’m sure KSA is entirely capable of doing two things at once. This line of reasoning does not hold up. If the resources that were earmarked for The Line are being directed into a defence project, where is the evidence of that project?

During the Iran war, several "lines" were crossed. But the ONLY "Line" nobody talked about was cancelled. And that silence is one of the SIGNALS I watch. The Line. Saudi Arabia's 170-kilometre mirrored megacity. The most ambitious construction project in human history. The centrepiece of Vision 2030. MBS's defining legacy project. Formally suspended September 16, 2025. $50 billion spent. 2.4 kilometres of foundation completed out of 170. The official reason: "costs exceeded projections". At that point, Oil prices were lower than expected. Fiscal pressure on the PIF was tangible as costs were adding up. Here is why that explanation does not hold up. A friend recently told me something that reframes this entirely. When The Line mega-project began, MBS summoned the FIVE largest concrete manufacturing conglomerates in the Kingdom into a room. He told them to redirect their FULL production capacity toward the project. They ran the simulations. All five together, at 100% capacity, could NOT supply the concrete requirements of the mega project... The Line was not cancelled because it was too expensive. It was cancelled BECAUSE it was physically unbuildable. But here is the question that does not make sense. The Iran war sent Brent above $120. Saudi Arabia's fiscal position has NEVER been stronger from the oil revenues. The exact conditions that should have allowed MBS to accelerate Vision 2030 arrived simultaneously with his decision to park it. You DO NOT cancel your legacy project when your revenues are highest. Unless... your attention, your resources, and your national focus have been redirected to something MORE urgent. The @Hyundai_Global $1 billion tunnelling contract at the heart of The Line was formally cancelled on March 12, 2026. A mere Fourteen days after the Iran war started when Oil prices were already beginning to peak and ARAMCO had already issued warnings about oil shocks. The war gave MBS the cover to cancel what was already physically impossible. But it also tells you something about Saudi priorities that the press release DOES NOT: Vision 2030 was a "peace-time diversification" mega project. The Iran war is a wartime survival project. MBS did not cancel The Line because he ran out of money. He cancelled it because the Kingdom is now building something else entirely. A war coalition. A military posture. A post-American security architecture. The most expensive construction project in human history was paused. Nobody noticed. That was the signal. 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗔𝗟, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗜𝗦𝗘!! I look beyond the headlines and make sense of the nuances. If this gave you signal worth keeping, like and consider following 🙏

@anon_opin It makes sense once you realise it’s short for “gasoline”, just like “petrol” is short for petroleum

Only Americans could call something gas that isn't a gas.

@AvidCommentator If Trump allows the war to end with Iran having defacto control over the straight of Hormuz it will be a massive strategic and geopolitical loss, no matter how he tries to dress it up for his domestic audience. A worse strategic position than before the war.

As claims of yet another U.S-Iran deal emerge, its worth noting the Iranians have frequently claimed that ships could transit the Strait of Hormuz under its supervision. This naturally generally wasn't true, but what they are saying now is nothing new at this stage.

@sentdefender Trump TACO once again.

Following his announcement that the resumption of combat operations against Iran would be postponed, U.S. President Donald J. Trump told the press today that Gulf leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar asked him to postpone strikes for “2 or 3 days,” and he agreed. It’s yet unclear if this is a hard timeline for negotiations to play out.

@ChrisEconomist When is government going to actually cut spending? All they seem to do is find new ways to tax us further to increase revenue. Happy to tax the people but don’t dare make the offshore gas companies pay for our gas they are selling. They need to reduce taxes on working people.

THERE'S LOTS TO LIKE IN THIS BUDGET BUT BUDGET REPAIR OVER THE REST OF THE DECADE RELIES OF WAR-AND-INFLATION DRIVEN WINDFALLS AND THE RBA WILL STILL BE WATCHING STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDING PRETTY CLOSELY There’s a lot to like in this budget. Australia has had important crisis-fighting budgets in the past few decades – think of COVID and the global financial crisis. What we haven’t had is a budget that tackles some of the ‘to do’ list that Treasury and the Productivity Commission have had in their top drawers for decades. This does that. No, I don’t love every policy change. And nor has enough been done. But the broad direction of what has been done is good. Yet these headline grabbing policies actually start small and slow. Their impact in the next few years will be modest. So how is it that deficits are set to be $45bn lower over the coming five years? That improvement is excellent news. But in a budget with a blizzard of new policy changes, the big drop in the deficit is pretty much explained not by policy decisions, but by a benevolent economy It’s the latter that’s doing the doing the heavy lifting in terms of budget repair. Simply put, a combination of war and inflation – plus a small top up from higher-than-expected migration – delivered a bigger economy for the taxman to tax. As the budget papers spell out, that’s delivered a revenue windfall of $41bn over five years – providing more than nine out of every ten dollars of bottom line improvement. And there’s an additional thing to note. The year that had been expected to see the biggest improvement in the bottom line thanks to those economic changes – the financial year just about to start – actually saw very little change in the budget bottom line. Although the tax windfall reaches its peak in the coming year – at a hefty $18.8 bn – it is largely eaten up by a similar lift in spending. Just a few months ago the government estimated its spending in the coming year would be $811bn. Now that is seen $18bn higher, at $830bn. Five months ago the nominal increase in spending in the coming year was estimated at a tight 3.1%. It’s still projected to be rather lower than it was, but it now sits at 5.3% Lots of that increase in spending is understandable. NDIS costs blowouts have continued in recent months, while defence costs are lifting too. There’s more money for the PBS. A bunch of spending goes up when inflation goes up. A weaker economy will push up the costs of unemployment and other benefits. Yet that jump in the cash spend heading into the Australian economy in the near term may raise an eyebrow or two at the Reserve Bank, especially as it comes atop recent spending increases by the states. The bottom line? There’s some much needed courage here – and that’s to be applauded. But the changes in the budget aren’t what drive the big improvement in the budget over the rest of this decade. As usual, better news is due to a windfall. And although the Reserve Bank will breathe a sigh of relief that there isn’t a big ‘cost of living ‘ spend here, nor can it safely ignore what state and federal governments are doing. Those governments are still more a part of the problem than they are a part of the solution.

@OwenRask It’s like private schooling. Yes it’s the wealthier who take advantage of it but it does also then cost the government less. If it wasn’t for gov subsidy I would have bought another gas heater rather than electrifying. Same as the car, I’d have bought a petrol car not EV.

In fairness, we want people to use the benefits proposed because those benefits are pushing Australia towards a better, lower carbon future. The “blow out” is actually just wealthier people picking up the bill for the government - who, as we know, would be removed by gas and resources lobby groups in Canberra if they bought everyone renewable energy products. An Australia where many people have their own energy security is almost here…

@AvidCommentator You got it in one! They’ll be the fall guys and the powerful will get away Scott free.

$20 says this grunt and those like him will be the only ones prosecuted for insider trading, not the folks front running Trump tweets in markets and making hundreds of millions.

@spectatorindex So you know the situation is the exact opposite.

Trump says regarding Iran, 'We have never had so much ammunition. Our ships are loaded. Locked and loaded. They’re ready to go.'

@PAFC Did your best boys and showed a hell of a lot more passion and composure than last week!

Not to be 💔

@kanecornes Has become another list clogger. Can’t get on the park and the few times he does he doesn’t impact.

Brilliantly played by Jack and his manager.

@PAFC Luko turning out to be a high priced flop. Can’t get on the park and the few times he does can’t impact. Hope he can get his body right.

Jack Lukosius will be sidelined for a period of time as he manages a groin issue 🤕 📰 bit.ly/4vjeu0K

@FOXFOOTY This was a shocking non-call. How did the umps miss this!?

"No free kick?! Goodness me ...' 🤔🤔 📺 Watch #AFLPowerSaints on Ch.504 or stream on Kayo: bit.ly/4vpIKqM

@hasumpstuffedup I don’t like bagging the umps but they missed a lot in that game.

Clearly lowers himself into this tackle. It should not have been paid high. I'd say this is the rule they've been poorest on this year. A few really obvious ducks been given as high tackles. #AFL #AFLPortSaints

@sentdefender Typical Trump, always claiming victory, evens against all evidence to the contrary.

During a brief call tonight with the AFP, President Trump stated that the United States has achieved, “Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it,” in the Iran War, following the announced two-week ceasefire with Iran. Trump added that he believes China persuaded Iran to make a deal as the deadline approached Tuesday, and that the country’s stockpile of highly-enriched uranium will be “perfectly taken care of,” under the ceasefire agreement between Iran and the United States.

What ever happened to freeing the people of Iran from the Islamic Regime?

@anthonyalesiani Very bad timing for him as he’s turned into a bit of a “list clogger” unfortunately. Hasn’t really come on like hoped and been overtaken by other key forwards on the list.

This absolutely sucks for Ollie Lord, in a year where he needed to prove himself and make a case for a spot, this sucks

@TMFScottP @formatozyrg I do wonder sometimes though if people should be given as much choice with super as they have in terms of investment options. So many people don’t pay any attention to it and leave their super in low return funds or have multiple funds.

@formatozyrg @RoryPaltridge Could, I guess. In a singular case. The rest of us will be hugely better off for the existence of Super.

Make of this what you will... My followers and those who interact with my tweets are overwhelmingly decent, with the occasional knucklehead. But the responses to my comments on gambling ads have been unusually abusive and sweary.

@formatozyrg @TMFScottP Having access to gambling in the palm of your hand so you can gamble anywhere anytime is certainly new.

@RoryPaltridge @TMFScottP Been like that for 200 years. What is new is people losing their life savings through the stock exchange